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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

Category: Destinations (page 6 of 6)

13 March 2017; At Sea.

March 13, 2017 / / 6 Comments

It is still very windy out there but we now have following wind; which means the relative wind on the deck is the real wind minus the ships speed. The ship is doing 12 knots; the apparent or relative wind is 18 knots, so it is still blowing 30 knots out at sea. And 30 knots is a big 6 or a small 7 on the Beaufort scale. Very windy. Sailors call that a Very Strong Breeze or a Near Gale. All caused by the regular Trade Wind being super charged by large weather systems North of Puerto Rico.  I think the word Near Gale comes from the observation of it being very windy but not yet that windy that it feels stormy. Still there is a lot more wind than there should be in this area.  Most of the Zuiderdam’s open deck spaces are screened off by large glass partitions so the guests can still sit out of the wind if they want to. Only the aft deck around the pool is open on three sides and that brings the danger that the cooler sea air does not make you feel that hot; and then you forget that you are baking in the Caribbean sun. Some guests forgot it today but will remember it tomorrow and the days after.

A bit more engine stuff today. Now outside the engine room, with the fascinating question, what happens if all the engines stop? Do all the lights go out?  The answer is no. In the unlikely case of a full black out, when all the engines have stopped or the two Main switchboards have a major hic-up, we still keep the lights on.

The Eme

The Emergency Diesel Generator, with next to it a small diesel engine in case we run out of starting air for the EDG.

When all the power would stop, the Emergency Diesel Generator (EDG) would come on line and provide sufficient power for the ship to stay in minimal operation. That happens by itself. The electric setup is so that when the main power goes down, within a maximum of 10 seconds the EDG has to come on line. In reality it goes much faster. But the 10 seconds are a requirement and when we have USCG inspection or Lloyd’s renewal of our certificates the EDG is always tested. Although we then do not make a real black out, we simulate by pulling fuses.  The EDG powers all the emergency lighting, all the bridge and Engine Control Room equipment, lights in the corridors etc.etc. It does not power air conditioning and toilets. For that we have another auxiliary engine. The EDG powers what is legally required. It does include elevators, one in every staircase. On every cruise ship you can recognize those as there are small green signs on every deck indicating which one it is.

The Emergency Switchboard. Two sides so it can bring power down to the Two main switchboards we have in the engine room.

The Emergency Switchboard. Two sides so it can bring power down to each of the Two main switchboards we have in the engine room. In the back the EDG.

The EDG is located near the top of the ship on deck 10, so if the ship would be sinking it could keep happily running until everybody had left the ship.

Now what would happen if the EDG would not start? It normally starts as a regular Diesel Engine with air which comes from an Air pressure vessel. If that tank or drum would be empty, then we have another smaller air compressor standing next to the EDG which would then fill up the Air tank again until it would have sufficient pressure to start the EDG again. The EDG has sufficient Gas oil to run for at least 24 hours. Ours can do at least 36 hours and if we can get more gas oil there (or mgo) then it can run indefinitely.

Now what if we would eventually run out of MGO or the EDG would break down? Then we still have batteries. A whole room full and they are capable of providing power for all the emergency lighting in the ship for at least 4 hours. Thus making it possible for everybody to safely disembark also during the night time. (Remember lifeboats do not need power to go down in the Davits as they are gravity operated)

All the

All the Elevators are connected to the EDG so the Ch. Engineer can decide which ones should run during an emergency, or if the power is sufficient keep even more of them on line.

Most guests only notice the existence of the EDG when they hear the announcement that we carry out the weekly test and we ask them to refrain from using the Elevators while this is going on. This is because we bring the EDG on line (Engineers called that “under full load”) and thus only four elevators need to continue to work. So the other ones might stop and then descend by themselves to deck 3 (lifeboat deck) and the open the doors. Not dangerous but a bit startling for a guest who was convinced that he or she was on the way to deck 9 for an early lunch.

Tomorrow we are in Cartagena and we expect to be at the pilot station around 05.30 am and to be docked an hour later.  Weather forecast:  Mainly overcast with a chance of showers. 31oC or 88oF. but very little wind inside the port.  Overcast is not a bad thing as most of our guests will be on tour. Hopefully we get our chance of showers after the early afternoon departure.

