The New Age of Passenger Liners

[Erik Wood]

Well Yuri yes I do get that thrill if I didn't I wouldn't be doing the job. However the amount of time that you spend away from your loved ones as well as the fact that on 1 week cruise I probably get close to 24 hours of sleep during that whole thing. I do like being looked at as a leadership role and that role is constantly challenging. As Michael said every trip is different. The thrill of leadership can also be your worst enemy. I am a very relaxed and easy going guy until something happens when I become very intense and jo's have said that " watch out for the Captain if you piss him off he will bring the wrath of god with him and that isn't something you will want to survive" I do have a rather bad temper especially when it comes to somebody being ignorant. Everything that goes on on that ship is my responsibilty. If some cook I have never seen before throws a bag of garbage over the side. Then the Coast Guard looks for me. Not the cook that did it. Me. But all in all it is a good job if you can stand the seperation and stress.

Erik

 

[Yuri Singleton]

Well I'm too old to join the navy. And I don't live near the ocean or any port. (Not yet anyway) Oh well. I'm just going to have to live vicariously through Michael and Erik as they tell about their experiences.

I just wish I could experience what its like to be ship's master. Just once before I die. I know I could buy a ticket and take a cruise somewhere, but that doesn't get you on the bridge or into the engine room. Besides, its too bloody expensive! Are captains allowed to have guests aboard? Like personal friends or family?
If so, can someone adopt me for a week. I promise I won't yell, "Iceberg!!", and I can swim like a fish! (in a pool that is)

Yuri (landlocked for life)

 

[Erik Wood]

Yuri,

My wife frequently travel with me for maybe a month or so and she is quite the social person. She holds teas and stuff like that. I have had guests and friends my parents people like that. You never know Yuri Maybe Santa will be nice to you this year and you will get on a ship. Maybe.

erik

 

[Yuri Singleton]

Thanks Erik,

With any luck I'll find an opportunity one day to get aboard a ship.

I was curious, why hasn't there been cruise ships built that are 2000 feet long and 200 feet wide? I mean ship sizes grew and grew until early this century when they reached about 900 - 1000 feet and then stopped. Why? What limits the size from growing?

Yuri

 

[Erik Wood]

Current Navigation Standard really. The channels are only so wide and can only manuver so much. 1000 feet is pushing the envolope. Channels are to narrow and to shallow not to mention that docks are to short to be able to accompany ships any longer then about 1015 feet.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Yet another limitation is the Panama Canal. I suppose one day, the locks will be widened and lengthened. They'll have to be, but that still won't solve the problem of getting some of the real monsters like cotainer and car carrier ships through the narrow channals such as the Guilliard Cut (I hope I spelled that right.) I've done the ditch five times and it gets pretty tight in some spots. Since it's something of an attraction for passangers, I can't see a really major effort at building more then a handful of really big ships.

Yet another problem lines want to avoid is excess capacity tied up in too few hulls...or excess capacity period. If they can't fill the ships up, they lose money in really big way.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Erik Wood]

How very true I read in another post and I commented that this year has been a terrible one for the Cruise Industry. Not that many people are traveling I think in part due to the grounding of two of the Princess boats that made headlines and the Carnival Fire. Then you have the garbage thing by both Carnival and Holland America. You have entry level positions that are being hard to find to fill. Capacity is something that is rarely filled these days. From what I hear Disney is the only company that can fill to capacity at least once a week. Even that is sometimes shaky.

Gulliard Cut as I believe it is called is a b----. If you turn it right (which I rarely do) you have some room but if you don't then you have about 10 to maybe 5 feet.

Erik

 

[Erik Wood]

Hey All,

For anybody interested I have posted a rather funny sea going story in my "Introduce Yourself" folder. Especially regarding New Age of Passenger Liners and some of the officers.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

I saw that sea story, Erik. It's a hoot. Ranks right up (down?) there with the famous mail bouy watch that new recruits got stuck with in my Navy days. You'd be amazed at how many people fell for that one.

Cordially,
Michael H.Standart

 

[Erik Wood]

Pranks are one of the many ways that I pass the time while underway. When a third reported on her first underway watch I cleaned out her entire cabin of everything and put the first in there and did the same for the First. So at 2000am when she got off watch and went back to her cabin she walked in on the first who was sitting waiting for and reading a book in his boxers. You heard her scream and then me laugh with the rest of the officers who were in on it. I am kind of mean.

