Piraeus is on nearly each cruise schedule for East Mediterranean cruises and with good reason as Athens has more ruins per square meter than any other place in world, except maybe Rome. Plus the food is not bad either. So we like to go there. Getting there is another matter and generates less enthusiasm among the navigators as the routes leading to and from the port are normally very challenging at least when you take the direct routes which everybody else is doing as well.

The first challenge is going from Katakolon to Piraeus. Katakolon is located on the south end of the island of Peloponnesus, which is not really an island but can be considered to be one since they dug the Corinth Canal.  At the far south side of this “new” island is another island called Zakynthos. It looks like a sort of water drop hanging under the nose of the bigger island.  The gap between the two islands is wide enough for shipping and thus everybody tries to get through as it saves some 20 miles from going around. Still not a problem as long as the Westbound traffic hugs the Northside and the East bound traffic hugs the South side.

The route from Katakolon to Piraeus.

But here the problem starts: not everybody is hugging the way they should. There are some navigators out there who believe sailing in the middle is the safest and there are also navigators out there who believe everybody has to make room for them and set their courses diagonally through the passage as this is the shortest route. To complicate matters the passage has a nick at the top of Zakynthos Island and all the ships have to make a small course change there to stay on track. And again not everybody is doing that.  As a result we can often listen on the VHF to impressive recitals of all the bad words which the English and the native Greek language has to offer. Very educational. There are seldom accidents as everybody is always on high alert for this passage but sometimes things happen which makes you wonder where they got their education.  If something is about to happen the solution is always simple. Go a bit more to starboard, slow down or stop and wait until the situation clears itself up. That always goes quite quickly anyway as everybody is in a hurry.

The “route” of the bridge on the ships electronic chart.

Once clear of the passage, it is straight sailing to Piraeus harbor entrance, give or take a few fishermen who prefer to fish in the middle of the steamer routes. At the harbor entrance more fun awaits. We always give our ETA and normally that is accepted but whether it is being adhered to is another matter. The problem (for us) is the early morning arrival of the local ferries. They all arrive near 6 am. and they have  preference. If they are all on schedule then there is not much of an issue but that is not always the case. Sometimes the captain and pilot get the green light and start giving speed and then Port Control finds yet another ferry and we have to wait again.

This is the port entrance which is quite tight for a larger ship. One ship found it “too tight” and made the entrance a bit wider. Hence the repair crane being in the process of putting the little light house back and repairing the north breakwater. I think they are making it a little bit wider at  the same time as well.

Once that is out of the way, there is the challenge of docking. There are four cruise berths deep in the harbor and they are assigned to size and pecking order. The Koningsdam being completely new has no pecking order at all and as the four berths were full we had to dock at the “new pier”. This pier was built for the Olympic Games of 1996 in Athens and the first ship to dock there was the Queen Mary II; as a floating hotel. Thus we knew the Koningsdam would fit as well as she is shorter than the Queen Mary II. Still it is a tight fit and thus the Koningsdam sailed slowly through the breakwaters, stopped and then backed into position with starboard side alongside the dock.

On the departure she will do the same thing in reverse and then we will head for Kusidasi in Turkey. To get there we have to go through another busy passage but more about that tomorrow.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.

We have some Breaking News:  It was just confirmed by the company that Her Majesty Queen Maxima of the Netherlands is going to christen the Koningsdam. She will know what to do as she has already had practice by christening the Nieuw Amsterdam in 2010.

It turned out to be a nice warm day. There was hardly any wind and that does not help to keep the temperatures down in the port.

As Katakolon is lying in a sort of horse shoe shaped bay where you need southerly or easterly winds to bring a fresh breeze. And as the port is surrounded by a hillside from the West and the North that longed for breeze is not always there. Today it was not a problem; it was warm, not yet hot. The real heat will come in July and August after the longest day of the year and when the countryside and sea water have nicely warmed up.

The lifeboats of the Titanic completely open rowing boats.

Today we were the only ship in port and as it was perfect weather, it was a good opportunity to lower lifeboats.  The crew always needs training; sometimes retraining as functions get changed and new crew arrives but also just to keep the routine and proficiency going. With every class of ship different lifeboats are installed as the development in the lifesaving world goes very fast. It is nice to have the latest gadgets available but it means every crew member who comes from another ship has to relearn the routines to be able to operate what we have on board here. The Koningsdam has the latest insights of what there is out there in the life saving business and no doubt the next generation of cruise ships will have that as well. This does not mean older lifeboats are less safe, but with the new materials out there the lifeboats can be made lighter and more space inside can be created. Older lifeboats had a lot of cross beams to provide internal strength and a lot of wood was used, quite often coated in polyester.

The model in use on the cruise ships in 70’s and 80’s. Some older cruise ships still have them.