 

04 March 2017; Panama Canal.

March 4, 2017 / / 0 Comments

It was not one of the best Panama Canal days in my life but it all worked out. Occasional rain, which it has to be otherwise The Canal Zone does not get its 200 inches of rain a year which it needs to operate the Canal; and very windy.  However the wind was from the North and the First set of locks are almost north south as well. Only 8 degrees away from the true North. Thus the wind was only pushing or slowing the ship down, it was not causing much drift which otherwise would have hampered the lining up for the lock entrances.

The ms Zuiderdam drifting in the anchorage just outside the Traffic Lane to the locks.

The ms Zuiderdam drifting in the anchorage area just outside the Traffic Lane to the Gatun Locks.

This is a Panama Canal visit with a twist. You see the canal, by going through the first set of locks and then you have the option to take the local tours and catch the ship again in the evening. If you do not take a tour then you can see the ship sailing out of the lake again, back to open sea, and then sail to the dock at Manzanillo to collect the tour.

The tender dock we use to disembark the guests. Designed by a pilot and thus a delight to use by use. Safe mooring and safe loading and unloading. It floats as the level of the lake goes up and down with the rain fall.

The tender dock we use to disembark the guests. Designed by a pilot and thus a delight to use by us. Safe mooring and safe loading and unloading. It floats as the level of the lake goes up and down with the rain fall.

This morning the whole happening started at 05.30 with the arrival at the pilot station. Then there is the clearing of the ship and then line up in the convoy. Although we are not going all the way through, the Panama Canal Authority still has to make sure that the locks are used efficiently and will lose as little water as possible. With the new locks in operation and thus more traffic, more water is used and focus on efficiency is now even more important than it was before.  But by 09.00 we had made it through, had left the locks behind and the ship parked itself between the two lock sections in the anchorage area of Gatun Lake. All the tenders were lowered as we had to shuttle 1120 guests ashore, out of the 1970 on board, Thus it took two good hours before all the tours were on the way and the tenders had been retrieved. Then the ship was ready to turn around and go back.

This is the moment where everything goes out of the captains hands, as the ship can only go back if there is a gap in the convoy or no opposing traffic so the other side of the lock system can be used. Sometimes the ship has to wait one or two hours and then it docks just on time to collect the returning tour people again. Today we were lucky, there was a gap in the traffic and the ms Zuiderdam could slot in without having to wait. Good news as it gave the guests who remained on board the un-expected bonus of being able to go ashore and noise around in Colon 2000.

The bridge is going to be pretty high so even the tallest ships will fit under the bridge span.

The bridge is going to be pretty high so even the tallest ships will fit under the bridge span.

Sailing back, means going down the locks back to sea level, I personally find that more impressive than going up because it is easier to comprehend a downwards depth, than an upwards lift in measurement. Also there was now something new to see. They are building a bridge on the Atlantic side. First there was only the Bridge of the Americas near Panama City. Then they built the Centennial Bridge near the Continental divide (Culebra Cut) and while that was very nice, the Caribbean or Atlantic side could only cross over the bridge built into the Gatun locks or had use the ferries closer to Colon. Both created long waiting times if there was a lot of shipping traffic in and out of the locks. But now there is a new bridge being constructed which should be finished late 2017 or early 2018. I suppose it will depend on the amount of rain for how fast they can work.

Colon 2000. I suppose the locals go here was well, but it seems to be focussed on the cruise ships who stop here an ever icnreasing numbres.

Colon 2000. I suppose the locals go here was well, but it seems to be focused on the cruise ships that stop here in ever increasing numbers.

Normally our ships docked at Cristobal but this season the ships have started using Colon 2000 full time, which is tucked away in the corner of the Manzanillo container port. To get there you have to sail out of the Panama Canal, make a sharp 180o turn in open sea, and then enter the port of Manzanillo. There they have two berths, dock 1, today in use by the Monarch of Pullmantur and Colon 2000 which is a sort of little terminal village with shops eateries and a Casino.  We were docked by 15.00 hrs. which is a record so far and thus a bonus for the guests.

Tonight we will sail around 1900 hrs. and head for Puerto Limon in Costa Rica.  Weather is expected to be the same; windy and a with certain chance of rain.

