Where I Live - Part Two

Last time I showed you my cabin, this time I’ll show you some of the other areas that make up my home here on Sorlandet.

I live in the aft ship which the home for maritime and academic crew.  The students’ home is down in the banjer and while they do go through the aft ship for various things like safety checks, laundry, galley duty, to speak to the Shipboard Director, etc. it’s not somewhere they can hang out.  This is the hall leading down from the door of the aft ship to my cabin.  Generally speaking the higher ranked you are the closer to the door your cabin will be.  (If you remember from my cabin tour post I’m at the back of the ship!)

Leading off the hall we have the hospital/medical officer’s cabin on one side and the salon on the other.  The salon is where the maritime crew eat and is also used for meetings and often for immigration when we enter a new country.  The captain’s cabin is off the salon so it’s pretty much as fancy as we get here.

Down the hall we have more cabins and the stairs down to the laundry room.  We have two washers and dryers on board which are used for ship’s laundry (cleaning cloths, hand towels, galley rags, etc.) as well as personal laundry for all crew.  Also in the laundry room there are heads and showers for maritime and academic crew.  Most of the showers on board work on a pump system, press the button and you get water for a short (20-30 seconds?) amount of time; however, one shower back here has been changed so it’s continuous water – as you would guess it seems to be the most popular!

The aft pantry is like a kitchenette with fridge, microwave, dishwasher, kettle and the coffee maker which is in pretty constant use!  The dishes we use in the salon are kept here and there is always food available for those who get hungry outside of meal times.  (Night watch is a very popular snacking time.)  During meal service I’m usually back here making sure the crew is taken care of.

The crew mess is general living and work space. There’s a computer here where I log my hours and check the galley email.  There are printer/scanners and other office supplies like staplers, white board markers and books like our safety manual and staff reference book.  The crew mess is used for teachers prepping course work, study hall (1930-2030 daily), meetings, etc.  In the evening (study hall excluded) it’s usually a bit more casual, general social time or game playing or movies.

And after so many weeks on board, yes, this really does feel like home.