Today we have less than a fortnight to go and if the weather stays as it is then we can count ourselves very lucky. It is getting chilly but the sun is out and it is a very dry day. As a result the painters are focusing on outside work and are repainting and touching up on railings and bulkheads. Some of the crew are complaining bitterly about the cold weather as they were convinced that Italy has always warm weather. Yes if you watch the TV they do not show the rain or the cold wind in Venice. But the Alps are not that far away so when the wind turns to the north it can blow an icy chill down to this area. But for those of us who come from the cooler areas of the globe it was a very nice day.
The new crew is still trickling in and this morning we were advised by the Human Resources Manager that the count was up to a crew number 944 with 11 expected today. On board we know who is coming each day to the ship and what their function is, if they are regular crew, but all others can be a bit of a surprise sometimes. He/she will be on a list otherwise the security guards at the Gate will get nervous but it is not always clear what each person will be doing on board as they will be sent by the various specialists departments on board. So until all is revealed it is not always clear who is crew and who is not.
The crew without a specified function assemble in the crew mess. We can use these crew “as Directed” as they will be called out to help where ever they are directed to go to.
Today we had our first All Crew Drill. So 944 crew members were marching to their Emergency Duty Stations and carrying out their emergency functions. And from there to their boat and life raft stations once the General Emergency Alarms had sounded. Normally a complete drill takes about 45 minutes when going through the complete evolution. This, our first drill, took double the time as all the team members still have to become a team. Next drill will go faster and eventually we will get to the 45 minutes and then it will also have included a full fire drill and a boat lowering exercise. With nearly 400 Koningsdam crew on board the routine was already working very well and the new crew could tag along as buddies and find the correct location of reporting. They had all already been trained, but there is a great difference between being told how to do it, and then having to do it yourself.
Acting as guests. Only a few at the moment but enough to check the system out.
Those who are on board and not regular crew and are staying in guest cabins, were to act as guests and assemble in the appropriate locations according to the sign on the back of the cabin door. Thus the lounges were not full but enough “Guests” came through to test the crew on location and to see if the mustering PDA’s worked. (Electronic Scanners) There will be quite a few more drills in the coming days before we have our “exam drill” which will be observed by Lloyd’s as they will be issuing the Ships certificates on behalf of the Dutch Government, which is the Flag State of all our ships as we have our home port / registration port as Rotterdam.
While the ship is being finished off, there is still a lot of testing going on, so on occasion the lights go out and then come back on again. Sometimes everything goes out, that is a black out, but most of the time it is the non-preferential groups, which means light go out in a certain section, or the AC stops for a moment. Sometimes it takes only a few seconds, sometimes it goes on for a few minutes. If there would be a full blackout while at sea, then the main electricity supply (not for the cabins but for corridors etc.) would be back in 10 seconds as the Emergency Diesel Generator would start up.
Part of the Emergency Diesel Engine Set-Up. This is a completely self contained unit with its own fuel supply, own main switch board and own command stand.
This is for the Nieuw Statendam a 1950 KW strong Caterpillar 4 stroke diesel engine located on deck 10 amidships. Apart from dry docks I have experienced only a few full black outs in my career but it was always amazing how fast this engine would come on line and how fast the engineers then restored full power to the ship. On the old ships they had to run around and restart everything locally but now with modern technology everything can be done from the ECR. (Although an engineer will still make a round to see if it all works, so the engines have not yet made human kind redundant)
The “Bar Tables” in the Grand Dutch Café with the Dutch houses to be installed.
More art is coming on board so today a photo of the installing of the little Dutch Houses in the gully of the high bar tables in the Grand Dutch Café. This is the series of colored houses; the other table has them in white and blue.
Tomorrow calls for another sunny day with a chilly breeze from the North East. The yard will be much quieter as it is a Sunday but there will still be work going on…………… and drills of course.
November 18, 2018 at 8:02 pm
You can build an entire village ending in “dam”, Alblasserdam for instance, with those little houses 🙂