Cruise Note - - What does the pilot do?

When a cruise ship is coming into port, those up strolling the deck notice that the ship will slow down and a small boat will approach the side. As the boat approaches, the ship’s crew opens one of the side doors in the hull and a ladder is lower down. Then, as the small boat bounces along in the ship’s wake, someone grabs the ladder and quickly climbs the ladder into the ship. With the pilot safe on board, the ship picks up speed and heads toward the harbor.

Pilots are local officials or persons licensed by the port to assist the ships entering and leaving a port. They are familiar with the local waters and provide guidance on navigation in those waters. Their knowledge goes beyond what is set forth on the navigational charts. They know such things as whether a sandbar has shifted recently, the strength of the current due to recent rainfall, and any movement in the shipping channels. Therefore, a good pilot’s advice is extremely useful to the ship’s captain.

Contrary to popular belief, the captain does not cede command to the pilot. Rather, the pilot is an advisor. If the captain is familiar with a certain pilot, the captain may go as far as to allow the pilot to give orders to the helmsman steering the ship. However, if it is obvious that the pilot just got his job through political patronage, the captain may well ignore him. The captain retains overall responsibility and thus the argument that an accident was the pilot’s fault does not get the captain very far.

There is one exception to this rule. In the Panama Canal, the captain does cede responsibility to the pilot. This is a recognition that navigating that system of locks requires a specialized expertise.

There are several types of pilots. For example, in New York, there are pilots who specialize in bringing the ships into and out of the finger piers along the Hudson River. They are called “docking pilots”. There are also pilots who are familiar with the shipping lanes and bringing the ship out to sea after the docking pilot has brought the ship into the river. They are known as “river pilots”. This is why passengers leaving Manhattan’s Passenger Ship Terminal will see the ship slow down once it is headed down river and someone climb into a tug boat that has come along side. Then, once the ship is out of the harbor, a small boat comes along side and yet another person departs.

Meals fit for a Queen

The Cunard queens have long been associated in the public imagination with style and elegance and so passengers coming on board Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 expect a luxury cruise experience. Dining is, of course, a key element of this experience and the cooking is a crucial part of the dining experience. Yet, how do you provide such food for some 2,600 guests who are eating throughout the day in ten different dining venues that range from an English pub to a five-star restaurant.

The man in charge of performing this task is Klaus Kremer, Executive Chef of the Queen Mary 2. Klaus has been with Cunard for 20 years and is thus familiar with the line’s traditional approach to cruising. However, he is also aware that there has been an evolution in cooking and the tastes of today’s passengers are not those of earlier generations.

Recently, I had the opportunity to talk with the chef about some of the challenges he faces and about how his massive operation works. It is posted along with several photos of the ship’s galleys at http://www.beyondships.com/QM2-Kremer-1.html

At most cruise terminals, when you arrive you have the choice of handing your bags over to a porter employed by the terminal or of carrying the bags onto the ship yourself. This note looks at some of the considerations in deciding whether to part with your bags and if so how many.

The reasons in favor of carrying the bags your self are primarily peace of mind and utility. If you take the bags with you, you will know that they have not been lost. In addition, you will have the use of the contents immediately when you arrive on board.

There are several countervailing considerations. First, there is the feasibility of carrying the bags yourself. If you have brought more than you can physically carry by yourself, you will have to check at least some of the bags with the porter.

Second, there is the inconvenience of carrying (or these days more often wheeling) your bags through the security apparatus, the lines for check in and then onto the ship. The final part of the journey onto the ship can involve going up escalators or, like at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port in Bayonne, New Jersey, carrying the bags on and off the shuttle bus that takes passengers from the terminal to the ship.

In addition, you will have to watch your bags in the waiting lounge if the ship is not ready for boarding when you arrive. Similarly, several cruise lines allow passengers to board before the cabins are ready for occupancy. In such a situation, you will have to take the bags with you around the ship while you wait for your room to be ready.

Another consideration is that you will have to restrict what you bring with you on the cruise if you are going to carry your bags yourself because your baggage capacity is limited to what you can carry. Of course, with today’s airline baggage restrictions, this is more of a consideration for people who are not flying to get to the cruise.

Balancing these considerations, most people going on cruises more than four nights long, opt to check at least some of their luggage. By looking at what happens to a bag once it is given over to the porter, we can get some idea as to what should be checked and what should be carried.

