Ships as the Koningsdam are too big for the North Sea Canal to fit in sideways. To still make it possible for large cruise ships to visit Amsterdam part of the canal was to be widened to create a turning basin. This give the peculiar situation that a ship first has to go up the canal for about a mile in order to be able to go down the canal back to sea.  In the old days only small ships and river barges could go beyond the location of the cruise terminal but then in 2009 the area was dredged out to 32 feet (10.5 meters) and a basin was created of 375 meters which gives the Koningsdam ample room to swing around.

Approaching the Turning Basib, The yellow boat is an escort vessel from the Amsterdam Port  Authority to keep all the six pack navigators out of the way. In the white shirt,  is the officer who has a range finder to call out the distances to the shore while swinging.

Once lined up, you sail past Central Station for the most scenic part of the canal trip. Here you can see the west part of the old town, a lot of new apartment buildings and a large part of the port of Amsterdam. The area around the Cruise terminal was where once the Passenger ships docked which were connecting the Dutch Empire to the West and East Dutch Indies. But that land is now all taken over for housing. Also on the Northside the industry is slowly moved out of the city and replaced with more housing. There is still one ship (repair) yard there and next to it a sort of impromptu shipping museum with a Russian submarine, a yellow submarine and a lot of locations for partying and modern art. Very conspicuous is a white structure which looks like a hotel. And it is, but as it is sitting on a barge it is called a Botel.

It says botel on the top so that is what is under it.

It takes roughly 2 hours from the terminal to Ijmuiden locks but the transit time depends on the traffic and if the Lock master has the gates open. The Ijmuiden locks are there to keep the water level on the North Sea Canal (which changes at Amsterdam in the Amsterdam – Rijn Canal) constant all the way up to the river Rhine itself. Tidal differences are normally about 3 to 4 feet (1. 20 Meter) but when calculated right a ship could sail directly through the locks when the water levels are level which they normally are 4 times a day. Still the locks are used to stop the inflow of salt water as much as possible.

The bridge team in action. Helmsman, Captain Navigator, Co Navigator and two pilots in the front. We have two pilots due to the width of the ship.

Today the Koningsdam will spend the day in the North Sea. If we would have put the Pedal to the Metal we could have reached Newcastle in the early afternoon but as this is a 14 day cruise, we start it in a decent way and spend the first day at sea. So the ship is making a nice wide turn over the North Sea and will line up for 0600 pilot at Newcastle tomorrow morning.

There is another good reason for a day at sea and that is to make time for Immigration. The United Kingdom is only partly part of the European Community (and two years from now completely out of it due to the Brexit vote) and has its own immigration rules. They include a face to face inspection of everybody on board, including myself who lives in England. With over 2600 guests on board that would take a very long time to do when coming off the ship. And thus the UK Border Agency was willing enough to send 5 Inspectors to Amsterdam and sail with us and do the inspection on board. So in the course of the morning everybody had their face compared with the picture in their passport. A bit of an exercise but it will help enormously with speeding things up on arrival.

By the time they were out of the Showroom at Sea which is called the World Stage on the Koningsdam, the Show Cast of the ship moved in as we are in the process of changing the shows. The old cast who have been on board since the shipyard will be going home and a new group has arrived and are now rehearsing. They bring with them a complete new set of shows which are being phased in one by one. To get the routine going with the size of the stage it takes a lot of rehearsing and thus at noon time the doors to the World Stage closed and rehearsals started again. I poked my nose in yesterday and it is looked very impressive of what is going to be put on the stage now. The stage which we have, and which is unique in the fleet, makes it possible to create a show with very unusual viewing angles as it is round and gives a totally different perspective.

Tomorrow we are in Newcastle upon Tyne and the weather looks good, partly cloudy 68oF / 20oC with a gentle breeze on arrival.

Today was a typical Dutch Summers day. It was nice and warm in a gentle way but mainly overcast with always the feeling: It might rain, while you know it will not. For all accounts it was perfect bike weather and it seems that today the whole of Amsterdam was either on the bike or on the water.

For the crew there was less time to take it at leisure as it was change over day. The very vast majority of our guests went home. I think there are about a 100 who are doing the next 14 day cruise as well. Those who are staying are making a 3 week cruise, the 7 days Norway which we just have completed and then a 14 day cruise which includes the Top of Great Britain, Iceland and then back via Norway. Combined the cruise is called Norse Legends and Northern Isles.

As we have a predominance of Europeans at the moment who have time available as the schools are out and most take their main vacation in the summer months, there are not that many who have to travel a long way home. I saw a long line of people with suitcases walking to the train station again and an even longer line of taxi’s picking people up and most of them had been pre ordered. There were still bus transfers to Schiphol Airport but not the convoy’s as we normally see.

