"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report # 60 Sailing Towards Manila, Philippines February 27, 2014 Thursday Partly cloudy, 85 degrees

We had a very nice experience today. Last week Shiv, the Executive Housekeeper, offered to give us a tour of the laundry facility on the ship. We gladly said yes, and would wait until he had the time to take us. We've known Shiv since he was the assistant housekeeper, and worked out of the office near our room. He has always gone the extra mile to see to it that we have everything we need once we board the ship. His office is now located on deck three, with the room closing near us. But we still keep in touch with him daily. Like we said, he is a great guy.

Shiv and the hard workers

On the way to the laundry facilities

The main hallway within the ship on deck B

One of the workers we never see

The sheet/pillowase/linen drying & folding machine

Expensive equipment

So, when we walked past his office today after our walk, Shiv came out and asked us if this morning would work for a tour. All right, you bet. Meeting him in ten minutes, he led us down to deck B and the main hallway of the working deck inside the ship. We entered the facility from the far end, so the order we saw it went in reverse.

A new washing machine

Two more washers

Feeding the wet sheet into the dryer/folder

One big dryer

We began in room that housed the drying and folding machine for sheets, pillowcases, and table linens. This unit was at least 10 feet long, cylinder-shaped, and worked like magic. Clean and wet sheets, for instance, would be fed into the machine using a roller technique. Almost instantly, they are dried with hot air, then folded lengthwise, and dumped into a tray underneath to be stacked. It took only two workers to feed this machine. By the way, all of the workers we saw were young Filipino men, who could stand the heat down here. Also, the sheets are changed every fourth day for the passengers.

Towel dryers

Sanitizing washer

Washer used only for Noro virus decontamination

Across from this unit, were two very new washing machines that had been installed while the ship was in drydock last December in San Francisco. They each have the capacity of holding 400 pounds of wet wash (sheets/pillowcases/towels/linens) in three compartments. Built just like a front-loading washing machine, they have to have the correct amount of weight to operate right. This is done by weighing the wet wash in a wheeled bin on a huge scale. All the detergents are controlled automatically and the loads take about 45 minutes to complete. When these units were installed, an outside wall where the soap dispensers were mounted had to be removed for them to be installed. The wall was welded back after the job was done.

Automated detergent dispensers

More machines lined the wall,each taking 165# of wash. Dryers followed, some of them took 120 pounds , while others took up to 200 pounds. One separate washing machine, capable of extremely high water temperatures was used only for decontaminating NORO virus linens and toweling for one room at a time. The good news was that the machine was empty, not being used. Keep in mind, all of these machines run 24 hours a day, non-stop, to take care of up to 1380 guests and additional crew members.

Pressing

Hanging the finished wash

Reading the laundry slip

Sorting the folded items

Towels ready to go

All clean

The regular guest laundry facility was next to tour. We entered where our blue bags of laundry arrive in large bins. One fellow dumps the contents, one at a time, labels them with iron-on tags, then proceeds to separate the items by color and delicates. All small items go into a mesh bag and are tagged with one label.

Spotter

There was a spotting table, which is good to know. Shiv did say that if you mark the laundry slip with special instructions, like for delicate handwash, it should be done.

A wall of cubbyholes near the tagger held the baskets that we get our laundry back in the room. A group of fellows were filling them with the correctly marked items. Racks for the hanging clothes were lined up as well. As we continued on, we found two steam iron mannekins that literally blew up the slacks and shirts with hot steamy air. These can be found in any cleaners at home. They are quick with little hand ironing necessary. They did have ironing boards, both regular and the steam pressing ones. The group of ironers were happy to show off their skills as we passed by.

Steam presser

How it works

Old fashioned iron and table still used

Blanket dryers

Shirt blow dryer

Putting the shirt over the form

Puffing it up with hot air

We asked about cleaning pillows, duvets, and blankets. All of the feather-filled items are fluff-dryed with 155 degree air to re-distribute the feathers. It also helps to deodorize them. The blankets are washed in regular machines. They had two wet/dry cleaning units that use natural fruit-based oils to clean the clothing. Shiv admitted that it was inferior to the usual dry cleaning you have onshore, but was as good as it gets here. With that, we thanked all of the hard-working fellows for their demo.

The upholstery shop

All the indoor fabrics

The sewing room

Patterns for clothing

The workshop

Boss of the workshop

Tight quarters

Shiv continued to take us through the linen and alcohol storage rooms, and the upholstery and carpenter shops. The most interesting was the sewing room, where we found four men working on crew clothing. They actually make all of the uniforms for the officers and staff. Yes, the dark blue wool suits worn are created here with patterns they have hanging on the side wall. Only the white shirts are store-bought. All broken and torn clothing is repaired in this room.

Cabins of the crew

Lastly, we strolled through the dry food storage and paper product rooms. It was like going to Costco, with shelving full of the everyday items we use in the dining rooms. We could see the opening where the palleted deliveries are off-loaded from the trucks on the pier. Lots of heavy work is done here on delivery days.

The booze room

Lots of beer

Dry storage room

Paper product

Rice, flours, sugar

All of our condiments

Like a grocery store

Will restock in Hong Kong

Thanking Shiv, we climbed the narrow stairwell, and back to deck one aft where we had entered this very different world from what we are used to seeing. Fantastic tour. It how better can it be to be a private one at that.

The rest of the day flew by as we relaxed in the warm sun on the aft deck. All day long, we had been sailing around the many islands of the Philippines as we headed in a northwesterly direction to the east coast of Luzon and Manila. As the day progressed, more and more of the Filipino staff came outside with their phones to call home. At one point, there were twenty crew members on the promenade deck talking to family members, making plans for the next couple of days that we would be docked in Manila.

While one of us was getting a haircut in the spa, the other was busy getting some local pesos to use for lunch or whatever we may need in town tomorrow. We are still having some problems with the internet, either cutting us off, and refusing to log us off. Keeping track of the minutes lost, we just have to fill out a form, and the request for lost time gets approved a day later. Since so many of the passengers and crew are having problems, there is no question about refunding minutes. The librarian admitted that he will no longer be using the ship's system, because he has lost so much money like us, and has had too much frustration with it. Can't say we blame him.

While watching the sun go down around 6pm, we noticed how many fishing boats there were surrounding the numerous islands we were passing. Each boat was lit up with a bright light, we assume to attract the fish. Even some small rowboats were in the mix, which we could hardly see with our bare eyes. Up on deck nine, it was touching to see some crew members watching the fishing boats as they talked away in their native language. Bet they are really looking forward to Manila, as are we.