Stranded…Temporarily – At Sea – [11/10/2014]

The latest sir is that she’s damaged one of the wing propellers, and we could be delayed for as much as an entire day…sir. ~ “Dressed in Your Pajamas in the Grand Salon”

Kitkat, Spinner , Grace and I were all having lunch out on the back deck this afternoon when Spinner – our DJ by the way – mentioned that all the lights in the buffet resteraunt had gone out. We look up, and see that sure enough the sliding automatic doors are fixed to the open position – which means nothing is powering them. Just as we are taking this in, the announcement chime rings out across the deck

Ladies and gentlemen this is your Captain speaking, you may have noticed that we have temporarily lost power, rest assured that the situation is well under control. We are in deep water and there is nothing around us, therefore there is no cause for concern.

And all of us look at each other, and then look out at the water..

Guys…he means ALL power…check it out, we’re not moving.

And we weren’t. Not at all. Completely dead in the water.

Blackouts on ships are very eerie things. You never truly realize how much the ship moves, and how loud she is just in the day to day running of the engines; you get used to that vibration, that constant whirr and purr of noise under your feet; until it …stops, and this eerie silence just kind of hangs around you. As though the ship herself is afraid to breathe.

The last time I was on a ship that had a power outage was several years back, and at that point we were still tied up to the dock. This time? We’re still in the midst – though near the far end – of a Crossing. Which made it even …stranger somehow.

Not that it was worthy of panic or anything, the situation was well under control and the ship was back on her way within what was probably less than an hour. But it’s still not the thing you expect really…