About sixty crew disembarked and most of them are also very happy with this taking place in Amsterdam. The majority of the officers live in Europe and then it is very easy to get a flight in and those who have to travel further afield  can take the late afternoon flights and still arrive in daylight in North America.

For the company Amsterdam has two options, either where we are now, downtown Amsterdam at the Cruise terminal, or Ijmuiden at the entrance locks of the North Sea Canal which leads to Amsterdam. It was decided to have the Koningsdam in Amsterdam for the scenery and the ease of public transport but also because the Koningsdam could fit the extra hours it needs to get to and from the port to open sea into the schedule.  The Prinsendam is using Ijmuiden. The main reason is it is very tight to get to the Kieler Kanal the next morning if you also have to depart from Downtown Amsterdam. I did it one summer with the ship and you really needed for everything to go right to ensure that we could be in the first locks at 10.00 to embark the Oompa – Oompa band who plays during the transit of the Kieler Kanal.

You would think going through the Kanal was all about the sightseeing but is not. If the weather is bad or there is restricted visibility, nobody complains. But if there is no Oompa band, then the Hotel Director  will hear about it loud and clear. One of the major tasks of a Captain is to prevent the Hotel Director from either getting a heart attack or from contemplating to kill somebody, and therefore a timely arrival is of the essence. Now the Prinsendam docks in Ijmuiden and that gives them a minimum of 4 hours extra to get the Oompa band on board.

Looking at the body language the deliverer is not that happy with what the Culinary Operations manager just said.

Here in Amsterdam no Oompa band but lots of stores to load. What might not be that well known for guests, is that each pallet which comes on board is checked. General provisions are done by the Provision Master or the Controller who are in charge of maintaining the stock, but special loadings call for the Head of Department to come out. And thus you see the Executive Chef out on the dock, squeezing apples and oranges, sniffing at the fish and approving alternative choices in case the brand that was ordered is not available.  Here we see the Culinary Operations manager inspecting a trolley with crockery to see if it is what we really ordered. This little trolley can easily be worth up to $ 10,000 and thus we have to be on the ball.

It leaves very little time for sightseeing or running ashore. Although down town is close by, only 15 minutes at a decent pace, the super markets within radius are not that big, for that you have to go deeper into the city and for that there is no time, as the ship is sailing once again with a full house.

Tomorrow we will spend the day at sea, sailing a slow boat to our next port of call, Newcastle Upon Tyne, right on the border between England and Scotland. We should have decent weather with maybe an occasional fog patch but nothing or real significance. Hence the reason we had such nice and not too warm weather here today in Amsterdam.

After departing last night we sailed through the 4^th. longest fjord in the world and the 2^nd longest one in Norway. Eidfjord and connected Hardangerfjord are considered to be one fjord. I do not know how they measure a fjord exactly, I suppose it has to have an end somewhere but the statistics said so: 4^th. largest, and it will stay that way until somebody digs a longer one. We sailed under the Harfangerfjord Bridge which is the longest in Norway but it was not that spectacular as it should have been as the fjord was very misty.

I have never seen it so busy with guests in the Lido at 6 pm. A ll skipping the dining room experience, just to see the sights.

While I was having dinner in the Lido, I had to think about the Hobbits travelling through the Misty Mountains. It had that sort of atmosphere. About two hours out we stopped at a waterfall and the Captain gave the Koningsdam a complete spin to give everybody everywhere a good look at it. There is less room on the bow of this ship than on some other ships even with it being two levels, as the designers had allocated this as a crew deck with a guest viewing option. Still it would never be able to take all the guests, so a 360o spin works much better.

The Furebergfossen waterfall. The picture is slightly bluish due to the green reflection of the scenery and the falling evening, as it was almost 9 pm when we were there. Note the Road/bridge at the water level.

There are several nice water falls which come cascading down the mountains in the Hardanger fjord but according to experts this is one of the most spectacular ones. It is called The Furebergfossen Waterfall and Furebergfossen means something as Tree on the Mountain. Looking at the waterfall there were a lot more trees around but maybe there was once one very big one. They built a road in front of the fall which to a certain extent spoils the view from the sea but on the other hand gives a very good idea of the size of this waterfall, a size which otherwise would have been very hard to judge.

Map courtesy www. GraphicsMaps.com

By 1 am in the morning we had said goodbye to our Norwegian Fjorden pilot and turned the ship south towards the end of our cruise, back to Amsterdam. The weather remained hazy and gloomy until late morning when it cleared up a bit but it remained overcast.

