Feb 22 - Touring the Engineering Deck

DONNA KAY PHILLIPS : Pietro Dodero, the retired Chief Engineer for Carnival, took us for a personal tour of the entire engineering deck today. Being the annoyingly curious sort on "how things work," this was another dream come true for me. We were later joined by the Splendors new Chief Engineer Antonio Colotti, a fellow Italian, growing up in a town near Genoa where Pietro hales from. We did not take photos of this sensitive area of the ship as it would have been rather austere and boring and highly inappropriate so I will do my best to describe what we saw.

Both gentlemen gave us an extensive tour of the Engineering Control Room, equipped with enormous computer monitors displaying the status of all working engines, compressors, water, sewage, fuel, oil - everything aspect of the ship's functionality. However, they still use the old manual dipstick method to check fuel and oil supplies to keep the computer readings in check. They told me that log requirements are so incredibly strict now that if they make even one mistake they risk jail time. Needless to say, this room was immaculately laid out and organized. It was beautiful thing to see.

We then traversed 3 steep staircases down to Deck 3 (below sea level) to the guts of the ship. Not too many decades ago, this area was an impossible hot greasy dirty stinky area, where small men in blackened coveralls spent their time disconnected from the rest of the ship and it's crew. Today, it is the white underbelly of a floating city. It is almost entirely self sufficient and deals with all of it's own waste for more efficiently and responsibly than they did in the past. Carnival has invested an exorbitant amount pushing the cruise ship designe to new levels. They were, in fact, the first to implement the fin stabilizer and side thruster designs into their new fleet. Respectively allowing them to better control the pitch and roll of the ship in rough seas with the stabilizers and allowing them to dock the ship without the aid of tugboats using the side thrusters.

All water is purified onboard using seawater as the source. The water is desalinized using reverse osmosis and then distilled. The distilled water is used in the machinery. The distilled water is then made into potable water by adding limestone to put back the minerals and oxygen to make the water fit for human consumption. All condensation created from the air condition and steam based systems as well as gray, is recaptured an put through the water system to be resued. Over 1200 tons of water is produced onboard each day and is transferred between tanks on either side of the ship to keep the ballast as centered as possible. There is a full sewage treatement system onboard as well as organic food waste systems.

Even the fuel for the enormous 12 cylinder engines is refined onboard. The original fuel is basically tar that is run through 200º+ centrifuges that separate the non-fuel parts away from the fuel oil. the ship's tanks can hold 89,000 tons of fuel, of which the ship requires approx 2 tons per hour as we are underway. We refueled in Buenos Aires and will not need to refuel until we reach the end of the 2nd leg in Valparaiso, Chile. There are 4 engines available to run the main screws (props), they only use 3 of the 4 at any one time in order to reach a possible top speed of approx 25 Knots depending on the conditions. Rounding the horn tomorrow where three ocean meet and many strong currents are at play will take a bit more push than is usually required. The engines are fully dismantled and cleaned every 2 years, and impressively, this intricate process is done while the ship is underway.

Another interesting aspect is the noticeable vibration that occurs when the side thrusters are in play OR when the keel is in shallow water. Entering and departing the bay in Buenos Aries caused severe vibration in our aft Dining Room. We found out today that the channel was only dredged to within 1km of the required draft of this ship's keel. Less water under the keel means more vibration as the keel basically drags along the bottom of the channel - wow!

It was a great honor to tour the section of the ship, as I have never seen it up close and personal and had access to such knowledgeable guides. We are very thankful to Pietro and Antonio for an unforgettable experience.

Tonight we sailed into a rather large lightining storm, with temps dropping rapidly as we headed into more turbulent waters nearing Cape Horn. It made a dramatic backdrop for our Dinner Under the Stars event with our our new Seattle friends Dan & Roy. We dined at a 4-top next to the swishing waters of the main pool, with a great view of the digi-tron movie screen playing a concert with Luciano Pavoroti, fitting music for the Italian night theme of the meal.

Inside sources tell us that the outdoor dining experience was the creative spark of one of the head F&B guys that took over for my father back in Miami. He wanted to see if some of the newer serving staff could be trained quickly to pull off an event like this and I have to say, with the leadership Ken (the singing Maitre D') and the F&B officer staff, they did a great job. The dinner was originally slated for the open air Aft Pool deck (our daytime hang) but they made a wise choice weather-wise and moved the event to the mid Lido main pool which is protected by a retractable roof. They simply closed the massive 4 sectioned glass ceiling and the side windows creating the vibe of a poolside atrium.

As our dinner came to a close, the programming on the movie screen switched from the concert to a live satellite feed of the Oscars in progress - it was so wild to be instantly reconnected with reality back home. Being this far south, the reception was less than perfect, totally failing at times, but we got to share the experience with our fellow shipmates. Safe to say that this is THE most unique location for Oscar viewing in my lifetime. -dkp