Time to say good bye.
Thank you to all of you for being such faithful readers. Hopefully you will log in again when I return on September 16th. I am writing this from home, as I could not get on line properly yesterday due to the travel pattern and the need to “collapse” in bed as soon as I came home. It takes me just over 24 hrs. (including the time change) to get home by plane from Vancouver to Norwich via Amsterdam. I normally fly via Amsterdam as there is a direct KLM connection with Norwich, England. If I would fly to London then I would still face 4 to 5 hours by Train, Bus or car. Therefore Amsterdam works much better.
Before I start my regular blog again, I hope to upload a number of ithttps://www.captainalbert.com/17-june-2012-vancouver-canada/
ems to the Hal history sections. Old Captains and Ships History’s. So you might get a ping a few times in the summer, if you ahve the automatic alert.
I left the ship at 12.30 and was amazed to run into two of my blog readers while getting out with the shuttlebus.
Always very nice to be able to put a face to the name.
Two items still to share:
One:
THIS IS MY 1000TH. BLOG……….
……… SINCE I STARTED BACK IN 2007.
With sailing about 180 days a year, it takes a while to get there.
My counter on the Editors page says 1000, so I have to believe that it is true.
One Thousand…………….. Time fly’s when you have fun.
I wonder how many I will have done by the time I reach retirement ????
Two:
I promised an update about Corinto. On the monetary front it is a bit quiet at the moment, but agents are reporting that items have come in, although we do not know what yet. Also the clothes collection is going well, we are now up to 5 big boxes.
I expect that monetary donations will come in again as soon as we start the Trans Canal Southbound as the current 7 day cruise guests spend all their money shore side but also most of them are brand new to the cruise industry, first time cruisers, and do not have much affinity with Holland America and what the crew does on board.
From the Crew Coin box $139 (Discarded change)
05/14 $100 (Cabin 012 California donation)
05/16 $100 (Cabin 007 California donation)
05/23 $200 (Cheque Florida donation)
Supplies:
One box arrived 14 may SDO (Canada donation)
Used Clothing: 5 boxes from crew and guests.
Unknown quantity as of now: Material received by agents in Vancouver and San Diego.
My hotelmanager is also leaving in a few weeks. But he returns in August and I will get the next update.
To all of you, have a great summer and thank you.
June 19, 2012 at 11:41 pm
WOT! I have a competitor 🙂 ? I hope my snapshots turn out as I aimed at you with my flash when I saw you struggling with your oversized carry-on bag through the last section of the passenger bridge … kidding.
Congratulations with the 1000th milestone. See ou when you come back, Captain.
June 19, 2012 at 11:46 pm
Thank you for taking the time to blog. Enjoy your time off with Leslie.
June 20, 2012 at 12:03 am
Wishing you a wonderful summer and many “Thank You ” for your blogs, and all their information. We are still waiting for you to return to “Prinsendam” and even more to see you taking Prinsendam on a World Cruise again, hopefully the one HAL is exploring which begins trans Atlantic, rather than the customary trans-Pacific. Happy vacation !
June 20, 2012 at 1:36 am
Thank you for all the information that truly enhances the cruising experience. Enjoy your time off – look forward to your periodic posts. Will send my box of school supplies for Corinto when the back-to-school sales occur in August.
June 20, 2012 at 1:37 am
Thank you for all the information that truly enhances the cruising experience. Enjoy your time off – look forward to your periodic posts. Will send my box of school supplies for Corinto when the back-to-school sales occur in August.
PS – congrats on 1000 blog posts – that’s a LOT of words!
June 20, 2012 at 11:29 am
Have a pleasant and restful summer. Summer in England is to envy. All the best and thanks.
June 20, 2012 at 6:04 pm
Dear Captain Albert,
many thanks for sharing your cruise behavior with us.
And congratulations to your 1’000 entries !
We will be End of July in Seattle, and will let en envelope at its HAL Headquarter…..
Kind regards – Daag
Anna & Gerd
June 20, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Captain Albert:
Happy homecoming and a well-deserved rest.
Re Corinto: A few of my friends and I are pledging $500+ of school supplies I can order from a bulk/wholesale house. The trick is that since we are located on the east Coast, any order over $500 will ship free, so therefore will be shipped to the SD port agent in early to mid September.
I guess we should place our order sometime in August, corresponding to the “back to school” frenzy in the US. Therefore, if you stay in touch with Mr. Mackelenberg while you are on leave, I would like to get some guidance in early August on what to order, based on what has already been received. I’m talking about cases of spiral notebooks, boxes of 144 pencils, sharpeners, pens, dry erasers, dry erase pens etc., all the stuff you originally mentioned in your “need” list.
That’s why I have been so interested in a Corento update. So I’m letting this issue lie until August. Please enjoy your summer. I’m going cruising on Sunday. 24 June………
Ruud Hartog
June 20, 2012 at 11:43 pm
Will miss reading your blogs, while having my morning coffee… Have a wonderful holiday at home…
Can’t wait till Sept. you will be missed !!!
June 20, 2012 at 11:51 pm
Congratulations on your 1000th blog! I’ve learned so much about the different ports of the world by reading your blog for the last few years.
Last July I took the Statendam south and this July I’ll be on the Zaandam south. It’s a nice itinerary with Haines and even better with some days at Anchorage, Denali and Fairbanks first. The weather seems to be better in inland Alaska, warmer and drier.
