Freighter Cruiser Grande San Paolo – a look inside

It’s taken a while to get enough bandwith to upload some video, but we have finally managed it. This gives a look inside the Grande San Paolo to give a feel for what it’s like.

Before you go looking at them, you better get a coffee, ideally with a few biscuits.  Not a large coffee as the videos are pretty short, and I’m afraid we had to load them in low res so don’t blow them up too big on your screen. and make it a nice biscuit so you don’t nod off. Oh, and you might want to turn the volume up for the second one 🙂

Grand San Paolo Living Area

First off is a look into all the areas where we “lived”.  This was all on Deck 12, and as only 3 decks were underwater, we were pretty high up. Just over all the rooms you will see is the “top” of the ship, which is used as an outdoor car deck. It’s green, and you’ll see it in a later video.

Grande San Paolo engine room

Next off, lets take a look at the engine room, the heart and soul of the ship, and the source of the gentle grumble and vibration that accompanied us for 28 days. They very rarely turn this beast off. And it only turns in one direction and there is no clutch. To reverse, slow down or speed up they would alter the pitch of the propeller. “Neutral” is when the pitch is such that it’s neither pushing water forwards or backwards, a bit like a landrover with a broken halfshaft.  The engine runs between 90 rpm, and about 180 rpm. They carry 3 types of fuel for use in different places. High Sulfur, low sulfur etc. They carry over 2000 tons of fuel, and use over 65 tons per day. They also “make” a few tons of water per day, but it’s too clean to drink! the human body likes a few minerals and what-not in the water. The water that’s manufactured is used to cool the engine, wash, flush and cook. But for drinking, it’s bottled water.

Near the back of the engine room, you could see 4 green engines? They are the generators, each one has an engine large enough for a decent sized bulldozer.

But it wasn’t all tough going on the Grand2 San Paolo, we got to break out for a day off the ship, and this is where we went.

Merv on Deck, trying to point to land while imitating a penguin. probably.

Merv’s new form of hand signal for the bewildered.

how to create a blockade and keep aircraft carriers out of the port.

Sarah with Chiro, our “Messman” who took care of all the passengers for the 28 days, then got a new set for the way home.

home for 28 days, the door to our cabin in the Grande San Paolo