28 Feb. 2017; Oranjestad, Aruba.

February 28, 2017 / / 2 Comments

Today we are back in the Netherlands, although Aruba has a “Status Aparte” which means that it is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands but not governed by it. A sort of Commonwealth situation but with a Dutch twist. Not that anybody is concerned or interested in that here on board; of much more importance is that there is a big Super market here that sells all the Dutch treats which are hard to get in other places.  Thus yesterday whole expeditions were planned (especially with the eye on sharing a Cab) of how to get to the super market during the off time and also in getting back on board on time to let somebody else go. We are the only cruise ship in today, so there is no danger that another ship would be emptying the shelves before we get there.

I should explain this system, of staying on board, as it is industry wide a standard but not everybody knows how it works. It is called In Port Manning or I.P.M and ensures that at all times there are enough sufficiently trained crewmembers on board to protect the ship and to respond to emergencies.  For Deck and Engine that number is 50% so we can always man 2 fire teams and supervise one whole side of the ship in case we have to lower boats.  For the Hotel department it varies with 50% in the higher ranks and 33 to 25% in the lower ranks but always with the minimum needed to lower all the lifeboats on the sea-side of the ship. Normally that is not a problem except in ports such as Oranjestad where everybody wants to go ashore, if not for shopping, then for a drink or for dinner. Then officers have to swap and share the slots available and that results in long planning sessions in the Officers Bar.  If you try to get off the ship while you are on IPM duty then the check-out computer at the gangway will beep and security will stop you.

We see the same thing when we call at ports in Indonesia or the Philippines where we observe something similar. As the ships still have to provide service not everybody can get away. If it is a two day call, then we normally do a 50% split but if it is only a one day call, then you have challenges as some will miss out. The ships have solved that problem long time ago by letting family come on board. Normally with a maximum of four guests per crewmember. Then it is always funny to observe and find out how many Pilipino crew have Indonesian family in Bali and how many Indonesian crew have Pilipino family in Manilla. Of course the captain knows the game that is being played but it says nowhere in the rules that your guests have to be your real family. Only that the Photo ID is correct and with it the relevant security information. Having a 1000 family on board below decks makes for a very atmospheric day and lots of happy faces.

For Aruba it is different, the happy faces will be on board later, when the Dutch goodies are being consumed. I try to stay away from that super market as my one weakness is Dutch liquorice and they have nearly all the variations (approx. 50) available.

The nautical chart of Oranjestad Aruba. Clearly visible is the reef which protects the Paarden baai

The nautical chart of Oranjestad Aruba. Clearly visible is the reef which protects the Paarden baai (Bay of Horses) in which the port is located.

With running full speed, the Zuiderdam just made it on schedule to the pilot station on the west side of the island. Oranjestad has a natural harbor and the docks are protected by a large reef / sandbank. That gives an entrance and an exit. Something we really like because if something happens we can just sail out again without any issue.

I only observed that only once here, long long time ago. The good old Statendam IV was an old and tired steamship by the year I joined her in 1981. We had regular blackouts and a lot of other things went wrong as well. But she was calling at Oranjestad and as she did not have a bow thruster or a stern thruster; we had two tugboats to push us alongside. So we were happily sailing in, and then the bridge ran slow ahead (6 knots) on the ships telegraphs from the half ahead (10 knots) we were making. And nothing happened. The captain ordered a double ring, to wake those @#$%^*@……  down stairs but still nothing. So we sailed with two tugboats attached to the ship straight out of the port again.

The good old ss Statendam seen docked here in the summer of 1982. She was handed over to a new owner in October of the same year.

The good old ss Statendam seen docked here in the summer of 1982. She was handed over to a new owner in October of the same year.

It turned out that the manoeuvring wheel for the steam reduction on the port side engine was stuck and it took about 30 minutes to get it going again. So we sailed back to the west entrance and went in a second time. This time we docked as planned. The company sold the ship shortly after.

We will stay in Oranjestad until 23.00 hrs. tonight and then we sail to Willemstad Curacao, which is just next door.  If the planning stays the same, then we will dock inside the port. Weather: more of the same standard Caribbean weather. Warm, windy and a chance of a local shower.

