FYI--If you click on a photo, it will be enlarged.
Captain Vasta met us promptly at 5pm yesterday by the Reception Desk to escort the four of us up to the bridge for our private tour. He spent 45 minutes with us explaining all his "toys" and how he uses them. I've seen several other cruise ship's bridges but this one was the most impressive. The ship is only 3 years old now so has all the latest computer displays and electronics.
The "cockpit" of the bridge.
There are two officers on the bridge at all times plus two other seamen as a minimum. Depending on the weather or situation there may be more. The Captain and/or Staff Captain will be on the bridge during bad weather and while coming into and departing ports. These nice chairs are slide up so they can monitor displays and control the ship's steering, engines, and bow & stern thrusters. The thruster are used in docking to move the ship sideways.
Melissa Jane
These 3 computer displays can be changed to show data and information the bridge officers need. He said the most critical information he needs during docking is the wind and current. Both are doppler instruments: wind from sensor on top of the ship and ocean current from sensor on bottom of the ship. They load the navigational waypoints in the computer before leaving so the autopilot can track the course to the next port. Much the same way pilots upload their flight plan into the plane's navigation system.
Between and aft of the two chairs is where the "helmsman" stands. He is the one who will change the ship's heading as the captain commands during arrivals and departures from ports. The ship is normally on autopilot at sea.
On each side of the bridge is the "wing". It sticks out over the side of the ship so the Captain can see all along the ship's side during docking. He can maneuver the ship from these wings also.
He can also see the ship's front side with this window in the floor. He said this was especially useful during our transiting through the locks of the Panama Canal.
All the ship's communications equipment: Two VHF radios, two satellite phones, portable radios plus more. The blue portable radio is set to 121.5, the emergency frequency used by all commercial airplanes. So if in range they can communicate with planes in distress or ships in distress.
This was in a room just behind the navigational part of the bridge. It is a "war room", if you will, as is where they control any emergency going on inside the ship. The biggest threat to a ship is fire. From here they can close the air tight doors located throughout the ship to isolate the fire while it is being fought by trained crew members. They can also turn the ventilation off in the area of a fire to limit the oxygen that feeds fires. There are smoke and fire detectors all around the ship that monitor for a fire situation. Every suite has them also. If one is set off an alarm goes off on the bridge and a team is sent to check it out. There are sprinklers in all suites and all other areas. A "fog" system is used on the bridge to fight a fire as water would not be good on all the electronics.
I thought the lantern on the left was a huge spot light. It is actually an instrument used to simulate the heat of a fire in order to check all the fire sensors located in the ship.
This bottle of water holds the ceremonial water when the ship was first floated out of dry dock in Genoa, Italy, where the ship was built.
This is a first officer and second officer. They will be on duty this evening during our departure.
What We Did Last Night:
I bought this bottle of pisco sour when on a tour in Peru. Finally got around to opening it in the Meridian Lounge. Jane & Melissa went to Chartreuse, the French specialty restaurant, for dinner.
Rebecca and I went up to Sette Mari, Italian restaurant, for our dinner. They transform one side of the La Veranda buffet, during the day, into an Italian restaurant at night. I love the way they can open the big sliding door on Explorer so we can watch Chef Bogdan and the other cooks prepare dinners. It was very entertaining to watch them in action.
I asked Chef Bogdan to make me some veal parmesan. Showed him my photo of how I wanted it. It was huge!!
Just the way I like it. I almost ate the whole thing.
Rebecca had the veal limone.
Love this photo of us.
On left is Teresa, the maitre d in Sette Mari. Dewi was our waitress. Jeff, Teresa is available!!
No dessert for us. Just coffee, biscotti, and limoncello.
GREAT DINNER AND GREAT TIME
Production show
What We Did Today:
Relaxing day at sea. We worked out in gym this morning and I spent rest of the morning working on adding the above photos.
I actually got Rebecca to join me for lunch in Prime 7 today. Normally she stays in the suite and has her Atkins protein bar at lunch time. But now that the cruise is nearly over she has decided to enjoy some real food. This is Vishnu. We both had a Ceasar salad with a piece of grilled salmon. We like our fish cooked medium I had to send mine back for the very first time as it was a little over cooked. Chef Pieter personally brought my second piece out and apologized. I told him there was no apology needed and that he was still my favorite chef. Well, actually, I have a lot of favorite chefs on this ship.
At noon the Captain said it was sunny and 81 degrees outside. The Caribbean is nearly 5,000 feet deep here and we are sailing at 17 knots. Another smooth sailing day! The water is an incredible blue today.
Here is what is happening today. I think if you click on this photo it will be enlarged so you can maybe read it. Not doing any of it as Rebecca is reading and I have a letter to compose on my laptop.
There is a James Bond special performance event in the theater at 6:00 this evening but we'll probably just go to Meridian Lounge as usual. Marcia will be joining the four of us for a special fried seafood dinner prepared for us by Chef Dino in Compass Rose. I think this one will be better than Chef Sean's was last segment. No show after dinner tonight as there is a Beatles dance party in the atrium instead.
The Captain said we would be arriving in George Town on Grand Cayman at 8am tomorrow instead of the scheduled 9am. There is no dock there so we will be using the tenders to go ashore. We are not doing a tour but I do want to go ashore for awhile.
Captain Vasta met us promptly at 5pm yesterday by the Reception Desk to escort the four of us up to the bridge for our private tour. He spent 45 minutes with us explaining all his "toys" and how he uses them. I've seen several other cruise ship's bridges but this one was the most impressive. The ship is only 3 years old now so has all the latest computer displays and electronics.
What We Did Last Night:
What We Did Today:
Relaxing day at sea. We worked out in gym this morning and I spent rest of the morning working on adding the above photos.
At noon the Captain said it was sunny and 81 degrees outside. The Caribbean is nearly 5,000 feet deep here and we are sailing at 17 knots. Another smooth sailing day! The water is an incredible blue today.
There is a James Bond special performance event in the theater at 6:00 this evening but we'll probably just go to Meridian Lounge as usual. Marcia will be joining the four of us for a special fried seafood dinner prepared for us by Chef Dino in Compass Rose. I think this one will be better than Chef Sean's was last segment. No show after dinner tonight as there is a Beatles dance party in the atrium instead.
The Captain said we would be arriving in George Town on Grand Cayman at 8am tomorrow instead of the scheduled 9am. There is no dock there so we will be using the tenders to go ashore. We are not doing a tour but I do want to go ashore for awhile.
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