It is almost a straight North to South run and the same route as we came up the coast 7 days ago. Today we did not see all the Oil Rigs as the visibility was not that great, but most guests had seen them on the way up, as the heavy storm did ensure very clear skies.

My day was taken up with the teaching sailors. Apart from being involved with mooring lines, docking procedures and ships maintenance, they also run the tenders when we are in a tender port. Before they are allowed to do that they have to be qualified and that qualification is a mixture of theory and practice. They have to have a full Lifeboat commander certificate, which is a week’s training at a shore side facility; a facility recognized by the company and by the Flag state. Then they have to a have a Certificate of Competence as a bridge look out so they are qualified to be involved in navigation and then they need to do computer training courses to gain detailed knowledge in tender operations and some of the equipment. When that is all done, there is the Tender Operator Course which is given on board by a senior officer. I shouldered the task this time as the Koningsdam deck officers are going through relief cycle and it is never good when a new officer has to take over from one who left.

The ship produces little charts for every tender port, it shows which route to follow and where not to go. The ship in the lower right was not there as the anchorage buoys had been damaged but those buoys are a recognition point during tender navigation.

The whole course includes a week of theoretical training and knowledge refreshers and then a number of practical sessions. Theory is mainly knowing the WHY behind everything. They all know their buoys, the why is, why is that buoy there. When the tender is in operation the driver has a tender chart in his cockpit for reference. He needs the knowledge to be able to properly read that chart = the WHY behind giving him the chart. Then there are the Rules of the Road and especially what to do, if the other boat is not following those rules (Six pack navigators!!) Then there is practical training, with not just sailing the tender, but how to sail, if you only have one engine or if suddenly the visibility goes down to zero.

Apart from other work, that will keep me gainfully occupied for the next ten days.  And it keeps the sailors occupied for the next 10 days as well; including some the evenings as the company’s computer courses are not simple.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to be at the Ijmuiden pilot station at 02.45 in the morning and then sail through the North Sea Canal to the dock. That will take a few hours as we are not allowed to go faster than 7 kilometers an hour at some places to avoid suction and swell damage.  The weather is supposed to be a lot better than today with partly sunny skies and noon temperatures of 70oF or 21oC and with hardly any wind in the mornings and a gentle breeze in the afternoon.

Today we observed Norway in the rain. Not with heavy down pours but with steady rain and drizzle. For Eidfjord that is not really a challenge. You either go out on tour and sit dry in the coach or you have a quick walk around, count all 530 inhabitants of the town and come back and stay on board and are dry as well.   And that is what most Guests did today.  A lot of guests went on tour and that is here a good idea anyway as the area has a lot of old Norwegian history. Those who did not discovered like I did today, that the town has a Tjuk-Tjuk train. One of these little road trains that takes you around the town and past the nearby sights worth seeing. I had not seen it in port during my last visit on the ms Rotterdam but now it was there and it was doing a roaring trade. I was caught up on the ship all day so I could not find out what the route exactly was but it must have been worthwhile. I saw it coming by three times and there was never an empty seat. Maybe they did go around all the houses so you could count all 530 inhabitants. (2013 census)

A Tjuk tjuk Train. After the Big Red Bus my favourite sightseeing form of transport.

The ones who got a real workout today were the Dive In and the New York Deli & Pizza. As most guests went ashore for only half of the day, the other half was spent on family bonding. I have learned by now that a good family bonding involves food, preferably fast food, and the Koningsdam offers the best.  I always like to beat the drum for Holland America but even without doing that the Dive Inn hamburgers and hotdogs are the best I have tasted anywhere.  Same for the pizza’s as long as you like the flat version and not the deep pan. Everything is cooked to order and everywhere there were people with a pager in the hand, waiting to be called to collect their order. So the whole upper level of the Lido pool area was one happy pizza party.

Part of the Kitchen staff of the ms Koningsdam. Pizza, Hamburgers, Lobster, you name it; perfect cooking and service with a smile.

Today the ship exercised the monthly Abandon ship routine: the full drill. Starting with the First Stage Emergency Response drill (also known as Fire drill) organized by yours truly by putting a part of the Engine Room on fire. That was simulated to go beyond control and then we went to Crew Alert, which means all the crew is going to battle stations ready to guide the guests to wherever the captain wants them to go. Once that is accomplished the final stage of “Abandon ship” arrives whereby all guests and crew assemble at the muster stations ready to embark into the lifeboats and life rafts. The funny part is always to hear these serious announcements and then to see the guests looking. The Cruise director announces that the ship is being abandoned and the guest thinks…………….. me as well, but I just walked on board…………..  I saw one gentleman getting confused while waiting for the elevator but he was assured by his wife: “Henry, it is only the captain; he is just doing his thing”

There are about 50 support staff to get 4 firefighting teams safely into a danger zone. The gentlemen in yellow are Dressers. ensuring that the fire fighting suits are worn correctly.

