Cruising … A great way to enjoy your vacation
By Gail Paparian
For the Record Gazette
If you said, “cruisin'”
to Banning Chamber of Commerce executive director Jack Holden, it wouldn't
take him long to start talking about “Cruisin'
Ramsey, a very popular chamber event.
If you said cruising to me and to my friends Pat, Clare and Ted, you would
immediately elicit happy remarks about the 7-day cruise we just took. I can
personally attest to the fact that the economies of
Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta greatly improved after
our visit.
Clare spent many years as a tour guide, so when she recommended Holland
America restaurant, we all agreed. The service, the accommodations and the
food (the food, food, food) were excellent.
Back on shore for just one day, I tried to resume my normal “land” routine.
I took a shower, dressed and headed down the hall to my office to write this
column. After a bit, I took a bathroom break and when I entered my bedroom,
I was shocked that the cabin steward had not made my bed and tidied up!
Welcome home Š reality bites!
I hadn't taken a cruise in years, so when this opportunity came up, the
price was right and my friend Pat said she'd go with me, I thought, “Why
not?” I wanted and needed a real vacation.
On the daY of departure, we embarked early and
the first thing we had to prepare for was the mandatory fire drill. This was
a huge ship - 11 stories tall, 82,000 tons, 935 feet in length and capable
of tooling through the ocean at 23 knots, so I wanted to know where
me and my life jacket would take me in case of an
emergency. Drat - I knew I shouldn't have watched the movie Titanic the
night before we left!
We were set to sail at 5
p.m. and that is exactly when we pulled out of the San Diego harbor. While
the rest of the world was dealing with the crashing of stock markets, we
only had to deal with dining.
Since I was a “newbie” to the entire procedure, it
was nice that my reservations were taken care of by my capable and
travel-worthy friend. When it came time to eat; we hadn't been tempted with
food in at least a couple of hours.
I rarely sleep well on the first night in a new
place. Couple that with going from the luxury of a king-size bed to the
confines of a twin, I was holding on to the narrow bed for dear life. Once
determining that my friend Pat was still awake, I asked her if her bed was
moving.
She exhibited enormous patience and restraint when
she said, “Gail, we're on a ship crossing an ocean. Of course we're moving
and that includes rocking a bit.” Satisfied with her response and afraid to
ask any more inane questions, I finally dozed off to sleep.
We spent the next day at sea and that was a
wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with the ship. I thought I would be
thrown overboard when I had the indiscretion to call the vessel a “boat.”
Never will I make that mistake again.
The next three days saw us docking in
Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta. As
I said earlier, we all helped out the economies of these cities. They were
truly sorry to see us go!
By then, I had discovered the wonders of a daily
art auction. I will now await receipt of the painting I bought and the one I
won (framing not included). Without any wall space left in my house, it will
now be a challenge to figure out where to hang my newly acquired treasures.
With no ports to visit for the next few days, I
was at a bit of a loss as to what I wanted to do. Of course there was
something scheduled every half hour or so (one could always eat) but I
didn't want to lose my edge, so I found it necessary to conduct an
interview.
My friend had invited me to a special cocktail
party thrown by the ship's captain. While she railed on about the “as you
wish dining,” I made an appointment for the next day with the Environmental
Officer.
While others in the Crow's Nest practiced line
dancing, I had a fascinating conversation with Jan Van Aalst. The
Environmental Officer position is one of importance and the ship cannot sail
without him.
After a few minutes of talking, it was obvious
that his position was more than a job to him. He really cares about what he
is doing. “We are a little city with nearly 3,000 inhabitants,” he said.
“Protecting the environment and promoting environmental awareness is
important not just to the passengers, but to the crew.” We spent the next
couple of minutes watching a bunch of baby dolphins frolic in the ocean.
Van Aalst trains crew members to achieve varying
degrees of environmental management. Each employee receives this training
and receives certification upon completion. An employee is not allowed to
work without this certification, which is valid for one year and then must
be retaken. Hum. Do we do this in our cities on land?
There were approximately 1854 passengers plus a
crew of 820. That translates into serving 11,000 meals daily, which
generates 66,000-110,000 pounds of food and drink for a cruise of a week!
That said, reuse, reduce and recycle are practiced onboard in usual and
unusual ways.
Some inventive reuses include: old blankets become
cleaning cloths and old towels are made into hats for the cooks. There are
many items that cannot be reused or recycled and some are hazardous waste
like needles, pins or anything that comes from the infirmary that needs to
be disposed of as hazardous waste in those bright red bags.
The largest water discharge onboard is gray water,
created through showers, water running in sinks, etc. and black water, which
comes from toilets. You simply cannot, morally or legally, just dump this
stuff into the ocean.There are strict
international rules and laws applied to this waste disposal. Through AWWPS
(Advanced Waste Water Purification system), the waste is vacuumed out of the
toilets and placed in tanks. The waste receives physical, biological,
chemical and ultimately, ultra-violet treatment. It creates bio-waste and is
offloaded on shore, or discharged beyond 12 nautical miles at sea
Van Aalst told me about a pilot program on a
sister ship that removed chemicals emitted into the air. Their innovative
processing has succeeded in removing substantial amounts of the sulfur,
nitrogen and carbon dioxide from the air.
By spraying the smoke stacks with fine water (and
further processing), 98% of the sulfur is not emitted into the air. The
sulfur is what produces acid rain which is what discolors and destroys
statues on land. If they can do it on a ship, don't you think zero emissions
should be achieved in cars and trucks?
Finally, I realized that I can take a vacation,
free of guilt and enjoy myself in the process. Then again, I thrive on
learning something new. Thanks to the very cooperative Jan Van Aalst, I have
a better understanding, albeit it a slight one, of what it takes to run a
floating city.
Gail and her husband Bill Paparian created a
service called Writing Solutions in 1996. Gail has also written for a number
of local and national magazines and newspapers over the years. Currently,
she provides public relations consulting services for the Banning Unified
School District. She can be reached at
info@WritingSolutions.com.
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