This morning between 0400 and 0700 hrs. we zig-zagged through the Windward Passage and into the Caribbean Sea. To do this we first hugged the East coast of Cuba, staying close to the Light house of Cabo Maisi and once out of the Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme we came closer to the West coast of Hispaniola.  Hispaniola is the name of the whole island to the right of Cuba and it is split in two halves. One is Haiti the other is the Dominican Republic.  Thus we saw the sun rise over the mountain range of Haiti on our port side. A bit of a watery sunrise as there were only a few rays and then it clouded in again.  From then on the clouds got thicker and thicker and by 10 am. we had a few torrential rain showers coming over the ship.  By noon that had tapered off to the occasional drop of rain but it took the remainder of the day to leave the weather front behind. Or better said the weather front to drift away from our course line as we are on a south south easterly course towards Aruba.

A rainy grey morning in the Caribbean Sea.

Although most of the navigators have been to Oranjestad many a time, there is still a very in depth voyage and arrival meeting the day before. Being Dutch we do this at Coffee time at 10 am. in the morning. This time the affair was enriched by Dutch Cookies which had been brought over from Holland by a new joiner. We have all sorts of cookies on board but not always the brand that is considered best by the experts. (That’s us) The whole officer team assembles including the Security Officer (in charge of the gangway setup) and then the arrival is simulated on a big TV screen step by step. Docking plans are discussed – where the ropes go- and the navigation officer has made  a cheat sheet for forward and aft mooring stations with photos from last time, so we can achieve the optimum mooring line configuration.

The approach into Oranjestads harbor, the “Paardenbaai”. As long as we stay between the red lines and do not hit the blue bump, we are in good shape.

Then the most important part is the approach to the dock, with the focus on what if. If you drive a car into a garage, you focus on that. We worry about the fact if the garage door might come down while we are driving in and what do we need to do to have –positive confirmation –so that will not happen. Maybe cynical but it saves paint scratches on the cars and lives on ships.   Thus “Plan B” is very important. For Aruba there are two challenges: One, when you sail in, you cannot stop anymore or drop anchor. It is too narrow. B. There is always a lot of wind which pushes you away from the dock.  Luckily the port has a natural plan B. There is an exit at the end of the harbor, so if the ship comes in and if you do not like the situation you just sail out again. I have done that once in my career, 14 years ago, when a sightseeing catamaran decided to sail westward between the pier and the ship, while I was coming in and was executing a maneuver to reduce the wind influence which was gusting up to 30 knots.    I could not slow down, the ship would have been set towards to reef to the south and I could not turn around so I just gave full ahead, sailed out, turned back to the West entrance and made a new approach.  It was quite enlightening to listen to the pilot who questioned the legitimacy of the boat skippers heritage, and that of his immediate family, fluently in three different languages. (English, Dutch and Local) After docking successfully the second time, I explained to the guests what had happened and asked those who were going on that tour boat to voice my displeasure. Which they did with great gusto. The tour boat skipper never made that mistake again.

The exit of the “Paardenbaai” giving the option to sail out if you do not like the situation. (Both photos are screen captures of the actual ships voyage plan.)

Tomorrow should be an average day according to our prognoses; winds of up to 20 knots, sunny but with a chance of showers, so the ship will put out a few extra lines to deal with wind gusts which might be hidden inside the showers. According to the agent we are the only ship in port but according to the Aruba port authority there are two more. The Norwegian Dawn and the Freewinds. Tomorrow we will find out who was correct.

After all our trials and tribulations of yesterday, today we have a routine day at sea. The focus of the crew is back on pure guest satisfaction and everything else is on the back burner as most of them made too many hours yesterday according to the legal requirements. If this happens, then those extra hours have to be compensated with extra rest the next day. And so we did. This is not something that the guests will notice but any work planned for today behind the scenes was put on the back burner for another day.  I helped out today where I could and then started my own project of carrying out a full safety sweep of the ship on behalf of the Captain.  I do not expect to find much but history has taught us that small things can change into big issues and it needs an experienced eye to connect a small issue to a much larger challenge sometimes in the future.

When there are inspections going on like yesterday I cannot be involved as……… A. I am not officially a crew member and B. Legally I am in a bit of a vague position as what I say would carry authority but could encroach on the position of the Master and that is of course a No No. Plus halfway in the morning I get kicked off the ship to present myself to the CBP to show my Visa and dutifully declare that I am still not a danger to the safety and security of the USA. And you never know how long that might take; and yesterday it took a long time.