When a bag is checked, the porter will place it on a trolley along with several other passengers’ baggage. It is customary to give the porter a tip at that point. Some view this as just being fair. The more cynical view it as insurance that you will see the bag again. The amount of the tip varies with the locale with the customary tip being more in the cities with a higher cost of living.

The bags are than taken to a security processing area where they are scanned and/ or sniffed by canine inspectors. For the larger, more modern cruise ships, the bags are then placed in steel cages and loaded onto the ship by forklift through large doors in the hull. On older ships, they are loaded by conveyor belt.

Once on board, the bags become the responsibility of the ship’s baggage team. Typically, they are sorted by deck and then taken to the appropriate deck by elevator and placed in a staging area (frequently the lobby surrounding that elevator). Members of the baggage team then distribute the bags to the cabins.

Considering this process, it is clear that one should not place fragile items in a soft sided bag and then check the bag. You bag may well be placed under a pile of other bags at several points and the bags are not handled with the utmost gentleness.

While the vast majority of bags do make it to their rightful owners, there is a possibility that the bag will be lost or will take a dip in the harbor as it is loaded onto the ship. Therefore, do not check anything that is very valuable or irreplaceable.

Along the same lines, do not check anything that you will need or want in the next few hours. Once a bag is checked, you may not see it until after the ship has sailed. Indeed, if the luggage tag has come off or if it has been delivered to the wrong cabin, it may not show up until that night or the next day. Thus, for example, if you are planning to use the ship’s swimming pool that afternoon, carry your swim things with you. It almost goes without saying that one should not check the bag that contains your ticket or passport. Otherwise, the bags may be the only ones going on the cruise.

I was on board Holland America’s flagship Amsterdam recently. Entering service in October 2000, Amsterdam shares the top position in the HAL fleet with her sister ship Rotterdam.

At approximately 61,000 gross tons, Amsterdam is a mid-sized ship. It feels substantial and capable of transiting the oceans of the world, which Amsterdam does on its yearly world cruise. At the same time, the ship is small enough not only to navigate the confined waters around Alaska, which it does in the summer, but also to retain a feeling of intimacy.

The interior of Amsterdam is one of subtlety and refinement. There is no neon and the colors are muted. At the same time, it is elegant but not overwhelming. This is not a floating palace but rather an upscale hotel. Artwork is beautifully displayed as part of contemporary styled public rooms, softly lit and comfortable.

This isn’t to say that the ship speaks in a monotone. The Queens Lounge, the venue for the ship’s production shows and for guest entertainers, has an almost whimsical art deco styling. The Pinnacle Grill, the alternative restaurant, resembles a Parisian restaurant of the late 19th Century, while the main dining room is an impressive two-deck high space that occupies the stern of the ship.

The passengers on board Amsterdam are in harmony with the ship’s sophisticated atmosphere. They tend to be well-educated, well-traveled and upper middle class. There is nothing flashy about them.

In many respects, Amsterdam echoes her Dutch heritage. Of course, most of the officers are Dutch and a majority of the crew are from the former Dutch colonies in the East Indies. Adjectives like clean, efficient, industrious and high quality come to mind in describing the ship’s style but also words like practical and understated.

I have assembled the information I have gathered about Amsterdam into a profile of the ship complete with an extensive photo tour and commentary. It is posted at: http://www.beyondships.com/HAL-Amsterdam.html

Cruise Tips #2 Which is the best cruise line?

Since I have done over 100 cruises, I am often asked: “Which is the best cruise line?” Unfortunately, there is no objective answer to that question. I can tell you which cruise line I enjoy the most but there is no absolute best cruise line.

Let me explain. All of the major cruise lines have beautiful ships with a wide variety of amenities and facilities. They differ in decor, size and the type of facilities that are emphasized. Thus, generally speaking, it is a matter of personal taste whether a person will like one ship more than another.

Along the same lines, each of the lines does a good job in trying to provide the type of cruise experience that it is seeking to provide. Thus, whether one will enjoy a cruise on one line more than on another depends upon which line's targeted cruise experience is more attuned to your personal lifestyle and taste.

Cruises are not fungible commodities. Each of the lines tries to do something different. For example, Cunard seeks to provide a sophisticated, formal cruise experience that emphasizes the cultural aspects of life. Royal Caribbean seeks to provide an active cruise experience where physical activity and adventure are emphasized. NCL seeks to provide a casual, unstructured experience where the passenger makes all of the decisions. Thus, which cruise line is best for you depends upon which type of experience is most suited to your lifestyle.

