09 August 2009, Warnemunde, Germany.

Not calling at Kiel in the evening made it easy to be timely in Warnemunde. I wanted to be timely, read early, because we always have issues with the local ferries on arrival. They arrive and depart around the same time as our normal ETA and then we have to wait. The ferries, being on a strict timetable, get preference over cruise ships who only call on a seasonable basis. So after studying their schedules, I thought that I had found the solution. Arriving at 04.30 in the morning and being in the port docking the ship while the first ferry was approaching. It would mean that I would be docked very early but I had to be on time for the train to Berlin. If I manage to get the guests on the train and out of the station by 7 am., then the train will run ahead of all the commuter trains and will arrive in Berlin without delay. As with the ferries, commuter trains have preference and a late arrival in Berlin upsets the whole tour. It also means that the tour will return late and subsequently that will result in a late departure. So I tried the early arrival to see if it would work.

It did but there was still one ferry. One that I did not know about. The Superfast 7. (Average cruising speed 28 knots. So indeed super-fast) She was scheduled to depart at 04.30 and come out of the port at 5 am. after having swung around inside. The pilot wanted to wait but I disagreed. Where the ferry was swinging around there would be sufficient room for me to swing as well, so I explained the concept of the “dancing cruise ships” to him. While the ferry would be lining up in the channel after her swing, I would swing the Prinsendam in her direction following her stern, so that my stern would swing away from her bow. Basically you circle around each other. The pilot concurred, Port Control was told to go along with it and in we went. I normally swing off the dock but there was a Russian tall ship docked and her masts where sticking out, taking away at least 10 meters from my already marginal turning circle there. So we proceeded further in the port and swung around while the ferry lined it self up and sped out to open sea. By 06.10 we were docked and the tour was on its way by 06.45.

There were four tall ships in the port, two Russians, a Polish one and the German Gorch Fock. Apart from those, there was a large number of smaller craft including the Dutch Eendracht. This was HANSA week. A yearly occurrence where Rostock and Warnemunde celebrate all that has to do with Seafaring; Commercial, Non Commercial and Navy. The German Navy had one ship in port, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, named after the county to which Warnemunde belongs. We had beautiful weather during the day and I estimated that there were at least 50.000 people milling around the town and the harbour. The Prinsendam was sitting as the “Jewel in the Crown” right in the middle of it all. The ship did its part to help with the festivities. I held a speech during the official Seafarers church service (taking inspiration from Psalm 107 versus 23/24) with about 500 people in the church and the crew did a crew show on a big stage in the middle of the town with a few thousand people in attendance. I had been asked a few weeks ago to represent the captains of all the ships in the port during the church service and had happily agreed to it on the condition that the company flag would be prominently displayed. They had, nobody could miss it as every time the choir sung you had to look at the HAL logo. I was quite happy to find out that my German pronunciation still could stand up to scrutiny as on the ship I do not speak it that often. It was a gorgeous day and the guests were elated that Holland America had scheduled the ship in such a way that they were there for this day.

Departure was magnificent. At 9 pm. all the tall ships sailed, just after sunset, and the Prinsendam’s whistle greeted each of them as they majestically floated by to open sea. Then just after 21.30 it was time for the Prinsendam itself. That was also a show. During the casting off, of the lines, the terminal plays local and opera music culminating in “Time to say Good bye” by Andrea Bocelli. It does so each day for each departing cruise ship. Since I had heard it a few times, I knew that I could maneuver away from the dock exactly in the time frame of the song and blow the horn the very moment the song finished and have the ship then slowly making speed. It is as close as I can get to make the Prinsendam dance. It worked and the locals all stood still to see it happen.

By 10 pm. We were outside and on the way to Tallin Estonia, quickly overtaking the tall ships that had sailed ahead of us. Tomorrow is a sea day with the normal functions and a free afternoon, so I can catch up with some lost sleep from the last few days.