March 05: Papeete, French Polynesia - First Day of Two-Day Port Call

cargo terminal across the harbor entrance from the ship

Nothing gets the day off to a rousing start more than at 5:30 A.M., an announcement throughout the ship of a fire on board. 

Fire at sea is generally regarded as the most dangerous thing that can happen to a ship.

The fire was somewhere in the engine room. 

For the next half hour, there was a series of announcements directed at the crew, including "evacuate engine spaces" and "fire teams muster." The captain made several announcements to the passengers about the detection of a fire and the steps being taken.

At 6:12, the captain announced that the area involved had been flooded with CO2, and cameras confirmed that there was no fire. 

At no point were passengers instructed to take any action, including the extreme one of abandoning ship.

Throughout the incident, Nieuw Amsterdam maintained forward motion, suggesting that the "aft engine room" fire was not in the propulsion engine area.

Reassuringly, we were not in the middle of nowhere. We could see Moorea and Tahiti close by.

At 6:35, the captain announced that he was delaying our entrance into Papeete until the chief engineer confirmed that all necessary systems were functioning normally.

Standing off the harbor entrance at 10 nautical miles, we went back and forth at 8 knots.

It is worth noting that none of the ship's toilets have flushed since 5:30. This led me to speculate that the fire may have affected the sewage disposal system, making Nieuw Amsterdam a giant biohazard that Papeete did not want sitting at a dock in their harbor. This was just never-substantiated speculation.

At 8:30, the captain announced that the fire teams could stand down and the ship was returning to normal operation except...

Fire inspectors were being airlifted out from Tahiti to inspect the fire area before the ship would be allowed into the port. 

Pam and I agreed this would be cool to watch, but the captain killed that idea. 

• No passengers were allowed on deck, including going out on their veranda. 
• No passengers would be allowed in any inside public space that faced forward. 
• Passengers on our side of the ship (starboard) and those in cabins with windows that faced forward were told to shut their blinds.

I interrupt this report for an important announcement.

The toilets began flushing again.

I now return to my story.

The inspectors were going to be lowered onto the foredeck, so we still had the bow camera. Its range of view encompassed that area. 

As we said this, the bow camera's field of view began to change. It tilted upward until there was nothing to see except the metal overhang above it. This seemed unnecessary.

A short time later, Pam struck up a conversation with a man who happened to be a retired firefighter. He explained to her that the camera was moved to prevent people from taking pictures of the screen. In combination with the other restrictions, suggests an intent. 

Some passengers are no doubt already flooding social media with potentially error-riddled reports based on speculation and assumptions rather than facts. Enabling them to post pictures would just add fuel to the fire. (Hummm, perhaps not the best metaphor in this instance.) 

Eventually, Nieuw Amsterdam was authorized to enter Papeete's harbor. We were docked by 11:00 with passengers streaming off the ship for rescheduled tours.

Having signed up for no ship's tour today, after waiting for the initial rush to subside, we left the ship to wander around on a self-guided tour. 

We walked along the seawall towards the park, where we sat at a small cafe over the water and had some refreshment. I had a local cold cafe latte that was quite good.

We continued along the water, then crossed Blvd. de la Reine Pomare IV (BRP4), parallel to the park, to view what was purported to be the most beautiful church in the city, the Lycee Paul Gauguin. 

On the outside, it was attractive but nothing special. We will never know about the inside because it was locked up tighter than a drum.

We walked back along BRP4 in the general direction of the ship. 

Notre Dame and Paul Gauguin

We continued to comment on the number of stores closed. 

We moved another block inland in search of Cathédrale Notre-Dame De Papeete. Things were still strangely quiet. 

When we got there, it too was shut up tight. This should not have been a surprise. Wherever we go in the world, Pam & I seem to find churches closed. Last year, we even went to a church (for the second time) just 30 minutes after its Sunday service ended. Closed!

By the time we entered the area that catered to tourists and found almost no pulse, we knew something was going on. We were told it was Ascension Day, a bank holiday in Tahiti. (This was a canard. The real reason for the bank holiday will appear in my March 06 post.)

Back on BRM4, Pam browsed some of the pop-up tents near the cruise terminal that were taking advantage of sidewalk space since the shops were closed. 

Eventually, we crossed BRM4, going back through the cruise terminal and on to the ship.

At 6:00 p.m., we went to the show in the main theater. It was well done. 

We disembarked the ship and walked through the cruise terminal to reach the adjacent "roulottes". These are the food trucks that are so popular in Papeete, we remembered fondly from our stock here in 2012.

It was not quite empty, but there were only three food trucks there. We guessed that the religious holiday might have something to do with it. (This proved to be another false assumption; in fact, doubly false.)

We had a great dinner at one of those that was there - Chez Dominique. We later found it was specifically mentioned in a tour guide. We received large portions of tasty food. The meal is very straightforward. The menus were only in French. The total bill was $37.

Pleasantly full, we returned to the ship for the night.