Although the arrival in Seward was a bit gloomy there was no wind what so ever. That meant that later in the day, a Southerly wind picked up and that normally guarantees a nice day, unless the wind is caused by a storm system. At the moment the storm/low pressure system is much further to the south, with one creating a lot of turbulence near the Columbia River. We might get some swell generated by this system on the way back but that should be it.

Our Seward pilot today was Captain Ryan and he used to be a cruise ship captain in the past, sailing on the Universe Explorer. All his other colleagues have a tanker background as most of the US merchant nowadays consists of tankers. For being a good pilot your background is not that important, your skills are, but being from the same work background makes it easier to relate to the daily troubles of a cruise ship captain. Especially as he had been nearly as long on the coast as I had and so there was room for some reminiscing about the good old days, when things were not as highly structured as they currently are.

While we were slowly moving towards the dock, we suddenly saw what looked like a fishing boat parked alongside our berth. We called the agent, they looked over the dock side and there was nothing there. Confusion all around. When we came closer we suddenly realized what it was. Somebody had painted his name on the fender on the edge of the dock. Together with two other names below it, also in white paint, is just looked like a docked Boston whaler from a distance. With that issue out of the way, I parked the Veendam on the inch again, so that the conveyor belt fitted into the ship for the luggage, and then our normal change over day could start.

About 300 guests will stay with us to do the southbound cruise as well and quite a few of them went on a day tour to the see the sights in the interior. They go by bus or train up to anchorage and then came back or vice a versa. While the Hotel department was doing their change over day activities, the engine room was carrying out maintenance on the fresh water system. Same as on land, water supply pipes sometimes need overhaul and renewal. The deck department was occupied with a test of the ships ventilation system and the Fire screen doors. If a smoke detector goes off in the ship and the alarm is not accepted on the bridge within 90 seconds all Fire screen and Water tight doors will close and the General alarm will sound. As the Officer of the Watch accepts alarms normally within 30 seconds we never know if this really works. Thus on a regular basis we have to do this test. At the same time we were checking the smoke path from a fan room to the outside decks.

As all doors will close, with this test, you cannot do it with a ship full of people and therefore we do it during a change over day. Most guests find it fascinating to see what is going on during a period when there is nobody onboard and with the proper announcements made they all feel part of the operation. We did our test and everything worked as planned.

In the mean time the weather had turned in glorious sunshine and it was a good day for a change over. By 11.30 the first guests started to arrive and with the Millennium doing the same thing it was a busy afternoon in the terminal. By 19.15 we had everybody onboard and we could prepare the ship for departure. Shortly after, we were sailing down Resurrection Bay down to open waters heading back to the Yakutat.
Note: latest addition is the new employee of the month of June 2008 check handright side.