Doing “his thing” meant in this case lowering all the portside lifeboats, all going for a nice drive near the ship. Luckily the ms Koningsdam has covered lifeboats and thus none of the crew was the worse for the weather. That kept all crew happily occupied until noon time. What I find so amazing is that with all the crew on deck, the Executive chef still manages to open the Lido on time for lunch time service. I find that truly amazing as I already have a challenge with cooking rice on schedule.

Eidfjord has for the crew the great advantage that it has excellent cell phone connections so nobody is really bothered much by the lack of excitement Eidfjord has to offer, or the high prices in Norway; no it is a great opportunity to catch up with email and to call home.

You seldom see a spring line of 400 feet in length but that was what we had today.

We will sail this evening at 6 pm. and for the deck crew is means starting very early with taking in the lines. The Koningsdam overhangs the dock on both sides for a very long distance and the result is very long lines – extremely long lines. Even longer than yesterday in Bergen. So with the thrusters keeping the ship alongside, nearly all the lines are taken in much earlier than would be the case in ports where there are bollards everywhere.  This evening we will do some sightseeing by passing under the Hardanger bridge (the longest one in Norway) and then later on past one of the nicest waterfalls of Norway.

Tomorrow we are at sea, heading southbound on our way back to Amsterdam. Once there we will start a 14 day cruise leading over the top of the British Isles all the way to Iceland.

We left Geiranger just before 10 pm. last night and then had to sail 4 hours back to open waters. Contrary to the Inside Passage of Canada and Alaska you cannot sail from one fjord to another through an Inside Passage. You have to go back to open waters and then sail up or down the coast to enter the next one. Some fjords are interconnected, or branch off, or merge and some are singular cracks in the mountain stone and have no side branches at all. Some are very deep fjords such as the Hardanger Fjord, the Oslofjord and the Geiranger Fjord and some are very short or are really water ways around small islands or bare mountains tops.

Bergen is located very close to the sea, located behind a large number of small islands and coastal strips of rock which offer easy access, and at the same time a great protection against bad weather. This is one of the reasons Bergen is so popular with the Oil-Offshore. Plenty of safe anchorages in shallow and deep water and with the sound infrastructure of the town Bergen very close by. Being so close to open sea we could we pick up the pilot at 10 am. and started to dock by 11.30 and ready for our scheduled operation by noon time.

Today the sun was shining in Bergen and the temperatures reached 15 to 16oC or 61oF in the shade. Out in the sun it was a few degrees more. Still we had to re-arrange visiting this port as two days ago it was mayhem here. Although the port is well protected from a too great an onslaught by bad weather, winds of 50+ knots can get in even if the waves are held back. So does the rain and Bergen had to cope with 8 cm (4 inches) of rain while the storm system moved over. Even for an area where it can rain heavy at times that is a lot. And thus we had to stay away until things cleared up.

The bridge from a very unusual perspective. This photo was taken from a tender, which hangs partially outside the ship.

Although to get to Bergen is not a long way and the waters are deep, there is one obstacle which makes every captain grab for his calculator. They built a bridge over the main access route to Bergen harbor.  Whatever size ship you have, the first thought is always do I fit under? And do I still fit under if the tide is high?. Many a Ship’s captain ended up with a lot of paperwork because there was an inch too many in height and it did not fit. We know we can sail under the Askoy Bridge and we always check. The tidal difference in Bergen is not that great but still……………………  The top of the funnel of the Koningsdam cleared the underside of the bridge by 6 meters to day. The bridge itself has a 62 meters clearance above chart datum and then often you have to take a little bit off for the water height. Today we had only 2 feet in tidal difference (60 cm.) and thus we had nothing to worry about.

Today Bergen showed itself from it’s best side and pleased a lot of cruise guests. Apart from us the Amadea (the old Royal Princess of 1984) now sailing for a German charter company and the Horizon (from 1991 and used to be owned by Celebrity) but sails now for Croisieres de France were in too. The rest of the port was given over to local cargo ships and a large number of offshore vessels waiting for assignments.

The two other cruise ships. Please note the length of the bow lines running ashore. In perspective the Blue Horizon is about 85 feet wide.

We docked today at Bontelabo which was constructed as a fisherman’s dock and hence way too short for cruise ships. Even our small Prinsendam sticks out, let alone the length of the Koningsdam. Still the dock is long enough to be able to have two gangways out even if the ropes have to run very, very long. We will have something similar in Eidfjord where we are tomorrow.