I’ll be taking along print outs of some of your blogs so I can look out for the rocks, currents, winds and other difficulties of “parking the ship”.
Enjoy England. You’ll be on the same time zone as the Olympics, if you like to watch sport or at least support the Netherlands.
June 24, 2012 at 11:29 pm
We so enjoy your blog and articles. Yes, we will return in September to see what’s new.
July 22, 2012 at 7:12 pm
This was posted today, Sunday July 22, 2012 on:
http://www.shipsnostalgia.com/showthread.php?t=45971
http://webcamketchikan.com/
It displays on one page six Ketchikan harbor webcams in 800 x 600 pixel sizes.
Clicking once on an image opens a 1280 x 960 pixel image but it is displayed in a reduced size on my 1600 x 900 screen.
Clicking a second time opens it to full 1280 x 960 on my screen.
Clicking the image a third time takes you back to the beginning. Or you can use your browser back button.
Greg Hayden
July 23, 2012 at 7:04 pm
Greetings Captain Albert from old cruisers. You may remember us as the “Titanic” folks. My wife’s grandmother was a passenge & survivor on her. You did us the honor of renewing our vows on the Veendam sailing from Tampa some time ago. Health issues have kept us ashore for several years but we are now getting restless to renew our sailings on HA. Hope ypu and your lady are well and that we may meet again near future.
August 2, 2012 at 6:35 am
http://www.vacationcruisesinfo.com/content/Holland-America-Line-Statendam-Cruise-Review/
53 pages anonymous Statendam cruise review paid for by USA-Today newspaper. The author booked the cruise and paid for the cruise himself then was compensated by USA-Today.
Greg Hayden
August 9, 2012 at 2:12 pm
Have a great vacation Capt! 🙂
August 11, 2012 at 8:34 am
Hope you are having a wonderful vacation. DW and I will be cruising with you September 16th from Seward AK to Ft Lauderdale FL. Arriving there on12 October.This criuse will our 6th and 7th. on the Statendam.. Will see you on the Ship. Enjoy your vacation. The wife and I are Four Star Mariners..
Edward J Hyatt
August 18, 2012 at 8:32 am
Good morning,
I have just accidentally arrived on the captain’s page, how very interesting but it has also left me feeling very curious, I knew nothing about all these activities,
And captain I too used to live in Norwich and we always flew from Amsterdam KLM
To Norwich. Memories,,,,
I will read on
September 3, 2012 at 10:39 pm
Captain, We look forward to seeing you onboard in Seward on 16 Sep. We are doing a back-to-back r/t from Vancouver. Our first cruise was on the Statendam IV in Sep 1981. If I remember correctly, that was your”first” ship.
Paula and Robbie Robinson
September 12, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Good morning,
Looking forward to meeting you. In the mean time pray for nice weather. I joined the Statendam IV for the first time in November 1981, so you are a bit senior to me in HAL years.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
September 12, 2012 at 7:18 pm
Good morning,
I think there is a slight confusion here, as I will not be sailing on the Veendam but on the Statendam.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
September 13, 2012 at 2:37 am
Hello Captain, I hope you have enjoyed your time off the ship (even it it is filled with Honey-do chores!). I was recently on the HAL facebook page where they had a trivia question about which current HAL ships are named after dutch towns and cities. I included Statendam in my answer and then I had my doubts–but surely your blog would have a history of the Statendam ships and I would know the answer (even if I’m wrong). I’m shocked and horrified to see that there is no ‘Captain Albert’s History of the Statendams’ on your blog! Is the ship name not worthy of your attention??? I am teasing in good humor though 😉 Google almost always has the answer, Mapquest too (although, I do wonder how it will tell me to cross the Atlantic on the way from Seattle to Rotterdam…). I look forward to your daily ‘on-duty’ posts when you return to the Statendam.
September 13, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Good morning,
my humble apologies about the Statendam ships. Still in the draft stage and I did not get around to putting them on line. Will deal with it this contract. To answer the Statendam enigma, there are two lines of thought and I have not found the definitive answer yet in the HAL archives:
option 1: it is named after in small area on one of the islands in the south West of Holland.
option 2: the name was chosen to keep The Hague happy. After Rotterdam and Amsterdam, the Hague is the 3rd city in the Netherlands but does not have a dam name. But it houses our national parliament which is called the “Staten Generaal”. What is easier then to make a statendam out of it ? As there is a Staten Island in New York, it meant that the other side of the big pond was not going to be unhappy either. Perfect politics.
One day, I will sovle the mystery, as somewhere there will be correspondence about it.
I will be back on board on the 16th.
thank you for being such a faithful reader.
Best regards
Captain Albert
September 13, 2012 at 8:14 am
Enjoy you Blog. Looking forward to meeting you, on our cruise from Seward, Ak. to Ft Lauderdale, Fl. It will be a Great cruise, with wonderful weather. See you on board. Ed & Donna Hyatt
September 16, 2012 at 7:48 pm
Thanks Captain! 🙂
I hope this last cruise of the Alaska season will be sunny and smooth sailing. It is an unusually nice end to summer.
-C
September 17, 2012 at 2:56 am
Welcome back Captain. It looks like Alaska has not provided a very warm or hospitable welcome if the weather news from Alaskan friends is accurate.
I just discovered today that my husband and I sailed with you on the old Noordam, Dec. 5 to 18, 2001 to the Southern Caribbean. I look forward to meeting you on some future HAL cruise.