Why is my Ship Listing?

Cruise ships, even ones as big as the Noordam, move around a lot as they navigate the oceans, and you get used to the constant rhythm of the ship. However the movement usually goes both ways; the ship goes down in the bow only to return as the stern takes its turn on down stroke. A rocking to the starboard is always followed by a equal rocking to port.

This Ship is not listing . . .

I was a little surprised when I felt the ship list one way and not return to level. Sitting in the restaurant, I felt the ship shift to one side and remain there. With a clear view out both port and starboard windows I could see sky out one side and ocean out the other. A walk up to the aft pool deck showed a clear, steady 10 or 12 degree list to one side. The horizon behind the ship was no longer straight, and the water in the pool instead of splashing back and forth was down on one side and overflowing on the other.

A quick tour around the ship did not find crew members scrambling to emergency stations, the list did not seem to be growing worse, and our speed remained a steady 18.9 kts. By the time I made a tour of most of the ships outside public areas we were mostly back to horizontal, so the problem seems to have been fixed, the testing of ballast tanks or stabilizers successful or whatever . . .

Sailing Out Of Sydney Australia

The most interesting thing about this was that except for one couple who noticing me staring out at the crooked horizon, and commented casually on the list, no one seemed to notice. People remained in their deck chairs reading their kindles, bridge games continued in the games room, and no one but me seemed to get up from their breakfast to see what was happening. I am not sure anyone noticed?