18 August 2010; St. Petersburg, Russia.

We did make up our lost time and with only being 30 minutes later, I was now in a time slot of sailing in after the Costa Atlantica instead of ahead of her. So the cruise ship parade could continue to sail into the port without too much of an upset. The Alexander von Humboldt was leading the way, followed by the Costa Atlantica, followed by the Prinsendam, followed by the Costa Magica. All 15 minutes apart. In port was already the Jewel of the Seas, Silver Whisper and the Crystal Symphony. Tomorrow there will be even more ships in. The Jewel of the Seas leaves today and will be replaced tomorrow by the MSC Poesia. Then there is the Minerva, the Astoria and the Kristina Regina coming in. So each day there will be roughly 8000 cruise passengers ashore in St. Petersburg. The small ships all dock in the cargo port or up the Neva River at the Lieutenant Smith embankment. We were assigned again to the new cruise port, the Marine Façade, which is now 2/3 completed and also the ferry corner is in operation. That leaves two more berths (1 & 2) to be completed during the coming winter. As the season is coming to an end, we sailed by the Kronstadt naval base in the dark but on the way out, tomorrow evening, it will be daylight and then everybody can have a good look.

Yesterday we had our Indonesian Independence day in Tallinn. I had arranged with the agent that the ceremony and the games could take place on the dock side instead of on board and as it stayed dry until it was all over, it worked out very well. This happening follows a regular pattern. First there is the flag raising and the reading of the independence declaration. Then there are the games; we had sack hopping, tug of war, and a slow bicycle race this year. Then there is a dinner, followed by a party, normally during a night when there is an hour back. As it is also Ramadan at the moment, the dinner took place after sunset, as about 95% of the Indonesians onboard are Muslim.

As it is one of the highlights on the crew calendar each year, I have listed below a number of photos to give you all an idea of what was going on. As we could do it on the dock side, the guests had the option to see it all from Lower Promenade deck above and they turned out in quite large numbers. Please enjoy the photos below. The close ups were taken by our Human Resources Manager Caroline Sevilla, and the far way shots by roving reporter Lesley Schoonderbeek from the bridge wing.

The flag raising ceremony with the Indonesian community and the officers of the ship.

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After the ceremony time for pictures.

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Another tradition; thanking the captain for his presence and for the arrangements made.

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The tug of war as seen from the bridge wing. The men in yellow are the deck officers who in the end would win the first prize.

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The cast of the ms Prinsendam. Although trying their best, their talents are better suited for the revue show than pulling a rope.

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The dining room team fully focused.

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The slow bike trials. How to go as slow as possible without falling off the bike. Chief Officer Ane Smit , asst bosun Hasan and Chief Engineer Jaap Wisse. Hasan won easily………

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Dinner after sunset in the crew mess room.

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My captain steward Miko and next to him one of the female indonesian ladies room attendants.