Ship Shenanigans Part 2
Another busy day, our first appointment was the Provisions Tour. We were met by Alan, the Inventory Manager and taken down into Deck a which houses crews’ quarters, the officers’ mess and the provisions, and it is where food preparation is done.
14 days’ of stock is kept down there. Menus are designed around the ports and cuisines of the cities visited, by Head Office in Norway, and quantifications and orders are organized via a logistics team in Bergen and are consolidated in Hamburg, Germany. They are delivered in a minimum of 4 x 40 foot containers, essential as all food needs to be separated so there is a container for chilled goods, one for dry goods, one for frozen and one for items like paper towels, napkins, toilet paper etc. etc. The last supply of provisions was picked up in Salalah and the next supply will be when we arrive in Piraeus, Athens. Fresh produce is picked up every 8 days and items such as strawberries, raspberries, blueberries etc. are airfreighted out.
We went first to the loading area which has a door on the Starboard side as mostly this is the side the ship docks and it is where the services such as provisions, incinerating of rubbish, bunking etc. take place. There is an air curtain over this door and a closed air system to keep insects out of the ship, and a loading platform which can be raised and lowered according to the height of the dock. Palettes are received on this platform and the Provisions Team take them to the appropriate storeroom. US Public Health standards are followed as these are the most stringent in the world. When the fruits and vegetables are delivered they are immediately taken out of their cardboard boxes in case there are any cockroaches or such like in there, and they go through a special sanitizing washing treatment followed by two rinses. The boxes are then taken to be incinerated. There is a Bone Crushing room which as the title suggests, is where all the meat and fish bones are crushed, and then disposed of overboard in international waters. Plastic and aluminum cans are crushed in a compactor, and there is also a glass crusher.
Three preparations rooms for vegetables, meat, and fish with the frozen meat and fish rooms also having an adjoining thawing room. 105 chefs work in this area and there are satellite galleys in various locations around the ship and separate lifts to transport the food as it is important that it is kept totally separate from the likes of rubbish.
Then we got to the exciting part……the actual provision stores. The alcohol stores first– we had a bit of fun walking around looking at all the boxes of wines and spirits – these are all stored in a room with a fireproof door due to the 40% alcohol content.
Next up flour, milk, dairy, followed by fruit and vegetables and then I ducked into the very cold meat and fish deep freeze stores. Lastly all the mixers and soft drinks. It was a great experience and very interesting to know how it all comes together in the bowels of the ship!
Well guess what – following on from Geoff and I winning the “Name that Tune” Quiz the other night, today Geoff and I, along with our Quiz Partners, Kathy and Mark, also won the lunchtime Trivia Quiz – and not only that, we are the only Team that has won scoring 20 out of 20!!!! What a feat – we were very proud of ourselves and excited to receive our prize of champagne mimosas – a whole tray full of them!!!!!
Monday 22 May – today we had our final “back of the house tour” and this time it was the Bridge Tour. Off we went up to the 6th floor into the crew only section at the bow of the ship. Geoff continues with this part of the blog as it’s more his area of knowledge and expertise, not to mention understanding…..
“So I have been looking forward to touring the Bridge. I was interested in the ship control systems, the navigation systems and the general watch system of the Bridge.
The ship is an electric ship and it was interesting to see the control systems that they have. The thrusters and the motors are directly controlled from the Bridge and the engine control room is merely a screen-monitoring operation. In the engine room itself there are 6 persons and I have no idea what they do all day. Similarly, I was baffled by the number of people they keep on watch on the Bridge - 4 persons, one was a permanent look-out, two monitored screens and the fourth person seemed to be a floater. Other than entering narrow channels or berthing it would have to be the most boring job on earth. They have all the usual chart plotters, AIS, radar and radio communications, but on a voyage that is pretty much a straight line for most of the time, there is nothing much to do except to keep an eye open for other boats and system malfunction.
There are other officers who visit the bridge to monitor and manage things like water, sewage tanks, swimming pools etc. but they are not part of the main Bridge control officers.
It was interesting but there was nothing mind-blowing”
We’ve loved being on the Viking Mars, so much to do, great lectures and tours, fun activities, fabulous service and entertainment, delicious food (and too much of it!), not to mention our late afternoon swims, followed by a spa and a waiter bringing us Cipriani Bellinis whenever they were required! It’s been a wonderful 20 days, but we arrive in Athens tomorrow and this incredible adventure comes to an end in the morning when we arrive in Piraeus. However, our incredible trip is far from over so keep a watch out as the blogs will continue from other exciting places across Europe.
