chengkp75

That is because Princess requires that the charter boat document the time of the catch, the time the catch reached 40*F in the boat's coolers, and that the fish maintained that temperature for the entire time from catch to delivery to ship. Those are the documentation requirements that the USPH/CDC VSP requires for fresh seafood to be brought onto the ship. Sources of "potentially hazardous food" have to be "verifiable" with records.

Nor were they there to vote, so their wishes were not represented in the vote, so their income or wealth had no bearing on the result of the vote.

Newer ships (under 15 years) will typically get a technical drydock done in 2 weeks. After the ship turns 15, there are vastly more, and costlier, inspections required, and these tend to lead to structural steel replacement, adding more time.

Yeah, we carried everything from POV's to Abrams tanks. Most likely they are using Baltimore or Norfolk for POV's to Europe.

Were you planning on settling the bill, and taking all your luggage with you when you disembarked in Seattle? If not, then they are correct. You must permanently disembark for one voyage to be declared ended, and then you can start another.

The real question is; does anyone remember what MOTBY was? I was in there every month for years carrying military vehicles to Europe.

Not counting the AQV boats, they already had 25 ships in service, and another 4 scheduled for this year.

Well, for a 25 year old ship a "hull check" (by which I guess you mean a "technical only" drydock?) will be more on the lines of 3-4 weeks. And, that is mandatory, you can't just say I'm putting off dry dock surveys and maintenance because I want to sell the ship. It has to be done in the statutory timeframe, with the mandatory inspections, or the certificate to sail is voided. It is an unavoidable expense. Now, updates and refurbishments to the hotel side are definitely optional, both for time and cost.

The dates I posted are from the Lloyd's Register database, showing what dates the "bottom survey" (which means drydock) are due. There may be a month or so earlier, but not much wiggle room later. Riviera and Marina, being less than 15 years old, those dates can be for an underwater survey by divers in lieu of drydocking (which is usually done while still in service, over a couple or three ports). Oh, yeah, forgot that Marina is in dock now, so the underwater will only apply to Riviera. All others, that is a pretty hard date, as it is required by the class society to maintain the ship's certificates of seaworthiness.

Yeah, still a big slab of pavement on the bow, and even with removing the weight of the truss, the bow didn't rise any significant amount, so she is likely well and truly stuck in the bottom, and they may have to dredge around her to free her.

Ding!

The maritime industry has always tended to be a special case in most countries and legal systems. Many countries have slews of laws specific to the maritime, some important, some not, some impactful, some not. For instance, in the US, no one can garnish a mariner's wages other than the IRS and a spouse (or ex-spouse). In Scandinavia, mariners benefit from the social security benefits of all citizens, but are exempt from the taxes that pay for those social benefits. As for Viking maintaining control over the ships, it is Viking who promulgates the SMS (Safety Management System) manual, that is what we call "write what you do, and do what you write". All ships are required by the IMO's ISM (International Safety Management) Code to formulate an SMS that describes how the company does virtually every aspect of business, both at the corporate level, but also down to sometimes very fine detail of shipboard operations and procedures, that everyone working on a Viking ship have to adhere to. Both the company (both Viking and Wilhelmsen) and third party auditors will audit the ships every year to ensure that the SMS is followed to the letter, and to locate areas where improvements can be made. An example of the system is the Dali, currently holding up a portion of the Key Bridge in Baltimore. The ship is owned by Grace Ocean. It is operated for Grace Ocean by Synergy Marine. Synergy provides the crew and deals with the day to day operation of the ship (getting food and fuel to the ship, spare parts, hiring port agents, etc). The ship is under charter to Maersk (AP Moller Group). So, the ship is carrying cargo for Maersk, but since this is not a "bareboat charter", but a "time charter", Synergy continues to operate the ship and crew daily, and Maersk only tells Synergy where to go, when to get there, and what cargo to load/discharge.

And, I for one, don't begrudge those tax dollars spent in this fashion. Have known mariners who were evacuated in emergencies, and thankful that the service is there.

Any helicopter evacuation from a ship at sea is done free of charge to the patient. The US has agreed under the UN's SAR (search and rescue) convention to take responsibility for SAR missions around our coasts, and most of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, and under the SAR convention, this service is provided free. "Evacuation" insurance does not cover evacuation from the ship, only from whatever land hospital you were evacuated to, to a hospital of your choice in your home town. And, in fact, sending a Coast Guard cutter to make an evacuation is free as well, as is sending a police or pilot boat for a close in evacuation.

Yes, the ship's Captain, the ship's doctor, the flight crew, and the, in this case, Air Force flight surgeon made the decision that the risk of winching the patient, and spending a couple of hours in a helicopter with marginal life support systems (even though it is a fully equipped medevac helicopter), outweighed the additional time with the life support systems of the ship to get closer. The patient apparently had a perforated bowel, and time was critical. And, if this had been anywhere else in the world, it would have waited for the ship to get closer to land, taking more time, to send out a helicopter, as almost no one on earth has aerial refueling helicopters besides the US.