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What I Did On My Winter Vacation--onboard the Splendor 11/7 cruise

Georgia Peach2

By Georgia Peach2,
in Carnival Cruise Lines

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leadout_kv

leadout_kv

Posted
Posted
I too was onboard with a group of 11, including 2 boys 11. and 9. We were down on 2 inside. We told our group to eat something each time food was offering even if they didn't like it. We avoided the 2 hour wait to eat by waiting for the lines to die down. This meant anything good had gone already. Many people horded the food. We always had bread and soda. I spent a lot of time helping people that were having trouble up the stairs. We had a small flashlight with us and we always loaned it to anyone in our hallway. We played cards (and gave a few decks away to others) and walked all over the ship to see resue attempts from a different angle. My family was on the bow when we came into port and ended up on CNN. My daughter in Canada saw our picture and called her local TV. She gave them my cell number and that led to many interviews for her and I. We are also planning our next cruise.

 

You truly should be thanked for helping others and for your unselfish attitude.

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bunny1954

bunny1954

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Sorry but I'm not sure your question even warrants a response. :eek:

 

Well, I'll give it an answer anyway......Logistics.......the navy moved all of the non perishable food stuff on pallets packaged up in cargo nets and attached to one end of a cable that had the other end attached to a helicopter. Navy personnel came aboard Splendor by small boats to do the vertical replenishment. Thank goodness the waters were calm or this could have been somewhat tricky. Helicopter hovered over the running track on Splendor and lowered the pallets where they were quickly unnetted and moved out of the way for the next load. Now try to imagine how you would have cooked up all this hot food, packaged it and moved it under those conditions. Not to mention the fact that once food is cooked, it needs to stay at a certain temperature in order for it to remain safe for consumption. Factor in the amount of time it would have taken to cook/package food on the Reagan and move it up to the flight deck for palletizing and then over to the Splendor and it isn't going to be hot for long and no way to keep it hot or re-heat on the Splendor.

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Activated95b

Activated95b

Posted
Posted
Can someone please answer me a question...

The Ronald Regan Aircraft Carrier can hold up to 5500 sailors and 80 planes...

While I am very appreciative that they were able to help, I would have thought that they would have been able to cook or help prepare food for people to eat over there and have something somewhat hot even it it was soup, oatmeal, grits, chili and Tea or Tim Hortons Coffee :)

 

I am sure that their galley / mess would have been able to cook a few things even if it was not entire meals... even stir frys, stews and chicken a la king etc.. nothing fancy but something warm

 

Any thoughts on this...

 

The issue is not as much cooking the food but moving it to a disabled vessel that did not have the facilities for taking abord supplies at sea.

 

After you prepare the food you have the next problem: What do you put it in?

 

Next: "How do you protect it from the rotor wash?"

 

Then: "How do you ensure that it is still safe to eat by the time it is packaged, palletized, transported, broken down, unpacked then served?"

 

I am a retire First Sergeant and know just how difficult a task this sort of thing is when you are just trying to feed 150 soldiers and you already have the specialized gear for doing it.

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nrdsb4

nrdsb4

Posted
Posted
Well, I'll give it an answer anyway......Logistics.......the navy moved all of the non perishable food stuff on pallets packaged up in cargo nets and attached to one end of a cable that had the other end attached to a helicopter. Navy personnel came aboard Splendor by small boats to do the vertical replenishment. Thank goodness the waters were calm or this could have been somewhat tricky. Helicopter hovered over the running track on Splendor and lowered the pallets where they were quickly unnetted and moved out of the way for the next load. Now try to imagine how you would have cooked up all this hot food, packaged it and moved it under those conditions. Not to mention the fact that once food is cooked, it needs to stay at a certain temperature in order for it to remain safe for consumption. Factor in the amount of time it would have taken to cook/package food on the Reagan and move it up to the flight deck for palletizing and then over to the Splendor and it isn't going to be hot for long and no way to keep it hot or re-heat on the Splendor.