The newer lifeboats are made of material which is similar or can include Kevlar, a synthetic which is as strong as steel. Thus the surrounding structure of the lifeboat can take over a lot of the strength which in the old days had to be supplied by the cross benches. As a result the newer lifeboats are more of an empty bowl type instead of a fish grate structure. This gives more room for the passengers and crew to sit in but also it makes the embarkation into the lifeboats a lot easier.

The model after 2000. This shows the semi open lifeboats of a S class cruise ship.

Lifeboats on a cruise ship always go down in groups. Partly due to the fact that we have so many on board (22 here on the Koningsdam, 11 on each side) but also because we constantly train on lowering in sequence and getting the boat commanders used to the fact that they are not alone with their boat in the wide wide world but when they enter the water they will be surrounded by 10 other lifeboats that have come down at their side as well.

The inside of the newest lifeboats. The opening for entry can be closed with a sliding door and there is room to walk around.

Training does not always focus on the pure skills in handling the boats, although it is important as we need to get the boats back again after lowering, but also on communication. With sometimes 6 nationalities among 7 crew, language, perception and the form of communicating will vary greatly.  Most crew is used to getting the order and then doing it. They expect the supervisor to watch and control them while they are carrying out the work. In a lifeboat the commander cannot see much as he/she is in the center and in an emergency the passengers inside the boat will block most of the view. Thus the crew has to shout at each other, confirm the orders received and report back (loudly) to the commander when the order has been completed. It is quite fascinating to see a 4 foot 4 Filipina shouting at a 6 foot 6 Dutchman but that happens, as the responsibility assignment is by skill and certificates and not by height or nationality.

Today I took the chance to have all the crew of a lifeboat (7 of them, Commander, Asst. Commander, Counter, Communicator, rigger fwd. and rigger aft) maneuver a lifeboat. Normally the asst. Commander drives the boat but the more skilled everybody is, the better it is.  So each of them got the chance to steer a lifeboat and go ahead as fast as they wanted and then do the same while going astern. A good time was had by all and they all learned something new as well.

Tomorrow we are in Piraeus and before we get there, the Navigation team will have a busy night as the route under Katakolon towards Piraeus can be very busy and the ships on the route are not always implementing the Rules of the Road as they should. We should be in the port around 7 am. under once again sunny skies and wind still weather.

We have to go back the route where we came from to reach Katakolon once more and thus we had to go through the Straits of Messina yet another time. We should be entitled to a discount for frequent transits. We should, but I have never heard of it, so I think we aren’t.

Greece is in another time zone than Italy and thus we went an hour forward last night. Holland America is a company which traditionally is doing clock changes. Companies such as Carnival stay on “Miami time” for the whole cruise. This is quite easy in the Caribbean as there are not exactly an abundance of clock towers present. But HAL does it in the Caribe as well, we do it everywhere. Unless it does not makes sense such as during our short evening call at Sarande last cruise. But until we return to Naples in 10 days, we are in another time zone and thus we move the clock forward and later back again. When this is done varies with the situation. Where possible we follow the Golden Rule, never an hour forward on a formal night, which is now called a Gala night. The idea is for guests to enjoy themselves and not having a bummer by losing an hour. What works very well is to give  one hour forward the evening of leaving the home port. Guests are still tired from travelling and tend to retire early and can then set their own wake up time as the next day is a sea day.

So we did and the guests responded as expected. At 0700 hrs. in the morning it was very quiet in the Lido Market when I went to breakfast. There were some guests out there of whom the preponderance was male. I wonder why there are always more gents out and about early in the morning than ladies. Have they been sent out to get coffee or are they escaping? One thing for sure, the Lido area was not buzzing with communication noises; most gents were making a deep study of their cup of coffee and solving the problem of whether to stir their coffee clockwise or counter clockwise. A decision process which is best dealt with in total and concentrated silence.

Early morning Lido. The deck is slowly draining dry from deckwashing and BLD has been setting the deck chairs.

Who were not exactly quiet but very busy and very early, were the sailors. Here we always face a conundrum. The Sailors start at 5 am. to hose down the salt from the decks and yes that makes a bit of noise plus they are in the way of the early morning risers. Sometimes we get complaints about this but if we do not do the hose down and do the railing cleaning we get complaints again about the salt crystals which have settled down during the night. When I was staff captain I tried to do it every other morning which worked to a certain extent but it was not perfect. What does work very well is a carefully planned downpour or decent rain shower. I always encourage my navigators to sail through a rain cloud just before sunrise. If it works, I can keep the sailors in bed and the rain does a much better and much more thorough job than 20 sailors with a hose can ever do.

When you switch on your tv, you automatically get a highlight of the day. On embarkation day it is the safety video on other days it can be anything else.

