And thus I arrived on my next ship the ms Westerdam. After a quick visit to Seattle Office, where I got equipped with a new cell phone (I am now entering the “Apple” phase of my life), a new laptop and a new ID card. As it was right around the 4th. of July, it also gave me the chance to see the Seattle Fireworks around Lake Union. Very nice; but I always have a challenge to bring up much enthusiasm for fireworks as I have seen them in Sydney Australia, and what else can you then ask for. Still Seattle is famous for its local craft beer so I had nothing to complain about. The only way to reach a ship in Seward is to fly to Anchorage and from there take a 2 hr. shuttle/taxi drive to the port. There is also a small plane service but you never know if it can fly or not so the agents bundle arriving people in taxis. I was quite happy with that, as I got worried about the plane option as there are forest fires raging at the moment and most of the time. And indeed most of the time we drove through mountains ridges enveloped in a brown haze. Where there was no haze, the scenery was impressive as usual. Once approaching Seward port it was dense fog (less than 1000 feet visibility) and again I severely doubted if the local plane option would have been feasible. Continue reading
Category: Destinations (page 5 of 6)
Yesterday we sailed from Geiranger around 16.00 hrs. and made a 360o swing stop at the Seven Sisters waterfall on the way out. As part of the goodbye celebrations for the ship, the company had arranged for a deck party with complimentary drinks. So the deck area around the Lido Pool was packed with guests enjoying snacks such as Dutch Bitterballen and Indonesian Sate and free drinks.
Party on deck with all the flags out, drinks, bitterballen and above it all the Seven Sisters Waterfall
With the ships officers and (guest) entertainers circulating among the guests a good time was had by all while watching the impressive scenery. It was a bit strange for me as I was always on the bridge when we were here but now being a guest entertainer for this cruise, my place was in the bar. I did not need much time to adapt myself fully to the new circumstances…………………. Continue reading
By 07.00 hrs. the ms Prinsendam was at anchor and commenced tender operations. Geiranger does not have docks, except for the small local ferries which maintain a regular ferry service inside the fjord. You can drive all around the fjord, sometimes along the fjord, sometimes high up over the mountains but it takes a lot longer than rolling your car on the ferry. I do not know if it is cheaper to do so but it certainly is quicker as long as the ferry timings connect with your personal schedule I suppose. There are several anchorages available and today all but one were occupied. There is also one mooring location on the buoys very close to town and that is normally reserved for ships willing to pay and use the Sea Walk. This is a floating bridge system (The Sea-Walk) which abolishes the need of running tenders. It is a beautiful solution for the very large ships but there is a price to pay. Today the MSC Poesia was on these buoys and she was also the largest ship in the port with an on board capacity of 2550 lower beds or a maximum of 3013 when all beds are full. Continue reading
Alesund is one of the better ports in Norway at least from a Navigators perspective. It is sheltered from most winds, it has nice docks, we dock with the gangway in downtown and downtown is worthwhile to visit. Most of it is constructed in German Jungendstil style or related to it after a big fire they had here a long time ago. There are some other good ports as far as shelter or docks or downtown distance is concerned but there are not that many Norwegian ports that have it all together. You might think about Oslo but this port is located at the end of Oslo fjord which is so wide that the wind can still blow the ship all over the place or keep it pinned to the dock. So Alesund is very highly rated on the list of ports that come closest to a Cruise Captains dream of having the best of all. And I fully agree as it even has a Big Red Bus for hop on hop off and for an initial exploration of a city it is one of the best ways to go. Holland America also recognizes that and nowadays you can buy the tickets on board. Continue reading
With sunrise at 06.00 and a hazy sky we serenely sailed over a flat calm Mediterranean and then into Santorini. The hazy sky was courtesy of the lack of wind today but it all cleared up by 09.00 hrs. when the sun burned it off. The high pressure system over the Balkans which causes the winds in the Aegean Sea is not yet permanently in place (they also have cloudy days on the Pusta’s) and thus it was wind still, yesterday and today. The captain had opted to come in via the South West entrance and then sail north to our “floating area”. The Celestyal Spirit was already at anchor on the hump as she is larger than the Ovation in guest capacity and makes more calls but still small enough to leave plenty of space to come close to the town. Sailing into Santorini is always interesting as parts of the outer Crater wall loom overhead and the black core creates a sort of round-a-bout where the ships have to sail around to get wherever they want to go. Continue reading
We left indeed later than scheduled last evening. The first coaches were back on schedule but not all of them, plus we had a private tour that got somewhat lost but the delay was kept to about 30 minutes and that is not bad for Aqaba.
One of the Seabourn signature activities. The crew meets and greets the returning Guests from the tour. Music, Waving, Champagne and Cold towels.
