I entered my cabin at about 14:00 hours. My cabin was located on the inner side of the 10th floor, and was the cheapest one though it had no window. My wife and I would stay in this room for 6 days. I'd like to have opened our suitcases at once, but they were late. After all, they arrived at about 16:00 hours. We decided to explore the ship until then.
Before that, I had to join the evacuation drill starting at 15:15 hours. Under the ship's regulations, all passengers must have evacuation training. We brought life jackets from the cabin to the workshop and actually put them on, and listened to the siren ordering the evacuation. I had a lecture from a Japanese crew member. The "Muster Station D" on the right upper corner on the cruise card which I had shown in the previous article gives the meeting site in an emergency. The attendance and absence was strictly managed and passengers who didn't attend the workshop seemed to be called up to another workshop.
The ship was really enormous. Its length was 290 meters. We went up to the highest deck at first. Almost all the passengers were seeing the left side, and we also walked to the left. We were able to see Marina Bay Sands, Gardens By The Bay, and lots of vessels off the shore. Then, I was surprised to see the right side of the Diamond Princess. I thought it was the building of the terminal. Taking a careful look, however, another huge ship was moored over the terminal. I wasn't able to read its name, and I moved from the top to the tail and took pictures. Its name was Ovation of the Seas! I remembered the signboard of the Royal Caribbean Cruise Company in the terminal. It would sail out soon. It had a crane-like structure on its top. What's that? A ball hung at the tip of the crane. What is that used for? This ship apparently accommodates 4180 passengers. Marvellous!
マラッカ海峡クルージング記： 建物ではなく船だった、、、の巻
１４時頃に船室に入ることができた。１０階の内側、すなわち窓のないチープな部屋だ。しかし６日間は自由に使える。まずは荷物の整理をしたかったがまだ届かない。結局１６時頃に届いたのだが、それまで船内を探検した。
と、その前ににっぽん丸でも行われた避難訓練。１５時１５分船室から救命胴衣を持って指示された場所に集まった。実際に救命胴衣を装着し、船外退避を指示するサイレンを聴き、日本人クルーから避難の際の心得を聞いた。前の記事に載せているクルーズカードの右上、Muster Station Dというのは緊急サイレンが鳴った時に待機する場所を表している。この訓練は出欠を厳しく記録された。欠席者には別途指導があるらしい。なかなか厳しい。
船内は実に広い。全長２９０メートル！取りあえず一番近いエレベーターで一番上へ行ってみた。１４階のデッキではほとんどの人が左舷側にいるのでそちらを見ると、マリーナベイサンズやガーデンズインザベイ、沖に停泊する無数の船舶を見渡せた。タグボートが近づいて来た。出港の準備が始まったようだ。ふと右舷側を見て驚いた。クルーズターミナルビルだと思っていたらその向こう側に一隻大きな船が停泊しているではないか。名前を読めなかったので、船首から船尾まで移動して船名を確認した。"Ovation of the Seas"「海の喝采」かぁ、粋な名前だ。Royal Caribbean Internationalの船だ。ターミナルに案内板があったことを思い出した。近く出港するのだろう。そして良く見ると屋上にクレーンがある。その先端には人が乗り込めそうなボールが吊ってある。気になった。あれは何に使うのだろう？この船、調べてみると旅客定員は４１８０人。ダイヤモンド・プリンセスより大きい。次はあれに乗るかぁ？
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