At Sea- en route to Rio
3 December 2007- Monday
At Sea en route to Rio
Up at 6 and look at the GPS to note that the captain has the pedal to the metal- we're doing 18 knots (1 knot =1.15 land miles) and our ship's top speed is 19knots. we are supposed to be in Rio about noon tomorrow- great because Rio harbor spectacular in daylight (not bad at night either since I've done both before). Heard the Marco Polo will not get a name change from the new company and they will do Baltic, Scandinavian tours in summer and Antarctic in winter- That is northern hemisphere summer and winter. Decide to join the deck chair game so put my towel on a chair right outside my room before breakfast. After breakfast sat in the chair and fell asleep for an hour when I tried to do some reading. gave my chair up after that Saw Liz on deck and she informed me this was our last full sailing day and that she had started packing- Back to cabin to find the tags for my bags and the suggesting tipping schedule for the crew. 3.50 a day for the room steward and the table waiter- 1.50 for the busboy and .50 for the maitre de'. Adds up pretty quickly. One time they just told the passengers that it was being added to their ship's bill and almost started a riot- that's because some cheapskates probably don't tip at all. Went to a digital tour of the bridge and engine room- they used to have tours of the bridge and engine room, but new security rules puts these off limits to passengers- so one of the gals on the entertainment staff put together a slide show which was very well done. She got some slides from the captain which were taken when the ship was in dry dock so got to see the ships propellers and the stabilizers. The stabilizers look like wings sticking out of the side of the ship way below water line- they are 14 feet long and dampen the side to side motion of the ship. Several of the crew have commented on how smooth a crossing we have had. The engines are 3 stories tall and each develops 15,000 hp. Even though they use GPS, the crew still has to keep charts and keep up their old navigation skills with sextant, etc. and everything on the bridge is logged. The pilot that comes on board when we enter harbor is used because he know local conditions, but the captain is still responsible for the ship. She was followed by 2 of the dancers who talked about life on a liner. They don't only dance but have crew duties. Most of them have bunks in their cabins, but the also have room stewards for cleanup. The company that hires these entertainers is located in Vancouver and both singers and dancers have to audition- some let them so that by email and video clips. The usually contract for 7-8 months and the agency rotates them onto various ships. We had a violinist come on board for a one night stand in the Mediterranean and he left the next day. The performers have to be a certain height and weight so they only require minimal changes to the costumes. Once on board they have to submit a weekly report- including a weigh in as they are only allowed to fluctuate 5 pounds either way. If they are loosing weight the company contacts the cruise director about their schedule. Even though they only perform once or twice a week, they still have to work out everyday and so a 2 hour rehearsal they day of performance. The reason for the quick changes are that they use ,not buttons and elastic shoe laces.Only after costume change are they allowed to wipe off the sweat or sip some water- if they have time. It was all very enlightening and sounds like a tough life- unless you love what you're doing. Checked email but didn't upload a blog. Dinner formal tonight so put on a tie for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. They had roast beef or a seafood plate with a little lobster tail, and the usual baked Alaska parade (ice cream covered with meringue). Bill and Marge and I brought our complimentary wine bottles so we all had wine. Ellen appointed herself responsible for collecting email addresses and plans to disseminate them. Then we went up to the captain's farewell party- free drinks. Followed by the operatic vocalist- good, and Paul Adams with the same old jokes- not very funny anymore. Then a stroll to the front of the ship for some star shine- but an oil rig lit up like a Christmas tree ruined most of the sky- price of progress I guess.
At Sea en route to Rio
Up at 6 and look at the GPS to note that the captain has the pedal to the metal- we're doing 18 knots (1 knot =1.15 land miles) and our ship's top speed is 19knots. we are supposed to be in Rio about noon tomorrow- great because Rio harbor spectacular in daylight (not bad at night either since I've done both before). Heard the Marco Polo will not get a name change from the new company and they will do Baltic, Scandinavian tours in summer and Antarctic in winter- That is northern hemisphere summer and winter. Decide to join the deck chair game so put my towel on a chair right outside my room before breakfast. After breakfast sat in the chair and fell asleep for an hour when I tried to do some reading. gave my chair up after that Saw Liz on deck and she informed me this was our last full sailing day and that she had started packing- Back to cabin to find the tags for my bags and the suggesting tipping schedule for the crew. 3.50 a day for the room steward and the table waiter- 1.50 for the busboy and .50 for the maitre de'. Adds up pretty quickly. One time they just told the passengers that it was being added to their ship's bill and almost started a riot- that's because some cheapskates probably don't tip at all. Went to a digital tour of the bridge and engine room- they used to have tours of the bridge and engine room, but new security rules puts these off limits to passengers- so one of the gals on the entertainment staff put together a slide show which was very well done. She got some slides from the captain which were taken when the ship was in dry dock so got to see the ships propellers and the stabilizers. The stabilizers look like wings sticking out of the side of the ship way below water line- they are 14 feet long and dampen the side to side motion of the ship. Several of the crew have commented on how smooth a crossing we have had. The engines are 3 stories tall and each develops 15,000 hp. Even though they use GPS, the crew still has to keep charts and keep up their old navigation skills with sextant, etc. and everything on the bridge is logged. The pilot that comes on board when we enter harbor is used because he know local conditions, but the captain is still responsible for the ship. She was followed by 2 of the dancers who talked about life on a liner. They don't only dance but have crew duties. Most of them have bunks in their cabins, but the also have room stewards for cleanup. The company that hires these entertainers is located in Vancouver and both singers and dancers have to audition- some let them so that by email and video clips. The usually contract for 7-8 months and the agency rotates them onto various ships. We had a violinist come on board for a one night stand in the Mediterranean and he left the next day. The performers have to be a certain height and weight so they only require minimal changes to the costumes. Once on board they have to submit a weekly report- including a weigh in as they are only allowed to fluctuate 5 pounds either way. If they are loosing weight the company contacts the cruise director about their schedule. Even though they only perform once or twice a week, they still have to work out everyday and so a 2 hour rehearsal they day of performance. The reason for the quick changes are that they use ,not buttons and elastic shoe laces.Only after costume change are they allowed to wipe off the sweat or sip some water- if they have time. It was all very enlightening and sounds like a tough life- unless you love what you're doing. Checked email but didn't upload a blog. Dinner formal tonight so put on a tie for the 3rd time in 3 weeks. They had roast beef or a seafood plate with a little lobster tail, and the usual baked Alaska parade (ice cream covered with meringue). Bill and Marge and I brought our complimentary wine bottles so we all had wine. Ellen appointed herself responsible for collecting email addresses and plans to disseminate them. Then we went up to the captain's farewell party- free drinks. Followed by the operatic vocalist- good, and Paul Adams with the same old jokes- not very funny anymore. Then a stroll to the front of the ship for some star shine- but an oil rig lit up like a Christmas tree ruined most of the sky- price of progress I guess.
Labels: Barcelona to Rio
posted by DT at 9:33 AM
1 Comments:
you anywhere close to home yet?
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