To illustrate, if you are really into partying and casual, relaxation, you are unlikely to be happy on a cruise line that has a strict dress code and a string of formal nights. Similarly, if you like lectures and dressing for dinner, you are not going to be happy on a line where the daily activity centers around the swimming pool complex.

It should also be borne in mind that most of the people on the ship will be people who are attuned to the type of cruise experience that the line seeks to provide. This is due in large part to the fact that the various major lines have a high number of repeat passengers. Consequently, if one is not attuned to the type of cruise experience the line is seeking to offer, you probably will not find much in common with the other people on the ship.

It follows that just because one has enjoyed a number of cruises on one line or even several lines that one will enjoy cruising on all of the others. I spoke with one cruise director for a premium brand about what type of passenger would not enjoy his ship. He then proceeded to describe the type of passenger which his mass market affiliate states is exactly the type of passenger it seeks to serve.

I’m not saying that once you have found a line you like, never travel on any other. Variety can be interesting. Instead, the point is to go beyond questions such as port destinations, price and ship sizewhen you are considering a cruise and find out what is the type of cruise experience the line is seeking to provide.

Lusitania Remembered

This week marks the 93rd anniversary of the sinking of the Cunard ocean liner Lusitania. When she entered service in 1907, Lusitania made every other passenger ship in service obsolete. She was the first ocean liner over 30,000 gross tons, the first with four propellers and, along with her sister ship Mauretania, the fastest liner in service. Furthermore, she was luxurious with wood paneling, marble fireplaces and a dining room modeled after one is the Palace of Versailles. Lusitania was very popular and an icon of her time.

Lusitania was sunk by a German U-boat. In an effort to break the British blockade of Germany imposed at the start of World War I, the Kaiser’s government had initiated a policy of unrestricted submarine warfare under which any ship entering the waters off of the British Isles could be attacked without warning.

The German policy was contrary to accepted international law, which forbid a warship to attack a merchant ship without warning. Accordingly, U.S. President Woodrow Wilson warned that Germany would be held strictly accountable if any Americans were killed or injured in such an attack.

On her last voyage, Lusitania was traveling from still neutral America to England when she was attacked. 1,198 people were killed including many neutral Americans, women and children.
The event stunned the world. Eventually, it led to America’s entry into World War I against Germany.

While the sinking of the Titanic three years earlier has remained in the public imagination and there are numerous fans of that ship, the story of the Lusitania is less well-known today and no one ever professes to love the Lusitania. This is perplexing. Prior to their sinkings, both ships were held in high esteem by the public. Indeed, the primary reason for building Titanic and her sisters was to compete with Lusitania and Mauretania. Both were luxurious and had passenger lists that included the rich and famous. Titanic was larger but Lusitania was considerably faster.

The magnitudes of the tragedies were similar. 1,503 people went down with the Titanic, a slightly higher percentage (68%) of those onboard than in the Lusitania sinking (61%).

Both sinkings sent shock waves through America and Britain. They were both unimaginable. With the Titanic, it was how could such an engineering marvel have sunk? With the Lusitania, it was how could such a famous ship with so many innocents aboard be attacked in violation of accepted international law?

Both sinkings had long-term repercussions although those from the Lusitania sinking had a greater impact. The Titanic disaster resulted in changes in lifeboat requirements and in ice patrols. The Lusitania was a major factor leading to America’s entry into World War I and thus affected the outcome of that conflict, which continues to have an effect on world affairs today.

Of course, Lusitania has not had the benefit of being the subject of Hollywood movies and the publicity that surrounds such productions. But, that only reflects that it is more comforting to think of tragedies of this scale being caused by nature rather than the willful act of other human beings.

For a more about the Lusitania’s last voyage, there is an article posted at: http://www.beyondships.com/Cunard-Lusitania.html

Talking Freestyle Cruising

In order to distinguish itself from the competition, Norwegian Cruise Line (“NCL”) introduced what it calls “Freestyle Cruising” at the turn of the millennium. Taking a cue from landside resorts, Freestyle seeks to do away with the traditional approach to life onboard a cruise ship. It is based upon the notion that passengers should decide when and where to eat, what to wear and what entertainment to see because it is the passengers’ vacation. Accordingly, NCL has done away with assigned seating in its dining rooms, dress codes, and scheduling its entertainment so that everything begins at uniform times. This concept has proven popular and now the other major lines are blending elements of the Freestyle approach into their cruise offerings.