Wouldn’t it be nice if Cuba had a sort of North – South Panama Canal in the middle. I wonder if it would be profitable.

But the cruise has started and we are now happily on the way to our first port of call Oranjestad Aruba. Yesterday evening we sailed south towards the Old Bahama Channel and there we spend all of today. Tomorrow morning between 04.00 and 07.00 hrs. we will pass through the Windward Passage and then we are in the Caribbean Sea. Because we called at Ft. Lauderdale on a Thursday there was only the Koningsdam and the Crown Princess in port, plus a small intra-coastal cruise ship of American Cruise Lines. All went their different ways and thus we are sailing all by ourselves at the moment, not counting cargo traffic of course.

The Old Bahama Channel is the preferred route for going to the South and East Caribbean Sea. If you go all the way to the East, then going north of the Bahamas is shorter (= saves fuel) but you are completely exposed to the vagaries of the North Atlantic Ocean. Sailing the Old Bahama Channel offers protection by the Bahamas to the North and Cuba to the South. You might still get a strong, opposing, easterly wind, but you do not get the swell of the North Atlantic. Thus every cruise ship captain, who is concerned about his guests comfort, will look for an excuse to take this route as it will call for a more comfortable ride.When you go to the South Carib, then it is the only way to go, as going West around Cuba adds at least 80 miles to the route and you have to sail against the Gulf Stream until you pass Cabo San Antonio. That we only do when there are hurricanes in the way. But the hurricane season is more or less out of the way and thus we take the regular route. As it is so popular with everybody, the channel has been divided into traffic zones to keep opposing traffic nicely separated.  So going South/East bound we are hugging the Cuban side at a distance of between 3 to 12 miles, depending on how the Cuban coast is following our route.

The weather is, what it promised to be. We are still out of the rainy area as the frontal system is now occupying the middle of the Caribbean Sea. But we can expect some heavy showers when are south of Haiti.

I expect that we will meet the tail end of the system and get some showers in the morning and miss most of it.

It was the end of the cruise today and welcome to Florida and welcome to Mayhem. Controlled mayhem but the ship had a very heavy day. We knew what to expect and we were prepared to have all go as smoothly as possible. But with so many things going on, and with so many outside influences, the only approach from ship side can be to very minutely plan the operation and then hope that all the other stakeholders do their part of the job. And this time it did not work out completely.

As the ship had been away from the States from more than six months, we knew that we would have to go through a full crew inspection of the CPB and we knew that we had to do a Full year CVE (Control Verification Exam) by the USCG. So we were ready. We knew we might get an inspection by the USPH ( we are always ready for that) but we were hoping that they would come in the next USA port  as providing labor for that while the USCG drills were going on would be tight. And in the mean time we had to do the cruise turnover. On top of that we had a crew change of about 70 and while the old crew could not help anymore; they had to see immigration and then go to the airport, the new crew could not help either as they first have to complete the mandatory safety indoctrination before they are allowed to start working. This was all expected, we had planned for it and had all it organized.

Then we found out the CBP could only make 4 officers available at the start of disembarkation. This slowed down the full crew inspection but it also slowed down the Guest disembarkation. Nothing we could do about it, nothing they could do about it as the CBP is really strapped for manpower at the moment. I heard from the ground staff in the terminal that some of them were already on the job for 14 hours that day; then were supposed to take a few hours off and then go at it again for a full night shift.  And although they were trying to be as efficient as possible, it delayed the end of the disembarkation by more than an hour.

This had a knock on effect on the USCG inspection as the USCG officers like to wait with the drills until the guests are off the ship so it does not interfere with the disembarkation procedures. But now the guests were late and thus the drills were late and rolled over into noon time. That had a knock on effect on the boarding of the new guests as the crew was still in the drills. Cabins had to be completed, food for lunch had to be cooked, meet and greet setup etc. etc. So embarkation did not start until 13.30 hrs. and nothing we could do about it. While all this was going on, the USPH officers boarded for an inspection and that drew labor away from other tasks as now various Hotel supervisors had to be at their areas of responsibility while the inspections took place. In between we had to fully provision the ship, bunker oil, load water and had a large number of service technicians on board to service all the equipment. I observed coffee machine experts, a radar technician, an expert on water measurements, a juice machine repair man, and at least another 20 or so experts in one thing or the other. They all disappeared into the bowels of the ship, to ensure that everything would be in good working order while we make our cruise.

