Southbound coming from Halifax we try to be as early as possible at Bar Harbor as the whole ship has to go through USA immigration. Which means 5 or 6 CBP officers come on board to clear all the guests for entry into the USA. Because every port has its own rules and the officers are not bound by our arrival time, we can just hope that they come on board as early as possible and thus we are there as early as possible. In Bar Harbor the officials insist to come to the ship with the agent’s boats so we cannot send one of our own tenders to use as their ferry.  The whole process is of course a National Requirement and we organize things as best as we can. For the guest it is an inconvenience as they have to wait until they have been seen by the CPB officers before they can go ashore. Only then can they obtain a tender ticket and proceed to the gangway. To speed things up as much as possible we also hire a shore tender to increase the frequency of the round trips. There is only one in Bar Harbor and that is thus as much as we can do. If we would not call at Bar Harbor then the whole happening would have to take place in Boston. Our sister ship is already doing that. The Veendam is currently sailing a number of Bermuda cruises and on return from a foreign port has immigration in Boston. As there is finite CBP officers available (The airport also has to be manned) two ships in port would mean a split over two ships. Thus this is not such a bad solution. At least everybody can run off the ship tomorrow to catch a plane and there will be no delays in the flow.

We were the only ship in port and thus had the town to ourselves. For the ships operation it means something else; this is lobster country and this is where we stock up fresh lobster. Fished straight out of the Bay we are anchoring in. We could almost do it ourselves by emptying the lobsterpots which we get in our anchor on occasion. Normally this lobster goes fresh on the table. It is both on the menu in the dining room as well as in the Lido. I am not a wild favorite of lobster but according to the experts (and we have a lot of them on board) the Lido is the better option as you can get more without re-ordering. It beats me why the guests do not ask for a 2nd portion if they want to, you do not have to pay for it. With Holland America you can order as much as you want (caviar excepted) and the dining room steward will not mind at all to run to the kitchen for a second helping. I am normally a moderate eater but if I can get my hands in Middle America on Gamba’s (big shrimp in local spicy sauce) then I also go for a few helpings. Sometimes the ship gets them on board in Corinto.

A shot from my database. As seen from the Willemstad Matthew dock. The floating market is to the far left where the gap is in the sea wall.

While on the food topic, Holland America has since some time made it a principle of their culinary activities to source as much food locally as possible. And then I do not mean lettuce or something as the Executive Chef cannot walk to the market and buy lettuce for 2000 people on board. But for delicacies such as local fish, native fruits and special vegetables it is certainly done. Although I am normally occupied in a different way, I saw one from the ship the Exe. Chef indeed at the local market. I was standing on the sb. Bridge wing while docked in Willemstad, just inside the floating bridge and I saw something white bobbing up and down along the pier where they have the floating market. The use of binoculars then revealed I did not see the chef, I just saw his white tall cooks head among a sea of riotous colors of the bunting on the boats and the local dresses worn by the ladies shopping.  If Holland America ever does a photo shoot then that would be a great opportunity as he really stood out.

Bar Harbor turned out to be a nice day with only a chilly wind picking up in the late afternoon. Now we are on the way to Boston where we should be docked by 7 am. The Veendam will already be there and this time the plan is for the Maasdam to dock nose out, so the ships will be stern to stern.

Weather for tomorrow , mainly overcast with temperatures in the low sixties or 17 o Celcius and a gentle breeze.