What is definitely not silent either is our TV system and it is a very special one. Interactive TV was first introduced last year on the Nieuw Amsterdam and with the lessons learned it is now implemented on a grand scale on the Koningsdam. Every day a new part of an almost unlimited number of options is added.  When we sailed from the shipyard we had 10 movies to choose from and this morning I counted 169 of them varying from very ancient (The wrecking Crew = 1960’s???) to releases not much older than six months. Apart from watching the odd movie, what I like about it is the option to stop the movie, go away and when you come back, you push the start button and it resumes where you stopped. Very clever stuff.

Then you can select various sorts of movies, from action to drama and children. There is a parental control option but I have not found a movie yet which really warranted it.

Apart from the movies and the News there is shore excursion information and information about all the food outlets. Currently you still have to phone 88 for a table reservation but eventually you will be able to do it via the TV. Eventually we will have all the capabilities a five star hotel has as well. In our case it just takes a bit longer as all the applications for the Koningsdam are ships specific and when installed need to be extensively tested. When the Koningsdam II comes out everything can just be copied over. But the first ship of a class, especially a proto type for a company, is a trail blazer in new forms of operations and we do blaze the trail but we do it carefully so we know the trail is a workable one.

Then there are the information channels with what is what and where on board. This is one of the Dutch Ladies in the Grand Dutch Cafe serving Dutch pastries.

Tomorrow we are in Katakolon with sunny skies, nearly wind still weather and temperatures of 77oF or 25oC. It is going to be a warm Greek day.

It looks as if the summer cruise season is starting earlier and earlier every year. Today the harbor was already completely full with cruise ships having turn overs. We had the Celebrity Constellation, the MSC Fascinosa, the Zenith, the Amsterdam and our Koningsdam together taking up all the cruise docks in the port. Then there were the regular ferries which dock at the opposite side but they are also responsible for a considerable amount of passenger traffic. Approx. 9000 guests moving around in the port today. A far smaller figure than the top scores of Miami and Ft. Lauderdale but then this port is a lot smaller. But all went reasonably well and hopefully it was the same at the airport. My lord and master returned home to day and she did not complain about the airport so things must have been well there.

Today we start a 12 day cruise with port calls at: Katakolon, Piraeus, Kusidasi, Istanbul, Rhodes, Crete, Naples and then returning to Rome on the 27^th. of April. After this cruise, the ship will start its journey westbound ending up in Rotterdam for the christening in the 3^rd week of May. After the big event a series of North European cruises will commence with Amsterdam as home port. After the summer season she will then cross the Atlantic for the 7 day Caribbean season. In a way she is following the successful pattern of the Nieuw Amsterdam which will sail this summer in Alaska as the Koningsdam has taken her place here in the Med.

We were docked next to the ms Amsterdam and all the Amsterdam guests who wanted to were invited to come for a visit to see the new ship. The Koningsdam crew had pulled out all the stops to make them feel welcome with a special logo on the display screens in the ship and a small show by the Cast to show off how our World Stage works as it is so different from the rest of the fleet.  Main comments noted were “it is so different” than from before and yes that is the main impression for all of us. The Koningsdam is the next step in the evolution of HAL cruising in the same way as the S-class was a complete break from the N class of 1984 and the N class was very different from the ships we had before that time. If you compare the old Statendam of 1957 with the Statendam of 1992 and with a Statendam of the future, there are large differences. Not only in size, but also in the way looking after our Guests needs during a cruise. Apart from the guests, the officers and crew came over en-masse as well and the Navigation Officers were all very jealous of the state of the art bridge we have on board, its design based on the input provided by us over the years.

Proud to be part of the Koningsdam Team.

I made a promise a few blogs ago to show some more new crew uniforms. With the arrival of the Koningsdam a change is made in the uniform image, something the HAL does on a regular basis but now it is rolled out as a whole and it encompasses all the crew including the shop staff and the officers. (See the new work uniforms posted yesterday) It is only proper to start with the person who generates the most photos on board the ship and that is the bell boy.  This person is nearly always in the front of the house, either when running errands or when doing meet and greet.  If I would receive a dollar for each photo this guy gets taken, I could live as a very rich man. Also this uniform has changed considerably and with his new kepi, he must be the envy of the French Foreign Legion.

We sailed shortly after 17.00 hrs. with a horn exchange between the Amsterdam and the Koningsdam. The Koningsdam greeted first, as the Master of the Amsterdam Captain Jonathan Mercer is senior to the Master of the Koningsdam Capt. Emiel de Vries.  Sometimes the Seniority between captains is very close and then it is a run  to the whistle button and who gets the first noise out.

Tomorrow we are at sea sailing south towards the Strait of Messina and if all goes well we will get a look at Stromboli.

Today the good ship Koningsdam brought us to the port of Naples sitting under the looming Vesuvius just outside. Everybody wonders why you would want to live on top of a Volcano but then the good people of San Francisco live right on top of an earthquake zone and they do not seem to be bothered either. Half of the Netherlands put their trust in a few big dykes as they happily live under sea level. So the Neapolitans have being happily living with their volcano, but looming over the port it does.  I find coming to Naples always fascinating. First of all they manage to pack a lot of ships in a rather small port and because it has always been a transatlantic departure port with passenger ships sailing to the new world and because of my hobby I can see the history behind it all. Especially the terminal.