 

 

25 Feb. 2017; Fort Lauderdale; Florida, USA,

February 25, 2017 / / 5 Comments

As planned I crossed the street today walking from Pier 26 to Pier 21 and transferred from the ms Eurodam to the ms Zuiderdam.  If nothing changes, then I will be here for 3 weeks until March 19th. The ms Zuiderdam is making 10 and 11 day cruises from Fort Lauderdale. Calling at Half Moon Cay, Oranjestad, Willemstad, Cartagena (11 day), Panama Canal (Gatun Lake) & Colon and then back to Fort Lauderdale. If you have the time on your hands these are the cruises to make; not too short and not too long and they give a nice balance between sea days and port days. A lot of our guests really like sea days and that makes this a perfect cruise. Perfect enough to be sold out for this departure and the next ones are already booked close to capacity as well. Captain in command of the good ship Zuiderdam is Captain Bart Vaartjes who was my staff captain for a number of years on the S class ships, so he has been around with us for a long long time.

Our route for this cruise. for the 10 day cruise the ship does not call at Cartagena.

Our route for this cruise. For the 10 day cruise the ship does not call at Cartagena. Thus we have on board quite a few guests who are doing a back to back: both the sunfarer and the wayfarer cruise to catch all the ports.

When we came in this morning, it was a really small world, with some very low hanging clouds over the port. My wife tried to follow me on the webcam of Fort Lauderdale when the ship was coming in but she could only see the Zuiderdam which was coming later and at that time, the fog was starting to lift and things got a little better. But it took until 10 am. before the last of the haze was gone and it was really something that we could have expected. No wind to bring warm or cold air over the area as there was hardly any wind at all and thus the sea and air temperature were close enough together for the moisture in the air to condensate and turn into clouds.  We call it fog because we are sitting right into it but it is nothing else than a low hanging cloud; a cloud that touches the surface of the planet; but if you fly over it then it looks like the top of any other cloud. It is necessarily even flat. There where the temperature varies a bit there might even be a billowing cloud rising above the general surface cover. A sort of cloud we call Cumuli Nimbus when we can see them in the normal blue sky, high up, during a normal summers day.

Tonight the Eurodam and Zuiderdam will be sailing in tandem from Fort Lauderdale to Half Moon Cay. Both will arrive at the same time and both will depart at the same time. Then they will follow each other until they are under Cuba. From there the Zuiderdam continues south, aim for Oranjestad and the Eurodam will curve to the south west and will aim for Grand Cayman. Because 10 + 11 is 21 days the ships will see each other again on the 19th. Later on the Eurodam goes to Alaska and the Zuiderdam will go to Europe. In Europe she will make a mixture of Baltic and other European cruises before returning to the East coast of the USA & Canada for the Fall Foliage season. By October she will be in dry dock in Freeport where she will get the same upgrade the Oosterdam and Eurodam already have received. Removing the Disco and replacing it with a Gallery Bar and introducing the Billboard on Board with the Duelling Pianos and the Lincoln Classic Music setup. At the same time there will be an upgrade for the cabins and the installation of the interactive TV in the cabins.

I will spend my coming three weeks focusing on crew training, drills, reviewing procedures and making a complete walk through of the ship. That will keep me happily occupied for the coming period and then the ship should be more than ready to deal with anything the auditors might throw at them.

Dealing with auditors is always a sort of chess game. You know what they try to find, so you make sure there is nothing to find and then the auditors have to start digging in the rules and procedures to see if they can find something else.  These audit process are already going on in our company for a number of years and thus is there less and less to find.  Audits are good as it sharpens the knowledge and procedures of everybody on board; on the other hand you cannot always be aware of every little minor and miniscule rule or procedure somebody has dreamt up and hidden way somewhere in an obscure directive so auditors will always find something. The game is just that they should not find anything they could be really proud about.

The weather tomorrow should be back to normal. North Easterly wind although not much of it but it will enable both ships to lay with the bow to the island side by side and conduct a regular tender service. But the little wind will make it very warm on the island, so I think it will feel much warmer than the 79oF / 26oC which is forecast. I hope the shops have enough sun block 35 in stock.

