Saturday 26th January 2013
Day1 onboard
I am awake long before alarm. I make tea and pack. Shower and dress ready for the ship. After two cuppas we are showered, dressed and ready. Send a last msg on WiFi. Our daughter wishes us Happy Australia Day. I did remember yesterday. We wait until closer to 8am to check out. Sitting waiting in foyer would be less comfortable than in our room. Finally I call for bags to be collected and we check out. We wait downstairs and our driver arrives early. The drive to the ship is exciting. It is in the same direction as the bird park. We have to apply for a temporary dock pass. An image is taken. We fill out the form and then we drive into a huge, huge dock. One of the largest in the world. After a long drive our ship comes into view. I manage an image of her bow with the name. CMA CGM Thalassa. We spot the gang way. It is steep, narrow and we must negotiate it. The driver leaves us there. We look up and someone it's waving. I wave back. Is this some passengers? I wait on the dock and Roy starts up with one case. He is met half way by a crew member. Thank goodness. Another comes down to collect the other one too. I take it very slowly. Each step is set at an angle, the side is meshed and the solid metal of the ship's wall is to my right. It is a very long way up the side of the ship. At the top we are greeted by a few of the crew. Many smiles, Roy is given a cloth to wipe off some smears of oil on his forearm. We are shown inside, to the ship's office which is filled with people. It is confusing and we don't know who is who. A man introduces himself as Gary. He is our steward and decides to take us to our room. We have no idea who is in charge, who is passenger or crew, officers or visitor. We are told an Aussie man is disembarking today. Roy saw him in the office. As I follow Gary out of the office, a very tall and Caucasian looking man, smiling broadly is at the door, holds out his hand. Captain! I repeat, you are the captain? He nods, grins broadly, puts out his hand for a handshake. He also greeted Roy warmly. The impression is of a large, tall, congenial man but it is a brief encounter. We go to the lift, yes there's a lift. This makes our life much easier because our room is on F deck, just under the bridge. The officers’ dining mess is on B deck. The pool is on D deck. We would have had more trouble transferring between these floors if we used the stairs. More tomorrow. :::: We are disoriented at first. Meeting men in the corridors. As we climbed the gang way we must have been watched. We are shown to our Owners’ cabin and it is spacious, very well apportioned with a large lounge and club chairs, a long L-shaped bench along the wall with drawers and cupboards. The double bed is ample and the en-suite bathroom as good as necessary. All is spotless and well maintained. Hardly used, I should think. There is a massive Gustav Klint print on the wall, a Liban CMA CGM poster plus a large Roman print to liven the decor. We have two port holes, facing over the starboard side and not blocked by containers. The rearwards facing port holes let in light but are blocked by containers. We have our luggage and are left to settle in. I take some photos of our living quarters. We will be very bored with it soon but for now it is all new and pleasant. It is still only 9am and we sit and relax. There's a knock and Ariola, the third mate comes in to deal with paperwork. He takes our passports, our declarations, our copy of insurance, and a copy of our tickets. We sign another declaration to absolve the shipping line of responsibility in case of accident or injury, and that we have insurance. They cover themselves over and over, and we sign. It does state it is covered by English Law so presumably that is best for us too. He leaves us to settle in. Roy lies down. I unpack our things while he recovers. We go for an explore. Check out the starboard deck just outside our porthole. It shows us the seaward side overlooking the busy Singapore port activity. There is so much going on: tankers, pilot boats, tugs, too many types of ships to make a note of and all moving and working. Also the cranes on the dock are loading and unloading onto our ship. We watch in fascination as the dockside cranes do their work. It is a sight known only to dockside workers. I take many, many photos. We go down to B deck to make a tea. There are no tea-making facilities in the cabin. As we return to our cabin we met Eddie Khoo, the port agent, in the lift. He looked for us. He is sorry about the day’s delay and extra night on shore but we knew it was a possibility. He comes to our cabin and stops to talk to the French passenger, she is 78 years old and I hear her complain that it has been difficult. Eddie joins us and Roy and I had decided to give him the leftover Singapore dollars but he refuses to take it. Keep it as a souvenir, he suggests. I set up the laptop and transfer the images to date onto the desktop folder. Only half transfer so this needs redoing. The Bird Park photos are fantastic on the screen. I send a quick text message to the family. It doesn't send, I think with an error msg, so I send again. I have doubled up. It costs 