05 May 2016; Copenhagen, Denmark.

I had not expected to be back again on the fleet so fast but things do happen and here I am on the Zuiderdam for 10 days to help out. The Zuiderdam has just come from the crossing and with facing a large crew change over, yours truly was asked to hop on board for a few days to support the officers with getting through it and keeping the ship completely up-to-date with all requirements. On a crossing there are hardly any ports to drill the crew and to verify operation and thus we have the action plan to do it now on this first Baltic cruise. So I will be training, auditing and nosing around while the bridge team can concentrate on their first Europe cruise of the season.  My lord and Master is not completely happy about it but I will just extend my leave a bit in June to make up for it.

And thus I flew from good old England to Copenhagen yesterday and joined the ship this morning during a beautiful summer’s day. Flying out for the company at short notice has always its interesting moments. First of all I flew on May 4^th. which is Remembrance Day in Holland and while I was sitting in the business class lounge at Schiphol, the clock struck 8 pm. and two minutes silence was observed. It was very impressive and moving to see the whole of the airport come to a grinding halt and everything falling silent except the air conditioning.  Apart from a few confused Chinese all travelers joined in with showing their respect even when it was not their remembrance day.   The Netherlands has taken the 4^th, of May as the date to remember those who gave their lives for their country and those who were the victims of the Second World War and then the 5^th. of May is the day of celebration for regaining our liberty in 1945. Although we now also remember those who fell in Korea and during all the peace keeping missions the Dutch were involved in. Military as well as civil. We do not have the tradition of 11 November as observed in a lot of other countries, and this for the simple reason that the Kingdom of the Netherlands was not involved in the First World War but remained neutral and quite successfully managed to keep the German Emperor outside the door.

It does not look very Danish to me but it slept well.

The company uses standard hotels in the various change over ports but if you are a last minute happening then you can end up anywhere. Quite often in a Boutique Hotel off the beaten track. Boutique hotels are built around a philosophy and the guest has to buy into that.  This particular one was modeled around an Eco –sustainable setup with a Mexican twist. That is the only way I can describe it as my stay was too short to figure out in more detail what it was all about.  So I slept in a four poster bed with Danish Duve’s, Mexican top coverings, organic bathroom amenities and the mini bar was generated by eco minded companies as well.   Who says travelling is boring.

The good ship ms Zuiderdam is under the command of Captain Wouter van Hoogdalem with whom I sailed for the last time when he was a 3^rd officer on my ship somewhere in the grey mists of time, long, long ago. Staff Captain is Bart Vaartjes who is currently the fill in captain in the fleet and who will after this contract as Staff Captain return as Master to one of the other ships.  The ship is making a 12 day cruise from Copenhagen to the Baltic States and Russia. I will remain on board until August 14 when the ship is in Kiel and then go home again for a few more days of leave, followed by training courses in Holland, to keep my Master license up-to-date.

This is a big improvement of the downtown – make do – happening and even the larger terminal they had on the West side. Built on reclaimed land and only just coming into operation.

The Zuiderdam docked today at one of the three new cruise terminals which are currently constructed just outside the port of Copenhagen. Cruise ships always like to dock at the Lange Linjen which is just off downtown but for embarkation day, this is much better. For the Back to Back guests (Collector Voyages Guests) there was a shuttle service but new boarding Guests could check in, in a nice new terminal instead of a marquee tent on the cobble stones as we had to do in the past.

Tomorrow we will be in Warnemunde, which is a real favorite of mine, not in the least because the locals are so very much sea and ship minded so you really feel welcome when you come into the port with the ship, as well as when leaving.

Weather for tomorrow: 68oF / 20oC. With partly cloudy skies and a gentle breeze. Most of our guests will be going by train to Berlin and this is near perfect sightseeing weather.