14 Dec. 2016; Costa Maya, Mexico.

December 14, 2016 / / 5 Comments

We had a good day to day in Costa Maya, a day we shared with another 6000 guests coming from the Norwegian Jade and the Rhapsody of the Seas. All the 3 berths were full and we were once again on berth 3 which gives the shortest distance from gangway to the resort itself. On arrival there was little wind and that gave a head start as during the day the normal trade wind picked up under the influence of the sun. This wind builds up waves and those waves make the ship rock alongside the dock and if the ships movement becomes too much the ropes start breaking.  If you arrive with very little wind, then the buildup of waves has to start from scratch and by the time you leave (for us at 15.00 hrs.) the waves are not that high yet and thus the ships are not moving so much yet. During our last call, there was a weather front coming through and the last 4 hours of our call the captain had to put the thrusters and Azipods on to glue the Oosterdam alongside and reduce the strain on the ropes. Today it was a lot better. Also the Oosterdam was half hidden behind the other two ships and that helped as well.

View from the shore side of Coata Maya Pier. the ms Oosterdam was docked where the ships with the stern towards us.

View from the shore side of Costa Maya Pier. The ms Oosterdam was docked where the ship is with the stern towards us. (Photo Courtesy, Costa Maya Tours)

I am always greatly concerned about breaking ropes, especially at the bow as they run under various angles to the bollards ashore. If they snap, they can whip over the dock. Hence the bow area is roped off and local security is very good in stopping guests, who cannot resist the urge to take a bow shot, from scooting under the ropes of the no-go area.   For the aft ropes there is less of an issue as they are all under 90 angles. When those break, they break on the edge of the chock where they go inboard and then the the breaking force settles on the piece which is inboard and the outboard part falls in the water. Hence we can let guests walk on the pier along the ship to the resort.

The cruise terminal is fr far out from the main land and a shuttle service is in place over this long bridge to an artificial island with the cruise terminal.

Progresso. The cruise terminal is far out from the main land and a shuttle service is in place over this long bridge to an artificial island with the cruise terminal.

Although Costa Maya is an artificial port, conceived and built purely for cruise ship tourism, its location makes sense from a strategic point of view. There is nothing else in the area. The next three cruise ship ports, Cozumel, Playa del Carmen and Progresso are more than a 100 miles to the north. Cozumel is often full, Progresso has a long channel in and a very long pier to walk over as the area is shallow. Playa Del Carmen suffers from wind and current. It is not really Playa del Carmen itself but Calica a few miles to the south. Calica means gravel pit and that is what it is, a bulk carrier port for exporting gravel. Long ago they built a small cruise terminal and cruise ship dock there but it really only works for small cruise ships with a lot of maneuvering power.  When you go in you have the Gulf Stream full on the beam and thus it can be difficult to steer exactly right into the entrance. The current is strong, the entrance is small and the shallows are nearby.  Then the moment you are inside you have to make a 90o turn to starboard to the dock and the moment you do that, you get the Trade Wind full on the beam, which sets you towards the dock.  The smaller the ship, the more room you have. Carnival tried it for a while and had planned to improve the place but at the moment there is no large cruise ship scheduled there at least until 2018.

Playa Del Carmen itself has a small pier for ferries and Holland America used to stop here in the 1990’s. We then landed our tour people with a local ferry as a quick way for the tours to go Chichen Itza as from there it is about an hour with the bus inland. This local ferry then also brought them back in the evening while the ship was docked in Cozumel. Keeping the ship in position off Playa while the local ferry lay alongside was not easy due to the current and the return trip with this ferry could be really fun and games. If the wind was from the north and thus blowing against the Gulf Stream, then the whole sea surface changed into a sort of washing machine and the returning guests would have to endure a 45 minute real roller coaster ride……… with the expected results…………  Thus we gave up on that and as we hardly go to Cozumel anymore other Maya destinations such as Tikal have been introduced.

We sailed at 15.00 hrs. and around 8 pm. tonight we will pass the island of Cozumel on our portside. Normally we can just see the lights at the horizon. Tomorrow is our last sea day while the ship heads for its final port on the cruise, our home port of Tampa. Weather looks quite good, there is a frontal system moving over Cuba, but I think we will be far to the north before it reaches the Yucatan Channel.

It looks like clear skies all the way to Florida.

It looks like clear skies all the way to Florida.

