Mallorca is one of the two large Balearic Islands, the other one is Menorca, which are located just of the Spanish coast. They are just south of Barcelona and most ferry traffic to the islands comes from this port. As they are just to the south we almost had to sail backwards during the night in order not to arrive too early. The Navigator had figured out that going between the coast and Mallorca (West side) was 3 miles shorter than sailing down via the East side and thus we went west. 3 miles is not much (except when you have to swim it) but if you can nibble 3 miles of every distance you do, it soon adds up. And as they say “every cent is a step towards a million” so also each mile helps to reduce fuel consumption and that makes the bean keepers very happy.
Mallorca has two locations for cruise ships, the one we were assigned to, where they can take 4 cruise ships and two piers in down town where they can take four more. We were at the berth further out together with a Costa Cruise ship. Downtown was empty but I believe the coach area at this cruise terminal is larger and has a better setup, hence no downtown. I was quite happy with the arrangement as the ship was docked perpendicular on the wind and that meant that the other side of the ship, the lee side, had indeed a very good lee. That was important as it was boat drill day today. For half the crew of the ship but also for my trainee class, who after much theory and test performances were going to give their first trainings independently.
SOLAS, the code of law which regulates Safety Of Lives At Sea requires that all crew attend a full ships complement drill each month. In between they have to be trained and drilled individually with their own lifeboat or life raft. So on every ship in the world it is lifeboat day on a regular basis. On a cruise ship even more so as we have so many crew. With a port intensive cruise as this one, we can pick and choose the most favorable port. You might say you should be able to do these trainings in all sorts of ports and that is correct, but there is one issue. SOLAS only requires the lifeboats to get safely away from the ship with everybody on board. But we want our boats and rafts back so we can sail to the next port.
Lifeboat drill in the old days. This is the ss Statendam (I) around the turn of the century.
We could hold a crew drill in appalling weather and we would get the boats and rafts away as required but getting them hooked back in again and hoisted up would be very dangerous. Thus we select ports were there is no swell and if the ship is shielding us from the wind then that is even better. In our case it meant that we had to shift the crews for the lifeboats and life rafts who were having training to the starboard side because that is where the water was but those things happen as the captain does not always park where the Officer Lifesaving would like it. It leaves the guests bewildered sometimes. Had they just managed to get themselves out of everybody’ way and go to an open deck side that was not roped off and full of lifejackets; and then suddenly there is a stampede by the crew coming to that quiet side where you just escaped to.
When the boats go down, there is often a tender on standby with an officer inside, in case help is needed with coming back.
The way we train is by going through all the topics in a cycle. As a result each month all the crew gets an instruction in a topic and a full drill when the month is complete. Then in three months’ time all items pertaining to lifesaving will have been touched on.
7 Trainees were given their own life raft to train and the 8th one had to replace the cruise director on the bridge and make all the announcements. Today’s topics were hypothermia, Man over Board and a detailed focus on the Lifejackets. As we have been extensively trainings all the tricks of the trade since they came on board, things went well. The regular officers were impressed and maybe even a little disappointed. They had to just learn it on the job and these trainee’s get 3 weeks with a facilitator to try everything out and do a number of dry runs. Well such is life, this program has only been up and running since December and we can only catch the officers who are joining the company now.
Tomorrow we are at sea, crossing part of the Mediterranean Sea to come to Calvi on Corsica. With 370 miles to cover, we can either race across and arrive late in the morning or take it slow and arrive nice and early in the morning of the next day. We are too big to dock there, so it will be our first tender port for a long time.
Weather: little change but a bit warmer than today.
October 18, 2015 at 5:57 pm
Hello Captain:
In 32 cruises, I have attended many passenger life boat drills (most of them boring and removed from reality!). I vividly remember attending a passenger drill on the Westerdam in 1991 where they actually lowered the lifeboats to the embarkation stations where the passengers were assembled, and briefly started the engine. Probably not a good idea due to no cooling water, however, in my mind that was the most realistic pax drill I ever witnessed, all the others are honestly just stupid and boring. None of them can approximate the chaos that would actually occur.
You and I have talked before about adding some realism to life boat drills and including “volunteer” passengers. I, and my cruising friends would do that in a flash ! You mentioned that concept has been consistently nixed by the legal people, but in my mind it would add realism for the crew in maneuvering a fully loaded lifeboat and dealing with many people in a lifeboat.
Just a persistent thought. Not going to happen I guess…..Ruud