Industrial Strength Cruising

Our cruise wasn't run by Holland America or Carnival, but by Hanjin Shipping. That doesn't mean it wasn't cushy. After all, the Queen Elizabeth II carried 2800 passengers and had a crew of 1800 -- that's 0.64 crew per passenger. We had a crew of 22 for 3 passengers -- that's 7.3 crew per passenger. Whoa! Were we pampered?!

Maybe we should add, they had 6400 shipping containers, too!


Life On Board Statistics aside, the accommodations were roomy and comfortable. Our suite was half again larger than our apartment in Tokyo. This photo shows a corner of our day room, which had two large portholes. We also had a spacious bedroom (another porthole) and bath.


We ate in the Officers Mess. Meals were served promptly at 7:30, 11:30 and 17:30; coffee was at 10:00, tea at 15:00. The cuisine was generally German [the officers' passports] as interpreted by a Filipino [crews' passports] cook. It was tasty, filling and provided no end of surprises. Best of all were the homemade soups each dinner.


The ship is 280 m (915') long. We could walk laps on the deck, just below the outer layer of containers. We got plenty of exercise, and never needed the pool, exercise room or our jump rope.


Underway A ship this size is cumbersome. As we approach a port we pick up a pilot or two who guide us to our berth. Pilots are necessary leaving port, too. That means they have to get on or off at sea. It seemed to be a dangerous operation, though everyone did it as if it were routine.

This is our Tokyo pilot climbing down the rope ladder. Notice his gray business suit, white shirt, black hat, leather attache and natty white gloves. Clearly, he didn't expect to get wet ... and he didn't.


Caught in the act of working! What kind of cruise is this???


Captain Lutzmannn was in charge. To us his job seemed pretty interesting, but he complained about the paperwork and the main office landlubbers. AARG!


The bridge is loaded with enough electronics that it could drive by itself if it wasn't necessary to dodge squid boats. Though it looks like J thinks the Third Mate, Dennis Solijon, just hit one, he's actually explaining the controls.


Speaking of squid boats, we threaded our way through this line off Korea. Before we actually saw the lights, we could see their glow on the horizon from miles away.


At Berth Watching the process of loading and unloading the containers remained a fascinating passtime even after 7 ports. Basically, large trucks pull up under huge cranes, which either grab a container from the truck and put it on the ship, or do the reverse. The action continues day and night.


The whole process is amazing. If you want to see more of the nuts & bolts of the operation, click here.



Ports of Call Here is the industrial view of our eight ports of call.

Tokyo
Japan		 Setting sail from Tokyo Harbor ... we thought about casting out nets for one last round of sushi.


Osaka
Japan		 Look carefully in front of the white van for a man furiously waving a checkered flag. He's indicating where we should park, as if one guy with a flag is more obvious than the 20 story Hanjin cranes behind him.


Busan
Korea		 Again, look carefully. J is standing next to the blue Hanjin container on the pier. It's true that she's not tall, but she still gives perspective to the scale of our ship.


Shanghai
China		 It's brand new. It's a manmade island. It's 26 miles out to sea from Shanghai. It's the worlds largest container port.


Ningbo
China		 Just south of Shanghai is another man-made island, the port of Ningbo. Being near the Chinese Navy base meant we had a military and police guard throughout our visit. Ningbo's best features are these snappy blue cranes.


Kaoshiung
Taiwan		 The containers have to get from the stack to the ship. Some ports use trucks, some ports use large cranes. Kaoshiung used these cute little crane-lets. They swarmed everywhere.


Hong Kong Hong Kong greeted us with a blaze of light. From the lit high-rises of Stanley past the laser light show of downtown Hong Kong and into the golden glow of the container terminal.


Singapore Singapore waters were filled with more ships than any other harbor we visited. You're looking at the pilot's view as he navigated our ship to its berth. Watching from the bridge, our captain chain-smoked, and we found ourselves unconsciously leaning left or right, as if it would help.



There was a non-industrial view of our ports of call, too ... stay tuned.