Celebrity Cruises captain Kate McCue often shows passengers parts of Celebrity Beyond, the ship she captains, that they have never seen before. In some cases, here “Captain's Log” behind-the-scenes videos show places that many people didn't even know existed.
In one of his latest videos, McCue takes his followers through a “blackout test.” That's an important part of emergency preparedness that passengers often don't see.
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“Just like on land, blackouts can occur on a ship for a variety of reasons. The difference with a blackout at home, unless you have an emergency generator on hand, is the amount of redundancies we have to cover key equipment and systems ” she shared.
While cruise ships have redundancies and safety equipment, it is very important for the crew to know what to do in the event of catastrophic failure.
This is what happens during a blackout drill
Cruise lines periodically conduct drills to ensure crew members are prepared for any scenario. A blackout is not likely, but if it does, McCue's team will be prepared.
“This is something we test with a large-scale blackout drill every six months. During this test, we are not simulating, we are actually turning off the diesel generators to create a blackout, activating sequences that include turning on the UPS system. “, the emergency generator and finally the backup diesel generator with all auxiliary systems,” he said.
These exercises are not taken lightly.
“After a detailed briefing, Chief Engineer RG allows me to initiate the blackout by disconnecting the equipment that powers the entire ship,” he added.
In the video, McCue unplugs a bridge-type coffee machine.
“Just kidding. The coffee machine is important, but I hope you understand that for safety reasons, I won't share which button exactly starts a blackout,” he said.
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These are drills for a situation McCue hopes never happens.
“While outages are very rare, the purpose of the test is to verify the functionality of all related equipment, which is a lot of equipment, and to train and share knowledge among our technical teams,” he shared.
Passengers are informed about the test because it will affect the operation of the ship.
“After a briefing, we induce blackout while ensuring the safety and comfort of guests during the test. All systems related to safe boating remain on without interruption because they are supported by the UPS, emergency generators and, finally, the main engines,” he added. .
That causes some immediate changes to the ship.
“All elevators automatically go to the boarding deck and the doors to deck number five will remain open,” the captain said.
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Some steps are taken to ensure that the test does not cause any unexpected harm.
“The IT team monitors all IT functions around the ship and since our main theater costs more than the first ship built by Royal Caribbean, it is important that the technical director and his team ensure that all entertainment systems are turned off before the test. “Most power is automatically restored once the ship's systems come back online, and the entire test takes less than two minutes,” he concluded.
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