We are staying in Bergen until 8 pm. and then sail back to open waters again, turn south and then enter Hardanger fjorden of which the Eidfjorden is a part at 2 am, to get to the dock by 8 am. in the morning. The weather tomorrow might take a dip, as rain is expected and with it comes a low temperature of 8oC or 47oF.

Well, the winds died down and so did the waves but much later than forecast and not after showing us that the “venom is in the tail”. I do not know if that translates exactly the right way into the English, it might be “sting is in the tail”, but you will get the meaning. In the cause of the afternoon the waves deepened out and reached 10 to 12 meters (30 to 36 feet) at times and the wind peaked at 56 knots. That is serious stuff and although the Koningsdam is turning out to be a very good ship in bad seas, you have to be respectful of such ferocious weather and treat that weather gently. Otherwise there will be damage to the ship and much worse damage to its occupants.

Then, late in the evening, the winds eased off and the waves started to die down, but it had affected the schedule again. First the storm had caused us to stay longer in Amsterdam and to re-arrange the cruise and now we could not keep the schedule once again. It was still possible to keep the noon arrival time at Geiranger but only if the service stop at Hellesylt was cancelled. And then as captain the need to make a very difficult decision: Will you deprive 300 guests of their tour or will you let the other 2300 guests arrive at least an hour late at Geiranger? And of those 2300 more than 800 were going on tours which might have been put in uncertainty as well.

As unpleasant as it is, if safety is not the overriding concern, then the need of the majority prevails and quite rightly the Captain opted for bypassing Hellesylt. Those who were now without a tour received their money back and/or were offered the option of another tour.

By the time we left the open sea it had completely come to rest and nice weather prevailed once again. Even the rain only brought out a few drops instead of the big showers which were forecastd.  We picked up the pilot at 0800 hrs. and then sailed into the fjord and managed to be at the anchorage location at 11.30 and had our tender service going by noon time. As scheduled and as planned, although it had taken some suffering to do it.

The Seven Sisters. Water coming down several hundred feet straight into the fjord.

It is acclaimed that the cruise into Geiranger offers some of the best scenery in the whole world, including looking at some of the highest waterfalls as well. These are called the Seven Sisters, for obvious reasons, and we sailed by them just after 11 am., shortly before coming to the port, and of course when you think you have everything under control, there is always something else. In the fjords, you try to sail in the middle and when there is opposing traffic both ships will go a bit to starboard and make room for each other to provide a safe passage.

Why do they always have to sit in a location where the big ships HAVE to go ?

What did we find in the middle, right in our way?  A group of canoe’s admiring the scenery without a care in the world. So we honked the horn but it took several blasts before they got the hint that we did it to alert them. They moved a few tentative strokes and then sat happily waving to all the guests on deck.  I do not think they even realized in what sort danger you can be in when you come close to a huge ship with a strong wake. This was some sort of sightseeing/ paddle tour and the tour leader should have known better. Hopefully the Pilot was later able to contact the canoe company and raise some hell with them. So the Koningsdam had to slow down to what was safely possible and had to make a wider turn than would normally have been proper seamanship. From previous blogs you might remember that we call these people “six pack navigators” but I do not think that this applies in Norway with alcohol being so expensive here. Some other salty words come to mind.

And so the big ship curved around them ensuring we made no wake.

The main anchorage at Geiranger had been damaged last year (where you drop the anchor and tie up the stern to the shore) and thus the ship had to stay further out and drift on the engines. From there we run a full tender service with all the six ships tenders. Tonight we will sail at 10 pm. and then arrive tomorrow at noon time in Bergen.

For me the most fascinating house in Geiranger Fjord. All by itself. Perched on the top of the mountain. I do not envy the newspaper boy who has to go there every morning on his bike.

You will read this a day later than normal, as the mountains sides of Geiranger Fjord are so high that there is no internet communication at all, until you are at the entrance again.

I always love it when the weather follows the weather forecast. Then at least what you have planned for happens and you can deal with it. Not that I mind it if the forecast says there will be storm and there isn’t one, that seldom happens, but if it has to be stormy then it is nice if you can go and plan and prepare along with what the forecast says. Thus today we were fully in synch with the weather gods. We did have a windy night last night but the ship rode the short jagged swell of the North Sea very well.

The North Sea causes a ships movement which is totally different from any other sea I have sailed on. The North Sea is shallow (often not deeper than 150 feet), has a lot of current or better said currents as the flow comes from various directions, and when the wind blows it cannot really build up any deep and long waves.  This results in a short and abrupt swell pattern which can give a very unpleasant motion. Here helps the length of the Koningsdam with over 300 meters  it sits on the crest of several waves at the same time and thus there is hardly any rolling or pitching motion. Just a sort of jittery movement which goes through the ship when the hull adjusts to the constant onslaught of the multiple waves crests.