The first thing you see when approaching the Cruise terminal is a rampant horse on the top of the roof.

Italy had quite a few passenger ship companies in the past and most of them came into being after Garibaldi united Italy. With many Italians emigrating to North and South America, Italian shipping company’s offered regular services there. Not always with great success and when Mussolini came to power he re–organized & merged some of those shipping companies. The 2^nd thing he did was order proper Ocean Liner Terminals to be built and one of those was in Naples and that is where we docked today.   Through the years the terminal has been upgraded but some old bits and pieces are still there. I checked this morning and yes the 3^rd class waiting room brass signs are still there. The space is now occupied by Customs Officers but they left the brass plaques.  Up inside the terminal there are supposed to be some more original rooms featuring Art Deco ceilings but I never managed to get there, not even with the Ships Agent promoting me to the Commodore of the company. But I will try again next time.

A busy day in Napoli. Currently the area between the Castle and the Terminal is under reconstruction for the Metro.

As you can see from the overview photo Naples is a big port on a small scale. In the rest of the world the docking space would only be assigned two ships, here in Naples they will go for four ships and have two of them only have part of the dock available, just enough to get the gangway in. The bow is kept in place by dropping the two bow anchors. Then the other piers play host to a plethora of small and large ferries, with a lot of them also docking with only a part of the ship alongside the dock.

You are hereby inducted in the hallowed ranks of the First Officers of Holland America. Staff Captain Kevin Beinart hands out the new 3 stripe epaulets to now ex-2nd officer Willem van de Noll.

Today a few more things from behind the scenes.  Officers join the company if we can wriggle it, from the starting rank of cadet and after finishing school they return as 3^rd officer. After going through my school class they are then assigned to a ship. Experience comes and we then promote from within.  Today we had such a promotion. 2^nd officer Training (he runs the 4 -8 watch but is responsible for the safety trainings on board) went up to First Officer, which is two steps away from being Captain. A good reason to be happy and the deck team made a little ceremony out of it. As our new First Officer is a tall Dutch guy and the Staff Captain a rather shorter Belgian, he had to go on his knees to get his new stripes installed. The team had also arranged for a chocolate cake and before it was devoured it gave me the chance to take a group photo. The Captain is missing as he was stuck in a training class about environmental compliance.

The Deck Team of the Koningsdam. With the arrival of the KODM the officers now wear greyish colored work uniforms instead of the yellow Kahki’s from before.

What I have not shown to the world yet is the crew mess room on this ship. It has been built to the latest HAL insights and crew flows during breakfast, lunch and dinner time. You cannot have 900 crew descending on this space at the same time and thus there are different times for the various groups on board especially for the Cabin Stewards and Dining Room stewards are there are more than a 100 in each group.  As you can see there is a rather prominent Coca Cola machine there on request of the crew.  Juices, coffee and tea are free of charge and available 24/7 but the crew wanted large bottles of soda and so a dispensing machine has been installed.

The aft part of the Crew Messroom. Leading to the self service buffet.

Tomorrow we are back in Civitavecchia we our cruise will end. We will be nose to nose with the ms Amsterdam which is on the last leg of her world cruise. Arrangements have been made to have the Amsterdam guests come over to inspect the new Koningsdam. It will be interesting as the Amsterdam belongs to the R class and two evolutions away from the Vista and Signature class.  They will be able to walk over the dock under sunny skies and a temperature of 66oF or 20oC.

Today we have a relaxing day while sailing from Katakolon to Naples via the Strait of Messina. It is chillier outside than was expected but in the sun and out of the wind it is very pleasant. This being the first real cruise, means we are now having all the standard HAL activities which go with a HAL cruise. Thus we hosted the first Mariner Luncheon on board and the attendance took up most of the lower dining room. There was the Walk on Deck for the Cause and so it went on and on with all the other regular activities we are used to. On top of that there are the items which none of the rest of the fleet ships has, such as the Wine Experience and the extended Culinary Arts Center which goes way beyond what can be offered on the other ships.

The Mariners luncheon in full swing in the lower diningroom.

In the mean time I have been trying to get my head around the Music Walk concept. As it is something new it takes a little bit of getting used to but it works really well.  The World Stage (Main show room) has 3 performances each evening at 19.00 hrs. 20.30 hrs. and 22.00 hrs.  This is the anchor of the whole operation. The Lincoln Stage Centre plays at 18.00 hrs. and 20.00 hrs.  so everybody who goes to the show can also hear both the classical music programs. (Tonight there is Brahms and Edith Piaf). When the classical music stops, Billboard on Board, the dueling pianos kick off with two sets at 21.00 hrs. and 22.30 hrs. and then a late night one at 23.45 hrs. Again you can catch one or more of the performances. For those who consider 23.45 hrs. too late; tonight we have an hour back to return to middle European time and thus the real time is only 22.45 hrs. In between you can then run over to BB King in the Queens Lounge with performances at 21.00 hrs. 22.00 hrs. and 23.00 hrs.  Everything is staggered and does not interfere with each other. BB King does not do either as it is the Queens Lounge and their music does not carry over into the BillBoard area.

