The Royal Treatment ~ Rollin'

We woke to less wind and rain, but with decks or and nine still closed. We didn't realize until after we already went out on our verandah to take in the lovely sea.



Our view of the surf from ten stories above the water line.
So awe inspiring.

Getting the kids dressed with the ship rolling gently proved humorous. Mom woke up long enough to confirm she would be heading back to sleep for a while. Weaving back and forth (due to rolling) on the relatively chilly but covered portions of deck 9 toward Beach Blanket Buffet. I have never seen such an empty buffet. Admittedly, we showed up right when it opened, but even after our meal, it wasn't really occupied.

Us, our breakfasts, cast members and an empty buffet.

Our assistant server, Jane worked the buffet that morning and came over to check on how we were doing with the ship motion. As we were doing well, she went to get Kylee a soy milk and when she returned she departed with a "Have a good day!"
Chris responded with "No! Have a magical day!"
Jane smiled back at him and said, "Yes!!!"
Taking our time over breakfast to let mom sleep off her Dramamine, we wandered back to the drink station and discovered a familiar character on our way back to our seats.

Is that you Mickey?

We returned to our stateroom with dry toast and bagels for mom. After a quick peek in (she was still very much sleeping) Chris and Ben decided to watch some cartoons while Kylee and I went for a walk.

Empty Mickey Pool on a Sea Day.

The Oceaneer's Club and Lab were opening after nine, but since the pool did not have any water in it (drained so that it wouldn't splash as the ship rolled) and Kylee was content to bypass the Princess Gathering and wait to see who showed up at the Disney Friends Tea Party that afternoon. With the deck activities closed, a host of indoor character meets and other activities were added to the schedule.
Kylee took a bath in the master suite and I wondered why on earth you needed a phone here.

Master Bath and Tele-conferencing suite...

Seriously, it can wait.
After baths, the kids eagerly stormed into the Oceaneer Lab. After dropping the kids off and waving to the princesses gathering down on the third deck, we headed down to the fourth deck to take a gander at the new art work. We love finding all the characters from other Disney stories hidden in each of Thomas Kinkade's paintings. With the latest addition to the series "Disney's Tangled by Thomas Kinkade Studios" we had not been able to find a single character out of the story so we figured we would give it another go.

Oh and ran into Captain Mickey wandering down the hallway.

Because this day we literally tripped over characters. Not five minutes later we ran into Peter again.

Faith, Trust and Elevators.

Seriously, between finding a hidden Mickey and all of our character sightings, a very magical morning.
We still never found a hidden character in the painting though, so we decided a café break was in order. We looked forward to the Captain's Corner Q&A in Outlook as we hadn't managed to catch it previously.

Checking email in the Café

Captain Fabian walked into the Outlook Café, sat at a chair in the middle of the room with a bottle of water, took a hand held microphone from a cast member and started right in "Who has a question?"
A brief summary of our Q&As

• Explained ducktail
• Center of gravity is 1M above deck 1 Deck BCA all have water tanks, engines, and solids, much of the weight is below. Weight of passengers and luggage is relatively minimal. A "stability manual" is written before occupancy. Helps balance ship.
• Propulsion system. 5 diesel generators produce 77,000 HP > two propulsion motors. 5 thrusters (3 fwd, 2 stern)
• Fire protection sprinklers.  In machinery high foam and CO2. High foam is the best solution for machinery system.
• So you take on ballast? Yes the chief officer tracks that. Fuel and waste on the stern water on the bow. Ballast the fwd to bring it to balance fwd to aft.
• What kind of back up systems do we have? Power comes from the main engine, then generators then batteries.
• Water on the ship. Collect a lot in port. Kept to chlorination of US Public Health approved levels. Waste water goes to state of the art treatment system (even approved for Alaska) They aerate, filter (many steps) then release into ocean. The system must be approved as they go into each new area. Recycling systems on board as well.
• Alternative fuels? Liquid gas is the only really feasible for passenger ships.  Look for it first on ferries in Europe but still many years out.
• How heavy of seas can the Wonder handle? Max wave height I would sail through is twenty-eight to thirty foot seas though it can take more than that. Our max last night was sixteen-eighteen. Right now is 12-14. The captain prefers not to sail through seas above twenty feet. Especially because at the extreme ends of the ship you will get up to 6 feet higher and lower than the extremes of the waves (so a 20 foot wave feels like 32 feet at the forward and aft ends).
• Roll is the ships side to side motion. Pitch is the forward to aft motion.
• What do the stabilizers do? Gyrostabilizers balance the wings of the stabilizers. (Like giant bubble level?) Jerk motion is due to stabilizers keeping the ship from rolling as much as it naturally would.
• Buford is a measurement of the waves by observation. Used to estimate sea conditions based on wind speed. Now there is a buoy system that measures the actual wave height at a couple points in the gulf so Buford is less necessary.
• Relative wind is addition of vector of your speed and the actual wind speed.
• What was our maximum last evening? We had up to 58/60 knot winds (I have screen shots of 63 knots, but tomato/tomatoe.)
• Can you address any special requirements for carrying fireworks on a passenger vessel? Category 14 spaces. Away from passengers. Isolated, special doors, limited quantities.
• What do you look forward to most in your job? "Not to sound corny, but the faces of the kids. When I have stress, I go see the kids spaces and the family getting together that is the best part."
• Favorite vacations or itineraries? Castaway Cay and Alaska.  If you ask the cast and crew, they will probably say Alaska. If you want relaxation, transatlantic or grand canal.  Bahamas.  Hawaii is beautiful!
• Someone offered their compliments to the crew on handling the guests in the rain (yesterday in Cozumel) one of the security guards went to help keep the people from getting wet. "We knew we were 400 guests short so they sent those ponchos
• What distance do you keep from other approaching ships? "One mile distance is my standing orders.  The seas are huge. Why do you have to be so close? Except when entering and exiting ports." We communicate with other ships when we are getting near the one mile zone.
• Do y'all actually dock the ships or do the harbor pilots? The harbor pilot jumps in at the port. Usually in Mexico, they tell you the current speed. I communicate with the pilot. He stands with me and the staff captain and the chief officer. They give me all the information. It's a team effort. Same for the departure. Yesterday turning out of Cozumel took much longer because of the cross winds. You have to be patient when you leave so you can clear the pier. Especially in those wind conditions.

Thank you Captain Fabian!

I'd imagine this can be a fascinating and very different experience each cruise as it is entirely based on the guests questions.

Full Astern? Luckily I'm pretty sure this isn't attached to anything.

After rolling out of the café enjoying the (only) 14-16 foot waves we rolled on down to our suite to check on mom.
This is Part 18 of an Ongoing Trip Report "The Royal Treatment" additional sections of this report can be found on the Adventures page.