The cold weather front coming from prairie country was in slow mode and we had a beautiful sunny day at sea. The edge of the frontal system passed over the ship around 3 pm. and then the (cold) wind started to pick up but it was only in the mid evening when the wind had whipped up the waves enough that the guests were starting to notice the changing weather. In the end it was a much nastier cold front than the weather men had predicted but more about that tomorrow.
Sailing from Tampa results in a very high repeater rate of return guests and thus we had two luncheons again with the members of the “Most Honorable Society of Holland America Line Mariners”. The company as a whole averages over 60% in return guests which is the highest number in the premium market and for the Veendam it is at the moment over the 70%. A result to be pleased with as it must mean that the guests do enjoy being on the Veendam. Taking into account that most of them will already have seen the ports that we are visiting.
With everything going according to plan it gives me the chance to answer some of the questions and queries that have been posted recently.
1. Can we have a bridge of engine room tour?
Unfortunately the answer is no. Holland America discontinued bridge and engine room tours on their ships in relation to 9/11. With the increase of the necessary security it did not make sense to have the work spaces on the ship blocked off as “authorized personnel areas” and then run tours. We still do kitchen tours and that is because it is not really a sensitive area. I personally find it a pity that we had to go that way, as you always like to give the guests the best service possible. It is also an ideal way for the juniors to learn how to deal with the guests on board and to learn to quickly answer questions. A question such as: if the ship is made of steel why does it not sink? is not as easy to answer in layman’s terms as you might think. So we try to alleviate that on the longer cruises by doing Q&A sessions with the navigators. It is difficult to do that on the shorter ones as the daily program on sea days is already so full of activities and the port days are filled with drills that the navigators conduct.
2. How was life on the passenger ships, especially the Veendam in the old days?
It is difficult to tell that in a few words and although there are many books written about how it was all done in the past, it is difficult to catch the atmosphere and make it come alive. There is a website that wallows in nostalgia and gives quite a bit of background information and also video clips, so you can build up your own picture of what it was like in the past. www.cruisingthepast.com
3. How come we have 90 people in the tender when in use as a shuttle boat and 150 when in use as lifeboat ?.
First of all, 150 people do fit in a lifeboat (and with lifejackets on) but it might be tight if all 150 were obese. That is luckily not (yet) the case. The lifeboat capacity is designed for a standard size person and on average that works out. This does not mean if we had 150 obese people in one boat that we had to leave a few behind. The ship can carry 1500 guests in lifeboats (1600 when counting the handling crew) and with all beds full we have less than 1400 on board. Thus each lifeboat has spare space. Also Solas (Safety of Lives at Sea) does not stipulate that all guests have to be in a lifeboat. They could go into a life raft if needed. (Just think about the situation if a lifeboat was damaged in a collision etc.etc) Thus there is always room; at all times. Why 90 as a tender? This has to do with the loading time. While we have 30 minutes (legally) to load a lifeboat, we can not have a tender sitting at the gangway for 30 minutes while we optimize capacity. Secondly while a lifejacket does take up space, it does not stick out to the sides, it fills volume in the lap space that is available in the boat because that is where your knees are sticking out. Guests on the tender have the tendency to put their bags next to them and will only reluctantly hold them on their lap. Especially so on a warm day. All the clutter that a cruise guest carries while going ashore, does greatly diminish the operational capacity of a tender. Thus a much lower number for tendering than for emergencies.
Tomorrow we are in Tampa. It will be a sunny day but a chilly one. The cold front which should have passed Tampa by then, will have lowered the temperatures from the mid 80’s to around 60oF at noon time.
November 17, 2008 at 12:30 pm
Captain, I am sure you will already know this but your readers may be interested in the following information.
According to the Daily Telegraph (British) newspaper, Holland America Line has won The Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Award, 2008, ‘Best Cruise or Ferry’ category.
The citation includes, ” for recognising that the industry has negative environmental effects and doing something about it……..It has reduced dockside emissions by 20%……..developed an ‘Avoiding Whale Strikes’ training programme….increased recycling by 50% ……..introduced ‘new scrubber technology'”
(Now, what exactly, is ‘new scrubber technology’?!)
Not to mention. of course, all the work you have described in previous blogs by providing charitable donations of goods and financial support provided both by passengers and the line itself to deserving communities.
So, congratulations to you and your crew, together with all other HAL ships and those who support them in head offfice. Considering the size of the cruise/ferry industry HAL must have beaten off some pretty stiff competition to win this award. It ought to go without saying that the award should provide a good incentive for passengers to choose HAL ahead of other cruise lines whenever itineraries allow.
Information on http://www.responsibletourismawards.com
November 18, 2008 at 8:07 am
Thank you for the explanation of the tender/lifeboat question. It makes a lot of sense. I have to admit I am probably one of those who surrounded with bags on the tender. I will try to be less territorial in the future!