Cutting through the Stream of traffic while above the Dutch Island of Tessel.

While sailing along the coast we followed the various Vessel Traffic Separation Schemes. A lot of through traffic comes from the English Channel in the south, more traffic comes from Rotterdam and Amsterdam (like us) and there is traffic coming from Scandinavia and North of Scotland on its way to the German ports such as Hamburg and Bremen. This all meets north of the Frisian Islands and to keep things a little bit under control we have Highways at Sea here, including an exclusion zone in the middle to keep the opposite flows apart. It is always fun for cruise ship navigators to race through here and pass all the other ships as if standing still. There is always a crucial moment when you leave the system or “change streets” while wriggling your way through the other ships that are staying on the “same road”.

There is a lot of traffic in the North Sea. The green spot in the middle is caused by Offshore vessels servicing the oil rigs. (Courtesy www.Marinetraffic.com)

The ships movement changed more and more when we came into open waters and deeper, further away from the Dutch coast. As was expected that movement changed even more when the ship “fell” off the North Sea shelf and came in water of 60 meters and over. Now the waves could expand downwards and stretch out and the Koningsdam started to pitch as now it rode two waves at the same time instead of being carried by a multitude of small ones. Thus for a short while we got the ke-deng of the bow slamming into the waves, the famous pitching movement. The stabilizers were quite good in taking care of the sideways or rolling movement. But the pitching remained.

As explained yesterday, this was expected and thus in the early afternoon the ship reduced speed to get rid of that movement. When reducing speed you give the hull more chance to ride up and down the waves instead of being propelled so fast forward that a head on collision – pitch – is the only option.  That did not mean that the ship was now suddenly quiet but it reduced the motion to what I call “bearable”. Again whether the guests agree with me remains to be seen but then they do not sail every day of their lives. Still there many of them were up and about; although maybe less than normal as breakfast this morning was a quiet affair.

Still bad at 09.44 English time this morning, but decreasing later. So things are looking up again.

Based on the weather forecast remaining correct, the waves should start to reduce from the highest of 7 meters to gradually about 3 or 4 meters.  So slowly but steadily the ships movement should be getting less as well.

At 2 pm we made it to the Norwegian coast and will now sail along until we come to the pilot station of Brysse around 06.00 tomorrow morning.  Once the pilot is on board, we will sail to Hellesylt for disembarking the tour. As there is no other ship docked, we can go alongside there briefly, march the 300+ guests ashore and then sail on to the end of the Geirangerfjord for the remainder of the call. We are expected there at noon time. The ship will drift there and we will run a regular tender service for the remainder of the day.

Behind a good storm there is normally a good amount of rain clouds filled with rain and we will get those tomorrow. And thus the weather forecast calls for a rainy day will chilly temperatures of around 41oF / 5oC with a bit of a breeze. But for more guests anything will be better than yet another wobbly day and the ship sells rain poncho’s on the gangway so what can go wrong?

An un-expected day 2 in Amsterdam and everybody was making the best of it. A lot of guests grabbed the chance to do a few tours which they otherwise might have never had the chance to do and some just walked into town. And quite a few just sat on the ship and watched the world go by. Which is in Amsterdam on the IJ (pronounced Heya without the H and the a) a lot of work as the water way if full of all sorts of traffic. Varying from the river Rhine barges, small & large, Cargo & passenger, sightseeing boats; to contraptions which should never have left the back garden.

Weather Forecast for the area off the Norwegian coast. This section is called Viking by the shipping forecast. (Courtesy the Shipping Forecast)

Although these are all benefits that came with a 2^nd day in port it was not the plan of course. But things were not looking good up the Norwegian coast and thus the Captain had to take action. This time it was not only the worry about getting in also what would happen while going there and when arriving there and then not getting in. It is not a good idea just bounce around with a ship in wind force 10, (In the waves that these near hurricane winds generate) if this can be prevented.

Viking is the section at the top of our black course line. The red color indicates a variation from not good to very bad. (Courtesy the Shipping Forecast)

So the Captains logic was: If I sail on time (yesterday) then I would have arrived off the entrance to the Fjord to Bergen while knowing I would not get in due to wind and the waves and then have the ship bounce around with nowhere to go. Although you cannot fully predict what the weather is going to do, the 3 day forecasts are in general very reliable.

