Team-BHP - “Jana Tha Japan, Pahoonch Gaye Cheen”

Thank you all for all the words of appreciation. And again apologies for not being regular with the chapters. I am still busy with my work and have not been getting time to sit down and write the last chapter.

Anyways, there have been a few other interesting incidents which are worth a mention here. I do not remember these incidents very cleary hence I will just give you the jist.

1. There was once we were sailing out of La Gomera and due to heavy winds the ship collided with the pier. The collision was so bad that the pier left a big hole through the ships bulk head. Obviously the ship wasnt left sea worthy and the cruise had to be abandoned.

2. This one was even more interesting. We started sailing from Teneriffe to Antigua in the Caribbean. Usually the atlantic crossing takes 6 days. After sailing for 3 days and being in the middle of Atlantic the ship suffered a technical snag. The ships fresh water system got spoilt. This meant no fresh water for passengers after the reserves were exhausted. The Captain decided to turn the ship around and return back to Teneriffe.

After getting the ship repaired we again crossed the Atlantic but without any passengers this time. This was the best part as we were free free and free without any work. There were lots of parties that were held as it was close to Xmas time.

Here is a video of one of the parties held for the crew on board the ship

Enjoy

YouTube - xmas party.wmv

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 2106283)

deky, the propeller shaft - is it a standard size? Iguess it is not, and has to be tailor made.

Edit - and I guess it is the ship whcih was arrested, and not you.

Funny, how they arrest ships.

I have no idea about the question you asked. But for sure the shaft was not available at the dry dock from Alabama and had to be shipped from Helsinki, Finland (unlike Norway that I had mentioned earlier). So maybe it had to be tailor made.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deky (Post 2092299)

The 6 years that I spent working on cruise liners have been filled with excitement, fun, adventure, romance, happiness and sorrow. I was lucky to have done my cruise ship stunt at the age when I could take it all in my stride and remember them for years to come.

Here are a few incidents I would like to share with you that happened during my cruise ship days.

Please Note: - These incidents and the narration are real and not a figment of my imagination.

Jana Tha Japan, Pahoonch Gaye Cheen. (Wanted to go to someplace but ended up in altogether different place)
Arrested in Spain
Arrested in Mexico
The Perfect Storm

As I was reading the travelogue I realised that I forgot to write about the last episode. Apologies

THE PERFECT STORM

We were beginning our 14 days cruise from Southampton (U.K) to the Mediterranean Sea and back. The first port of call was La Corunna (Spain). The ETD was 1700hrs that evening, with next day at sea crossing the Bay Of Biscay and the ETA at La Coruna was 0800hrs the next day. This meant a sailing time of almost 39 hrs.

Before we set sail from Southampton (U.K) for La Coruna (Spain) that evening we had already got a warning of Gale Force winds measuring 10 on Beaufort scale while crossing The Bay of Biscay.

Bay of Biscay is anyways quite notorious for its rough seas and heavy weather and top of it expecting Gale force 10 winds was not a good sign. Winds are measured on Beaufort scale numbering from 1 to 12, and number 10 means exceptionally strong winds thus resulting in very rough seas.

The cruise could not have been shelved just because of bad weather. Canceling a cruise means lots of adverse publicity for the company plus lots of losses due to reimbursements of tickets or managing the backlog of passengers on later stages. Anyways modern day ships are not supposed to capsize in rough seas. So that evening we set sail on time to La Coruna.

It was steady sailing into the night. Apart from the regular motion, there was not much untoward motion, as yet, of the ship that would cause any alarm. Well, that was because it was only a few hours since we had set sail from Southampton and we were only crossed The Channel Islands so far. Being the first day for the passengers onboard, they were all very excited and curious to explore the ship. A very few of them had already started getting seasick, but that was very normal with any cruise, but most of them were happy and in high spirits and looking forward to the next 14 days. Basically, so far it was just another regular day at sea, with smooth sailing and passengers enjoying the facilities provided on board.

We, as the ships staff had work to do to prevent/minimize breakages due to ships motion. We had got such rough weather warnings before and we knew exactly what to do in case of such warnings. Few times these warning happened to be a non-event, but a force 10 wind warning could not be taken lightly. So before the restaurant staff went to sleep they had to secure all the chairs to the tables, secure all crockery, cutlery and glassware in trolleys and then in turn secure the trolleys together so that they don’t move with the motion of the ship. The wine stewards had to secure all their wine and other beverage bottles to prevent breakages. On the open decks the sun beds and the plastic chairs had to be secured properly to the bulkhead of the ship so that they don’t go flying overboard with high winds. Basically anything movable had to be tied down properly. Even the doors leading to the open decks were closed so that no one ventures out in the open.

Once everything was secure I called it a day and went to my cabin to sleep. Usually the crew cabins are below the water level but luckily my cabin was just one deck above the water line of the ship. I had a porthole with a sealed glass in my cabin. The porthole is a nice little circular window which allows sunlight to enter the cabin. Usually the portholes in the cabin on my deck were kept open but they were closed with Iron covers in case of rough seas, so finding the porthole fully covered today was not much of a surprise. I could hear the slapping of the waves against the bulkhead of the ship but still the seas were relatively calm and I slept of peacefully.

To be contd....

PERFECT STORM- Contd

Next morning I awoke to a lot of noise coming from my cabin. I realized that loose things in my cabin were on the floor and were rolling with the motion of the ship. Also the waves were hitting much harder on the bulkhead and making a lot of noise. As I got of the bed to get ready it was getting difficult to balance myself. This could only mean that the warning was true and we were definitely approaching a storm. But as a sailor the life has to go on, anyways till now the situation was not that bad, we had gone through worst than this so I had to get ready and get to the restaurant to make sure it opens on time for breakfast.