The Billboard on Board. the place was really packed and I was lucky to get this shot as the centre table was had just vacated.

For those who like less noise and a more tranquil surrounding, there is a pre- cocktail piano player who plays from 17.00 hrs. to 20.00 hrs. in the Ocean Bar.  More culture is being offered in the Two Deck Lido area with Movies under the Stars at 19.30 and 22.00 hrs.

With my Lord and Master being on board I have been fully occupied in the evenings of checking each venue out and doing so in conjunction with testing all the food outlets as well. Everybody knows the Canaletto and the Pinnacle by now and the standard on the Koningsdam is as good if not better than on any of the other ships. What is new to the fleet is the Sel de Mer Restaurant and this is considerably different from the rest. Here the emphasis is on Sea food but as in a regular French restaurant you can also get a Steak with French Fries or a Coq au Vin. There is no cover charge but the menu is a La Carte and you pay for each course as in a shore side restaurant. The place has been booming from day one and the quality is superb. It does not have to be expensive, as my wife and I with friends had dinner there, and we paid each 16 dollars for a Mussels and Fries. There is an extensive wine list and yes you can buy a Chateau Petrus for $ 1400 but I was quite happy with a Belgian Triple beer for $ 5.75.

The one restaurant I am not able to comment on is the Culinary Arts Restaurant for the simple reason that we could not get a reservation for any time which suited us, having to juggle the other restaurants, the shows and the music venues.  Tomorrow evening is the last evening of the cruise and then we are planning to do an in depth investigation of all the outlets in the Lido Deck area. (Dive Inn, Gelati’s, New York Deli, and the two bars including the self-service beer pumps)

As you can see it is a hard life but somebody has to do it. This does not mean I have not been working, on the contrary I have been quite busy with writing training manuals for all the safety trainings which need to be held on a regular basis now the ship is settling down to routine. These little manuals will enable the various Heads of Departments to give training themselves and they will not entirely have to rely on the presence of a deck officer anymore.  And you can only write those once the ship is in service and you know where each piece of equipment is really located and button has found its final location. Some installers and contractors can be a bit creative with their interpretation of a construction drawing and thus a button is not always going where it was assigned to go.

Not really exciting for a blog but every cook should know how to operate the CO2 hood panel in case of a kitchen fire. So I make little training manuals for them.

Tomorrow we are in Naples and the weather calls for sunny skies and temperatures of around 72oF or 20 oC. If the authorities let us, I will be messing around with boats, training lifeboat commanders.

After departing Corfu we sailed for Sarande last night and we were all very concerned about the weather. It was blowing about 16 knots in the port of Corfu, sometimes gusting to 20 knots.  In the cruise business we all know, as a rule of thumb, 20 knots in Corfu means 40 knots in Sarande as the anchorage there is fully open to the elements. Then you have to rely on the wind being from the North or North East to have a chance to make the call. And it was blowing from the North West with high waves rolling in. Then there are two options, either you sail away or you hope that the wind will die down fast after sunset. Most winds in Greece are generated by the sun burning on the land during the day, the Etesian Winds, and they normally die down as soon as the sun goes away; but not always.

With these waves you can not tender safely. So we had to wait off shore for things to improve. Which happened after sunset.

Thus the captain decided to wait for it and to have a shorter call but still make the call. Our official arrival time was 19.00 hrs. but close to 20.00 hrs. the wind was nearly gone and the swell followed shortly after. By extending the stay ashore time to 22.30 hrs. we could still squeeze a short stop out of it. Luckily by staying on the engines you can float fairly close to the shore and with 3 tenders a good tender service could be maintained. We did not need the remainder of the tenders as they were on the swell side of the ship and having them lowered would have meant turning the ship around and make a lee. That would have reduced the port time even more. Not that many guests went ashore as the difficult decision had to be made about enjoying what the Koningsdam had to offer or what Sarande might have had to offer. So many stayed on board but for those who could not resist: we made the call safely.

Sarande is a new port and thus the charts are not that advanced yet as in other areas of the world. Thus we had to work from a sketch made by the local Navy. But the soundings were good and thus we could creep all the way into and drift close to the dock (dark black bit)

From there it is a nice ride along the Greek coast southbound to get to Katakolon in Greece. This town has changed from a sleepy little fisherman’s town to a large cruise ship port since they have put four docks in. Katakolon is the Gate way to Olympia which is 33 kilometers away from the port. Today we had a full port day, with three ships inside: The Koningsdam, the Aida Bella and the Costa Mediterranea. The anchorage can handle two more ships and they tender to the fourth dock which is shallower. However today we had three ships and it was more than enough.

