23 July 2010; Tilbury Change over day.

With the Prinsendam parked in the right location, we had the perfect setup for a smooth disembarkation process, followed later by an embarkation process that worked the same, just the other way. The luggage went off via deck four, here on the Prinsendam it’s called Boogie Plaza and the guests went off on deck 5 out of the main staircase. The suitcase off loading continues normally all night, in dribs and drabs. In the past, Housekeeping would start at 1 am and then bring everything down in one go to the assembly area. That had as a result the corridors were blocked with luggage and that would of course be dangerous in the case there was an emergency during that time. Now since a number of years we do it differently and housekeeping is using roving teams who continuously go through the corridors and pick up the luggage. The first luggage already appears in the corridors in late afternoon, when guests have packed their first suitcases with non-essentials. The rest then follows later, just before going to bed. Here in Tilbury it has been arranged that the shore side starts moving suitcases into the terminal by 10 pm. and that means that there is no rush in lining up the suitcases for the guests to be collected later. Essential is of course that the suitcases are correctly labeled and that remains an issue at times.

We still come across labels that are marked: “for Home”, Airport, “this one first” or still with the embarkation label on it. Then there are the mysterious suitcases without any name tags at all. Contrary to what guests often think, is that their suitcase is not unique and thus recognition is not always that easy. It is getting better though. In the past most suitcases were black, brown, grey or dark blue, but now we see silver, pink, purple red and many other colors. That makes it a bit easier to find your own back, but we have had issues with two guests claiming the same yellow Samsonite. Only when under supervision of the security officer, each guest was asked to enter the locking code of the suitcase was it possible to find the real owner. I remember this one, as there was a lot of drama involved with high tempers, screaming, shouting and crying. It still makes sense to have a mark, or special tags on a suitcase so that you can find your own back easily.

Suitcases going the other way create similar problems. Not always are the luggage tags attached that direct the suitcase to the right cabin or they have been ripped off at the airport when attached at home. Then the airport/flight tag has to do the trick. That means a delay in delivering to the cabin as those suitcases have to be checked against the passenger manifest and if there are more people onboard with the same last name, it can take a while to locate the right cabin. There are always guests who complain and get impatient with the delivery of the suitcases as they expect them to get as fast to the cabin as they do. Unfortunately it does not work that way.

When the suitcase is taken in, it first gets scanned for security. Then it goes on a luggage trolley and that only goes towards the ship, when it is fully loaded. When it is a rainy day it takes longer as everything has to happen in such a way that the rain is kept out. Arriving at the ship, it goes onboard via the conveyer belt. That process is slow as the suitcases go on the belt, one by one and have to be taken of by hand in the same way at the other end. Then it goes onto a luggage trolley and up to the correct deck. From there the cabin steward takes it to the cabin. That does not go that fast, as one might think, as they have to be careful when moving through the alleyways. On embarkation day there is always more traffic in the corridors, as guests are trying to find their way around the ship, their cabin, or are milling around in general.

I spent the day cleaning up paperwork and reviewing part of the coming cruise and showing a group around from the Ocean Liner Society of which I have been a member since its inception. This is group of people who have a common interest in ocean liners, cruise ships and ferries. Some are so focused that they know the details of every bolt and nut on a ship and some just love cruising. I do not always have time for that sort of thing but when you are three days in port, it is a different story. (www.ocean-liner-society.com)

Tomorrow is the first day of our next cruise, which starts a bit of in a strange way, as we will still be in the port of embarkation. However London and Gravesend are nearby and even the newly reopened pub in Tilbury (Name: World’s End) is available for business.