chengkp75

Even those ships with "helipads" will almost never have a helicopter land on it, unless the ship is in port. Landing on a moving, rolling, pitching small deck while the ship's superstructure moves towards the helicopter is dangerous in the extreme, so winch evacuation is done 99% of the time.

We have it several times a summer. Current price is $6.99/lb, or $8 to $10 a lobster, buy them from the garage lobster pound on the way to the lake house and boil them in the gas lobster pot/turkey fryer. Probably once a year we do a full "lobster bake", with potatoes, corn, shrimp, clams, lobster. Even those cruise lines that offer "Maine" lobster, it is still frozen, unless served within a day or two of embarkation. Freezing changes the consistency of the flesh. Also, they tend to broil the tails, which is fine if you pay close attention to each tail as it cooks to prevent overcooking, but when you are using a convection oven that holds over a hundred tails, that just isn't done, resulting in overcooking the tails. And, my favorite is claw meat, much better than the tail. As for scallops, the key there is to get "dry packed" scallops, those that have a bit of a "mahogany" hue to them, not the juicy white ones. Only dry scallops can be seared, and that is the only way to really enjoy scallops. Or just take it out to the back lot and dump it and let the wildlife enjoy.

Unfortunately, the passenger cargo hold went out with the QE2. Each passenger got 100 cu. ft. of cargo (if I remember correctly from when we did this in the 70's) in the hold. You would likely have to declare this for customs when disembarking in the US.

Well, actually there are taxes included in the "port fees and taxes", but as others have pointed out, the tax portion is not broken out from the fees. The taxes are things like a "per person landing tax" paid for disembarking at the port. The only non-business taxes that are deductible by the IRS are "state and local income taxes, real estate taxes, and personal property taxes", so no, a landing tax, even if paid to a foreign country, is not deductible, any more than sales tax is.

Ah, so you are an expert on maritime safety, then? Please compare the number of cruise ship fires caused by cigarette smoking in cabins to laundry fires (and I'll even let you discount those fires that have never been reported, or that were dealt with without a passenger muster (i.e. in a "code" scenario). "Easy" and "comfort" should not be subjects for discussion when dealing with emergency training. Even the cruise lines admit that one major reason for the new "e-muster" is "passenger satisfaction", with no mention of whether the safety training (both crew and pax) is better, worse, or the same as the old format.

Having spent more time at sea on ships than most posters here on CC, or even most cruise passengers, and having trained for, and dealt with actual fires onboard ships, I know how many fires are caused by smoking in cabins, almost none, compared to the multitude of other fire causes that there are. Just like the often trotted out assertion that the Star Princess fire was caused by a cigarette, even though the investigators said that since they couldn't find any definitive cause, they assume it was a cigarette, even though in laboratory conditions they could not get a cigarette to ignite a towel. Hey, an MSC cruise ship just had a fire in the main laundry (and this is not the first cruise ship laundry to catch fire), so I guess we should ban all laundry on cruise ships?

When there is an argument about which cruise line's safety drill is the easiest, there is something inherently wrong with the situation.

Nothing really new here, certainly not much post-covid. Those margins have been like that for a long time. The cruise fare basically covers the expenses, and the onboard revenue generates any profit.

If the reason for canceling the port call is out of the cruise line's control, such as this strike, there would be a waiver of PVSA requirements, and CBP work visa requirements.

Wi-fi will be fine at all times. Internet access, however, is a different story, as noted above. Sorry, couldn't resist.😄

"in no time" may be a couple of hours, and may result in a missed flight.

Yes, of course.

Unless it is really blowing a gale out in the Gulf of Maine, Casco Bay will be pretty calm, and Cliff Island, the furthest out the mailboat runs is only 8.4 miles from the dock in Portland. But, yeah, if it's foggy and rainy the mailboat isn't fun.

I would definitely book the schooner sail in advance. Not sure how busy the railroad gets on cruise ship days, but it runs every hour, so I think you would be okay getting tickets there on the day.

Reports of reduced inventory of food and beverages prior to dry dock are basically apocryphal. The crew will remain onboard, as well as hundreds of sub-contractors who will continue to eat. Also, crane time is the most precious commodity in a dry dock, and both the line and the yard don't want to waste crane time lifting provisions onto the ship during the dock, if they had run the food inventory down prior to dry dock. Beverages don't spoil, so they won't reduce stocks before, they will just lock it up.

Of course, I've been to Portland Head many times, having lived here for over 40 years, but my special sight is to see it from offshore. Get up at least an hour before arrival time in Portland, and get out on deck (port side), and you will get a unique photo opportunity to see the lighthouse as mariners see it, with the rocky shore all around it. While Fort Williams park is nice, I can think of other things to do here in Portland, than take a bus back and forth just to see the park. You will also get an even closer view of Bug Light from the ship as she comes in to dock. Portland also has the Museum of Art with its Wyeth collection, the Observatory tower for views across Casco Bay and the Calendar Islands, narrow gauge railroad, shopping in the Old Port, restaurants that makes us one of the top 10 foodie cities in the US, Longfellow house, Victorian Mansion, walks along the Eastern Prom trail that starts less than a thousand feet from the cruise ship terminal, the Mail Boat, and schooner sails around Casco Bay. I wouldn't bother taking a 30-40 minute bus ride to Kennebunkport.

