My views do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.
In normal operations, on Sea Days I would have activities throughout the day with breaks in between and evenings full of activities. On Port Days I would either work all day, work some of the day or have some time off before doing an evening of activities. With no guests, we work all day, occasionally give ourselves a little break (but more often power on through) and then we have the evenings free. As we ‘stress tested’ various areas on the ship we had a few nights where we conducted evening activities (though we’d only do one a night), but we still worked all day. I enjoy not needing to be ‘on’ and animated so much of the time, but the lack of guests is making me appreciate the interactions with them (and the breaks throughout the day). This contract I’m really going to enjoy when things are all set up and ready to go and I’m going to really be aware of how much I enjoy having an audience. In the mean time, I’m really enjoying having my evenings free.
One of my favorite things about being on vacation is only participating in parties as much as I want to. On this voyage, we crossed the equator and the date line without any noticeable fanfare.
It was like crossing the street – no big deal.
Everyone just hung out in the open air like normal. No announcements were made. The Production cast took a picture to mark the occasion, so we did too.
Engine Room Tour
When the opportunity to tour the Engine Room came up, I signed up right away! I’d never done one of these and I’d been asking to go to all the places I’m not allowed for days!
It started in the Engine Control Room, which is actually a bunch of computers (I’ll admit I envisioned a bunch of machines, but it does make sense that the engines would be controlled by computers). My friend Chris did a great presentation for the guests on the Caribbean Princess about what he did in the Engine Control Room, so it was really fun to see it in person on this ship.
They can drive the ship from here if something happens to the bridge.
We left the ECR (engine control room) and tucked earplugs into our ears to head down to the place that makes everything go.
It was LOUD and HOT. We went into another room so Gabrielle, our tour guide, could explain some things. Then the phone rang- it was so loud it definitely couldn’t be missed!
We climbed down to an even lower level
There was machinery everywhere! Now this was what I was picturing!
It seemed like this level goes the whole length of the ship!
This is the tube of the propellor. Don’t worry– Gabrielle used all the right words. I have since forgotten them.
They also process the water and waste down here.
Here Gabrielle is explaining us the water filtration system. We take sea water, make it potable, use it, clean it, and then put it back in the ocean.
I think I took pictures of these because they’re important, but I can’t remember why.
This is the giant propeller!
This is the thing that makes it turn:
Down at the far end is the ocean.
That tour was way more in depth than I expected. It’s nice to see all the stuff that goes on down there even if I don’t understand how it all works (yep- even though Gabrielle told me on the tour).
Later that evening we found the crew pool. The pool for guests on the Lido deck had been open (though we hadn’t had a chance to use it), but now it needed to be tidied up for the guests. Normally the Crew Pool is at the very front of the ship on the part that looks out, but when I was looking for a good view of the Panama Canal, I did not see a pool where there usually was one. William did a contract on the Island Princess (Coral’s sister ship) so he showed us where to find it.
It turns out it’s just up a deck and tucked in a bit. There is lots of room to lay out in the sun, but it has a nice section that’s covered as well. I haven’t visited it since, but we sure saw a nice sunset that night!
There’s a little hot tub on the side.
Bridge Tour
I signed up for the Bridge tour (even though I’ve been to the bridge of every ship I’ve worked on). And it turns out, it looks just like all the other bridges!
Here’s the view out the back:
My favorite part is the collection of flags.
Finally, my favorite part about Return to Service is stress testing the Specialty Dining Rooms. Jack wanted to go to Sabatini’s, but William, Joseph and I wanted to try the Bayou Cafe (I’d eaten at Sabatini’s on the other ships, but I hadn’t tried this menu). We’d been at sea for so long (without picking up more food) that we were warned that they may not have as extensive a menu as the guests would have. The food we were offered is a lot like the Crown Grill, which is definitely one of my favorites.
We joined tables with the Shore Excursions team and had a great time with great food and great company. I really enjoyed not having to be anywhere later that night. When I had dinner with my mom at the Crown Grill on Enchanted, I managed to have most of the courses in 20 minutes before rushing off to go to work.
As of this writing, we’ve arrived in Brisbane! I covered the emergency duties and stayed onboard while the rest of the team went off for some civilization. I briefly met our Cruise Director who just arrived. Now it’s time to gear up for guests! We have a couple more days before our test cruise, and then next week we will officially return to service with our first Revenue guests in two years. I’ll let you know how it goes!