80 cents per msg, so $5. This will be an option if the email is a problem, while we have reception. I find the cabin's familiarisation folder and read instructions. Roy reads and rests. I go for an explore and find the pool area. One of the crew, a Filipino takes me to D deck. This man has had six months on-board, is flying home at 5pm and pleased to go. The gym is basic with table tennis, weights and the pool has a huge net over the top, 'for safety', I’m told. Not filled now because the ship’s in port. It will be filled on request with seawater. Some men use the gym. I return to our room. We head to the officers mess on B deck by elevator and I orient myself better. Our cabin and the mess are on the starboard side, With the lift behind me, we are facing forward. It is air conditioned throughout the tower. Forecastle? Gary offers to serve us lunch. It is almost noon. Nobody else is in the mess. I check the menu and it is basic, plain food. We have egg drop soup to start. Gary decides on where we sit. The lady French passenger comes in too. She cannot or refuses to speak English. I heard her using English to complain in her cabin to Eddie. I decided to humour her as we have many, many meals to share at this table. Roy eats what I cannot finish. Two officers come in and greet us with 'Bon appetit'. I have checked the crew list on the wall and the Captain is Montenegrin. Most of the crew are Filipinos, the engine crew are Indian and the mates and officers are mixed, Filipino and other. There are, including us, 34 on board. Roy and I leave the French lady to her lunch as she won't communicate in English. I try some French, clearly trying to piece together some words but she seems to misunderstand and mumbles in French to herself. I can only try then she has to reciprocate. I lie down and Roy goes off to explore. I do some Sudoku. Roy comes to get me. We check out the Officer's Recreation room with dvds and TV. Then we step out on the other, port side. The view is of the dock. We climb up one deck and can see front and rear. We watch fascinated and I take lots of photos. Sequences of shots as containers are shifted; port only trucks deliver and accept the container bricks. The cranes work non-stop. The huge stand-alone cranes move like robots but are controlled by a man in the suspended cabin high overhead. It is a never-ending hive of activity and the logistics of movement are mind boggling. We watch as a different ship is brought to dock at its berth; next to neatly parked, white blocks of cars. This is a roll on roll off RORO ship. A fuel tanker pulls alongside and the ramp is lowered. Everything takes a long, long time. For us it is new and exciting, for these workers it is all in a day's work. I keep taking pictures because the fascination will undoubtedly pall but as it is fresh, it is worthy of noting. This view from high on the ship is not seen by many. We watch for an hour. Then I need to rest again. We go into the mess to make another tea. Gary reminds us that dinner is at 6pm. We are not sure of the meal times but will check later. We return to our cabin. Roy reads and I write up this diary. I add in my emails to the children so as not to repeat the same writing. It is nearly four days of catch up. Just before 6pm we go to dinner. The day's menu is placed on the table. We decline soup. Two different crew members greet us briefly but don't engage in conversation. The French lady also came down in the lift with us and I make a point of introducing ourselves. Her name is Jeannette. Despite my terrible French and her obvious reluctance to try to understand I manage that at least. At table she does have soup, the same as at lunch. I attempt conversation. She has come from Vietnam. She has also taken a ship to Vietnam. She complains of being tired and the constant traffic and the heat. One wonders why she is traveling. It is also her first time of freighter travel. Only time will tell. We ask when the ship will leave port and Gary asks one of the officers. 3am is the reply. So much later than anticipated. I go out to watch the unloading of the RORO cars, the brand new white trucks are being driven off, parked in the neatest rows, the drivers gather and step into a ute to be driven back inside the ship. Then more trucks are driven off. Everything is so organised. I wait as the sun goes down over the west of Singapore port. It disappears behind a wall of cloud then shows through as a brilliant, orange red glowing ornament, many times larger than normal before being cut off at land level and dwindling to nothing. No simple camera like ours can capture such splendour. I go back to our room. We decide to settle to bed. I do some puzzles but we soon settle down. We wonder if we will notice our departure. The ship's gentle engine noise is not intrusive.
Click link below for images of boarding CMA CGM Thalassa
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| Looking up to the gangway entry |
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| Moving into our cabin on F Deck |
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| Watching water traffic in Port Singapore |
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