10 March 2015, At Sea.

The shortest route from Fort Lauderdale to St. Maarten is above the Bahamian Islands, or at least close to the top. We sail south of Freeport and north of Nassau into the Atlantic Ocean keeping most of the Bahamian Islands, reefs and sand banks to the south.  We use this route if the weather is nice, otherwise we can go south via the Old Bahama Channel north of Cuba which gives the guests at least one day of shelter against an North Atlantic storm. But the weather is good and thus we go the North. Apart from a gentle movement at times the ship is as steady as a rock.

We will have two sea days before the ship arrives in St. Maarten which looking at the schedule will be a full house with several big ships in. Although we left on an unusual day, Monday for the cruise ship cycle, we will be teaming up with other ships which have St. Maarten as their last port before returning to a home port in Florida.

We had some excitement this morning as the ship had to deviate slightly to do a medical disembarkation. One of our guests had fallen ill overnight and needed more medical treatment than the ship could provide. Thus the captain made arrangements for the Noordam to call at the nearest island with landing facilities for a small plane or helicopter and that place was Princess Cays. As we are now one big happy family and especially as Princess Cay is very close, and we share the same President, it is of course very easy to go there.

Princess Cays is for Princess what Half Moon Cay is for Holland America. Each is similar to each other in setup;  each is different in what they offer on the island in facilities and entertainment.

Thus the Noordam deviated from course, stopped at the anchorage, lowered a tender and brought the patient ashore to be collected for further transport. I am happy to announce that the patient is doing well. The whole operation took about an hour and then the Noordam continued its voyage.  An operation with a minimum delay for the patient, and minimum delay for the guests who will arrive in St. Maarten on time.

Our officer school class is getting into the swing of things and this morning they went through their shipboard indoctrination. Yesterday about 60 new crewmembers joined. Some of them brand spanking new and some of them old HAL veterans, but they all have to be refreshed into the company’s safety procedures.   At the same time they are introduced to the Captain and the ships staff so everybody knows at once who is running the ship. It is a nice touch which I always have liked as you come a bit closer to the crew members and they do not have to wonder who that guy is with all those stripes.

Each ships staff member speaks a few words of wisdom, all related to their area of expertise and then the security officer tells everybody about his area of expertise – how to recognize a suspicious object, always wear your I.D., report strange things etc. —- and then the safety officer takes the really new crew around the ship to show them the most important features they have to know at once. How to call the bridge in an emergency: not to walk through a closing Watertight door: what is a Fire Screen door: etc. etc. More in-depth training will follow later but everybody needs to know the basics to start with. Or need refreshment about what the basics are.

The most important part of my training today was to explain who is who in the office and what they are doing exactly.  If you understand the office structure then it is becomes a lot easier to understand what the decision making process inside the company is and how it affects the ship.

Tomorrow we are at sea for our 2^nd day and it supposed to remain sunny and breezy.