QM2 Behind the Scenes Tour 07/10/2013
The behind the scenes tour assembled in ConneXions at 1:50. Sixteen passengers, mostly middle aged and older. Declan of the Entertainment Staff was tour leader. He collected our tour waivers but didn't check that waiver names matched ID names. He cautioned that the tour involved lots of walking and stairs, around 200 steps all told. No, he assured Michael, not 200 stairs all at once. He gave each of us a clip-on "All Access" badge, the Entertainment Director gave us a cheery welcome, and off we went with two young lady Security Staff bringing up the rear.
We went through an unmarked door on the starboard side of ConneXions up 29 steps and forward through fairly narrow beige painted halls past one and two person crew cabins to the Mooring Deck. There Nick Stubbs, Marine Supervisor, explained the mooring gear and procedures. This is the real pointy end of the ship; the only thing ahead of this room is Southampton, he said. At the apex of this triangular space is a rectangular hatch, about 2 ft high by 3 ft wide, called the "Panama" hatch (after the Canal) where a tow line would be passed. This hatch is held shut by six large steel latches called "dogs" and a steel beam across the long dimension. The steel beam is a recent addition; Stubbs was aboard when a north Atlantic storm wave burst the hatch and flooded the deck with two feet of icy water.
From the aft end of the Mooring Deck we went up maybe 16 steps to the Anchor Room. Now we're on Deck 4, Stubbs said. Each anchor weighs 27 tons (or maybe the slightly heavier tonnes) and its 200 ft long chain weighs 90 tons. Leaving the Anchor Room we walked aft and down 44 steps, winding up at the Deck B elevators/stairs on Deck 1, by the Medical Center, our next stop.
It's 2:30 now. Dr. Albert van de Merwe, Principal Medical Officer, greeted us and showed us around his well equipped, if small, hospital. There's an ICU, four or five patient's rooms, X-ray (which is portable), lab, and treatment room (which is equipped to serve as another ICU, if need be). And, of course, the morgue - everybody asks about the morgue Dr.van de Merwe said. It can accommodate four, and is presently unoccupied.
At the B elevators the Hotel Staff officer in charge of White Star training for new crew members explained the program, which lasts two weeks and includes on-the-job mentoring as well as classes. Then we walked aft down the crew hallway (floor maroon and walls light gray) that's called Burma Road or I95 for Americans. We walked past the crew pub on the left and cafeteria on the right to the C elevators/stairs and on through to the Baggage Area. A crew of 90 handles loading all the passenger luggage on embarkation day and collecting it on the night before disembarkation. The main point that the Baggage Master wanted us to remember was that once a bag is collected for disembarkation, it can not be retrieved until found in the terminal. There is a bicycle rack in the room with several bikes for the crew's use ashore.
Next Emma Gale, Environmental Officer, explained Cunard's Reduce->Reuse->Recycle policy and showed us the Waste Handling Room. It's just aft of the Baggage Area on the starboard side, very clean but noisy because of the fans, shredders, compactors, etc. I was surprised that the ship does dump a lot of its waste overboard, outside the 12 mile limit. Food waste is chopped fine and becomes food for the fish, for example.
At 3:20, still on Deck 1, we visited the Engine Control Room where Paul Carney, Chief Engineer, holds sway. The actual engine rooms are way below (four diesels) and way above (two turbines) and are off limits. He began his talk by showing us a clear plastic bottle of the pinkish orange fuel that the gas turbines burn and a paper cup of the dark heavy fuel oil that the diesel engines use. The turbine fuel is called Marine Gas Oil (MGO) and costs $1000 a tonne (~$1/liter).
The diesel fuel (IFO 380) costs between $600 and $650 a tonne, depending on its sulfur content; the ship carries three different grades of diesel because some European ports require that only low sulfur fuel be used there. He described how electric power is
generated and distributed on the ship, how fresh water is distilled, and how the dirty water made safe enough to be dumped at sea. When he asked for questions, I asked if the spinning generators could contribute any gyroscopic stabilization to the ship. He said no, the ship is just too big.
Next David Hudson, Safety Officer, explained that all officers and Deck Division and Engineering Division crew members are trained in fire fighting, but that 12 crew members are trained to be the first responders for fires. We were standing in front of fire locker No. 7, with the gear that one firefighter would wear and carry spread out on the deck. Insulated pants and jacket, large cylinder containing 50 minutes of air, a small one containing 10 for any victim found, and, a $24K helmet with a thermal imaging imaging camera for the team leader (the rest of the team wear the ordinary $12K helmets).
Standing close by was David Lea, Food &Beverage Manager, who began by introducing his Provisioning Manager. He told us that the ship loads almost all its food and drinks at Southampton, only fresh fruit is occasionally bought locally. (That explains the sad lack of
fresh New England lobster last week after the ship had stopped at Halifax and Boston.) He showed us one of the twenty one refrigerated store rooms, this one now mostly empty. Next, a very clean room where beef is butchered; clean as it was, it still exuded the unmistakeable aroma of red meat. Sign on the wall: "Do not talk to the operator while the band saw is operating."
We then left Deck 1 and on Deck 2, Nicholas Oldroyd, Executive Chef, was our host in the vast, but now almost entirely empty, Britannia Galley. He pointed out the specific preparation areas for soups, salads, vegetables, etc; the great kettles for making beef, chicken, and fish stocks; and the long counter where waiters pick up the finished plates. He mentioned the bakery and pastry area but we didn't visit them. We took the port escalators that waiters use to carry food to Britannia's top level, and there we had a pit, snack, and drink stop. Snacks were little cakes and sweet goodies (Dani was one of the servers), drinks were sparkling wine and two fruit juice concoctions (both with citrus, unfortunately for Michael). We each received an apron and a paper togue as souvenirs.
After a ten minute break Declan led the way forward on Deck 2 at a great rate toward the Royal Court Theatre, our next to last stop. We were all strung out; Michael was up front with Declan in sight, I was in the half dozen at the rear. Sometime earlier our two lady Security rear guards had been replaced by two Security guys, who, it turned out, didn't have a clue where exactly in the Royal Court Theatre Declan was continuing the tour. When we reached the Theatre we started down the starboard hall toward the stage door, Security turned us around and into the Theatre. There were two guys on the stage discussing lighting, no Declan. Security was about to lead us out again when I suggested looking backstage. Bingo! There we found folks who were expecting the tour, and a few minutes later we even found Michael, Declan, and everybody else. Main impression of the visit was that the stage looks a lot bigger from the audience than it looks standing on it, and that the audience part of the theatre looks smaller. Because of the glare of the spotlights you really can't see much of the audience from the stage; that's a big help with stage fright said the guy showing us around. Only two small dressing rooms back stage, both unisex, one for dancers and the other for singers.
The back stage door left us near ConneXions where we took a brief break before taking the A elevators up to Deck 12 and the Bridge. During the break the lady sitting next to me explained the souvenirs from the Galley to her husband: “That's an apron, dear, I didn't think you'd recognize it.”
Commodore Rynd welcomed us to the Bridge, described the navigational gear and the engine controls (don't touch), and answered questions. I was somewhat surprised that the pods aren't kept in sync - they were turning at slightly different RPMs - 120, 118, 119, 121. He assured us that that small difference wasn't enough to cause any noticeable vibration at all.
We each had a turn sitting in his command chair for a photo with him. He gave us his hat to hold on our laps or to wear if we wanted, only one did. We each received a nice Behind the Scenes pin as a parting gift. All in all a great tour, well worth the $120 each. End of tour at 5:15, we're tired but happy.