The challenges in this case were two fold. The bad weather up north in the Norwegian Sea and the very windy weather on the North Sea outside Ijmuiden.  Amsterdam might have the better cruise port compared to Rotterdam (although nobody in Rotterdam would agree with that statement) but to get to Amsterdam you have to go through the locks at IJmuiden. The ship fits in, but with not much room to spare. Cruise ships are happy drifters due to their bulky superstructure and cruise ships with balcony’s drift even more as the wind can really push into the balcony holes and the balcony side partitions help considerably to keep the wind there instead of it being bounced off and dispersed.

At sea blowing away is not a big deal and the faster you go the less you drift from your course line.

The Dutch shipping forecast uses yellow while the British uses Red. This is the Dutch way of “Not Good” yesterday. (Courtesy KNMI scheepvaart weer bericht)

But we have to go through those locks and that goes at a very slow speed. The Koningsdam towers very high above the dock height and 30 knots of wind on the side makes it very tricky – too tricky – to maneuver into the small opening. Two good reasons to rethink the battle plan.

As soon as a plan has been made, it is checked with our head office and after the green light is given, the changes are made. In this case the decision was made to drop Aalesund from the schedule with the view of providing the guests still with the best experience possible under the given circumstances.

Today the wind was as strong as yesterday but had shifted more to the west. Thus the wind would be on the bow while entering the locks and then there is no drift and thus not much of a problem.

Once out of the locks, the pedal was put to the metal to gain as much time and speed to maintain until we come to the storm area where the waves are getting higher. Then by slowing down the ship, the most comfortable speed can be offered while still keeping the schedule for the call at Hellesylt / Geirangerfjord. Now it is a matter of keeping our fingers crossed that the weather is going to follow the weather forecast.

Tonight it will be windy but the North Sea should not give much of a discomfort (Apologies to all those guests who might think otherwise……….) but sometime tomorrow afternoon we are entering the wave field on the border of the North Sea and the Norwegian Sea and then things will change. Hence the slowing down to ensure the change in movement will be as little as possible. By that time the storm should also start to abate and eventually the high waves as well.

Weather forecast for tonight in open sea. Not so bad. (Courtesy The Shipping Forecast)

Weather forecast for tomorrow: Sunny, Windy and temperatures around 59oF / 15oC.

Shipping Forecast:  The red is gone from the German Bight section.

The red is disappearing. Today from the German shores, tomorrow it should be gone from Norway as well. Leaving only the swell to contend with. (Courtesy: The Shipping Forecast.)

While the ms Rotterdam started their 2^nd day in Rotterdam, I left the ship at 08.00 and took the train to Amsterdam. The Netherlands has the densest railway network in the world (not so difficult when you are a small country) and also runs a large number of trains on Sundays.

The ms Rotterdam passing the ss Rotterdam in Rotterdam in 2011

There is even the option of a fast train, which is called the Inter city, and only stops at Schiphol Airport and there is the stop and start train which stops (nearly) at every train station along the route. That costs Euro 2.40 more but it saves up to half of the journey time.  Although I was not in a particular hurry, I decided to go for the fast one as I was not going to make an in depth study about trains in Holland and certainly not about how the Dutch got on and off of them. (Preferably while arguing over the whose bike should go on and off, as Dutch trains are bike friendly)

The Green train coming in. With the middle section painted green. This one was making the longest journey you can do by train in the Netherlands: Maastricht (far south) to Groningen (far north), without changing trains.

While at Rotterdam Centraal Station I came across a new phenomenon, The Green Train. I had never heard of it but it turns out that the plan is to have all Dutch trains run on wind generated electricity by 2018. Now they have only a few and they are painted green. I do not see how they can run one specific train on green and the rest on the same overhead power supply on normal so I assume that it is just an indication that this green symbolizes the percentage of the Wind energy which is fed to the rail grid.

In 45 minutes I arrived at Amsterdam Centraal Station. I wanted to be early as this weekend there is the Gay Parade in Amsterdam; yesterday they had canal parade, when you can see pink things afloat that would normally sink, and today was the 2^nd day with street party’s and other Dutch Mayhem planned. Everybody on the ms Rotterdam had been warned to allow extra time if travelling there as it was expected to be busy. But I suppose party people do not get out of bed at 10 am and it was nice and quiet around the station. I decided to walk with my suitcase as it is only about a mile to the Cruise Terminal. I was not the only one as I had to wade against the tide. A lot of disembarking guests (mostly Dutch and Italian) had decided to do the same and walk to the station for transport. Maybe that is why we do not have suitcases anymore without wheels. It saves on taxi costs!!!!

So by 10.30 I was on board as I had never been away. Now a nearly 4 week period will start on the ms Koningsdam. We will first do a 7 day cruise to Norway, then a 14 day cruise to Scotland, Iceland and Norway, and then there is another Norway cruise, which I will leave in the middle. You can book this cruise as a one week, or a three week, by adding a one week to the 14 day cruise.

