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Published: September 30th 2018
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Orange Survival Rafts
below the blue evacuation chute Toulon pictures were attached this morning, while we were docked in Barcelona. I don’t know why it takes so long to upload in the evenings, but it is much faster in the mornings.
Hello from Barcelona. GOOD NEWS – Janet is feeling considerably better. A combination of the medicines, smooth sailing, and extra rest has gotten her back to feeling more like a passenger rather than a patient. However we had decided previously that it would not be a good idea to take our excursion to the La Sagrada Familia Basilica so we cancelled those tickets. Instead we had a fairly restful day in port but still on the ship. It would have been interesting to see what new progress they have made in the past 2 ½ years, but we knew how much walking it would have involved. Also it is Sunday and there are 4 other cruise ships full of passengers, so it would most likely have been extremely crowded. We skipped this chance to see a another church.
We started by reporting to the Medical Center. They welcomed Janet like an old friend and were happy that she was finally feeling better. They checked her and took out the IV port which had been left in overnight, and then sent us off to have an enjoyable day.
We went in search of a chocolate covered donut, but that wasn’t to be found in any of the eating areas. So we went to the Horizon Court for a little buffet breakfast. Janet got a smallish sized meal, but did eat it all and got most everything she wanted besides the donut.
We then went back to our cabin to watch a pretty unique event. Once every 6 years the ship must test their emergency evacuation system. This is different than the life boat drill and it does not involve any passengers except as spectators. In the event of an emergency, most people should be able to be evacuated via the lifeboats, but if they don’t all fit or if there are any problems, they have a backup plan. That is what they tested today. They can deploy large orange rafts into the water and then everyone slides down a big blue chute and (hopefully) lands in the rafts. Janet thinks she would rather go down with the ship than down the chute, but hopefully that will never need to be decided.
The ship deployed 4 of these and we watched from our balcony as the chute rippled with people sliding down to the raft. They were all crew members of course, but we wondered if those were the best ones who got the ride as a treat, or the worst ones who were the most expendable. It makes the slides on the playground look puny, so we are sure that kids would love to have a chance, but only crew used it today.
They then separated the 4 rafts and towed them to the pier where they were lifted by a giant crane and placed on dry ground. They deployed the rafts using lots of compressed air. We saw then take 3 tanks out of the raft and set them aside on the pier. David wanted to see how they folded them back up to fit in a container for storage – hopefully for 6 more years – but they were taking too long. However this only tested the equipment on the Port side of the ship.
At 11:30 they brought in the gangways from shore and sailed the ship out away from the pier so they could spin it around and park again with the other side out in the water. Altogether there was a period of almost 2 hours where nobody could go ashore or return to the ship. Then they repeated the whole test for the starboard side equipment. This was certainly another “first experience” for us.
While we were “at sea”, David watched the ship back out of its berth and down the channel until it could spin around and face the other direction. Then it backed again into the channel and up to the berth again. Finally it parallel parked at the pier where we had left at least an hour earlier. If you think that parallel parking a car is challenging, then you should consider the task with a cruise ship.
We went to the horizon court a little before 1:00 and avoided the crowd of hungry passengers who had to wait for the gangway to be restored. Then David prepared to go ashore and Janet started watching “the Greatest Showman” movie. Our ship is near the very end of the pier with 4 other cruise ships between us and Barcelona and only a cargo ship further out. Frankly it was just too far to walk, even for him. They offered a shuttle bus but we were warned that it stops at every ship in sequence and is often full with passengers from all the other cruise ships. So basically we skipped going to Barcelona but he did go to the cruise terminal to see if there were any interesting shops. It was a disappointment and he returned to the cabin.
All afternoon they were busy reloading supplies onto the ship. Large trucks would pull up on the pier and a team of forklifts would quickly unload it. Then a security dog would sniff all the palates before more forklifts passed the supplies through a couple of large access doors into the ship. We have probably been resupplied with enough food, drink, and other items to last for the rest of the cruise back to Southampton. David also saw that they had collapsed the rafts somehow after releasing the air and we rolling them up into fairly type bundles for storage.
After her movie, Janet took a nap before getting ready for dinner. Tonight she had Shrimp Cocktail and a Mushroom Torte. David had the Fettuccini Alfredo, chilled celery & green apple soup, and the prime rib dinner. For dessert Janet had mocha ice cream with chocolate syrup and David had Black Forest Cake. It was a yummy dinner.
Afterwards we went to the Explorer Lounge to hear a piano player, but we got there in time for the Trivia Game beforehand. We actually teamed up with two of our tablemates and we won the game. Actually Tom won the game and we sat at his table and collected the prize too. Afterwards we stayed for an hour of piano music of popular songs. Then we went back to the cabin.
Tomorrow is another day, but that pretty well wraps up our day today. Happily we can report that Janet had a good day and we hope she is over the worst of her illness.
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