StorylinesWhile the crew on MV Narrative may be as global as the ship itself, all are fluent in its working language – English. Unlike cruise ships, our crew is treated to larger personal cabins, more recreational space, amazing food and more time off work so they can explore the destinations. As you can imagine, we have some of the world’s best crew members interested in living the Storylines lifestyle.
Please speak to your residential adviser here for more details.
The vessel’s design is based on the requirements, guidelines and recommendations of
-SOLAS
-ISPS code
-IMO
Security staff. Like most cruise liners, MV Narrative engages the services of special security teams whose vessels escort us through any areas that could be potentially dangerous. A high level of onboard security is maintained throughout the operation of the vessel and specific staffing varies based on our geographical location. With security monitoring all public areas, MV Narrative’s highly trained onboard security staff ensure that your home at sea is always kept safe and sound. While in port, security is provided at both the port and vessel entry points. The vessel also features:
–Lookouts: In higher risk areas, Storylines utilizes additional lookouts at elevated points with distance viewing equipment including thermal and night vision.
-Reporting agencies: The vessel registers with the required reporting agency when entering any high risk areas and remains in daily contact with the agency while in the reporting area.
–Full security team: Crew and residents conduct drills with special attention paid to access points, lockdown conditions and bridge team in the unlikely event that emergency protocols need to be applied. Storylines has a designated security officer responsible for upholding all protocols.
Safety Equipment. Although generally not discussed publicly in detail, these include highly trained staff, surface radar, electrified anti-boarding measures, mirrors on bridge wings, bright search lights, razor wire coils, water spray cannons and foam dispensers. The safety equipment aboard MV Narrative is designed to meet or exceed the highest of international standards. In the unlikely event of an emergency, the vessel has a shipwide PA system and its highly trained staff is ready to handle any situation. The vessel also features:
–Safety cameras: A ship wide common surveillance and general broadcast camera system use the ship’s data network. The onboard surveillance system consists of high-definition, color cameras with continuous recording capabilities. Positioning of cameras for security purposes is based on the ship security assessments, including cameras at all vessel access points, entry points to sensitive areas and bridge visibility blind spots. In addition, the system includes cameras at selected exterior view locations capable of transmitting real-time images to the flat screen TVs located inside of the apartments of both residents and crew.
–Locks: All lockable doors have locks organized into master key systems, depending on their status and purpose, to allow control of access to each area of the ship. All access points are limited and controlled with sensors and remote locking where possible.
What regulatory body inspects our ship? Who does the inspections?
Lloyd’s Register, the government of the country that we are flagged under, US Public Health and US Coast Guard are all regulatory bodies that will make inspections. The flag reflects the maritime law under which the ship sails.
Will the LNG engines directly drive the propellers or will they generate electricity to power electric engines that drive the propellers?
The LNG will be powering what is basically a power station. We have four generators and they’ll be producing electricity, which will be producing at around 6,600 volts. That power will then be distributed around the ship in different voltages. And part of that will go to the propulsion of the ship.
Can the ship use biofuel?
The ship will be able to use bio LNG and we’re hoping to source that wherever we can. LNG is not available in every place in the world where we’re going as not every country has the infrastructure. We have to use gas oil in some places, which we are prepared for. Our goal is to utilize bio LNG whenever possible as it becomes more readily available.
Will it be possible to replace the LNG engines with a more environmental solution in the future, perhaps a hydrogen fueled system?
Yes. That is part of the reason why we want a generator as a power station so that in the future, if the technology gets to the point where we can use fuel cells, then we can replace those engines with hydrogen fuel cells. Instead of carrying LNG, we would carry hydrogen.
Does the ship have the ability to use secondary substitute fuel?
The ship’s primary fuel is LNG but we also carry as the secondary fuel, ultra low sulfur marine gas oil. That will be used as a reserve in case of the LNG fuel system not working or LNG not being available.
The itinerary of the ship hasn’t been fixed yet but delivery will be from Split, Croatia.
What are the phases of construction and the key milestones?
At the moment (September 2021), we are in the initial design phase. Drawings have been carried out for engineering design, interior design, and operation design. We have also produced specifications for the entire ship. That specification is going to be signed with the shipyard contract this year. The first milestone is signing the ship building contract.
The next phase will be the detailed engineering design. We’ll produce detailed engineering drawings, production design, and we’ll start cutting steel. That will be a milestone, the first cutting of steel.
The next phase is building sub-blocks. Those sub-blocks of steel will be made into larger blocks. Those larger blocks will be outfitted in some way: piping, cabling, cable trails.
Then the next milestone is the keel laying. This is when they’ve constructed at least 50 tons of steel into a block and they put the blocks on the slipway where they’ll continue outfitting the ship. The blocks continue to be built upon until they form a ship.
The next milestone will be the engine installation of the four main engines.
Then when the ship gets to a certain weight, the next milestone after that is launching, when the ship goes down the slip, into the water and is taken to a berth. At the berth, they carry on outfitting, painting and finishing. Then they start commissioning out the machinery and the systems.
Following that, the next milestone is sea trials, when the ship is taken to sea for the first time. It will be tested at sea, running through loads of different operational tests to check if everything is working. After any issues, problems or snags have been sorted out, then the ship is complete.
Then delivery, when the ship is completed and accepted by the owners. That’s when we’ll have a naming ceremony.
The entire ship design has been undertaken with sustainability and energy efficiency in mind. There are various systems throughout the ship which are taking these into consideration. The air conditioning system is going to be integrated with an artificial intelligence system which will detect whether the unit is occupied or unoccupied, and it will adjust the flow rates accordingly. It will also detect whether the balcony door is open, and shut off the system if the door is opened. The AI system is also integrated with other aspects of the cabins such as the blinds. If we’re sailing with the sun on one side and there’s a number of cabins that are unoccupied, the AI will close the blinds in those cabins to reduce the load of the air conditioner. We’re also recovering and using waste heat from the engine exhaust and cold recovery from cooling the LNG to use in other systems to give heat and cooling. We have solar energy onboard to give us more electricity for systems such as the vertical garden. We have an intelligent lighting system with LEDs. We have energy saving devices off the hull to reduce the friction and we have low friction hull coatings. There are many energy efficient systems on board. Sustainability is one of our key design aspects.
The top speed possible in calm weather conditions will be around 40 knots but we’re generally going to be cruising around 10 knots. Even on an Atlantic crossing, we’ll stick to the lower speeds.
We will try to sail on the delivery date. So that means that moving in will likely happen slightly before that. The ship’s residential units will likely be finished before the other public areas. It will be in sea trials at that time, so just ironing out the snags, so people can move in before the delivery date. But most likely, we’ll move in stages since we don’t want everyone rushing on the ship at the same time. The stages are going to be announced with the ship building contract and priority will likely be given to Founders Circle members.
The longest section of ‘at-sea’ days we should expect is a once annual ocean crossing that may be up to two weeks.
The final Itinerary is not set yet. We expect to be alternating the direction of travel and the position of the vessel in ports.