Based on all of this rolling forward, the Captain could not do anything else than to postpone sailing by an hour to get everything completed in a proper way. As always it all worked out. USCG returned happy to Miami and we got our CVE certificate. USPH declared our ship healthy and the CPB inspected all the crew and the guests going off and gave us the sailing clearance. Nothing stopped us from starting our Panama Canal cruise, with our first port of call Aruba, two days from now. Complements to all for a job well done as this turn over day was not for the faint hearted.

I am now staying on the Westerdam to help out with some projects for the Captain until Puerta Vallarta on 21 November, and then fly home for first a training course and then my vacation. I came Eastwards through the canal with the Nieuw Amsterdam 3 weeks ago and now will go Westwards with the Westerdam. I will have to sit down one day and calculate how many times I have done the Panama Canal since 1981. I know I am closer to or over a 100 of them so maybe I can apply for a discount as a frequent Canaler.

Heavy rain clouds coming over from the East Carib. (Courtesy The Weather Channel)

The weather for the coming days is a bit uncertain. There lays a large weather front over the East Carib and the North part of the South America and that is moving slowly westwards. If I read the chart correctly, we should get through the frontal system while on our 2^nd sea day and then it should be gone by the time we dock in Aruba.  But that will depend on the speed it moves to the West.  Wait and see, the frontal system is too wide to sail around it so we will take the showers when we get them.

Before I roll into the current day, we had an interesting event by means of a visitor or a stowaway. Sitting on top of the Magrodome with an attitude as if it owned the ship was a big bird. A very bird. I thought it was a Heron but in England Herons are blue and this was definitely a brown one and a scruffy one as well. According to guests:  he/she had been observed by somebody flying around the ship and catching fish and then, shortly after a dive over the Lido Deck, he or she landed in the middle of the top curve of the Magrodome and stayed put.  I do not know anything about birds, so readers please, is there any ornithologist available to tell me what sort of bird this is.  One guest considered the bird to be a terrorist as it dive bombed. Exactly where this guest was standing and the dive bomb was accompanied by a white release………….   Pending corrections on my thinking, this does not look like a deep sea bird and thus was most likely blown off course, hence his/her scruffy appearance. Last night we were about 400 miles from the edge of the Bahamas and two days ago we were 400 miles south of Bermuda, so it might be a bird with a British or Bahamian Passport. He/She spent most of the time preening and getting everything in order for a future take off. This morning the bird was gone, maybe for good or to return later and catch a ride to Florida.

Our Hitch-hiker in total control of the Magrodome.

With the bird no longer overseeing the Lido Deck from its lofty perch, Housekeeping moved in, in the late evening. I have not seen this on any other Holland America Line ship yet, but they managed to turn the whole area round the pool into a menagerie with every animal variation (and a few more) that normally covers our beds every evening.  Sometimes the creation of the cabin steward is a bit hard to decipher but normally it is very clear as to what it is. For what you get in the cabin, you can buy a small booklet with how to do it at home.  But here creativity was taken to a much higher level. Mr. Hobben our Executive Housekeeper and his team really went to town. Crocodiles, centipedes you never hope to see, Orang Utans larger than in real life plus smaller creations which are not in the booklet and are thus most likely dreamt up by the Housekeeping Attendants themselves. Indonesians are in general very artistic and elaborating on an old idea with a few extra towels is not beyond their capabilities.

Towel animals everywhere. all the way around the pool. I assume all 100 housekeeping attendants were in attendance. Luckily we always carry enough towels on board, as each cabin had an animal as well.

Most guests saw it at breakfast and the ohh’s and ahh’s were heard all around the deck. They had even made a guardian to look over them during the night by means of a stuffed Hotel Directors uniform, so the wellbeing of the whole zoo was in the capable hands of the most senior hotel person.  Compliments to Housekeeping, this was really impressive and listening to the noise produced, the guests really enjoyed it, all the time and effort well spent. Impressive.

These ones we do not get on the bed, as they are too big.

