{"id":4026,"date":"2018-11-20T20:29:04","date_gmt":"2018-11-20T13:29:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=4026"},"modified":"2018-11-20T20:36:01","modified_gmt":"2018-11-20T13:36:01","slug":"sea-day-1-inside-access-tour-tuesday-11-13-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/?p=4026","title":{"rendered":"Sea Day #1, “Inside Access Tour”, Tuesday, 11\/13\/18"},"content":{"rendered":"

Early breakfast in Blu!\u00a0Relaxing atmosphere with great food!\u00a0We moved into a different time zone overnight, so the clock moved up another hour.\u00a0 We were 7 hours ahead of Central time.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re 8 hours ahead.\u00a0 There will be several more time zone changes during \u00a0the cruise, and more still when we head to India and Thailand.<\/p>\n

I headed up to the table tennis area to meet someone I played yesterday.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t make it as scheduled (time change got him).\u00a0 I killed time wandering around the ship, and went back to the table tennis area for a little tournament.\u00a0 There were 16 players, from several nationalities.\u00a0 I got beat in the 2nd<\/sup>round by the eventual winner.\u00a0 He was Chinese, but living in Canada.\u00a0 Games were played to 11 points, but winner must win by two.\u00a0 I lost 17 to 15.\u00a0 Thought I had him a couple of times, but couldn\u2019t finish it.<\/p>\n

I purposely scheduled our \u201cInside Access Tour\u201d later in the cruise for a sea day in the middle of several others, figuring we\u2019d need a break today.\u00a0 For whatever reason, the ship decided the later days wouldn\u2019t work, and moved up the tour to today.\u00a0 We were badly in need of a rest day to recover from all the travel and yesterday\u2019s excursion, but didn\u2019t want to miss this tour.<\/p>\n

A security guard traveled with us the entire tour.\u00a0 After a security check (wands, etc.) our first stop was the Bridge and Navigation area.\u00a0A Bridge officer met us and discussed the operation of the bridge and how it was manned, training, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Engineering was next, where all the operations, engines, water production\/treatment, electricity, etc. are monitored and controlled.\u00a0 Very interesting!\u00a0 So many details to be taken care of.\u00a0 Lots of monitor screens to keep track of.\u00a0 An annoying buzzer kept sounding every 3 to 4 minutes.\u00a0 The engineer would reach over and turn it off.\u00a0 When someone asked, he said it was there to make sure he wasn\u2019t dozing off.\u00a0 If it wasn\u2019t turned off, the bridge knew he was not on task. \u00a0His shift was four hours on and eight hours off, for the entire cruise.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lots of monitors in E<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Next stop was the environmental area.\u00a0 Translation \u2013 trash!\u00a0 We observed how they crushed, baled, burned, and recycled everything possible (water included).<\/p>\n

\"\"Bottles waiting for crushing<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Bottles after crushing (this is the “green group”<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Loading bottles into the bottle crusher<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Fluorescent bulb recycling (worried about mercury)<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Cans crushed and bales<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Plastic bottles crushed and baled<\/a><\/p>\n

The laundry was next with all the washing, folding, and pressing for thousands of sheets, towels, table clothes, napkins, etc.<\/p>\n

\"\"Pressing machine for cloth napkins all the way up to sheets<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Towel folding machine<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And the finished towels<\/p>\n

We walked down \u201cI-95\u201d, the main walkway in the interior of the ship for crew to move about, out of sight of the guests.\u00a0 We saw the crew mess (cafeteria), and finished our tour in the galley (kitchen).\u00a0 So many food prep areas and staff organizing and setting up various food items.\u00a0 It was almost 4:30pm, so the cooking hadn\u2019t cranked up yet.\u00a0 We really enjoyed the chance to check out so many of the ship\u2019s operations.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a> \"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

After the tour, we relaxed a little, had dinner, and relaxed around the ship before turning in for the night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Early breakfast in Blu!\u00a0Relaxing atmosphere with great food!\u00a0We moved into a different time zone overnight, so the clock moved up another hour.\u00a0 We were 7 hours ahead of Central time.\u00a0 Now we\u2019re 8 hours ahead.\u00a0 There will be several more … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4026"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4029,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4026\/revisions\/4029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4026"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4026"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/gordonandjudy.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4026"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}