I recently spoke with Jacques LeTallec, the Hotel Director on NORWEGIAN DAWN about Freestyle Cruising. We discussed, the philosophy behind it as well as some real world impediments to implementing such a system and how NCL seeks to overcome them. Also, Jacques explained why he sees NCL as still having a competitive advantage over the other cruise lines who are implementing systems similar to Freestyle.

Our discussion is posted at: http://beyondships.com/NCLDawn-LeTallec.html

Cruise Tip #1 Seasickness

Is seasickness something to be concerned about in considering a cruise?

Seasickness is a form of motion sickness. Given the right weather conditions, any ship can move around. After all, ships are moving objects traveling across a liquid medium. However, modern cruise ships bounce around less than airplanes or automobiles.

Most cruises take place in relatively tranquil waters such as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean. Furthermore, using modern weather forecasting equipment, ships try to avoid bad weather. Indeed, there are financial incentives to do so. The shops and casinos on board make no money from passengers who are sick and if people have a bad vacation experience they are unlikely to come back. Moreover, since it requires more power to keep up speed in a rough sea, there is an added fuel cost to charging through bad weather not to mention the additional wear and tear on the ship.

Often seasickness is psychological. People think: “I am on a ship, therefore, I should feel seasick.” In extreme cases, this leads people to complain of seasickness when the ship is still tied to the pier. Accordingly, Jacques Le Tallec, Hotel Director of NCL’s NORWEGIAN DAWN, says: “It is most important to keep the people busy. If you keep them busy, they have no time to think they are seasick.”

There are times, however, when a ship unavoidably encounters bad weather. A number of medical remedies are available. However, as I have never taken any of them and am not a doctor, I am in no position to recommend any or comment on their efficacy.

Some ships will handle rough weather better than others. This ability is not necessarily correlated with size. When the first QUEEN MARY was built in the 1930s, the designers assumed that a ship that large would be stable in the water. However, on her maiden voyage it was discovered that the ship rolled severely (i.e., moved sideways). The roll was eventually reduced when stabilizers were added to the ship in the 1950s.

Today, all modern cruise ships have stabilizers. These devices are shaped like airplane wings and can be extended out from the sides of the ship while at sea. When a wave pushes the ship one way, the stabilizer angles itself so as to exert pressure in the opposite direction. Stabilizers can eliminate up to 80 percent of a ship’s roll.

Unfortunately, stabilizers do nothing to eliminate pitching - - the motion made when the front of the ship goes down and the back goes up and vice versa. The better a ship is at cutting through the waves, the less it will be subject to pitching. Consequently, a ship that is designed with a long, narrow bow will do better in such situations than one with a wide, blunt bow. This is because a ship with a blunt bow will attempt to climb over the wave thereby causing the bow to rise more or will be forced downward thereby causing the stern to rise more than if the ship cut through the wave.

If feasible, the officers will set a course so that the waves are striking the side of the ship rather than the bow because that brings the stabilizers into play. Sometimes, this is not possible.

So, where is the best cabin location if one is concerned about sea sickness? The point on a ship that is least subject to pitching and rolling is in the center of the ship down by the waterline. Think of a ship as an inverted pendulum anchored at the center of the ship. The further you go up the pendulum, the greater the arc. Thus, when the ship is rolling, a cabin on an upper deck is going to move more to either side than one on a lower deck. Similarly, the closer to the front or back of the ship a cabin is, the more it is going to move up and down when the ship is pitching. Since the center of the ship at the waterline is the most stable place on the ship, that was where the designers of QUEEN ELIZABETH 2 choose to put that ship’s hospital which includes an operating room.

The fact that the most stable point on the ship is often occupied by equipment, crew quarters or the lowest grade cabins, is a clear indication that seasickness is not that great a problem on cruise ships. If it were otherwise, the greatest demand would be for the most stable cabins and the most expensive cabins would be interior cabins on the lower decks rather than exterior cabins located on the highest decks often at the front or back of the superstructure.

Finally, selecting a cabin based upon its relative stability is an illusory precaution against seasickness. A ship’s cabin is not like an airline seat where one is going to be in it most of the trip. On a cruise people move about, go to the restaurants, shows, pools and public spaces. The fact that people do go about the ship is another indication that for most people this is not a problem.