Outside the ship there is still not much going on. The sun is shining; the seas are calm with only a very small swell running, and the guests have to make the difficult decision of lazing for the day or to start packing. This evening around 19.00 hrs. we will enter the Bahama Islands. Then we will sail between Abaco Island and Eleuthera Island. This area is called north –East Providence Channel, followed by North West Providence Channel. Then early tomorrow morning we will cross the Straits of Florida to aim for Port Everglades pilot station around 05.00 hrs. If all goes well then we will be docked by 05.45 hrs. at our regular location Hal Terminal 26.  Then the changeover circus will start an even a bigger circus than normal as this is our first call after a whole summer in Europe, so we will have all the inspections. More about that tomorrow.

My school class found the bird back later in the day ; it is now sitting outside the Officers Bar on Deck 4, probably waiting for somebody to buy him/her a drink. We will have check tomorrow to see if it has become a Floridian. The Nautical Excellence Class finished today with 5 very happy campers who in 14 days’ time were indoctrinated in most Holland America Line procedures. Some known, some secret but all of them very important. Tonight we will have a final dinner in the dining room and then real life will start for them. But my final lesson will be: how to properly open a wine bottle, check it, taste it and then share it.

The weather looks very nice for Ft. Lauderdale and thus the guests will have had a VERY GOOD Trans -Atlantic crossing with only one overcast/rainy day.

Another beautiful day at sea. Last night it was so clear that we were even hoping for a Green Flash at sunset. But a cloud spoiled the happening and dashed all the expectations. But today is a similar day and maybe we are lucky now.  So what is all the excitement about so that we even announce it to all the guests.  First of all it is a fairly rare happening and secondly you can only see it over sea as you need an on-unobstructed horizon.  This because it is an optical phenomena which occurs at sunset and sometimes at sunrise. But I have never seen the latter one myself.  The moment the sun touches the horizon the atmosphere can cause the various colors in a sun ray to split with green color dominating. If the air is then a little bit hazy (but not cloudy) this green discolorisation might rise higher and we can then see a Green flash of about 2 or 3 seconds. That rather unusual happening is what we are hoping for.  If the weather stays the same we might have another chance,

But if all fails, then there is always Bingo to solve all the frustrations………………………………………………….. Although most guests are busy with other things. This morning I observed a first in my career. At 07.00 in the morning, the Passenger Gym on deck 9 inside the Greenhouse Spa was sold out. Not in the way of costing money, as it is free, but it was full with no room to spare and none of the machines were free.  Normally we have a daily rotation with 25 to 30% of all equipment in use and at the same time exercises are going on in the center area of the Gym but this morning everything was in use at the same time. Causing a few guests to turn away a bit disgruntled. I suggested to one Lady “why not take a run or walk a few laps around the deck, as things would certainly quiet down closer to breakfast time”. It was the wrong thing to say I think as I got one of those glares that can curdle milk. ……………. She wanted a particular machine that she had used all cruise at the same time each day, and now somebody had taken it. No doubt the Hotel Director will get a nasty Let-us-Know card about that one.  Maybe we have do the same as they did in old days with the steamer chairs on deck, you reserve one with the deck steward, so nobody could pinch it……………….

The crownest bar which now incooperates the Coffee Bar.

Continuing on our refurbishment tour, we now come to the Crow’s nest. This has now been giving over completely to the EXC, our Explorations Center and enrichment philosophy. Welcome Explorations Central. The Java Café / Coffee bar on the Starboard side has been merged with the Crow’s-nest Bar on the portside which has remained in place. The open space has been filled by the Shore excursion desk.   Starboard aft a more private office has been created for the Future Cruise Consultant and going to starboard forward there is now modified library shelving set up with books pertaining to travel.  Two puzzle tables have been retained and are always in full use.  Port Aft, where we had the Captains Corner, is now a meeting/ lecture area called EXC encounters, featuring the EXC team with travel stories, narrated movies and slides show about far flung places to visit.

Center Forward area with a view towards the Starboard side.

This is a new concept for the company and it was the question if it would catch on. But looking at the number of guests who are present during most of the (sea) day, I think it does, all areas are well frequented and when done exploring the Bar nearby gives the option to come to rest and relax with a good glass of something nice. Because the chairs, although comfortable, are smaller, a lot of space has been created for everybody to have room to mill around.   This will help the congestion issue we always have during a Panama Canal Transit. If needed, there will be room for a lot of folding chairs for those who want a good view but stay indoors.

The old Captains corner now transformed into an enrichment /small lecture area. Now there are more chairs otherwise we can not get everybody in. It is very popular.

