24 June 2008, Juneau.

Today at little story about the lay out of the port of Juneau, as I have two air pictures to share, courtesy of the Chief officer and his wife who went for an afternoon flight. We arrived nice and early in Juneau being the first ship to dock. By the time these photos were taken the Celebrity Infinity had already departed for Ketchikan but as she occupied the berth behind us, she was the major reason for us to be first. If that ship would already have been there, I would have had about 45 feet of stern to stern clearance when docking. That is not a big issue but as safety comes first, it is of course much easier if that ship was not there yet. Thus we came into port first.

We dock in the far corner and as you can see that is as close as you can get to down town. The second ship that normally comes in is the Norwegian Star who stays until one 1 pm. It is then replaced by the Norwegian Pearl. These ships dock at the town’s newest dock the A.J. dock which is built on the rock dump. The rock dump is an old disposal area of all the rubble that has come out of the Juneau Gold mine for as long as it was in operation. The Norwegian Pearl can be seen in the lower foreground. Next is the ship that docks behind the Veendam, in this case the Celebrity Infinity. By the time it is in position, the ships are stern to stern 45 feet apart. The Infinity is docking at the Cruise terminal, which is the former Ferry dock. It has a floating ramp left over from those ferry days for vehicle loading and now a cruise ship will put the gangway there which then goes up and down with the tide. The last ship to arrive is going to the Franklin dock. In this case the Diamond Princess. Princess has the first rights to dock here as they have installed a shore electricity hook up here, so that they can switch off all the engines in port. Which has an environmental friendly motive behind this evolution. Lately they have not been able to use it due to the power shortage in Juneau, after a March snow avalanche pulled down all the power cables coming from the hydro power station. It is the only dock that is equipped this way in Juneau. Holland America ships have a similar set-up in Seattle when they are in port there for the day. Put the plug in the socket and switch off the engine.

Both photos courtesy of Chief officer Remko Fehr ms Veendam & his wife Leah

The Veendam docks at the Alaska Steam dock, which (see one of my previous blogs) was the old dock for the passenger and cargo ships of the Alaska Steamship Company, who until the mid of the last century provided the life line for Juneau with the lower 48. We dock with the bulb of the ship almost on top of the tender float. If there is a ship at anchor, this is one of the two tender docks where the guests can be shuttled to. In the 1980’s when I went through the ranks, I spent many a cold evening on that dock, with the autumn wind funneling itself through Gastineau channel. A cold wind that made my life an utter misery when I was on tender duty. I have never liked the cold and with the wind chill factor making the temperature go down to the low 30’s, I was not a happy camper during those evenings. Later on in the 1990’s when the docking costs became the same as the cost of being at anchor, we started docking when ever possible and tender service became limited to Sitka where there are no docks.

To the lower left of the bow of the Veendam is the dock for the smaller cruise ships. You can just see the nose of the Spirit of Glacier Bay sticking out. Further to the right is the USCG dock, that is used for Coastguard vessels and visiting navy vessels.

We left Juneau right on schedule and did so by swinging the stern into the bay, and then turn around while being in line with the ramp of the Cruise terminal. The way out of the harbor is by passing the bow of the Norwegian Pearl and then enter Gastineau channel.

Or next port of call is Ketchikan and the weather forecast is promising a rainy morning, but a dry afternoon. Let’s keep our fingers crossed as we are scheduled for an afternoon arrival.