And 30 minutes on the next stretch to the Suez Canal is nothing. For the remainder of the night we sailed back to where we came from and this morning we were back in the Red Sea. Only to make a turn to the North around the corner at Sharm-El- Sheikh which is also a well-known holiday resort where many cruise ships call. While sailing in the Gulf of Aqaba we were fairly sheltered from the northerly winds but when we made the turn at Continue reading
Another Sea day, the last one before we reach Aqabah and the wind his changed. Before it was in the back or stern and it increased during the day time which is normal for winds generated by landmasses warming up. That changes about half way up the Red Sea. And we were halfway yesterday afternoon. At about 1600 hrs. we passed Mecca with its port, Jeddah, on our starboard side. We had 50 miles to starboard and 50 miles to port so our course stayed as far as possible from all the land around us. Now we are coming closer to Europe and Asia so other landmasses, read temperatures are starting to play a part in the weather equation. And thus in the early morning hours the wind breezed up and is now against us with a nice wind force 4 to 5 blowing (20 to 25 knots) and the ship is “bumping” into it with 16 knots of speed. This gives a bit of movement as the Seabourn with being smaller does not have all the options of a larger ship, with a bigger bow, to ride over everything. Continue reading
With the sedate speed of 15 knots are we sailing through the Caribbean Sea. The weather is following the weather forecast and that is appreciated by everybody. We expect that the Trade Wind will start to re-establish itself this evening and through out the night and with it the swell. But by tomorrow morning 05.30 we will be slipping inside the entrance of Boca Chica, the large inland water area where at the far North East the port of Cartagena is located. As explained in previous blogs, it takes about 90 minutes from pilot to gangway out and thus the captain is aiming to have the pilot on board at 05.30 hrs. The ships average speed has been set up for this as arriving earlier has not much use. If we put the pedal to the metal we could be there my midnight but what then. Continue reading
So we were hopeful that the whole weather system that had been raining over Ft. Lauderdale and whose tail creating wind in the Bahamas would be gone by the time we arrived. And indeed 90% was gone as the wind had died down and there was only an overcast sky left. Those clouds sometimes carry wind but today the skies looked quite benign and there was no cloud formation that indicated any menace. And it worked out quite nicely. It took all day for the “silence after the storm” to move over.
We left a little late from Bar Harbor as the tours were delayed which is sort of normal. Something to do with traffic somewhere along the route. As a result we just made it on time to Halifax but it took a while to get the gangway lined up (first time of the season) and thus a real avalanche of eager shoppers burst out of the ship once the ship had been cleared. The lone piper who welcomed us into port was drowned out by noise caused by the stampede going down the gangway. I have never seen a ship empty itself out so fast as today. But then it was a gorgeous day with the sun brightly shining, no wind and still having cool temperatures which kept the haze away from spoiling our visibility.
Thus very quickly the large majority of the guests were gone and the rest trickled off the ship shortly after. A good thing as well, as at once controlled mayhem was initiated by means of our weekly fire and boat drill. Regulations are getting tighter and tighter, based on incidents and past experiences and that is reflected year by year in the increase of the intensity of our drills. All very much with my blessing; as in my humble opinion you cannot train enough. And if I could get away with it, then I would have everybody messing around with fire extinguishers and fire hoses and everybody would be proficient in driving and commanding a lifeboat. Maybe in the future that will happen, now crew specializes in certain duties and that works as well but there is always room for improvement.
A ships firefighting team coming around the aft end of Main engine nbr. 5 In real life the smoke would be black from burning fuel but we can not simulate that so we use white stage smoke.
As a result of the regulations and the way they are interpreted, it means that every crewmember has to attend a fire drill each week and each crewmember has to attend a boat drill every month with instruction and exercise. We cannot have all 600 crew of the Maasdam running around with a fire hose so for most of them assembling and getting ready is enough. Thus with every weekly drill we now have the whole crew on the move. And that goes as follows:
- We sound the First Stage Emergency alarm because there is an emergency, normally a fire.
- This means the firefighting teams assemble and exercise. Today we put engine number 5 “on fire” and drilled all the procedures for extinguishing it again. About 100 people are involved.
- The captain gets concerned about how the “if we can extinguish the fire or if we cannot”. He orders to sound the crew alert alarm and all the crew is now on the move. The majority of them report to their assigned stations ready to support the guests. Those with non-specified functions report to the crew mess room and wait for further instructions.
- The captain is now getting really concerned and wants everybody at the lifeboat station, just “in the case “. We ring the General Emergency Alarm and simulate that the guests have already reported to their lifeboat stations and now the crew can follow. The crew in the ship gets dismissed by groups and starts to appear on deck. The more critical the function is, the longer they have to stay where they are. So the firefighters are normally the last ones to appear on deck.
If things go so far that we have to abandon ship, then the sequence continues with announcements over the outside P.A system as everybody is on deck anyway. Guests are sent away in the lifeboats and the crew follows in the life rafts. The last person to leave is the Captain who will only leave the ship when he absolutely sure it will not survive.
Not all the crew has to stay on deck for this whole procedure, as soon as everybody has been accounted for, 75% is dismissed and the remaining 25% get their monthly training. So during the required monthly period everybody will be trained, refreshed and kept alert.
While this is going on, vital activities have to continue such as bridge and engine room watches but also preparing for lunch. Thus there is a rota for that crew to get excused for one of the four monthly drills. The whole sequence normally takes 60 to 75 minutes and today we were all quite happy because outside it was such nice weather.
The route from Halifax on the soutside of Nova Scotia to Sydney on the North side of Cape Breton Island. Map courtesy: www.maps.com.
Tonight we will sail around the northwest corner of Nova Scotia, what is called Cape Breton and then we will be in Sydney by 11.00 hrs. which is located on Cape Breton Island. We are still out running the rain, but it will catch up with us in the late afternoon. Still there is no wind expected and the temperatures should be around 61oF or 16oC which will make it quite pleasant.
Captain Albert
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