Today the good ship Koningsdam brought us to the port of Naples sitting under the looming Vesuvius just outside. Everybody wonders why you would want to live on top of a Volcano but then the good people of San Francisco live right on top of an earthquake zone and they do not seem to be bothered either. Half of the Netherlands put their trust in a few big dykes as they happily live under sea level. So the Neapolitans have being happily living with their volcano, but looming over the port it does. I find coming to Naples always fascinating. First of all they manage to pack a lot of ships in a rather small port and because it has always been a transatlantic departure port with passenger ships sailing to the new world and because of my hobby I can see the history behind it all. Especially the terminal.
The first thing you see when approaching the Cruise terminal is a rampant horse on the top of the roof.
Italy had quite a few passenger ship companies in the past and most of them came into being after Garibaldi united Italy. With many Italians emigrating to North and South America, Italian shipping company’s offered regular services there. Not always with great success and when Mussolini came to power he re–organized & merged some of those shipping companies. The 2nd thing he did was order proper Ocean Liner Terminals to be built and one of those was in Naples and that is where we docked today. Through the years the terminal has been upgraded but some old bits and pieces are still there. I checked this morning and yes the 3rd class waiting room brass signs are still there. The space is now occupied by Customs Officers but they left the brass plaques. Up inside the terminal there are supposed to be some more original rooms featuring Art Deco ceilings but I never managed to get there, not even with the Ships Agent promoting me to the Commodore of the company. But I will try again next time.
A busy day in Napoli. Currently the area between the Castle and the Terminal is under reconstruction for the Metro.
As you can see from the overview photo Naples is a big port on a small scale. In the rest of the world the docking space would only be assigned two ships, here in Naples they will go for four ships and have two of them only have part of the dock available, just enough to get the gangway in. The bow is kept in place by dropping the two bow anchors. Then the other piers play host to a plethora of small and large ferries, with a lot of them also docking with only a part of the ship alongside the dock.
You are hereby inducted in the hallowed ranks of the First Officers of Holland America. Staff Captain Kevin Beinart hands out the new 3 stripe epaulets to now ex-2nd officer Willem van de Noll.
Today a few more things from behind the scenes. Officers join the company if we can wriggle it, from the starting rank of cadet and after finishing school they return as 3rd officer. After going through my school class they are then assigned to a ship. Experience comes and we then promote from within. Today we had such a promotion. 2nd officer Training (he runs the 4 -8 watch but is responsible for the safety trainings on board) went up to First Officer, which is two steps away from being Captain. A good reason to be happy and the deck team made a little ceremony out of it. As our new First Officer is a tall Dutch guy and the Staff Captain a rather shorter Belgian, he had to go on his knees to get his new stripes installed. The team had also arranged for a chocolate cake and before it was devoured it gave me the chance to take a group photo. The Captain is missing as he was stuck in a training class about environmental compliance.
The Deck Team of the Koningsdam. With the arrival of the KODM the officers now wear greyish colored work uniforms instead of the yellow Kahki’s from before.
What I have not shown to the world yet is the crew mess room on this ship. It has been built to the latest HAL insights and crew flows during breakfast, lunch and dinner time. You cannot have 900 crew descending on this space at the same time and thus there are different times for the various groups on board especially for the Cabin Stewards and Dining Room stewards are there are more than a 100 in each group. As you can see there is a rather prominent Coca Cola machine there on request of the crew. Juices, coffee and tea are free of charge and available 24/7 but the crew wanted large bottles of soda and so a dispensing machine has been installed.
The aft part of the Crew Messroom. Leading to the self service buffet.
Tomorrow we are back in Civitavecchia we our cruise will end. We will be nose to nose with the ms Amsterdam which is on the last leg of her world cruise. Arrangements have been made to have the Amsterdam guests come over to inspect the new Koningsdam. It will be interesting as the Amsterdam belongs to the R class and two evolutions away from the Vista and Signature class. They will be able to walk over the dock under sunny skies and a temperature of 66oF or 20oC.
April 14, 2016 at 1:32 pm
Hi Captain Albert: How does a ship/Captain make the determination to sail even when all the passengers are not aboard by the appointed time? We have been on HAL for hundreds of days and at times they wait for late passengers and sometimes they don’t.
Also, if the ship waits for a passenger and incurs charges, does the passenger have to pay the ship back?
Thanks
April 15, 2016 at 1:53 am
Good morning, thank you for reading my blog.
It works as follows: if you are on a ships tour and that tour is late,the ship waits. If you are delayed while ashore by yourself, then the captain will wait if he can and if he knows where you are. If there is room in the schedule to the next port then the captain is more inclined to wait than if the schedule is tight. Also if there is a conflict with departure times of other ships then the ship might have to pull out. We try to provide service to individual guests but it should not be detrimental to the majority. Therefore it is important to always take the agents telephone number (listed in the daily program or port flyer) with you when going ashore. I have been able to hold the ship when people had a accident with the taxi or got lost but called the ships agent and I was able to wait for 20 minutes. Most of the time there are no charges if they make it back to the ship as docking fees are normally charged by day and lineshoremen by a 4 hour window. (Although some ports have penalties when staying after dead lines agreed with local unions, so it does not always work)
Best regards
Capt. Albert
April 14, 2016 at 2:48 pm
What a very nice gesture to let the Amsterdam passengers have a tour of Koningsdam. Captain, thank you for continuing with your blog updates. They are very interesting for those of us who cannot be on the ship in the near future.
April 14, 2016 at 7:11 pm
Hi again:
Can you tell us how many people the World Stage will hold? We were very impressed with all the show times.
Also there spin bikes and spin classes offered?
Thank you
April 15, 2016 at 3:11 am
Good morning,
thank you for reading my blog. World Stage holds in total 567 seats of which close to 400 are on the tiered levels. As there are normally 3 shows each evening we never had any issues to find a good seat.
Yes, The Greenhouse spa offers Spinning classes, there is a dedicated room for it.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
April 15, 2016 at 3:00 am
Captain Albert,
Thanks for sharing the story and the pictures.
Regards,
Ab ( father of )
April 15, 2016 at 3:57 pm
Amazing, it looked to me at first sight as a knighting with the new First Office on his knees before I read your text, Captain! I like to read photos first. On the second photo the Staff Captain seems to be standing on the background, right? Lots of fun. And, respectful congratulations to the new First Office (I had feedback from a Second Officer who had to wait nine years before he got his three stripes and a krulletje … )
April 15, 2016 at 6:00 pm
Thank you for the answer to my questions. I am so excited to hear that there is a dedicated spin room. We will be on the ship for 2 months in the fall and so excited to see it.
Love your blog. I never knew it existed. Thanks again
April 17, 2016 at 2:38 pm
Glad to see my former schoolmate at Antwerp Maritime Academy , Kevin Beirnaert as Staff Captain! I am sure that he will appreciate the drink selection at the Dutch Café and the Mosselen in Sel de Mer…
Congratulations to the whole Bridge Team for an obviuously very succesfull and safe first weeks of operation!
Best regards,
Tino Coddé
Capt. B747-400
April 18, 2016 at 8:44 am
Thank you for reading my blog.
I have passed your email on to him, so he knows “belgium” is closely watching.
Best regards
Capt. Albert