13 Dec. 2016; Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala.

December 13, 2016 / / 1 Comment

Santo Tomas is one of those places were a canal would make the distance a lot shorter even if the distance between Roatan and Santo Tomas is only 142 miles. This is basically caused by the fact that the town is located inside a deep bay. The land is curved around it and protects the whole area from being exposed to the open Caribbean. So while we sail almost straight west from Roatan, most of that straight sailing is above land to reach the bay. Then the ship has to curve back until finally it can go south towards the dock. Just before you enter the bay the curve of protecting land is not very wide and thus a little cut –through would be possible. But looking at it economically the total traffic of ships which call at Puerto Barrios and Santo Tomas is probably not sufficient to even contemplate it.

A little cut at La....

A little cut at La Graciosa and you could quickly slip in and out of the bay.

As mentioned in my blog of the previous call, the guests here either go on tour or just wander into the terminal or visit the local town. For the latter there is a shuttle trolley service which leaves from the gangway. From the crew only those who have never been here before might go to the local town but all others who have bought the T shirt already normally stay on board. Unless shorex can organize a shuttle boat/ferry to the Amatique beach resort which is sometimes possible if the guests have not bought up all the tickets. But it is six hour happening and apart from concessions and entertainment not many crew have time to do it.

Tank entry by the rescue team taking a plank-type stretcher with them for the extraction.

Tank entry by the rescue team taking a plank-type stretcher with them for the extraction.

Certainly not when I am around and I have dreamt up yet another major training. This time on request of the engine department. Enclosed Space Rescues. The engine department often has to inspect, clean or repair tanks and these are not known to be easily accessible or easy to work in. Thus if an accident would occur it is also very hard to get the casualty out. To do an efficient tank extraction you have to train as it is a lot more difficult than it seems. Training in a real tank itself is not so easy as one has to be opened up and also nobody can see what is going on and learn from it as there is most of the time no room to stand around. To alleviate the problem of the very few being able to see something, it is better if we build a sort of mock up in an open space.

A medical equipment on standby and the medical officers giving instruction to the stretcher bearers.

A medical equipment on standby and the medical officers giving instruction to the stretcher bearers.

And thus with the aid of the five cadets on board I designed and constructed a complete tank in the Marshalling area; the open space in the ship where we normally handle the luggage and the provisions that come on board. With carton boxes, canvas, the luggage bins and some wood it was good enough for a good drill. The engineers sharpened their skills again and medical could now observe from close by what a ships tank looked like and how difficult it is to get a casualty out as the inside of a tank is normally web constructed which is needed for the strength of the ship.

Moving the Casualty from the back of the tank.

Moving the Casualty from the back of the tank.

We have of course equipment on board to help with this but you have to exercise this to ensure that all the pieces of the puzzle fit together if something would happen. Enclosed space incidents are still very common in the industry and not only at sea. Workers who do not realize that in a tank there might lack of oxygen or all sorts of gasses and the work surface is seldom ideal. Thus the regulations before we can enter a tank are very strict to ensure that those who go in also come out again. A lot of extra casualties are caused because workers see a collapsed colleague inside and run in to help. Which only results in yet another casualty. Hence nobody goes into a tank for rescue and extraction without wearing breathing apparatus. The bottle on your back is very cumbersome when getting in and out but it is a life saver. We also have oxygen masks connected with a long hose to a bottle which can then remain outside but then you still need somebody else to watch over that hose so it does not get stuck behind something.

The casualty coming out. the opening is the average man hole size of a real tank. (some are a lot smaller)

The casualty coming out. The opening is the average man hole size of a real tank. (some are a lot smaller)

Tomorrow we are in Costa Maya which lies 180 miles to the North from Santo Tomas and which will be our final call for this cruise. It should be a full house tomorrow with all the three berths occupied; the ms Oosterdam, the Rhapsody of the Seas and the Norwegian Jade. Weather: partly cloudy skies, 80oF / 26oC and a gentle breeze. So it will be a warm day there.