We have one more full sea day to go and then a final night, sailing between the Bahamian Islands before we reach Fort Lauderdale. Weather is supposed to remain as is and thus it should be sunny all the way to Fort. Lauderdale.

We have a saying in the Dutch language, after rain you will get sunshine. And that is what we got. Glorious sunshine and no wind at all. The Westerdam was making her own wind with 19 knots of speed and that was just pleasant for the guests on board. We did notice the passing of the weather front from yesterday. Where there is wind there are waves and when the wind is gone those waves become swell. Thus we had a swell running from behind and that made the Westerdam move on occasion. Not a regular roll but a “list at times” just as if the ship could not make up her mind. Normal; because the swell was hitting the ship on the quarter and then you can get that strange cork screw motion that is neither rolling nor pitching. Not much and not all the time but occasionally we were reminded that we were on a ship and not in a hotel ashore.

This was a day at sea full of highlights, see the daily program, or maybe without high lights as it was a regular Holland America Line day at sea where we provide the guests with what they expect and what is there to enjoy. I was able to help a little bit in that regards as I held my Holland America Line History Lecture in a full show lounge (now called the World Stage) and hopefully I provided some insights about what a great company we are.

The Northern Lights was a very nice space, especially with the lights on, but not that busy.

So I can happily continue with my round, around the ship. As mentioned yesterday we also changed and refitted the Old Disco, called the Northern Lights. A very nice place but underutilized as it was only heaving & busy during charters and during Thanks Giving or the New Year’s cruise when we have a much younger crowd on board. And a Disco you cannot really setup as a multi-purpose room so it was a bit of a lonely corner in the ship. Then somebody had the bright idea to add a public room/ sitting area in this space. Plus two TV screens which replace the Sports Bar which was removed to make room for the Billboard with the two dueling pianos. There is a lot of interest in sport among our guests but not to the extent that a Sports Bar is filled to capacity so this works very well. Welcome the concept of The Gallery. The old Disco Bar remained and was taken into the concept of the Gallery so called because the decorations consists  of floor to ceiling pictures in various sizes and scenes.  (In nautical speak, from Deck to Under Decks)

The same corner now as the Gallery. Where once the DJ booth was is now the Whisky tasting corner,

To get to the Gallery, you have to walk, coming from the stern, through a passage which curves around the back of the Queens Lounge (BB King Music in the evenings and America’s Test Kitchen during the day). In that passage there were portraits of Marlyn Monroe. Same Photo in different colors of touch up paint. Those have been removed and now hang in the Lido Restaurant and it looks as if the area was designed for it. I had to check my files to see if those pictures had not been there from the beginning. The Gallery Bar provides draft beer and is thus my firm favorite when I am out and about to entertain. Which is not much at the moment as the new Navigator’s Class takes up much of my time.

Marlynn got promotion as all her photo/paintings went up from Deck 2 to Deck 9.

With this reconstruction of this center part of the ship, the Westerdam now also has the Music Walk as was introduced on the Koningsdam. Billboard at the old night club/ sb casino/sports Bar location, BB King in the Queens Lounge and Lincoln Art Centre (Classical) in the Explorers Lounge. The last lounge only had to be reconfigured a little bit to get more people in as the lounge already gave a very classical ambiance. That leaves for tomorrow’s blog the crow’s nest to discuss; and which has been changed into a ”Destination Center” fully focused on the places we visit and how to learn about them.
Weather for tomorrow, if I have to believe the weather forecast and I will gladly do so then it will be as glorious as today. Those who are not careful will arrive with a (not so) glorious sunburn in Fort. Lauderdale.

Even the Bars are into tablets. This is a gadget to help you select the whisky or whiskey that fits your palate the best way. This must be an Irish gadget due to the spelling of the word “Whiskey”

We have now passed the half way mark with some 2000 miles behind us and some 2000 miles to go. If it all works out then we will arrive around 05.00 in the morning of the 8^th. of November. Part of it will depend on what time we will fit into the pilot’s port entry schedule but most of the time that is not an issue. Frontal systems are normally not small systems and the one we are under now is no different. It will take about 24 hours before we haves sailed past all of it. But the weather forecast does indicate that sunny skies will return.  Today the guests had to keep themselves happy with indoor activities or go for a bracing walk around the deck. No much of a problem as the ship was heaving with lectures, get togethers and other activities. The ship is running at 19 knots and we are having a gentle push in the back by the northern edge of the West Equatorial Current. The wind has gusts of occasionally 45 knots but on average it is about 30 knots. We had some rain, but not enough to really satisfy the Bo ‘sun with his salt on deck challenge.

