13 October 2012; At Sea.

 It was still a windy morning, courtesy of dissipating Patty but by noon time the wind started to abate. For the coming days we should have nearly wind still weather, even in Aruba. This is caused by a new tropical storm called Rafael, churning away in the sea area above Puerto Rico. Without going into too much technical weather details, in a simple way, a tropical storm or hurricane sucks all the wind away from an area like a vacuum cleaner. As a result a wide area around it is nearly wind still. That is in our case the greater Caribbean Sea and that is where we are sailing. So I am all for it. So while Patty is keeping Rafael company on the other side of the Bahama Bank, the Statendam will slip into the Caribbean Sea for a few days of smooth weather. 

Our current cruise to San Diego via the Panama Canal.

After all the upheaval of yesterday, we had a quiet day today. Below decks, everything was cleared away, re stored or sorted out and we could fully focus on what we are primarily here for. Namely service to the guests. That service has to come from somewhere and that is our business model and the delivery by the crew. With the business model, is meant what the company offers the guests and in what way it complies with Holland America’s advertising and if it results in a high level of returning guests. Training is needed so that the crew who has to deliver the product to the guests, can do so. Each cruise company has a different business model and that makes HAL different from Cunard, from P&O and from Carnival. In the old days, all crew would receive their training on board; you learned from your peers. In the 70’s and 80’s change was slow on the ships and there was time for it.

Kitchen training in Manilla. The proper way to deal with Salmon.

Now the cruise industry is changing faster and faster and in order to keep up with the ever changing tastes of the guests, and the cruise companies have to keep up with that pace. So new programs are being rolled out on a year round basis and of course it is for those on board to implement that. It gives little time anymore for crew to come on board and to get trained in the basics. Now you have to arrive on board trained. For deck and engine officers that has always  been the standard but in the hotel operation there was always a fair amount of basic training on the job.

 Holland America has recognized that and now for quite a long time we have had a school in Djakarta and more recently one in Manila. Each school delivers the training geared to the functions delivered on board by a certain nationality. Sailors, housekeeping, dinning room, come from Djakarta, kitchen staff from Manila.

Sandwiches as you get them on the ship.

(Photos via john mulvaney, corporate chef)

I thought it would be nice to share a photo with you from one of the cooking classes that are going on there.

Our Cruise Director has come up with a new idea, at least for the Statendam, and that is putting “Good morning Statendam” on television. Before we had this coffee chat in the main lounge for the audience only, now we record the whole happening so it can be watched also from the convenience of the cabin. I do not know if a sleepy guest is ready at 09.30 in the morning to see my face on TV but we are trying it out. I saw a similar thing on one of the Queens a few years ago, where the Cruise Director tried to give the impression that it was live TV, streamed directly to your cabin. That worked fine until the captain had to cancel a port, so he announced that at 6 pm the night before, but during the next Mornings TV program, the Cruise Director still extolled the wonders of that port; a port that never was. So I checked with the Cruise Director is it was going out at once; and only during this day. It was.

For the remainder of the day we sailed along the North coast of Cuba and in the evening we could see the lights ashore as we were only about 6 miles away, sailing on the required courses through those Vessel Traffic Separation lanes, as explained in the previous days. By 11 pm we started to make the turn into the Windward Passage, which was not very windy, and tomorrow morning we will be in the Caribbean Sea.