We did a schooner sail around Frenchman's Bay, saw Acadia park from the sea, and Cadillac Mountain, islands of the bay, seals, porpoises, bald eagles.

Yes, biohazard bags and sharps containers are available onboard. Note it to special needs, and also mention to cabin steward once onboard. Your supplies definitely need to be put in biohazard bags, as even if you put your supplies into a regular trash bag and then tied it up, the crew will still need to tear the bag open and sort it by hand to ensure it is properly disposed of (all cabin trash is handled this way). Once in a biohazard bag, it is sorted, unopened, and incinerated. The general trash is shredded and stored in large silos until it can be burned in the incinerator. Bio waste is added to the incinerator manually, when the incinerator is at a specified temperature, and is logged in the garbage log book as to time and quantity of disposal, as required by law.

She's listed for June 2026, but this mid-period docking can be scheduled anytime between June 2025 and June 2026.

I wasn't disputing what your acquaintance said, but I was confusing Queen with Countess, sorry. I was merely saying that a marine engineer would differentiate between "plumbing" and "piping", where a reporter may not.

My experience, though more limited in shipyard time than yours, is different. One thing that I find makes a huge difference in cost at the 3rd special survey (15 year mark), is the huge increase in thickness testing of hull plating and framing, and x-ray inspections of hull welds, which now must be done twice in 5 years, as opposed to every 5 years. After the costs of these inspections, you start to see more steel replacement requirements, and in many cases this comes in places you really don't want to do steel replacement, like sea ducts and void tanks. I've seen charts that show a parabolic curve of maintenance cost vs. age, where the shoulder is the 15 year mark, and it was explained to me that this is why the underwater survey is no longer allowed after the 15 year mark.

I have the feeling that what the article refers to as "plumbing" is actually the piping systems in the engineering spaces, and in particular the steam piping (it's been so long since I was on a ship where steam was anything but an auxiliary), but the steam piping may be pitted, and need replacing. I know there is a difference between requirements for auxiliary steam piping and "main" steam piping, and since the paddlewheel is the primary propulsion, this makes the steam system a "main" steam system.

Not sure how they maintain positive pressure in the cabin, if they are just using an open duct from outside. This also brings in warm, humid air that the cabin's fan coil unit would need to handle. Not saying that the control systems are not advanced, but that the cost to install these motor operated dampers on every single cabin with an IV or balcony is immense, and not sure it is worth the cost. There also seems to be issues on some ships with the IV windows creaking and groaning, so this may not be a completely thought out idea. Not to mention that after the Viking incident in Antarctica, with IV style windows, and the recommendations to re-evaluate the strength of the windows and frames, that even more cost in retrofitting may not happen.

Most ships have two AC systems supplying every cabin. I don't know for sure, but suspect even the Edge class does as well. On most ships, there is a fan coil unit for each cabin, that merely recirculates the cabin air, and this is the one controlled by the cabin thermostat, and the one that shuts off when the balcony door is opened. The other system is the one that supplies fresh, cool air to the cabins to provide the air exchanges, balanced by the bathroom exhaust fan taking stale air away. This system has a fan coil unit in the AC rooms in the centerline of the ship (those large white areas on the deck plans), and will supply all the cabins in a given fire zone (between the fire doors in the passageway) for either one deck, or one side of the ship in that zone, for two decks. This system does not shut off when the balcony door is opened, and since it is designed to supply slightly more air than the bathroom exhaust takes away, it maintains a slight positive pressure in the cabin for safety (keeps smoke from coming from the passageway into the cabin). With the balcony door open, the positive pressure in that cabin is removed, and the system sends more air to that cabin trying to re-establish the positive pressure, and the other cabins on the zone get less fresh, cool, air, and tend to get stuffy and warm. If the Edge class IV cabins truly are independent, then they have a very complex system where they will shut down not only the fan coil unit in the cabin, but will shut dampers in the fresh air supply ducts and bathroom exhaust ducts for that cabin, and have pressure sensors and variable speed fan controllers to slow down the fresh air supply and exhaust fans to not supply/take away too much air from the other cabins on the system. The cost and maintenance headaches for a system like this is just out of my comprehension that it is outweighed by the benefits of the IV window system. And, asking a cabin steward a technical question about something like AC, will get you answers all over the place, and most of them not correct. Leave your suite balcony door open, and go out into the hallway. Do you hear whistling or sucking sounds around your cabin door? If so, you are affecting your neighbors' AC. If not, then you are okay to keep the door open.

Not so far, but Viking is going with hydrogen, and sourcing "green hydrogen" from Norway.