Carnival Cruise

Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 14:13 | by Alistair Baillie

Greetings, time for another update. I last left off at the end of our first 3 night cruise, we followed that with another identical 3 night cruise, where I was doing pretty much the same stuff. In Santos they lowered the two starboard tenders down to the pier so that we could clean underneath them. I spent the day sanding down the propellers ad the propeller shaft on both of them. We then had to go get changed for the passenger muster drill at 1630, and we departed Santos on time at 1800 that evening where I did the departure checklist on the bridge.

We arrived at Buzios on time at 1000 and I was on the bridge for the arrival, I then spent the morning at the gangway assisting passengers into the tenders. In the afternoon we were told to attend our “induction 3” where they explain and show how to lower a lifeboat down to the embarkation deck. Afterwards we had to go get our life jackets and report back to the life boat as they were doing a launching drill for the crew of that life boat and we got the chance to watch how it was done. For safety reasons no one other than the Safety officer and 2 Abs were allowed to be lowered down in them, we had to walk down to deck 3 and climb across a tender to board it. We spent an hour driving and drifting in the bay while the safety officer went over the equipment in the lifeboat and we then returned to the ship where we all had to climb out over the tender again, before the lifeboat was raised back up again.

Marc and myself then got to spend 2 hours practicing coming alongside and leaving again in one of the tenders that was not being used, I have finally got the hang of coming alongside the port side gangway, the starboard side was strangely a bit more challenging, while I could park perfectly parallel to the gangway I couldn’t seem to get close enough to step on or off.

For leaving Buzios I was down forward with the environmental officer to watch the lifting of the anchor.

The next day was a sea day which we spent with the ratings, but had a break to take part in the officer vs passengers games (tug of war, some strange balloon race, sack race, and pillow fight on a log over the pool), then we eventually finished at 2000 that evening.

We arrived slightly later than normal into Santos at 6am and I had the chance to go with the safety officer to the Island Escape (our other ship) which was also in port that day. I went across and spent about 2 hours talking to the cadets on it, I think there going to come across here next time we arrive in Santos. The other cadet that was joining us, Ian, also came onboard here today.

We left Santos very late that evening due to an immigration issue and then a problem with the gangway getting wedged between the pier and the top of the door as it was now low tide, so we eventually sailed at 2100.

The next day we arrived on time at Rio de Janeiro where I was on the bridge then down aft for the mooring. I got lots of pictures as we entered the harbour. I spent the morning working with the security officers on the gangway then was given the afternoon off, although we were advised not to leave the terminal – which we didn’t, we’re going to go on one of the shore excursions next time we come here. For leaving Rio I was up on the bridge with Ian doing the checklist.

We then had another sea day where we worked with the Abs, and then we arrived in Illheus. I have completely forgotten what I did here though!

We arrived in Salvador the next day for our two day stay. We spent the day working with the Abs until 1700 when we finished. We were allowed to go ashore if we wanted to, but were told we had to be back onboard by midnight. Ian and I went a walk along the pier to take photos of the other ships, then headed back and went for dinner in one of the passenger restaurants. The ship this evening was deserted of both passengers and crew who had all gone ashore for the carnival.

We sailed the next morning at 0700, and as I couldn’t sleep I was up on the bridge at 0430. I went forward with the bosun for departure to watch the unmooring procedure, and then spent the rest of the morning helping tidy out the bosuns store, before getting the afternoon off.

Today is yet another sea day as we head to Ilhabela and yet another time zone change! Today is also a study day for us, so other than attending a first aid induction this morning which lasted 30 minutes. This afternoon at 1500 is the officers vs passengers games and then we have the officers dancing for the passengers at 2300. I think today my plan is to learn another page of my Portuguese phrase book, and to complete the safety part of the MNTB training book.

I also found post cards, but finding stamps to post them is surprisingly difficult, as is finding a cash machine that actually works with non Brazilian cards. I thought I was in luck when I found an HSBC bank (same as mine) but there machines refused to give me money – although as it was all in Portuguese I was kind of guessing what button to press. Not to worry, I can now get money from the accountant onboard and it comes out of my wage each month, so that’s a lot easier. We also don’t use cash onboard the ship, everything is charged to your account which you put money onto before hand. That also now comes automatically from my wage.

Anyway, until next time.

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