9 Sept 2007. Joining in New York.

So; real life started again today with boarding the Veendam at pier 92 in New York. With two more ships in; the Norwegian Crown and the Norwegian Spirit, it was a busy day for the terminal. I had flown in the day before into JFK and spent the night at an airport hotel. The only thing that always takes the fun away from flying for us is the hassle with immigration. If I come in as a tourist (green waiver) or as a businessmen (B visa) then I can get through very quickly. However when I come in as a seaman (C visa) then suddenly I have to go through a second processing cycle that can take up to two hours. All sailors do. One of the vagaries of life I suppose. If it is the end of your flight then it is not too bad, although annoying, but if you have to catch a connecting flight then this delay can play havoc with your scheduling. But I made it to the hotel in reasonable time to have a good meal, a final beer before going dry for the next three months and then a good nights rest.

New York was the first USA port for the Veendam after the European season, so I knew it was going to be hectic. The ship had finished the 21 day Trans Atlantic cruise from Copenhagen with calls at Iceland and Greenland and now had to get ready for the Canadian Maritime season. Apart from lots of luggage to go off, there was very heavy storing of provisions and supplies, a full crew inspection, a full USCG inspection and a large crew change over.

When a ship calls at an USA port for the first time, all crew has to go through a full inspection by the Customs and Border Protection. If that first port is a turn over port, then that creates a bit of mayhem as the crew is called away from the work place to present themselves to the inspectors. The whole process can take up to 3 hours. This inspection is repeated every 90 days for ships regularly calling at USA ports. Crew that join in between is seen during the next home port visit. That is on top of the airport inspection.

When a ship calls at an USA port for the first time, the USCG comes on board for a full safety and security inspection which includes: scrutinizing certificates and licenses, a fire and boat drill that involves all crewmembers and the testing all the safety, security and environmental equipment. The inspection can last a full day. This inspection is repeated every six months.

So with all this going on, the Veendam had a hectic day in New York. I had to cancel shore leave for all crew as everybody was needed to get the ship ready for sailing while all this was going on. I hate to do that, as the crew loves New York with all these discount shops so near to the ship. USCG was very happy with the level of performance. They noted no deficiencies (this means observations made that require corrective action from our side) and because the crew performed so well the inspection went very quickly. Full complements to Team Veendam here, for scoring a clean sheet, during these hectic conditions. But,we are not off the hook yet. We still have to the United States Public Health Inspection, the Canadian Public Health Inspection and the Canadian Port State Inspection (Canadian version of USCG) to come.

In the end we sailed 90 minutes late from New York, due to the enormous amount of provisions we had to take on. After 21 days the store rooms were empty and the storing process slowed down during the period that the drills were going on. Luckily with the layout of our dining room at the stern of the ship, everybody could still see the ship sailing down the Hudson. As our next port is Newport Rhode Island, this delayed departure will not affect a timely arrival tomorrow morning.