I once looked my Chief in the head adjacent to the bridge on his watch. While underway we can test alarms that sound in the bridge only. So I went a pushed every alarm I could think of and made the JO, throttleman and helmsman shout things like. Oh my god, we are all going to die. You could hear the Chief banging on the head door. Finally he kicks it open only to find me next to the alarm panel laughing so hard I was crying and the rest of the crew just standing there attempting not to laugh. He gave me a rather nasty looked and then did this really purposefully bad and over acted mocking of me laughing and then just got really straight faced and then laughed with the rest of us.

I have a bad habit of doing things of that nature.

On a side note I found it of some interest to me that most of the ships that are steam around the world that burn #6 Bunker C in the boilers (use steam ) are being replaced with Diesel run turbines and over 80% of the worlds ships will be disel or non-steam powered by 2015.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Hi Erik, that Third Officer must have loved you for that little stunt. I hope you didn't have to fend off TOO many assassination attempts. ;-)

By the way, do you mean GAS turbines as opposed to deisel run turbines? Gas turbines are pretty common in military use where high performance is the priority and economy is a secondary consideration. I don't know that they have a lot of commercial applications for anything other then hovercraft and hydrofoils used for local passanger/commuter service. (I've seen a lot of hydrofoils in Hong Kong.The place is full of them.)

The trend away from steam to motorships is not much of a shocker really. They're cheaper to run by far, give excellant range, and their performance is pretty decent too.

I wonder, how many ships even use bunker C anymore? Most of them have got to be turning into razor blades right about now.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Susan Markowitz]

Thanks so much for those prank-tales, Erik! I'm laughing so hard I can hardly type!

I guess I'm mean, too, but I adore such things. It's one of the aspects I miss most about fencing (I "retired" in 1998): all the pranks we pulled on the fencing master, like wearing surgical gloves instead of our leather ones, and turning our breast-protectors inside out, i.e., concave instead of convex. We also used to hold regular "sock nights", when everyone wore the most ridiculous socks they could find (instead of white; showed up nicely against white uniforms). I feel a pang whenever I come across a pair of wild-looking socks: no one to annoy with them anymore.

At any rate, your stories and Michael's, et al., are great fun -- please keep 'em coming!

On a more serious note, now that cruise lines have "discovered" Newfoundland, there's talk of widening the infamous "Narrows" at the mouth of St. John's harbor, to permit larger ships to enter. Great for tourism, but, IMHO, a terrible shame, given its historical significance.

All the best -- Susan

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Hi Susan, I can't say as I'm familier with the Narrows, but from your tone, I gather they have wrecked their share of ships. Harbors and access points have to be dredged and widened all the time not only to take larger ships, but to deal with certain hazards such as rocks, shoals and the like.

There are other considerations as well. Environmental impact for example, but the people of Newfoundland will have to decide if the proposed alterations are worth the price.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Erik Wood]

I don't have all that much experience in the Narrows but I have heard of the talk to widen it. I have also heard that were the sprouse goose used to be behind the Queen Mary is going to be the new Carnival Hub for the West Coast. Construction may have already begun. I saw the job posting for an Ops Boss.

Michael,

Diesel is what I am referring to. Most of the modern liners are Diesel run turbine or some variation. Also there are some Diesel Electrics running around. They use diesel to power engines which turn a shaft that is usually operated electrically I am not quite sure how all that works. Norway is the last "Super Liner" to use steam but there are several smaller boats floating around. The Norway unfortunatly is done for. I do believe that this is her last year.

Erik

 

[Michael H. Standart]

A pity about the Norway. She and the QE2 are both the last of a noble breed. I hope she finds a buyer other then the scrap dealer.

One of my own ships, the USS Comstock was powered by four Colt-Peilstick PC2.5V's, but she used reduction gearing rather then electric to turn the screws.

I'm not certain that construction has begun on the Queen Mary 2 as yet. I'll have to check the Cunard or the Maritime News website to find out. It would be fast work if they did. The contract was only let last month.

Cordially,
Michael H. Stnadart