I flipped Satellites today as we now nearing the Caribbean Basin. For the remainder of the cruise and the beginning of the next cruise that is where our challenges might come from. We are now busy with getting rid of the weather front. (Photo Courtesy, the Weather Channel, Caribbean Sea)

I was on about the new Atrium yesterday as that was the largest refit on the ship. And it is a considerable change from the old warm and fuzzy interior to a modern sleek and focused interior. Focused on the message that we want to give; enjoy the Rijksmuseum Experience. To create the largest space possible, one flight of the Atrium stairs have been removed so the Area in front of the Front Desk is now wide open and uncluttered. With the removal of the stairs also the Atrium Bar was removed.  This makes sense as this bar was never very popular; the original idea was to have a sort of walk by and stop off bar where you could just have a quick one when coming from the shore or when in between activities. Most of our guests, if they go for a drink, make it a bit more of a ritual than just a walk in and thus the concept lived not up to expectations. In the end the Bar was only used for cocktail tasting events organized by the Bar Department. That was very successful (and very rowdy at times) but this can be done at another bar as well. And thus the whole area has now focused on the “Rijksmuseum Experience”.

This is the old Starry night ceiling centre piece.

I am always interested to find out if a new concept works as with these sorts of things you do not know what the guests will think and do until it is there. And I do see quite a few guests nosing through the books or going over the big coffee table picture books. If this was planned or not, I do not know but it has also become a waiting and reception area for the Front Desk and I see on occasion Front desk Ladies and Event Staff having little meetings in the alcoves or in the seating areas in the middle. The antiques we had here in the various corners have been relocated to other areas in the ship and I am currently chasing those and documenting them. Only the large glass center piece of the Atrium has been removed to shore side and will hopefully be used somewhere else.

And this is the new Day sky Ceiling

On the upper Atrium levels, deck 2 and deck 3, everything has remained the same. The Pinnacle Grill and the Pinnacle Bar are still on deck 2 and the Ocean Bar and Ocean Bar sitting area are still on deck 3. Happy Hour is still there and is now from 1600 to 1700 hrs. What has changed as well is the Bar menu setup. Each bar now has its own specialties and not every bar serves everything. As an example if you want to sample Cognac Louis XIII ($ 99 a shot) then the only place to do that is in the Pinnacle Bar. I have to agree this is the bar with the best setting for such an indulgence.

A corner of the lower Atrium, seen from the Front Desk. On the wall the large painting projections which rotates 24 hrs. a day.

Further on, on deck 2, there are two changes. The Music Walk has been introduced and the Northern Lights Disco has been changed into the Gallery Bar. First of all to compensate for losing the Sports Bar (now taken up by Billboard) and secondly as the Disco was really underutilized. The Bar behind the former disco has been kept and now also serves Draft Beer and not just the regular lagers. Blue Moon and Newcastle Ale have a bit more taste and depth than an average lager.

Tomorrow we are on our 5^th. day at sea and Florida is coming closer very rapidly and it should start to feel quite like Florida weather.

I made the statement yesterday that things were looking good and that is tempting fate as today we started to approach a frontal system which is laying over the whole of the Mid North Atlantic. But it is not a bad one. It will bring more wind and it will bring rain but it is not a storm or anything else nasty.  So we can live with it, although it will annoy the sun-bathers who were out in force today. It will please the Bo ‘sun though as a good shower will get rid of the salt on the decks. His sailors are trying to keep up with washing down the decks at 05.00 in the morning but they cannot get everywhere before the early risers get in the way. It will take about a day’s sailing to get through it all and then we just have to see if the – small- disturbances located further to the West will affect us.

Our position at the arrow takes us through a weather front.

While we will have rain above us, we have mountains below us. Today we passed over the Mid North Atlantic Ridge. Which is located in the middle of the North Atlantic and that means that we are also in the middle of our crossing. Although we do not see it, it is a very important boundary as it indicates the geological border between Europe and North America. A German gentleman called Mr. Wegener predicted that the whole world, read the continents, were sitting on their own “saucer” and were surfing along over the globe on top of fluid inside of the earth. Those saucers are called plates and we can see where they meet as there is a gap in between them and that is where we normally find volcanos.