The restaurant was 4 decks above my cabin (5 decks above the water level). As you go higher on the ship the motion of the ship get more accentuated. Hence in the restaurant the motion could be felt much more than my cabin below. From the big restaurant windows one could see the waves were considerably higher than the previous night. The sea felt like a washing machine churning foam all around. The wind was also pretty strong leaving sprays of water on the restaurant window.

Not many passengers had ventured out this morning for breakfast. Those who manage to come out of their cabins were holding anything they could to balance. For the elderly even a little bit of movement is not a good sign, already week in the bones they were being thrown from here to there. Even the staff was having a tough time carrying big round trays with breakfast plates stacked up. The restaurant was emptying faster than it was filling up.

By the time it was 1000hrs the ship was pitching and rolling furiously in the agitated sea. The gentle spray of water had turned into high waves crashing into the ships window. The waves were splashing hard against the ships bulkhead. The gentle squeaks and rattles coming out from the ship had turned into loud moans and groans. With the force of the wind and the waves the ship was rolling from one side to another, some time even managing to list at an angle of 45 degrees. The worst was that at one instant the ship would roll and then suddenly the second it would start to pitch. We were on an unregulated rollercoaster ride of a life time. The ship felt like a paper boat fighting against the might of an angry sea

Even the staff was feeling the unregulated motion and was getting sick. The passengers were no where to be seen. The ships doctor was very busy answering all the medical emergencies relating to sea sickness. Whatever staff was present in the restaurant were called to help the doctor. Occasionally, the sound of the waves was interrupted by sounds of utensils falling in the galley or the sound of crockery breaking in heaps in the restaurant. Up on the open decks there was water coming in from one side and flowing off from the other side of the ship. More than the ship toppling and sinking I was afraid that the ship might just break and crumble with the force of the water.

Of course, apart from a few brave and thorough bred sailors, no guest came in for lunch. Rest just did not have the appetite to eat. After 8 hours of unleashing its fury finally the sea started to calm down a bit by the evening. Walking was more manageable now as the motion had subsided considerably. More guests came in for dinner and they had only one topic of conversation and that was “how they survived the last 8 hours”

Next morning was bright and sunny. The ship was sailing as calmly in the sea as an infant sleeps in his cradle. The guests were all out and about, roaming on the decks and enjoying the sun. Except a few hundred broken plates and glasses, dozens of broken wine bottles and lots of missing sun beds on the deck, which presumably were swallowed by the sea, there was not sign of what had happened yesterday.

At La Coruna, the ships arrival was delayed by 5 hrs. No one seem to mind that at least we had survived the PERFECT STORM!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by BaCkSeAtDrIVeR (Post 2168254)

So, somebody else does this job of closing the portholes?? How? Access from outside is obviously out of question. Obviously, nobody can pass their hands through the sealed glass, which is usually one - 1 1/2 inches thick.

The glass is out side and the iron covering is bolted from inside to the bulk head. It is a specialised job and requires special tools hence done by deck department people. They enter each cabin with a security officer who has the master key and bolt the cover.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anujmishra (Post 2168323)

As in your first post of this story you said that all staff of cruise ship secured everything on deck as well as in kitchen and dining area, then you went for sleep.

Then why again such huge amount of breakage and lost sun beds?

Lightly: Hope everyone performed their duty perfectly on that night. :D

The restaurant was a 600 seat restaurant serving a five course meal to all 600 of them at one go. So at any given time there are atleast 4000 different type of crockery in the restaurant. Similarly there are hundreds of sunbeds catering to a thousand guests..
I am sure they were all secured properly but the forces of nature that day were so strong that a few got loose and broke or flew off.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deky (Post 2093562)

....Now the ground reality was that I was stuck in Madrid, with my luggage in England and my ship in Arrecife.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deky (Post 2093827)

.....I felt like a fool sitting close to the phone and staring at it and cursing anyone who came to use it.........It was past midnight and I had spent almost 5 hrs at the airport now. ......I could not go out of the terminal because if I went out I could not have re-entered it and the life line I had in Madrid was that particular pay phone in the terminal.

Quote:

Originally Posted by deky (Post 2094469)

..... Not allowed to go to my destination, England, not allowed by the Captain to get back to the ship due to not having mandatory certificates, low on cash, I was stuck in Madrid not knowing what is instore for me ...

Quote:

I was waiting for this uncertainty to end quickly. I had started feeling like a prisoner in this lavish hotel. It was getting quite lonely. I had not spoken to anyone except on the phone for the last couple of days, I also could not leave the room to make sure I do not miss important phone calls. Life could not have got more boring I thought

Quote:

But one thing saddened me was that I could not leave any tips for the hotel staff. If I did that, probably I would have to walk to the airport, And under no circumstances I was going to miss this flight.

Quote:

Finally I reached my home town Jaipur. My parents were not expecting me for the next 5 months. They were shocked to see me at the door ringing the bell. I told them the story and the first thing my Mom said was “JAANA THA JAPAN PAHOONCH GAYE CHEEN”

Deky, awesome read, I got hypnotized into your writing just 4 hours back and finished the whole thread in one go !!!! Now I am feeling good that I did not see it at the time of writing, because the suspense was terrible to withstand.

Above quotes are the best parts I felt throughout the reading. Almost whole of first part, I was just thinking if the Tom Hanks movie 'The Terminal' was written from your experience :) I loved watching that movie many years back ! Hoping to see more from you. By the way, my dad-in-law is a retired shippy, I should make him pen down something before he starts forgetting things. Your thread is an inspiration :thumbs up