Today was a busy (last) day for the guests as we did two ports in one day. In the morning we were in Koper, Slovenia and in the late afternoon we arrived in Venice for an overnight stay. The weather was once again sunny and not too warm, resulting in a beautiful stay in Koper and a spectacular arrival in Venice, where the setting sun framed the houses along the canals as if it was a Canaletto painting.

Koper, was a first call for the Holland America Line and we on board did not know exactly what to expect as none of us had ever been there. Upon the arrival the pilot told me the Veendam was the largest cruise ship ever to call at the port and the biggest ship that would fit in the down town berth. Koper is a medium size industrial port with some great deep water docks for cargo ships, but that is not where you want to put a cruise ship. So I swung the ship around outside the harbor entrance and then backed her all the way to the dock.

The town of Koper is working very hard to get a slice of the cruise business so by 10.30 we had about 25 newspaper people on board and two cameras of the National Slovenian Television. I was going to be world famous in Koper during the evening news. Koper has a lot of tours to offer, both historical and otherwise and our guests were very happy with the port stop. The only comment being that the ship should have stayed for a full day. So many things are available there, as Slovenia reaches deep into the Balkan with spectacular sights and it is a clean, friendly and peaceful country. Even if you do not go on tour, the old town was only a 1000 yards away from the gangway.

We sailed at 2 pm. and with the Veendam’s whistle booming over the old town a lot of locals waved us out, watching the event of the day, the BIG ship call. It being a Saturday meant that the whole bay was full of sailing boats, so the Veendam had to zig and zig its way to open waters. Then it was a four hour run to the pilot station of Venice, where we arrived at 17.30 hrs.

Today we had an Italian lady pilot who guided us through the lagoon and past the sights of Venice. As a captain you stand a bit with your fingers crossed while sailing through the Canal, as the fairway is so narrow that the only option you have is to stop when something happens. your can not cahnce course. The local ferries and tourist boats seem to consider 30 feet a safe passing distance but it is a bit un-settling to see one boat after the other disappearing from sight under the bow of the Veendam and to pop up again at the other side. From my conning position on the bridge I have a dead angle of about 120 feet, where the bow blocks the view, so what might be a safe distance for a small boat, looks awfully close to me. But there is always on officer forward in the bow, who will advise me if something happens where I can not see it.

The ship arrived in the evening, to offer the guests the chance to do an evening tour into Venice, including a gondola ride. Also a lot of my crew grabbed the chance to get off for a few hours. Most of them do not have that much time to go ashore, so if we have an overnight port, I encourage the heads of various departments to split up their departments as much as possible (with crew covering for each other) so that everybody gets a chance to go ashore. One group during this call, the next group during our next call. Tomorrow is change over day and then we start our next cruise, sailing to the Western Mediterranean.