Check out at the duty free store.

The focus of the crew was not so much on the port today as on the Duty Free Store just outside the ship. I never knew you could buy duty free water but you can. The ship was stacking up for the various crew bars on board but the crew itself bought up a storm as well.  The duty free prices for perfume and Liquor were not that great as Greece is in the European Common Market and the ships are cruising to other Common Market Ports; and thus duty free was not on par with duty free if you fly Intercontinental. Still a good bargain could be had.

I was proud to see that Holland had exported a recent invention to Greece, the Beer Bike. It is a sort of rolling Dutch Pub. You sit at a bar and with 12 others and you peddle with your feet while drinking beer. The Publican steers the Beer Bike and you see the sights while at the same time enjoying a good glass of beer. I will provide a firsthand report next cruise when we visit Katakolon again.

We will stay here until 20.00 hrs. and then sail back to where we came from, passing through the Straits of Messina tomorrow afternoon around 18.00 hrs. Then the next day we are in Naples which is the final port of this 7 day cruise that terminates in Civitavecchia on the 15^th of April.

The Koningsdam basking in the mediterranean sun. Being the biggest ship in town we had to dock at the breakwater but there was a shuttle bus to take you to town if needed.

Today we had perfect weather, sunny and not too warm as there was a cool breeze blowing and the weather for tomorrow should be about the same. Around 72oC /21o C. at least in the open sea. In Messina itself the temperatures might just touch the 80oF /26oF. At noon time.

Note and Credit: on 25 November 2014, while we sailed around Africa with the Rotterdam, I googled a little map from the internet to illustrate our courses away from the African coast due to Ebola. As I just pulled the map off google I had no idea from which website it came and I could not read the watermark. The creator of the map, Mr. Daniel Feher very happily lets me use his creation but requests a credit to be added to the blog. Which I gladly do with a belayed thank you for have the right to use this chartlet.  http://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/2014/11/25/24-nov-2014-luanda-angola/

Mr. Feher makes a lot of maps and charts and for those interested, his work can be found here: http://www.freeworldmaps.net/africa/ …………………

Daniel Feher www.freeworldmaps.net

With gloomy looking weather we arrived at the cruise pier of Kerkira. There was a considerable amount of wind which was not so nice for docking but did help to blow the gloom away and the sun came out and remained out for the rest of the day. The wind remained as well.  Corfu is a real tourist destination both for land based tourists as well as for the cruise ships. Hence they built a very long pier which can handle six large cruise ships.  And there are days when there are six of those ships in. However as we are here very early in the spring it meant we were the only ship in port.  Which was nice as it gave everybody a lot more elbow room in downtown and no lines for using the port shuttle or the Big Red Bus.

The Fire team lining up before making an entry. The teamleader is still standing up as he tries to get the key in the lock. Then he will hide behind the nozzleman to be protected. Note the good visibility.

While the guests were disappearing ashore, the crew had yet another drill to attend at least about a 100 of them. Those, who are involved with responding to an initial report of a emergency. The greatest danger to a ship is fire and thus we train for anything that could happen in relation to this. So this morning the teams were exposed to a Capt. Albert Special which means a drill with an un-expected twist. The drill set-up consisted of fighting a locker fire, evacuating the area around the locker (about 25 crew cabins) and then go for smoke control to keep smoke and fire away from the rest of the ship. The twist this morning was the little issue of having much more smoke billowing out than anybody was expecting. We are using stage smoke for our drills which makes it possible for me as an observer to remain in the smoke for the whole period. The teams wear SCUBA and they are not affected by any kind of smoke as long as their masks are sealed tight and their fire man’s suits properly zipped up.

This is two minutes after the first entry was made and it got only worse from there onwards with smoke.

Why does a lot of smoke make a difference? It disorientates everybody. As long you can see something you have a reference point to work from. The moment you lose such a reference point you suddenly feel very alone in a small white world. To avoid this issue we train our crews to focus on their hose. It is their protection against the fire and it is their lifeline for getting away from the danger area they are working in. The team going in performed well and the fire was located and subsequently extinguished. After each drill there is always a debriefing to discuss the good points but also lessons learned. Our lesson learned today was, that we found the best way for this particular area for getting rid of the smoke as quickly as possible.

The Dutch Bollard in a recess in the side. They can be reached from tug boat deck level. The white letters on the side indicate the strength of the bollard and how hard a tugboat can pull.