12 Dec. 2016; Mahogany Bay, Roatan, Honduras.

December 12, 2016 / / 3 Comments

We were the only ship docking at the Mahogany Bay Pier today, courtesy of the fact that this dock was constructed by Carnival Corporation. Therefore our poor competitors, in this case RCI, had to do with docking at Coxen Hole a little bit more to the west. There is another cruise terminal but with some fewer facilities on the dock for guests who do not want to go too far. And a lot of guests had one look at the weather: dark clouds gathering overhead causing the occasional downpour and decided to stay on board or were back quite quickly. Main reason was they had already been here before, so why get wet during a repeat visit? We have a larger number of guests on board who are just taking a “quick Holland America cruise” in between. They are here for the ship and the service and could “not care less about the coconuts” as one guest expressed his reason to stay on board.

Hence the High Tea was having a full house and all the bridge tables were occupied as well. Always nice to see the public rooms being in use at other times than just when there is entertainment or happy hour.

Apart from all the activities on board, Holland America has also made it a standard of its product of giving the guests something to look at. All the ships have a lot of antiques on board which can bring many hours of happy hunting and observing if you are so inclined to do so. With the Koningsdam what is on display is more contemporary but that is not bad for a change either.

So as part of my hobby (and hopefully for posterity as well) I photograph & document the complete interiors of all the ships; as one day also the Oosterdam will also be gone. Not all the art is on display where all the guests can get at it, some is hidden in the private offices on board. So today a few pieces of art to look at, which are hidden on deck 1 in the Hotel Offices. Senior hotel staff offices are gathered near the Atrium where we have on the portside the Security Officers Office, IT office, the Front Office (with inside the Pursers office) and the Cruise Directors office.

Dutch Harbour by Heinrich Hermanns

Boats in a Harbour by Heinrich Hermanns

From all those offices the Cruise Director has the nicest piece of art hanging on the wall. Made by a German painter Heinrich Hermanns who lived from 1862 to 1942 and the painting is called Boats in a Harbour.  Normally I am very critical of paintings with ships but this is a nice atmospheric piece. Sailors always look at shippy paintings with the eye……………… is it correct. And you can only let that go if there are no real details on it. One of the painters who is always very in depth and scrutinized by us, is the maritime painter Captain Stephen Card as we have his paintings hanging on each of our ships, mostly in the forward staircase. Luckily he is a sailor himself who carefully documents first what he is going to paint because if he gets it wrong, the old Holland America line employees are very vocal.

Nicholas Berthon. Dutch Harbour.

Nicholas Berthon. Dutch Harbour.

On starboard side we have the Controller’s office, shore excursion, Beverage department, Culinary Department, Hotel Directors Office and the Executive Housekeepers office.  The 2nd painting of my liking is hanging in the Executive Housekeepers office. Again a painting with a ship on it, this time by Nicholas Berthon 1839 – 1888 and called Dutch Harbor. Looking at the name it sounds like he is a French painter and this is the first time I see this name coming up in connection to something with boats.  Knowing how my company sources Art and also how much budget there is, plus the need to keep the art from “walking away” the price for these sorts of paintings lays normally in the area of 800 to 1500 dollars. Good enough quality to have on board for guests to enjoy, not expensive enough for somebody to be tempted to embrace it as a permanent souvenir.

Not a painting but also art. A Christmas Village by the Oosterdam Culinary Department.

Not a painting but also art. A Christmas Village by the Oosterdam Culinary Department.

What I have forgotten to mention is that Christmas has fully arrived on the Oosterdam. During last cruise the decorations started to come out and by now everything is in place. Including the Christmas village in the Atrium. We have now Christmas Music played through the ship and to my utter amazement I have not heard White Christmas from Bing Crosby yet. All the other songs have all come by already including the missing two-front-teeth.

Tomorrow we are in Santo Tomas de Castilla in Guatemala which lays 142 miles to the west from here. And that means I am not going to predict the weather, as it might be the same as today; but it might just change as well, depending what pressure system wins the battle. The one to the south, the one to the north, or the one to the East.

04 Dec. 2016; Willemstad, Curacao, the Netherlands.

December 4, 2016 / / 1 Comment

Sometimes I think that our weather guru’s just put a bit of rain in the weather forecast to make sure they always have it right. Again today a bit of rain was forecasted but we have not seen anything yet. It was a beautiful sunny day with a very occasional cloud coming over but that was about it. I do not know if anything will change during the dark hours as we are here until 23.00 hrs. tonight but for the time being it is very nice. We are docked at the mega pier which is located outside the port and was inaugurated a number of years ago when it became clear to the authorities of Curacao that the new large cruise ships would start to bypass the island as they did not fit in the port and/or under the bridge when coming into the port.

