16 July2010; wobbling all the way North.

From Bilbao to the west point of France, in Normandy it is a North Westerly course and that meant that we had the swell ¾ on the bow and the wind on the beam. So no chance of surfing to keep the ship quiet; we had to face what was coming. However with the slow speed built into the cruise schedule, it was possible to keep the inconvenience to a minimum. At least compared to what it could have been. For a novice to the Bay of Biscay it looked quite rough, for those who had been in this area during times of bad weather it was not bad at all. Thus we saw a split among the guests, when they finally emerged from their cabins. Most slept in to recover from three days of intense sightseeing and the fact that the ship moved about a bit was also a good excuse to delay getting up. Then those who had been here before were quite happy to regale the other guests with horror stories about 40 feet waves, heavy pitching and rolling ships and all that goes with it. All the better for the Prinsendam who could really shine with her performance in how she was riding the waves.

Still most of the guests showed up for the Mariners luncheons. Plural, as we had so many mariners onboard that we had to do two, as the dining room could not seat them all at the same time. I also had the privilege to hand out a 700 day medal to a lady guest, something that does not occur everyday. What pleased me as well was that I could honor a dining room waiter who had conducted a Heimlich maneuver on a guest who was choking on her food. Nobody had really noticed it from the staff as he had been quick and efficient. He did his Samaritan work, comforted the lady to ensure that she was alright again and then went back to work. However one of the guests, who observed him doing his good deed, had written a LUK card and handed it in. I am always looking for ways to recognize outstanding crewmembers and for waiters there is nothing better than to do this in front of the guests and their peers. Thus he was put in the centre of attention during the 2nd Mariners luncheon.

A LUK card is something that not every reader will know what it is. It stands for Let Us Know. When we are one or two days into a cruise, these cards appear on the bed in the cabin, together with the Sweet Dreams chocolate. The idea is that guests Let Us Know any issues they think are important as not everybody wants to go to the Front Desk. All LUK cards are carefully read, reacted upon and where possible we try to solve the issue mentioned. Most of the time it is a comment about something; a complaint, an observation, or a query. Sometimes a guest uses it to document outstanding service or behavior by one of the crew and that gives me the chance to recognize such a crewmember in a special way. An acquaintance of mine, who works for another company, thought that LUK cards were asking for problems, as you give “the guests an open door to complain”. HAL and we on board the ships do not see it that way, as for us it is another tool to provide extra service where possible. As we cannot see what is going on every cabin or with every guest in detail, it is a very valuable way of communicating with guests who otherwise might not step forward.

In the meantime I worried about St. Peter Port in Guernsey. It is a tender port and needs none or a westerly swell and westerly winds to have quiet weather at the anchorage. The North Atlantic swell often ends to “curve) when it comes between the French mainland and the Channel Islands just above it and then rolls into the bay. In a case like this, I have a “Plan B” in my hand, ports that I could go to………..just in the case of. In this case it would be Cherbourg, about 3 hours sailing from St. Peter Port.

However the Peter Port Pilot was confident that it would be workable tomorrow and that meant that I am first going to have a look myself to decide whether to stay or to deviate. The weather is going to be great tomorrow. Sunny skies and temperatures in the low 70’s. It is just the swell that bothers me. So we will see.