The mid North Atlantic ridge follows exactly the contours of the Continents and can thus we consider it the real border of a continent even if it sits underwater.

Wegener was not believed in the beginning as most people found his idea ridiculous because you could not see the movement; but in 1850 the Atlantic Ridge was officially discovered and in 1872 further confirmation came when a route was plotted for the first North Atlantic Telegraph cable. In Iceland the ridge comes above water and runs over the island and you can even walk through it. The plates move by about 2 inches a year and their movement is often noticeable by small or larger earthquakes. The plate is in a way a sort of conveyor belt with North America on the top and this plate is rising right here from the depth and is then disappearing again in a pacific ridge. Not much for us to worry about as it took about 180 million years for North America to drift this far way from Europe so it does not go that fast. But every time the plate takes a hop, there is a fair chance that San Francisco might notice it.

I promised a few blogs ago photos from the interior changes of the Westerdam made in the April 2017 dry dock. The Atrium was rebuilt and also the Crow’s nest. And for the rest a lot of carpet, wall paneling and soft furnishings were done. Let’s start with the carpet. It has now been brought in line with the new and lighter house style of the company which was started with the Koningsdam. So the corridors have a greyish touch with an abstract pattern to it. Very functional.

The art work on the outside of the midship staircase central elevators. Note the leaf curve.

But what I really like is what they have done in the staircase landings. The pattern in the center part of the landing and lobby now reflects the decoration of the Elevator doors. Maybe not all the guests might make that connection or may not care but I have a weak spot for Art Deco and I think it is magnificent. We have an interior designer / interior Director who looks after all the ships and I think I can clearly see her hand here.

The same motive in the new carpet in front of the elevators. Note the leaf pattern.

The conversion of the Atrium and the Crows nest are part of the new philosophy of the company to offer our guests more in-depth enrichment while travelling. Hence the decision to combine the Atrium / Meeting area with a location where you can learn something. Thus the decorations on the walls are now in relation to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam; well-known from all the Rembrandt paintings. They have decorated the walls with a timeline in years and paintings, giving in this way everybody an idea how painting developed through the centuries. On the forward wall is a led screen on which – as a sort power point show – famous paintings are projected. Guests can sit on comfortable chairs and immerse themselves in Dutch culture. On the starboard side are book shelves with a number of reference books which provide more background information.  The front Office remained but the Shore excursion information and sales counter has moved to the Crows nest. Photos will follow tomorrow.

So tomorrow we will find out how wide and how intense the depression will be and afterwards it does not look like there will be much rain at all anymore.

I am starting to believe that this might be a very good crossing with not too many “ups and downs” as far as the ships movement is concerned. Today was a sunny day with a bit more wind but not of the kind that affects shipboard life. Either outside the ship or inside the ship. The ship is on a steady course and getting closer to the middle of the North Atlantic. There is not much to report about what is going on, as there is not much going on, other than the regular routine of a sea day.

Except one thing; the guests might have noticed that the ship on occasion was listing to one side and then to the other side. Not much, no more than 2 degrees but unusual as the Navigators are very conscientious in keeping the ship upright. So why the list, well we are cleaning water tanks or better said sea water ballast tanks. And we do that every time we cross the Atlantic. The reason is that we want to do this as a company policy, but also because we have to comply with Ballast Water Treatment regulations which is an international law exercised under the control of the IMO or International Maritime Organisation.

Officially it is called the: International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments or (BWM). We on the ships we just call it the Ballast Water Management. It was agreed upon in 2004 but is now in September 2017 coming into force worldwide. Why the 13 year delay? Well some countries did not want to participate in the beginning and there has to be a minimum number to get the BWM in force worldwide but also it can take a long time before countries have entered it into their on National Legislation. It has quite an impact on the shipping industry as it requires that no creepy crawlies and other little animals are exported from one part of the world, to another part where they do not belong.

A cargo ship discharging ballast water in a port prior to commencing loading.

What happened in the past was that ships would take in ballast water in one port after discharging cargo, especially bulk carriers and would then sail empty across the ocean to another place for loading. To be stable enough, as the cargo was gone they needed weight and did this by the way of taking on board local water. Once on the other side, when the loading started, that water was pumped out again. But it was not just water it was full of smaller and sometimes not so small animals. Nobody paid much attention in the beginning but when in certain area’s the local fauna and flora started to disappear or a foreign species managed to get the upper hand, alarm bells started to ring.