Catching up with yesterday’s walk along the outside of the ship; we are now moving further aft and away from the mid ships. At several locations in the hull we have recesses with a bollard inside. These are called Dutch Bollards. (I have no idea why the name is and why not a French bollard or a German bollard ???) They were first installed on the Statendam in 1992. The logic behind it was to help the tugboats in the Panama Canal for tying up. They do so but not that often. Normally they take a line from the bow or the stern or push in the side. But the tugboats in the rest of the world love it as well. Subsequently all our following ships have had them and thus also the Koningsdam. It has my blessing as it is much more preferable to have a tugboat crew tie the tug up themselves than the sailors having to handle the heavy lines high up on the mooring decks.

The glass staircase connecting the upper Seaview area to the lower Seaview area.

Further aft, we have the novelty which only the Koningsdam has in our fleet. A staircase, running outside the ship with a glass floor.  There is one on both sides of the ship. I believe it was a Princess ship who had the first glass bottom walkway outside the ship and Holland America morphed this into a staircase.

The ships duck tail. A sort of a gigantic spoiler at the stern of the vessel.

Finally we then come to the stern of the ship and here the most obvious item is the ducktail. In an earlier blog I already mentioned the reason for this contraption. This serves the dual purpose of enhancing the stability of the ship as it increases the surface contact of the ship and it helps with consuming less fuel. When the ship speeds up, the stern sinks in, a normal phenomenon we call squat. The ducktail lets the stern “sit” on the water instead of having it sink in. In a similar way as a spoiler does on race cars.

Today we are visiting another port. At 6 pm. when we leave we will hop across to Sarande in Albania, a port you can see from the dock in Corfu. Here we will make an evening call, and guests who are interested can hop in the tender and have a walk along the boulevard. I am keeping my fingers crossed as the wind currently blowing is not ideal for a tender call at Sarande so we need a little bit of luck with the wind angle being behind the mountains and those mountains keeping the anchorage area sheltered from waves and chop.

As I had hoped for, the scattered thunderstorms scattered indeed away from the main land and caused more issues over the sea with generating squalls with considerable wind around the rainclouds.  But with rain at sea there is always a fair chance of a dry day ashore and indeed Dubrovnik showed its sunny self. A bit on the chilly side when out of the sun, but for sightseeing that is more of a plus than a minus. We docked around 09.30 and this time the ship had to be parked between two other ships. At the end of the pier there was a local Ferry called the Dubrovnik and far inside the newest ship of Viking Cruises the Viking Sea. It is a very long pier and thus we had ample room to get the 300 meters of the Koningsdam in between. Official arrival time was 10 am. and just before the clock struck 10, the local authorities had cleared the ship and the guests could go ashore via the two gangways which had been put out. Shuttle buses and tour buses were waiting and a benign invasion of Dubrovnik had started.

The pier at Gruz. The local ferry Dubrovnik at the corner and the Viking Sea deep inside the port.

For the crew the chance to go ashore came in the afternoon if they are not on safety duty, but about a 100 of them had to attend lifeboat training first. As it was perfect weather we lowered all the portside boats into the water. With the sun and hardly any wind it was perfect for our objectives of bringing more and more routine into the operation.  Thus the whole portside when down in the water, sailed around and then came neatly back on board just before noon time.

Koningsdam as seen from the bow.

I have been blogging extensively about the beautiful inside of the ship but today a few things about the outside.  When you look at the outside of a cruise ship you see a lot of peculiar things which are there for good reason, but what is the good reason?

From right to left. Bulb sign. Draft mark. Frame number at the water line. Above the tank indications and to the left the 3 bow thrusters signs.

Starting at the bow, there are several markings. First the indication of the bulbous bow. Although everybody can see it, it is compulsory to have an indication to warn smaller sailing craft about bumping into it. Then there are the three propellers signs indicating the location of the bow thruster. Again compulsory and there to warn anybody of the possible propeller wash.  Finally above it is a mark with some letters. This is to indicate the boundaries of the various tanks inside the hull. In this case WB = Water Ballast, then the tank nbr. and then a name indication Forepc = forepeak tank. At the water line there is a number which indicates the frame number of the ship. The ships frames are about 80 centimeters apart and the Koningsdam has about 370 of them.

The Main Deck cabins. The further forward, the deeper recessed.

Looking up there are the windows of the main deck cabins. Due to the curving bow the windows are more recessed towards the bow and not so much while coming to the flat hull of the ship. A second reason for the recess is for bad weather. With the windows recessed the waves will hit the hull and not the glass.  Above these windows is a little rail with nozzles. This is for cleaning the window glass as with the recessed widows it is hard for the sailors to get the scrubbers in.

The Plimsoll Mark to the right. The draft marks to the left. Above, the ships rubbing stroke, a sort of car bumper for a ship.

