Lee Mallender

Well, what a day today has been. We've actually seen some sunshine and the temperature actually made it out of single figures, not quite jumper off weather but we're getting there. Although we have been at sea all day today, we were up and about early as we were treated to the "Ultimate Ships Tour". We met at 8am and all I can say is wow, what a treat. We were taken behind the scenes and showed what goes on back of house. After disappearing into a "Crew Only" door we were introduced to the "M1". The M1 is a corridor which runs the complete length of the ship and everywhere is accessible from it. It's very busy and very buzzing. We were then taken to the following departments and were greeted by the senior officers for each of them.

The Mooring Room

Here we met the Senior First Officer and the Bosun. As the room suggests, here is where all the work is done when mooring. We saw the mooring ropes, and the anchor ⚓️. Each anchor on board weighs 4 tonnes and there are 2 and a spare.

The Galley

Here we met the Master Chef and were treated to free drinks, chocolates and canapés. We were told how the kitchen was run and how they cater for the different people on board depending on where the ship is going to and from. They monitor what food is being eaten and what is not and when the orders go in they are usually marked with roughly where the passenger is from. Not only do they cater for the passengers, they cater for the crew too. They are big on making sure all the staff are happy and finding them a position that satisfies them. We were asked what we thought the worst food to run out of would be? Sharon suggested English Bacon, haha. The answer is rice 🍚. Due to the fact that people from the Philippines consume a massive amount of it for every single meal of the day. Taken that a massive amount of the hotel staff and most of the engineers are from there, when they don't get rice they don't work, therefore disaster. Apparently this has happened only once before and that was due to a let down delivery.

The butchers, the freezer and the food storage room

They actually have their own butchers on the ship sorting out all the meat. The freezer was massive and very cold (obvs) and we spoke to the man responsible for ordering all the food. Food is ordered 2 months in advance and is delivered in containers from various places around the world 🌎. On an average 2 week cruise, around about 40 tonnes of food is used.

The Engine Control Room

The Senior Technical Engineer here was a very clever switched on man. He explained to us all about how they make their own fresh water on the ship using reverse osmosis , how they generate their own power using high voltage and then how they step it down to useable power, how all the waste is treated as well as all the jobs performed to make sure the ship runs smoothly and economically. The best statistic of the day is that the ships fuel economy for this cruise so far is 9feet to the gallon !! which equates to about 586 gallons per mile. Suddenly Sharon's car ain't so bad.

The Laundry

This place was fascinating, the funny bit was the man in charge was Chinese, Sharon whispering in my ear "Chinese Laundry" again a lovely man who showed us all the machines in operation and the size of the operation was huge. All the shirts are steamed and put on a machine to dry they clean and press about 1000 shirts per day. The best machines were the ones that dried the sheets and the napkins, they get steamed, dried and folded all in under a minute.

Print Shop and Photo Shop.

For such high volume of printing (menus, port guides, princess patter every day, flyers, order pads, notebooks etc.) there are only 2 people in the print shop who manage everything for the whole ship. They can print 1000 Princess Patter leaflets a minute !! Handy as when we didn't dock in Lerwick he had to redesign and do them all again. The photo shop was more a demonstration of what they do and the fact that they still develop photos on the ship using the chemicals that have been around for 60 years.

The Theatre

Here we went back stage and met the Stage Director, a couple of the dancers and the Production Manager. I recognised the Production Manager dancer from the ITV show the Cruise, for my fellow male mates she looked just as good as she does on the telly 👍. They told us what went in to the production of the shows and some of the prices involved in putting them on, one of the current productions cost over 1 million dollars 💵. Some of the dresses used in excess of $5000 each. They explained the differences between a stage on board and a fixed stage. All good stuff.

The Bridge

Well, what can I say, this was fantastic. We once again met the Captain and the Senior First Officer(again) as well as both Navigators and both Quartermasters. The view of the ocean and the whole of the ship was phenomenal. The bridge itself was like walking in to a posh boardroom. It was very plush and very quiet. At any one time there are 4 officers on duty, 2 Quartermasters and 2 Navigators. They all work 4 hours on, 8 hours off. However, when we had our fog earlier in the cruise, they increased that to an extra officer. We were showed all the instruments and navigation devices and it was really enjoyable and interesting. We were also showed some pictures from the dry dock, some more interesting information, the propellers on the bow and stern thrusters are 2 meters in diameter, the main ships propellers of which there are 2 are 6 meters in diameter. The depth of the ship under water is 8 meters, above water it is 60. Amazes me how the thing floats.

At the end of the tour we were taken to Sabatini's restaurant at the back of the ship and given champagne and canapés. A truly magnificent tour, highly recommended to anyone doing a cruise.

After the tour we went and had a spot of lunch as we missed breakfast because we just didn't get up early enough. As the sun had made an appearance we then went and sat out on deck just enjoying watching the world go by. At 3pm we decided to go to the dining room for traditional Afternoon Tea. It's always a lovely afternoon, tea, sandwiches, cakes snd scones served in proper silver teapots and the staff wearing white gloves. Very English and very nice 👍

And to top it all off, when we arrived back at our cabin we had been left a goodie bag each which consisted of A silver photo frame, a set of pictures taken by the ships photographer on the tour, a personalised notepad with our names on it, a dressing gown and an apron. One each for us both. We were very surprised and it was a lovely gesture.

So, if you've got to the end of this bit, congratulations you are a star follower. We're just in the cabin contemplating if and where to go and eat, wait for this we are thinking we will give food a miss tonight as we are stuffed. Might give Movies Under the Stars a go though at 10.00pm 🎥

Until tomorrow, thanks for reading and Adios !!Read more