A look into the lives of CSU's Current Environmental Health Interns
The First Day of Vessel Sanitation (7/25/09)
We woke up early in the morning to meet the rest of the VSP team at the cruise ship. When we arrived, we met CAPT Jaret Ames and went through security—a lot like airport security, which makes sense, but easier when equipped with a PHS uniform and official government badge! I was absolutely stunned about how BIG these ships are. I had seen cruise ships in the distance before, but never up close, and it truly is mindblowing. Once we boarded the ship, we were assigned to various locations to assist the different parts of the inspection.
Alan and I accompanied LT Albright on the technical inspection. This consists of a front-to-back look at all of the swimming pools on board, as well as the potable water system. The Royal Caribbean ships have more pools than even “normal-sized” ships, so their engineering and maintenance teams have plenty of work cut out for them.
We started off by looking at the pools. First, we went to the pool management room and looked through all of their maintenance records. I was impressed because these are incredibly detailed, far more than what would be required of a public pool on land. In whirlpools (or any pool where the water has jets or fountains to move water around), chemical measurements are taken hourly while the pool is open; in the rest of the pools, measurements are taken every four hours. Turbidity and conductivity tests are performed in addition to the regular recreational water tests. In addition, each pool is super-chlorinated nightly.
To further complicate things, the newest Royal Caribbean ships are equipped with a “Baby Splash Zone.” This is a zero-depth pool designed for allowing children still in diapers to swim. In my opinion, this is gross, but maybe I'm a germaphobe. Ordinarily, this is not allowed by VSP, but they allowed the cruiseline to apply for a variance—an entire binder of paperwork—explaining how they will maintain the pool, how it will be used, and how public health will still be protected. Maintenance is doing a great job of keeping track of everything and minimizing the risk of this pool. After going through paperwork, we went up to the top deck and did a visual inspection on all of the pools. The Baby Splash Zone was very small considering all the trouble it causes. We were disappointed because the surfing pool was not open so we couldn’t watch that (they have a machine that makes waves for it!).
When we were down with the pools, we went to the main engineering control rooms to talk about the drinking water system. We looked at their disinfection records to ensure there hadn’t been any dramatic spikes or drops in the level of chemicals. It’s really incredible how much water they have to process—the ship goes through ~975,000 gallons of water every day! They buy some of the water at the ports, but that depends on the quality of water at the port and the price range. They actually have a desalination system to use sea water, which I thought was pretty cool. Of course, they then have to treat any water before it’s released back into the ocean, including adjusting the salinity. Going through records involved getting to go up to the bridge of the ship and meeting the captain, which was fantastic. You definitely don’t get that as a passenger! We also went through the water distribution system, all the way from the bow of the ship to the aft where they were taking in water from the port. During this part of the day, I developed both an appreciation for Dr. Blehm’s lesson in how to climb an industrial ladder and another level of hatred for my Navy-issue dress shoes (which are not conducive to grate flooring, wet ground, or ladders).
Overall, today was an absolutely fantastic experience. I developed a new appreciation for cruise ship management—the “small city” comparison is a good one, and keeping track of public health while showing people a great time and not crashing the boat is no small feat! I also developed a great respect for the VSP staff. Four people inspecting a 6,000+-population moving city, in between disembarkation and disembarkation (less than seven hours), including creating a detailed report and sharing it with the ship’s staff, is a major accomplishment, and they do it all the time.
Alan and I accompanied LT Albright on the technical inspection. This consists of a front-to-back look at all of the swimming pools on board, as well as the potable water system. The Royal Caribbean ships have more pools than even “normal-sized” ships, so their engineering and maintenance teams have plenty of work cut out for them.
We started off by looking at the pools. First, we went to the pool management room and looked through all of their maintenance records. I was impressed because these are incredibly detailed, far more than what would be required of a public pool on land. In whirlpools (or any pool where the water has jets or fountains to move water around), chemical measurements are taken hourly while the pool is open; in the rest of the pools, measurements are taken every four hours. Turbidity and conductivity tests are performed in addition to the regular recreational water tests. In addition, each pool is super-chlorinated nightly.
To further complicate things, the newest Royal Caribbean ships are equipped with a “Baby Splash Zone.” This is a zero-depth pool designed for allowing children still in diapers to swim. In my opinion, this is gross, but maybe I'm a germaphobe. Ordinarily, this is not allowed by VSP, but they allowed the cruiseline to apply for a variance—an entire binder of paperwork—explaining how they will maintain the pool, how it will be used, and how public health will still be protected. Maintenance is doing a great job of keeping track of everything and minimizing the risk of this pool. After going through paperwork, we went up to the top deck and did a visual inspection on all of the pools. The Baby Splash Zone was very small considering all the trouble it causes. We were disappointed because the surfing pool was not open so we couldn’t watch that (they have a machine that makes waves for it!).
When we were down with the pools, we went to the main engineering control rooms to talk about the drinking water system. We looked at their disinfection records to ensure there hadn’t been any dramatic spikes or drops in the level of chemicals. It’s really incredible how much water they have to process—the ship goes through ~975,000 gallons of water every day! They buy some of the water at the ports, but that depends on the quality of water at the port and the price range. They actually have a desalination system to use sea water, which I thought was pretty cool. Of course, they then have to treat any water before it’s released back into the ocean, including adjusting the salinity. Going through records involved getting to go up to the bridge of the ship and meeting the captain, which was fantastic. You definitely don’t get that as a passenger! We also went through the water distribution system, all the way from the bow of the ship to the aft where they were taking in water from the port. During this part of the day, I developed both an appreciation for Dr. Blehm’s lesson in how to climb an industrial ladder and another level of hatred for my Navy-issue dress shoes (which are not conducive to grate flooring, wet ground, or ladders).
Overall, today was an absolutely fantastic experience. I developed a new appreciation for cruise ship management—the “small city” comparison is a good one, and keeping track of public health while showing people a great time and not crashing the boat is no small feat! I also developed a great respect for the VSP staff. Four people inspecting a 6,000+-population moving city, in between disembarkation and disembarkation (less than seven hours), including creating a detailed report and sharing it with the ship’s staff, is a major accomplishment, and they do it all the time.
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