 

I agree. No way to do this for 3200 people plus crew.

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chachi

chachi

Posted
Posted

I almost didn't open this thread because I didn't want to hear anymore complaints (although I know everyone has the right to complain in this situation). I'm glad to hear that you survived it with a positive attitude and at least got to enjoy a couple of days in California.

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Hotflashn

Hotflashn

Posted
Posted

Thanks for shaing and I am glad you and your family made it home safely and still managed to salvage a nice visit in San Diego.

 

We were on vacation in Cancun years ago when hurricane Mitch came through. Our vacation as we planned it was over! There were times when I was so scared and all I wanted was to get home and see my kids again. I just prayed to get home, wasn't worried about vacation anymore. Looking back, it was an incredible experience, and one that we still talk about. While many of our other nonadventurous, "perfect" (gone as we planned) vacations have fallen back in our memory, that one remains as clear as if it happened yesterday, but without any of the discomfort!

 

Glad you were able to make the most of it.

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shoefly1960

shoefly1960

Posted
Posted
Can someone please answer me a question...

The Ronald Regan Aircraft Carrier can hold up to 5500 sailors and 80 planes...

While I am very appreciative that they were able to help, I would have thought that they would have been able to cook or help prepare food for people to eat over there and have something somewhat hot even it it was soup, oatmeal, grits, chili and Tea or Tim Hortons Coffee :)

 

I am sure that their galley / mess would have been able to cook a few things even if it was not entire meals... even stir frys, stews and chicken a la king etc.. nothing fancy but something warm

 

Any thoughts on this...

 

 

It is obvious the Navy's super secret weapon, the flying chuckwagon, must not have been onboard the USS Ronald Reagan at the time they provided such stellar support to the Carnival Splendor. I am confident had someone informed the United States Navy that they needed to use the flying chuckwagon, it would have been available. If you still desire to sample the wares of the galley onboard the USS Ronald Reagan, raise your right hand and repeat after me... :cool:

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chadsjewel

chadsjewel

Posted
Posted
Where are some pictures????? :p Need to see some pictures.. One reason for carrying "extra" charged batteries with you... Never know what you will see on vacation... :-)

 

 

Lol, I have a public link to an album in my signature, some have msgd me having probs getting in. But others have been fine! Cant wait to cruise again.

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  • 1 month later...
jenseib

jenseib

Posted
Posted
So, was your luggage one of the ones dumped into the ocean on embarkation day? Your post seemed to state that, but then you didn't mention anything else about it, so I'm not sure.

 

Do you know what happened (if your luggage wasn't one) for the folks whose luggage was dumped into the ocean? Especially the ones that sank! And do you know why they fell? Was the bin overloaded or did it tip or something? (I believe you saw it happen, right?)

 

 

I wondered that too.

 

 

Thanks so much for sharing

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Georgia Peach2

Georgia Peach2

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So, was your luggage one of the ones dumped into the ocean on embarkation day? Your post seemed to state that, but then you didn't mention anything else about it, so I'm not sure.

 

Do you know what happened (if your luggage wasn't one) for the folks whose luggage was dumped into the ocean? Especially the ones that sank! And do you know why they fell? Was the bin overloaded or did it tip or something? (I believe you saw it happen, right?)

 

I wondered that too.

 

 

Thanks so much for sharing

 

No, our luggage wasn't dumped. I just meant that I wouldn't've been surprised with the luck we'd been having. :D We didn't hear any more about the luggage for the rest of the week, although we did see one guy wearing the same outfit for several days...don't know if his bags went for the swim or not.

 

I didn't see it until after it was dumped. They have those big bins of luggage and them move them with a forklift. I assume that the bin somehow tipped when they lifted it. All the bins were lined up right there along the water. You can see the bins in the bottom left side of the picture--they're red. You can see the white pole sticking out of the side of the boat--those were the hooks they were using trying to fish them out.

 

150005_10150328840805215_655490214_15956361_897059_n.jpg

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