There are a lot of little and larger animals that are not wanted in other areas of the world but 10 of them have been recognized as the most unwanted and the most invasive.

Once a problem has been recognized, it might still take a long time to get all the stake holders together and agreeing to what needs to be done and how to do it. Hence the 13 years between getting the matter on paper and its worldwide implementation. Holland America has already been taking part in this BWM for a long time and although it only now becomes compulsory worldwide we have had Ballast Water Management since at least 20 years in one form or the other. We do not need much ballast water to keep a cruise ship in a safe stability condition. Its design together with the weight of oil and drinking water is normally enough. But sometimes we get ballast water on board if we have to ballast against a heavy list, caused by strong winds on one side of the ship. To make sure that we do not carry anything unwanted we can flush tank after tank to get any hitch hikers from the old world out before we reach the new world. (And the other way around during our Spring East bound Trans-Atlantic) For Bulk carriers and tankers it is a different story; if they would empty a tank to clean it, their stability might go under the required norm. Those ships will now install treatment equipment which filters or burn (Ozone treatment) anything out of the ballast water.

There are regulations which advise where we can clean tanks by flushing seawater through and the main one is that you have to be at least 200 miles from the nearest land. So if we have an unwanted traveler with us, then it will not reach another shore and start invading the local biotope.

The main regulations in the new treaty that is now been universally adopted.

We have a lot of tanks and thus the process takes a lot of time. Normally 48 hours or so, before all the tanks have been done and are considered clean again. It does keep the watch keeping engineers busy. The deck officers normally calculate the best sequence for the tanks and then record the results in the Ballast Water Management Book. A book which is carefully scrutinized during each Flag or Port State Inspection that we have.

With an hour back a lot of guests were up and about very early. I normally have my breakfast around 06.30 in comparative solitude while only continental breakfast is being served; but this morning it was well before 0700, when full breakfast is available, that large groups were already marching into the Lido. So maybe we have another phenomenon in the making here, guests take a long cruise with sea days, solely to get up early in the morning. Of course our guests are welcome to do whatever they want, and we have coffee available to help any early riser problem, but there is not that much to do this early. Apart from observing me having breakfast. (Cornflakes and orange juice)

If you look at the daily program of today, highlight of the early morning was a 02.00 hrs. setting the clocks one hour back but as that ritual takes place on the bridge it is a restricted-access affair so not much of interest to the guests. Next is at 06.00 the Fitness is open for guests (counting six early risers on the torture machines) and then next thing is Fitness class at 07.00 hrs. Then, apart from Breakfast, there are no activities until 08.00 when Mass is celebrated in the Main Show lounge. Thus the ship does not give much reason to raise that early but still a few hundred people were there. As bright and shiny as can be and not willing to wait for the Dining room to open at 08.00 hrs. (Unless they went for a 2^nd breakfast, that is)

One of these early risers cornered me after having recognized me as being “somebody from the ship, and asked rather indignantly why there were only foreign newspapers available. On the stand where the British, Dutch, and German newspapers (Spanish and others are available by request) but no American or Canadian. I had to think for a moment and then it dawned on me that this also has to do with time differences. Our company has a newspaper subscription and the papers covered are released when the real, local newspaper, goes to print. So the ships version is also as actual as possible. Hence the printer receives them early morning and they are available at around 06.30 hrs. New York is still four hours behind us, and the New York Times version has not been released yet then. It will only be available around 09.00 or 10.00 hrs. Ship’s time, when it is around 05.00 hrs. in New York. The closer we come to Eastern Standard Time, the earlier the Canadian and American newspapers will appear. I explained this to the guest but looking at his facial expression I got the impression that he did not believe one word of it.

When we sail in Alaska it is the other way around at Breakfast time (4 hrs. earlier than New York) the two North American papers are available but Europe is so far behind, that we start running a day behind in the newspaper business; e.g. getting old news compared with the New York Times. Still we get the news and in the morning, and there is a steady stream of guests passing by the Front Desk to pick up the morning (foreign) copy and then closer to lunch time there is another stream passing by the pick up North American papers.

The weather today was the same day as yesterday, mainly overcast but quiet and with a nice gentle temperature on the outside deck. Not T shirt weather, but not sweater weather either. Tomorrow the sun is supposed to break through with a slight increase in wind but not anymore swell.