Eric Holen

It’s been just over a week since Yvette and I returned from our 7th cruise, this one aboard the Carnival Ecstasy. I hope to provide a review of the cruise later, but in this post I am going to share my experience taking the “Behind the Fun” guided ship tour.

The tour is relatively new, just 18 months old. I first had and missed the opportunity to take the tour on last year’s cruise. Unfortunately, I forgot about the tour until I saw the group forming up to start and by then it was too late. Due to the nature of the tour and the areas we visit, the group is limited to just 16 people. This year I left nothing to chance and booked it just after we embarked. The tour cost $55 per person and occurred on the last sea day. Yvette chose not to go and instead spent the time relaxing.

The tour met at 9:30 AM in the Explorer’s Club library on deck 8 – Atlantic. They had coffee and pastry waiting for us as well as our honorary team member all access badges. I had some coffee, but skipped the pastry. The tour was conducted by the ship’s training manager. In her position, she is responsible for all general training activities across the ship including: new crew orientation, safety, language, customer service and management. After a brief orientation, they confiscated all cameras and cell phones, for those who had not read that they were not allowed on the tour. Then a security officer passed a hand scanner over us to verify that we were not hiding anything. He left, but would join up with the tour later and escort us through two highly sensitive and secure areas.

From the library, we headed to the Blue Sapphire lounge where the dance captain walked and talked us through the stage and the women’s dressing room. Regrettably there were no women getting dressed at the time. From there, we headed through the Wind Star dining room into the galley. It was interesting to pass by people eating breakfast and were probably wondering where the group was headed.

Yvette and I had taken the galley tour a few years ago when it was offered to everyone. They have since stopped doing the large tour to reduce the chance of spreading any illness through the galley. In this tour I learned that everything is electric (no flame) for safety, which includes the grills. While many cold items like salads are prepared in advanced, hot items are prepared when they are ordered. This made me feel a little guilty, but just for a second, knowing that I sometimes customized my dinner. Carnival is rolling out a computerized ordering system, like those found in land-based restaurants, but the Carnival Ecstasy didn’t have it yet. This means that the team waiters have to get from the tables to the galley to turn in the food orders.

After the galley, we headed off to see the food stores including a walk-in refrigerator, walk-in freezer and the liquor storage locker. While they have a machine that peels potatoes, all of the other fruits and vegetables are peeled by hand. I also found out that except for milk and eggs, almost all of the food is shipped in from Miami which helps with quality control as well as reducing costs.

Next we headed off to the laundry to see the large washers, dryers and folding machines. We started using the long crew corridor that stretches the length of the ship to get to the different areas. I think our guide referred to it as the I-5. We also saw the crew training center/computer lab. Except for the portals looking out to the water, it was similar to a land-based training center, even having several familiar management books on the shelves. I learned that every single crew member has to know how to launch one of the life rafts and is subject to quizzing by the U.S. Coast Guard.

We took a brief break in the one of the crew dining rooms where we were told that new wait staff learn the ropes in the crew dining rooms before moving on to the Lido restaurant and then finally getting to serve in the main dining rooms. At some point we also met the environmental officer who discussed ship recycling and waste management. We also saw the marshalling area where supplies and luggage are brought on the ship.

The security officer joined back up with us and we headed to the engine control room, which was behind two different secured doors and covered by video cameras. This by far was my favorite part of the trip, due in part to the Chief Engineer who enthusiastically discussed engine operations. The Carnival Ecstasy has six generators, four large and two small. When in port, one generator can power the entire ship, but for safety a second generator is always on standby. The engine control room had a large floor to ceiling display board that monitored every aspect of the ship’s operations and power production and usage. The Chief Engineer also talked about propulsion and how we had to change docks in Cozumel because even at full power the ship had struggled against the wind.

We headed up to the bridge where one of the officers, not the Captain, walked us through bridge operations including the control stations, radar, and communications. He is the one in uniform just to the left of the control station in the picture. Then the Captain joined us, answered a few more questions and we took a group picture. The security officer was with us again on the bridge.

Finally we wound through the bow of ship and through the crew bar before finishing up at the Neon piano bar. We finished off by taking a short survey, turning in our access badges, but collecting a “Behind the Fun” baseball cap, rubber wrist band and lanyard. The picture was delivered to our cabins that evening.