Half way down the ship there is the Plimsoll mark. Invented in the mid-19^th. Century by a gentleman called Mr. Hall if I remember correctly. Then a British politician Mr. Plimsoll took on the challenge to have the system turned into law, which was not easy as it meant ships could only load until the line of the Plimsoll mark which became the water line. This was good for the safety of the ship but not so good for the bottom line of the company finances. But Plimsoll managed to get the law passed in Parliament and his name got attached to the draft mark. Basically it allows a ship to have a certain draft in certain areas. Cargo ships have sometimes 5 or 6 options. For cruise ships it is a lot easier and the Koningsdam has two. The maximum draft in seawater P1 and then a deeper draft in fresh water F. As fresh water provides less buoyancy than salt water, the ship will automatically sink in a bit more with the same ships weight. Hence two lines.  The L and R indicates Lloyds Register under which control the ship was built and they approved the ships stability as well. To the left are the draught marks with the Koningsdam having a draft of 8 meters.

More to follow.

This evening we sail at 6 pm. and then head for Kerkira on Corfu for the day and hop over to Sarande for an evening call. We are looking at partly cloudy skies with temperatures around 66oF or 19oC and it is not supposed to rain.

We sailed with a slight delay last evening as we had soo many stores to load and a lot of space in the ship was still taken up by spare parts which we had not been able to re-locate to its final ‘resting place”. Thus it took a bit longer than predicted to get it all on board. But the cruise schedule has sufficient leeway in the schedule to make this possible and thus we know we will make Dubrovnik on time tomorrow morning.

Today the schedule was simply the opposite from a few days ago. Sailing south along the coast and arriving at the Strait of Messina at 10.45 am. We did not do Stromboli this time as we had found out that there was no activity, the day before yesterday. The Strait of Messina was a different story as there is always something to see. Ferries criss crossing, sometimes five at the time, and fishermen drifting with the tide up and down the Strait. Today the current had brought them into the main channel and the ship had to blow the whistle repeatedly to explain to them, that they were really in the way. Going through the Straits with the sun shining on Sicily was indeed a pleasant happening.

Dangerous things Watertight Doors. Once they move, nothing can and will stop them from closing.

I spent my day training crew on how to open and close watertight doors safely. On each deck below A deck (B, C, D) deck we have these doors which split up the ship in various watertight sections and will help the ship stay afloat in case of ingress of water. While sailing most of them are closed and that is a real nuisance for the crew who have to go from A to B and find such a door blocking the way. The company has several protocols dealing with these doors and under certain circumstances they are allowed to be quickly opened, pass through, and then closed again. As there are still (fatal) injuries in the maritime industry caused by these doors, all crew who are allowed to open them, get trained in the various protocols and with the emphasis on how to do it safely. The training consists of a power point with the protocols, a written exam and a practical handling of the door. As everybody authorized, that also includes the Captain and senior officers, it makes sense for me to get involved. (You never know if a Sr. figure would fail the exam. How could a jr. officer deal with that?)

Art all around the dance floor and chairs on it for the lecture.

For those who had no geographical interest there was the lecture and sales pitch from the Art Auctioneers. Apart from their Art Gallery they also transform the Queens Lounge a few times a week in a large exhibition centre. Our two story Lounge is a near perfect location for it and here the art displays do not block off any public sitting areas or bars as is the case on the other ships. Hopefully the much better ambiance will result in a few extra sales.

All seats taken for Dutch High Tea.

A second reason we are very happy with the Queens lounge is for having found the perfect venue for Dutch High Tea. This was always held in a Dining room area which did not take anything away from the quality of the sandwiches, scones and other nibbles being served, but you sat at a regular dining room table. Now we have the two level setup of the Queens Lounge with its nice chairs and lower tables and it looks very stylish. No need to go to Raffles anymore, we can do it better.

A few nice nibbles to deal with this hungry feeling which always pops up between lunch and dinner.

Another piece of art which popped up overnight is the sitting figure outside the Tamarind Restaurant. The entrance to the restaurant is guarded by two Lions but when you step out of the Elevator the first thing you see is this contemplative figure on a large slab of marble. I do not know what the intention is of putting a meditative figure there; maybe it is to contemplate life in general or maybe to contemplate the increase of your waist line because of going to the Tamarind ?? But nice it is.

Reflect on Life, Contemplate on Food,
or just nice Art ?

What is plainly dangerous, at least for my bank account, is a new shop we have on board and which is also new to Holland America. It is a handbag shop, although I suppose there is a much posher name for it. My Lord and Master has joined me for this cruise to look the ship over and as she is an avid handbag collector I have great fears for my credit card.  At the last count she already has about 50 of them but there is always room for just one more…………………

The Starboard Hand Bag shop. Deck 3 behind the upper level Queens Lounge.

Thus we will spend the remainder of the day sailing south of Italy and make the crossing over the Adriatic Sea towards Dubrovnik. The city is located behind a string of islands and with a 10am arrival we should have a nice scenic sail in. The weather forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms but it did this as well for today and I have not seen any rain clouds what so ever. At least today they were scattered somewhere else and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow.