One of my favourite activities onboard a cruise ship is the question-and-answer session with the captain and senior officers. Not every cruise line does it, but Royal Caribbean does on at least some of its ships, and it’s called Captain’s Corner.
On my cruise aboard Vision of the Seas, I learned — or was reminded of — quite a few “fun facts” about that particular ship and cruising in general in a session hosted by Captain Marek Slaby.
As a handout notes, the Vision has a gross tonnage of 78,717; its is 278.94 metres long (nearly as long as the Eiffel Tower is tall); 32.3 metres wide; and can accommodate 2,320 passengers. Additionally, there are as many as 790 crew members, currently from 53 countries.
On the average 7-day cruise, customers and crew will consume moe than 4,000lbs of beef, 357lbs of pork, plus 1,00 lbs of bacon, 5,000lbs of chicken and more than 13,000 eggs — plus a lot, lot more. More than 10,000 bottles of beer and 1,800 bottles of wine and spirits is typically consumed in a week. Oh, and they hold about 165,000 gallons of fresh water.
The hotel manager says there’s enough food to last about four weeks, although not everything on the menu would be available after the first two weeks.
Most of the questions on this cruise related to food and waste disposal. The chief engineer described how the sewage system works by vacuum, allowing for smaller pipes than land-based systems, and the grey and black water is treated to near-drinking quality before being discharged at sea.
Non recyclable hard waste is burnt in the ship’s incinerator according to strict environmental guidelines.
Drinking water is partly loaded at port but mostly harvested from the sea and desalinated by the ship.
I was interested in the captain’s powers. He confirmed that he can conduct weddings.
As the Vision (like so many ships) is registered in the Bahamas, the captain is authorised under Bahaman law to perform weddings. However, you must present that certificate to your local authority and they may or may not accept it.
When it comes to bad behavior, offenders are reported to the captain and referred for medical assessment. If the security team and captain deem you a danger, you are locked up, either in an interior statement or “one of the brigs”.
The hotel manager added that you can get room service if you’re locked up — but you best enjoy it while you can because you will be handed over to the local authorities at the next port.
The captain noted that he hadn’t had to exercise that power for a while. (I have, however, been on a ship where a man was locked up, mainly for his own protection, during a period of days at sea where he overdid the booze.)
Other ship captains have confirmed that there is a facility to keep bodies cold if a death occurs on board (which, given the age of some passengers, is entirely possible).
