20 May 2008, Juneau.

Thus everything was setup for the Veendam to lead the cruise ship “pack” into Juneau. 05.00 hrs. first line for Veendam, 05.30 hrs. for the Celebrity Infinity, 06.00 hrs. for the Sapphire Princess and 06.30 hrs. for the Norwegian Star. The latter was hot berthing with the Norwegian Pearl which was scheduled to arrive between 13.00 and 14.00 hrs. I was called by the Officer of the Watch at 3 am. and when I arrived at 03.30 I just saw the Infinity racing ahead of us. That was not the plan. It turned out that they had a medical emergency and requested to dock first. When lives are at stake all else falls by the way side so the Veendam moved aside a bit and the Infinity sped ahead and based on their speed could be docked by 04.30.

Best plans can fall apart and when the Infinity approached the dock, they were informed by a cheerful agent voice that the linesmen were not there yet but would arrive around 4.45 am. Maybe they live far away, or the emergency was a last minute thing but I assume that the Infinity captain was not a happy camper with this 30 minute delay in docking as it would also mean a delay in getting the patient ashore for treatment. As we saw it all happening, we just slowed down and floated gently towards the dock. Docking second does not matter that much for me, although the clearance from stern to stern is only about 60 feet, so it is much easier if there is not yet a ship alongside. By the time we had the first line ashore, we saw an ambulance racing away from the Infinity. Hopefully all went well.

Juneau is an important port for the crew due to the proximity of big shops. There is a Cosco nearby of which we can be members as we are in transportation, a Wall mart just opened on the bus route and there are a few shopping shuttles going to various places, including the Nugget Mall in the valley. Apart from that there is a large Philipino community in Juneau which is very good in arranging “good deals” for the crew and a recently opened Crew centre with internet and a large electronics shop.

However today there was not that much time for the crew, as it was one of those training days and also the planning managers from the office came for a visit. Both Deck and Hotel officers had the chance to discuss their future sailing dates and the ship was buzzing with the exciting news of where next and when. Training today consisted out of:
a. CPSC boat handling. (Training for the lifeboat handler certificate)
b. CMHB for senior officers (Crisis Management and Human Behavior) which basically means how do deal with the way passengers react during an emergency.
c. Regular boat drill for portside boats
d. Leadership in Action Class for middle management (here I was the culprit for keeping officers on board as I just have started twelve of them on a 10 week course)
e. Individual Advanced Health & Sanitation training via the company’s training intra net.

It is not always nice, but in a fast changing work place, training has become more essential than ever and it takes up a good amount of time. Both work, e.g. direct company time, and free time has to be made available to comply with all the requirements set by law and company. We do our utmost to schedule most training in direct company time but it does not always work as some functions such as cabin stewards have to spend all their working time on location. They normally do training in the evening after their shift finishes at 9 pm. and then the extra time can count as overtime. All in all nobody gets the chance to get bored on board because of feeling idle.

We pulled away from Juneau just before 1800 hrs. The Infinity had left at 3 pm. so I had lots of room when coming off the dock. Although the weather had not been sunny, it did not rain either and sail away through Gastineau channel was a pleasant affair. Due to the 6 pm. departure time I could make a scenic cruising announcement once we were away from the port. We have been asked by the locals not to make announcements while the ship is in port area. It hampers our operation a little bit but it is understandable as on some ships the P.A system is used every five minutes and the Ding-Dong must drive the local people crazy.

While we sailed through the Inside Passage to open sea, heading for Sitka, the sun came out and it showed the Alaskan Scenery off at its best.

Tomorrow we are in Sitka and the weather forecast talks about 40% chance of showers. I wonder where this 40% is going to fall, on top of us, on the town or in the mountains.