I like operations and seeing how things function; the tour did not disappoint. I will likely take the tour again when Yvette and I sail on a different and bigger ship.

Behind the Fun tour group photo on the Carnival Ecstasy Bridge in Dec 2010

While trying to track down some pictures for another blog post, I came across these two pictures from when I served on President Clinton’s motorcade in November 1996.

Then President Clinton was making a brief stop in El Paso for a reelection campaign event.  I was a Senior Paramedic at the time.  I and two other paramedics were selected to serve during the event.  Oscar Salazar was the second Senior Paramedic on the detail, but I can’t remember the name of the other paramedic that served with us.

We got there early and staged with the Secret Service and the El Paso Police Department, long before Air Force One had arrived.  It was very interesting to see how the operation unfolded.  While we were scheduled to part of the motorcade, it would only happen if Marine One, the President’s helicopter, was grounded by weather in El Paso or in Las Cruces, where he would speak later in the afternoon.

After the El Paso event finished and the helicopter took off for Las Cruces, it became a little more relaxed.  We had to remain on site and ready in case there were any problems with the helicopter returning.  Once the helicopter was gone, we were allowed to take some pictures.  We all had our pictures take in front of the limousine.  By the way, the seals on the doors are magnets that are applied once the vehicle is in place.  I even took one picture of their staged firepower in the back of one of the SUVs, which I was told quite firmly, not to do again.  Later that evening, we had our picture taken with Air Force One in the background.

As exciting as it was to serve, we spent a lot of time just waiting.  From start to finish, we were there for about 12 hours.  Unfortunately, the weather cooperated and the motorcade never moved.

Since then, I have been a fan of anything related to the U.S. Secret Service and Air Force One. 

After a few years of begging, Yvette finally consented to going to the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in Bryan/College Station.

Due in large part to my dad, I have always been a big fan of museums. Whether it was something local, far away, or on the way somewhere else, he always seemed to find an interesting museum to stop at. Once there, he “encouraged” us, which is putting it lightly, to look at and read everything.  Through those experiences, I cam to enjoy going to museums.

Yvette was not as excited as me for going and, due to a bad day of work that Friday, we almost did not go.  However, I woke up early Saturday morning, fixed the issues, while letting Yvette sleep in an extra hour.  Once I had everything working (at work), I woke Yvette up with my excitement that we were going.

Now, normally on Saturdays, we run our errands and clean the house.  Having the opportunity to go out and do something helped make it “Not Another Saturday”.

We headed out east of Kyle and up SH21 to Bastrop where we stopped at a McDonald’s drive-thru for breakfast.  We continued on, arriving in College Station before noon.  The drive up 21 was nice, especially outside of Bastrop, and I was surprised that it was 4 lanes.

We arrived at the museum around 11:30 AM and took a quick break before embarking on the tour.  There is a beautiful horse sculpture just outside the museum.  It represents the freedom that came when the Berlin Wall came down.

The museum admission was $7, but for $3 more you get an audio wand.  At certain points throughout the museum, you key in the display and hear additional information on an exhibit.  I highly recommend getting the wand.

There was a traveling space exhibit from NASA, which we saw just before entering the main part of the museum.

Overall, there was plenty to see and read.  We saw a Presidential Limo, fighter plane, antique car, the Oval Office, Camp David, and plenty of other things.  Yvette was surprise out how interesting she found the exhibits.  We ended up spending a little over two hours at the museum. You can see some of the pictures here.

Instead of sticking around, we drove to Lockhart and had a good dinner at Chisholm Trail BBQ.

It was great to get away from the house and spend the day with my wonderful wife doing something that I enjoyed.

I don’t know if I am allowed the leak the cover this early, but what a surprise that Yvette made the list of best Texas spouses AND made the cover! I love her, she’s beautiful, and she is the best spouse.

In my last Monday Mash, I mention the sunburn that I received at Saturday’s and Sunday’s Texas Longhorn softball games. Here is the proof. Note the big red patch from the back of the baseball cap. I have a similiar but light patch on the front of my head when I turned my cap around so that the bill would protect my neck.

The sunburn did not hurt much, until I shaved my head Monday morning, but I did feel a litle sick Sunday evening.