Out-of-the-ordinary at-sea days

Can you imagine being miles and miles from shore in this little boat?  That's exactly where they were.  When I zoomed the photo in I could see a fish on the bottom of a boat ... marlin, swordfish, not sure.  I thought they were maybe running drugs or trying to get to another country being so far away from land.  No way would I be out in this boat.  The weather can turn way too quickly ... and not always for the better.

There were a few out-of-the-ordinary things during our three days at sea (March 26-28) … we got our passports back.  Princess had them for safe keeping, and for officials to come on board and check them out.  Yahoo. 

And, we went to the Crab Shack -- $20 for all-you-can-eat crab, shrimp, mussels.  Crab and shrimp for me.  It was awesome, and now you understand the photo of the crab being loaded onto the ship. 

The Crab Shack ... we should have done it sooner, and more often.  Next cruise.  We know the ropes now.

Shrimp that were as big as little lobsters.  Yum, yum.

And I decided to take advantage of my birthday treat coupon ... notice the Princess logo on the side.

We had heard about a ship tour on our last cruise but when we’d tried to get on it, it was full.  We were smarter this time and had gone and put our names on a waiting list.  This list is a short one, usually with only 12 names, and as it turned out there were only eight or nine of us. 

We’d finally gotten the invitation and were glad we’d signed up for it.  It’s a $150 tour, but you get so much.  We were in places on the ship that many of the crew haven’t even seen.  And, they took photos for us (they weren’t very good ones, though), we got a bag with Princess aprons a picture frame (that was given to our housekeeper), personalized notepads and a big fluffy bathrobe that instantly became a liability when trying to pack.  It will make it home, but it was iffy for a while.

The mooring area was interesting ... there are two large anchors, four mooring winches and six lines that are used to tie up the ship to the dock.

The anchor chain is 24.7 meters to a shackle.  One chain is 12 shackle, the other 13.   The ship person said a shackle is 27.4 meters, and a meter equals 3.280 feet.  Math confuses me.  You figure it out. 

 

We toured the back of the Princess Theater, and underneath where the costumes and sets are stored.  The costumes all use ostrich feathers and Swarovski crystals for sparkle.  They are fitted to the performers at the beginning of the trip, so don't be eating too much and gaining any weight.



The galley had fancy non-alcoholic drinks for us.  Nice touch.  The food is only loaded in certain ports.  There are 25 rooms for storage, and 10 additional on a deck below the galley deck.  They are cold or freezer storage.  About 4,000 eggs a day are consumed by the passengers and crew.  They don't use ready-made stuff.  It's all from scratch ... bread, pastries, sauces.  We saw sides of beef hanging up in one of the storage areas.  There is one person who does nothing but chocolate decorations.  And there are 220 employees who do food.  Wow.

The laundry was more interesting than I thought it would be.  Those guys work hard, and they work 24/7 to keep up with the sheets, pillow cases, table cloths, and passenger and crew laundry.  There are huge mangles for ironing big stuff, smaller ones for clothing, machines that fold and others that steam.  The big washers are set on shocks and look to measure about 8 feet by 6 feet.  That's some kind of washer.  And it has to be with a never-ending stream of laundry. 

The medical area is fully stocked with drugs and has a portable x-ray machine if they need to take it to someone's room.  There are four nurses, two paramedics and two doctors.  And a four-person morgue. 

The engine control room was down in the bowels of the ship, deck four.  Computers control everything, of course.  There are six main generators that produce enough electricity to provide for a city of 60,000.  There are four engines, and two smaller ones, and thrusters to push us into and away from the docks.  There are seven fresh-water generators that use ocean water to make fresh water.  That's done on deck one, and we didn't get to see them.  There are two engines running at all times for safety, even in port, and the ship holds 750,000 gallons of fuel. 

The print shop was next on our stop list.  The printers look like antiques but they work hard producing 1,800 copies of the Princess Patter daily.  That's the newsletter delivered to our door each day.  They use 25,000 boxes of paper every two-week cruise. 

The Princess photo shop was the first to do digital photos and the prints are top-quality, lasting 150 years.  They usually print between 11-15,000 photos for a one-week cruise.

A view from the bridge overlooks the crew pool.

Our last stop was the bridge.  That's where they can see forever.  There is someone on watch at all times, with the bridge crew working four-hour shifts with a rest period for eight hours.  They have to make sure we get to our ports on time, using the proper speed, watch for other ships, keep us on course.  The Captain came up to chat with us and take a photo ... but like I said, the photos they took weren't very good.

The bridge extends out on either side of the ship, so this is the view from there looking back along the ship.

I loved the big window wipers ... better than the ones on my car.

The Golden Princess flies the flag of the country we are visiting as a courtesy.
 

There aren't many photos of the tour as we were told not to bring cameras.  However, I had taken my Iphone so I could make some notes for the blog.  Lucky for me.  They did allow some photos so that's why I have anything at all for show-and-tell.  And IPhone photos aren't bad.

And another plus, we later got another certificate.  That's a very nice touch.

 There was also some down stuff during these last few days … both of our coffee cards ran out so no more fancy coffee until next trip.  And there are certain types of people who are so focused on where they are going and what they are doing they will run you over rather than look up and try to avoid you.  I decided to take no more prisoners and held my ground.  They really don’t like a shoulder hit.  Hockey moves came in handy.

Cabo San Lucas tomorrow and another zip line.  We’ll see what this one holds for us.  Will it be better?  Will it be not as good?  Will we live through it?