Rhodos was a busy port today. Six cruise ships were scheduled to dock and with some ferry and cargo traffic arriving as well, it was a puzzle for the harbormaster to fit all the ships in. As there is not so much docking space availablein the port, the ships are allocated a dock in such a way that there is the least wasted quay length. This was unfortunate for us because we ended up at the far breakwater. Instead of crossing the road and being in the old town as was normally the case, it was now a good 20 minute walk from the ship, around the cargo docks, to the town. There was a shuttle bus service in operation for those could not walk that distance.

Pilotage is compulsory for every ship that visits Rhodos unless it has a Greek flag. There is also only one pilot in Rhodos who does the cruise ships and he was a busy man, hopping from one ship to the other in the course of 2 hours. He was so excited about all these ships in a row, that he dropped his walkie talkie in the water when boarding us. It was the 3rd one in one year and he was not looking forward to go home and tell his wife. Domestics also seem to apply to the life of a Rhodos pilot.

By the time we were docked, we had about 30 feet clearance at the stern and about the same at the bow. In front of us was a little coaster docked, whose top of the mast did not even reach to our bow railing. When we arrived everybody on board there was still sleeping and I wonder what the captains reaction was when the woke up and saw an enourmous blue bow approx. 15 feet away from his bridge.

Holland America Line ships are very distinctive with their blue hulls. They have this color on purpose. The color is called Holland America Caribbean blue and is mixed by the paint company to an unique specification for Holland America. In the old days the Holland America Line ships were black hulled. Then in 1951 it was decided to go to Dove-grey as the ships were also doing more and more cruises and the black hulls did nothing to help the temperatures inside the ship while in the tropics. When the company decided in 1971 to go cruising only, they looked for a way to stand out from the crowd. As all the new cruise ships were white, and the other ones still had their North Atlantic colors like as Cunard, HAL opted for blue. It would cost about 10% extra in air conditioning power as blue does not reflect the sunlight as well as white, but we did look different. NCL did something similar in 1979 with the Norway. All their ships were white, except the Norway(ex France) who was painted light blue. A number of years later Premier Cruise Lines, came up with a similar idea and painted their ships red. The “Big Red Boat” ships.

Here in Rhodos we stood out again, with all five other cruise ships being white and one big blue boat, us, in the middle. The only other ship that had a bit of fancy coloring was a local ferry whose hull was light blue with the company name in big red letters on the side. Not that it bothered our guests as again we had a beautiful day and everybody was off the ship exploring the sights of ancient Rhodos.