14 Aug. 2016 Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Today was a typical Dutch Summers day. It was nice and warm in a gentle way but mainly overcast with always the feeling: It might rain, while you know it will not. For all accounts it was perfect bike weather and it seems that today the whole of Amsterdam was either on the bike or on the water.

For the crew there was less time to take it at leisure as it was change over day. The very vast majority of our guests went home. I think there are about a 100 who are doing the next 14 day cruise as well. Those who are staying are making a 3 week cruise, the 7 days Norway which we just have completed and then a 14 day cruise which includes the Top of Great Britain, Iceland and then back via Norway. Combined the cruise is called Norse Legends and Northern Isles.

As we have a predominance of Europeans at the moment who have time available as the schools are out and most take their main vacation in the summer months, there are not that many who have to travel a long way home. I saw a long line of people with suitcases walking to the train station again and an even longer line of taxi’s picking people up and most of them had been pre ordered. There were still bus transfers to Schiphol Airport but not the convoy’s as we normally see.

About sixty crew disembarked and most of them are also very happy with this taking place in Amsterdam. The majority of the officers live in Europe and then it is very easy to get a flight in and those who have to travel further afield  can take the late afternoon flights and still arrive in daylight in North America.

For the company Amsterdam has two options, either where we are now, downtown Amsterdam at the Cruise terminal, or Ijmuiden at the entrance locks of the North Sea Canal which leads to Amsterdam. It was decided to have the Koningsdam in Amsterdam for the scenery and the ease of public transport but also because the Koningsdam could fit the extra hours it needs to get to and from the port to open sea into the schedule.  The Prinsendam is using Ijmuiden. The main reason is it is very tight to get to the Kieler Kanal the next morning if you also have to depart from Downtown Amsterdam. I did it one summer with the ship and you really needed for everything to go right to ensure that we could be in the first locks at 10.00 to embark the Oompa – Oompa band who plays during the transit of the Kieler Kanal.

You would think going through the Kanal was all about the sightseeing but is not. If the weather is bad or there is restricted visibility, nobody complains. But if there is no Oompa band, then the Hotel Director  will hear about it loud and clear. One of the major tasks of a Captain is to prevent the Hotel Director from either getting a heart attack or from contemplating to kill somebody, and therefore a timely arrival is of the essence. Now the Prinsendam docks in Ijmuiden and that gives them a minimum of 4 hours extra to get the Oompa band on board.

Looking at the body language the deliverer is not that happy with what the Culinary Operations manager just said.

Here in Amsterdam no Oompa band but lots of stores to load. What might not be that well known for guests, is that each pallet which comes on board is checked. General provisions are done by the Provision Master or the Controller who are in charge of maintaining the stock, but special loadings call for the Head of Department to come out. And thus you see the Executive Chef out on the dock, squeezing apples and oranges, sniffing at the fish and approving alternative choices in case the brand that was ordered is not available.  Here we see the Culinary Operations manager inspecting a trolley with crockery to see if it is what we really ordered. This little trolley can easily be worth up to $ 10,000 and thus we have to be on the ball.

It leaves very little time for sightseeing or running ashore. Although down town is close by, only 15 minutes at a decent pace, the super markets within radius are not that big, for that you have to go deeper into the city and for that there is no time, as the ship is sailing once again with a full house.

Tomorrow we will spend the day at sea, sailing a slow boat to our next port of call, Newcastle Upon Tyne, right on the border between England and Scotland. We should have decent weather with maybe an occasional fog patch but nothing or real significance. Hence the reason we had such nice and not too warm weather here today in Amsterdam.