Celebrity Cruises' Captain Kate McCue often shows passengers parts of Celebrity Beyond, the ship she helms, that they have never seen before. In some cases her behind-the-scenes "Captain's Log" videos show off places many people did not even know existed.
In one of her latest videos, McCue takes her followers through a "blackout test." That's an important piece of emergency preparedness that passengers don't normally get to see.
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"Just like on land, blackouts can happen on a ship for various reasons," she said. "The difference with a blackout at home, unless you have an emergency generator on hand, is the amount of redundancies that we have in place to cover key equipment and systems."
While cruise ships have redundancies and safety equipment, it's very important that the crew knows what to do in the event of catastrophic failures.
Here's what happens during a blackout drill
Cruise lines regularly conduct drills to ensure crew members are ready for any scenario. A blackout isn't likely, but if it happens, McCue's team will be ready.
"This is something that we check with a full-scale blackout drill every six months," she said.
"During this test, we're not simulating; we're actually shutting down the diesel generators to create a blackout, triggering sequences which include starting the UPS [uninterruptable power supply] system, emergency generator, and finally the standby diesel generator with all auxiliary systems."
These drills are not taken lightly.
"After an in-depth briefing, Chief Engineer RG lets me initiate the blackout by disconnecting the equipment that powers the entire ship," she added.
In the video, McCue unplugs a bridge coffee machine.
"Just kidding. The coffee machine is important, but I hope you understand that for safety and security purposes, I will not be sharing which button exactly initiates a blackout," she said.
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These are drills for a situation McCue hopes will never happen.
"While blackouts very rarely happen, the purpose of the test is to verify functionality of all related equipment, and it's a lot of equipment, and to train and share knowledge among our technical teams" she said.
Passengers are made aware of the test because it will affect how the ship operates.
"After a briefing, we induce the blackout while ensuring guest safety and comfort during the test. All systems related to safe navigation remain on without disruption because they're supported by the UPS, emergency generators, and finally the main engines," she added.
That causes some immediate changes on the ship.
"All elevators automatically go to the embarkation deck, and the doors will stay open on deck number five," the captain said.
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Some steps are taken to make sure the test does not do any unexpected damage.
"The IT team monitors all IT functions around the ship, and since our main theater costs more than Royal Caribbean's first ship ever built, it's important to have the technical director and their team ensure that all entertainment systems are shut down prior to the test," she said.
"Most power is automatically restored once the ship systems are back online, and the whole test takes under two minutes."
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