On the day we left Bermuda, we along with “several hundred of our closest friends” were invited to experience Sail Away from the helipad. It is the second time we got to do this, the previous time was on a cruise sailing from Barbados.
On most cruise ships, the helipad is off-limits to everyone but crew. A few of the larger ships do allow passengers on the helipad when conditions are safe. Someone always has to do the “Titanic” thing on the bow.
Generally though, sail away is by invitation only. I asked the Captain’s Club hostess how people were chosen, and she kinda answered that there was no magic formula and that the number was determined by the captain. But I do know that our past-passenger status with Celebrity – high but nowhere near the highest! – had to have helped. It was a fun time, I got a few photos and we had some free champagne-like wine. It is always a treat, and we enjoyed the experience!
When I was aboard the USS Constellation I was ‘invited’ by the Capt to man the rails on entry into Pearl Harbor. This seems much more relaxed and you aren’t all dressed the same 🙂
I would imagine that the entry into Pearl Harbor would be much more formal than sailaway on a cruise ship. My “uniform” was certainly more comfortable, and we got drinks!
Lots more blue in these images. Our cloudy weather here makes it even seem bluer. Amazing how big these ships are!
We’ve gotten in to a bit of a cloudy streak here as well. But it has been a little cooler and fall is approaching.
Yes, the ships can be quite enormous, and as cruise ships go this is one of the smaller ones! There isn’t a huge difference in length, but the ones with more passenger capacity tend to have more decks. We like the smaller ones best!