Not an inspiring area; Caracas Baai. Where dock now is much better. This is the ss Nieuw Amsterdam II, around 1950.

Not an inspiring area; Caracas Baai. Where dock now is much better. This is the ss Nieuw Amsterdam II, around 1950.

In the old days there was the option to dock at Caracas Bay just around the corner. This is a secondary port for Curacao and mainly used for oil tankers and cargo ships. It is much wider but it is a long way from port and bussing in 5000 cruise guests would be a nightmare. Hence the new pier. There is now talk about building a second one for the even larger ships. The Oosterdam with a length of just under 300 meters fits comfortably alongside this pier and can set good mooring ropes under the optimum angles. Our Koningsdam which is 12 meters longer would already have to deal with all the forward or stern ropes becoming breast lines and that is with the predominant , strong, Trade Wind not such a nice thing.

The ms Zuiderdam towering over Otrabanda the left bank of Willemstad. If needed the ship does fit under the Juliana Bridge seen in the distance.

The ms Zuiderdam towering over Otrabanda the left bank of Willemstad. If needed the ship does fit under the Juliana Bridge seen in the distance.

We caught up-to-day with the Zuiderdam who calls here before it goes westwards towards the Panama Canal. She docked in the port or better said just inside St. Anna Baai at the west side to the entrance channel to the inner bay. Which means her guests are closer to downtown than ours. So why would she be there and not us? Well, she leaves at 17.00 hrs. and that gives the guests less time. We stay until late in the evening and thus our guests have plenty of time to walk to town (it is only 5 minutes more) and to come back. There is a local bus service and taxi’s galore so it is not as if we are cut off from the world.

jkjkjkjkj

A busy day in Curacao, as it can be. Below at the mega pier a Princess ship,in port two R class ships and under the bridge a Celebrity ship. Today we only had Holland America in port.

Willemstad has been a cruise port since a very long. Already around 1900 there were the German cruise ships (The Hamburg Amerika Linie had the first dedicated cruise ship constructed called the Prinzessin Victoria Luise) who came here in the winter months before the first world war. I have a story about her on my blog. If you click Cruises from the past, and then click: the first real cruise ship.

Holland America showed up in the late 20’s and 1930’s when especially the ss Rotterdam came here on a regular basis while making cruises from New York. She docked at the same spot, the Mathey werf where the Zuiderdam is today.  Later on when the Nieuw Amsterdam came, she went to Caracas Bay as the available tugboat power was not deemed strong enough to bring her in. That problem has been longtime solved and the ss Rotterdam of 1958 which was bigger than the N.A just sailed in docked anywhere in the port.  Now they bring in very large tankers who are going to the repair shipyard located in the inner bay called the Schottegat.

Docking at the Mega Pier is a fairly easy gig. When coming from the East, as we did, you just make a wide turn, stop in front of the pier, make sure you keep the nose in the sometimes very strong current and go sideways.  Going into port, into St. Anna Baai, is a lot more complicated because you sail 90o on the current which can run up to 4 knots. The wind is from the same direction and that does not help either. When wind and current are strong together it is quite tricky to enter into the fairly small opening.   Thus it takes some planning and thus we saw the Zuiderdam stopping well outside the port, assessing the drift and then quickly moving forward to dock. Once you know the effect of wind and current on the ship you can figure out the drift, and then compensate for it. Which normally means steering a course which makes it look like as if the ship will hit the shore when it makes it approach but the current then pushes it back onto the course line at the moment you enter the Baai. While going in, the current will have less and less influence on the ship and then you have to reduce the drift angle until you are back on the normal course again.

We will sail tonight for Oranjestad Aruba at 23.00 and which is only a small hop to make as Aruba lies just west of Curacao. Here we will experience a Drive Inn, Drive Out harbor as the harbor is protected by a big sand bank with an opening to the NW. and a exit to the SE. (and vice versa) Weather for tomorrow, ……………………… more of the same.

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