22 November 2008, At Sea.

With a near gale force wind on the bow we pushed towards Tampa. Luckily wind and waves were from the same direction and so the ship did not roll but only slightly pitched in combination with an occasional shudder when the bow hit a wave on a strange angle. Thus we had still a good and sunny day, compared with what it could have been. Although for some guests the little movement of the ship was still a bit too much. However had these winds and waves been coming at us from another angle, the ship would have been much livelier.

I have occasionally mentioned that the Veendam is supporting a school, a hospital, a retirement home and some private initiatives in Santo Tomas. We did so again during our last call. School supplies were offloaded, clothing donated by the crew of the Veendam and we had nearly two pallets of materials donated by guests who sail with us on a regular basis. Using the Veendam as a cargo transport between Tampa and Guatemala, we could land wheelchairs, IV stands, boxes with medicines, computers and a lot of other much needed materials. I know that the guests did not do it for their own glamour but for the good of the local people but I would like to thank them for what they did and I am proud to have been able to help out with the Veendam. Most of the good work was done by my chief housekeeper and I only occasionally needed to get involved, mainly to help smooth the way with customs. This is a real crew effort and it is great to see that guests are participating as well. Although two pallets full of material is really extraordinary. Suite 023, thank you for the enormous amount that you donated.

By 3 pm. the cold front had pasted over us and it looks like that by the evening the wind and seas will start to abate a little bit and we will have little wind on arrival in Tampa. That won’t last very long as the tail of the cold front will lay over Key West by tomorrow evening and thus arrival there on Monday is going to be interesting again. But at least Tampa will be a normal day for a change.

This cruise is almost over and we are gearing up for the Thanks Giving cruise. That cruise is always a challenge due to the high kid’s count that comes with it. Luckily we have the Oasis or Club Hal since 2006 and that takes a lot of pressure away from the regular ship operations. The two levels of Club Hal behind the funnel really do help us with controlling the kids and giving them a good time. Such a good time, that the parents have great difficulty to get them out of there for dinner and family get-to-gethers. The ship normally has one or two Club Hal staff onboard but during the Thanksgiving and holiday cruises that number goes up in line with the number of kids expected onboard.

One of the funny things is that during the cruise is there is quite often an autograph hunt going on. One of the most elusive signatures to get is the one of the captain as I am not often in the ship during the hours when Club Hal is in session. I saw a few signature sheets recently and it was amazing to see how many different autographs I seem to have and in how many different ways I seem to spell my own name.

However, the kids onboard are our future cruise guests and thus Club Hal will be in full swing to give them a great time. I will be docked tomorrow morning by 0600 and the ship will get ready for the next turnaround.