Norse Legends and Northern Isles.

Whatever we plan for cruises, it always had one thing that you cannot plan for and that is the weather. There is a very strong storm going over the Netherlands today and this means that the Koningsdam cannot sail safely through the North Sea Canal (see my yesterday’s blog) and go through the locks. And thus the ship will stay overnight in Amsterdam and will sail tomorrow afternoon at 14.00 hrs. This means the original schedule cannot be kept and thus the port of Alesund has been cancelled and we only call at Geirangerfjord, Eidfjord and Bergen.

Captain in command of the Koningsdam is Capt. Darrin Bowland who is from Canadian descent and who joined us a number of years ago from Royal Caribbean. He is on the final part of his contract and by next time Amsterdam he will be relieved by Captain Emiel de Vries who will be returning from leave.

So the good ship Koningsdam will stay in Amsterdam overnight.  I do not know if the guests are going to be happy but the crew certainly will as downtown is only a 15 minutes walkaway and we all expect the City to be heaving tonight.

We are back on traditional ground as from 1873 to 1973 Holland America ships were in and out of this port on a daily basis. Not always in the most easy way as in the early years the depth of the river was not kept up with the vast increase in size and draft of the ships but eventually it was all sorted out.

This chartlet shows the various routes to Rotterdam. As rule of thumb the deeper the draft the more southerly route you had to use until 1873.

The water we float on is the water of the river Maas (Dutch) or Meuse (French) and consists of rain water coming all the way from France and while running through Belgium and the Netherlands it is getting bigger and bigger. Before it looked as it does now, the river split up once it came to Holland or the Netherlands which was barely above water in those days.  The area was a sort of Delta and the river split up in various smaller streams. Creating many little exits to the sea and all very shallow. Nothing could to be done about it; it was the way it was. When Amsterdam received a direct connection with the North Sea (the North Sea Canal) in the 1850’s, Rotterdam felt entitled to have that as well. So for the next 20 years they bombarded the government in The Hague with plans and complaints about them being left behind.

One of the new deep drafted ships which benefited from the New Waterway was the P. Caland. Named after the designer/ main engineer of this New Waterway. Holland America was so grateful for the direct connection that they named a ship after him. This was before the company went to DAM names only.

Then finally funding became available to straighten one arm of the Maas and being the Dutch way we gave it another name: the New Waterway. Based on this New Waterway plan it was decided to launch a steamship company but as a private enterprise called Plate & Reuchlin C.V named after the two main owners. They bought two new ships, the Rotterdam (I) and the Maas and then found that the river was still too shallow. So the ships had to go via the islands of Zeeland to get to Rotterdam via the backdoor. Extra costs and delays were the result. Then in 1873 the Nieuwe Waterweg /New Waterway was finally that far that deep sea steamships could make it to Rotterdam directly. At the same time the company went public to raise money for fleet expansion and thus we were officially born on 18 April 1873.

From the bridge of the ms Rotterdam looking to Starboard ,the north side of the river. Our first office in 1871. (The low building with the green roof)

The river side has changed enormously. Where there used to be only farm fields there is now industry and lots of Apartment buildings, as many of the small towns along the river are now more or less connected and form one big chain of Suburbia. Coming close to the passenger terminal, the layout of the city and the port has not changed very much but with the coming of Containerization for freight transportation the old docks have lost their commercial purpose and are now being redeveloped for housing.

The Holland Amerika Lijn Terminal in the 1930’s. From Right to Left: ss Nieuw Amsterdam (II), ss Statendam (II) and either the Veendam or Volendam from 1922.

Once you have docked at the Cruise terminal you are in the heartland of Holland America. The current cruise terminal (about 50% of the old building it is still left) was built by the company after the 2^nd world war when the first terminal was bombed. The parking areas and the apartment buildings around it now stand where once the cargo sheds of the company were. Our old head office (built between 1901 and 1909) still stands on the end of the pier and is now a hotel. Holland America has a sales and manning office in one of the large apartment buildings opposite. From the end of the pier you can also see the very old head office of the company (1871), the next office (Poortgebouw 1881) and in the distance the imposing silhouette of the Rotterdam V which is now a hotel, conference centre and museum.

From the Bridge of the ms Rotterdam looking to Portside. In the brown building is where the Dutch office of HAL is located and next to it the old head office of the company now Hotel New York.

The area is a sort of triangle sticking out into the river. Where we are now docked was always the passenger side and as many as 3 passenger ships could be dock there at the same time. The other side (Rijnhaven) is where the cargo ships used to dock. Now it is open water or in use by river barges. At the corner, next to the old head office is a water taxi station, which takes you for 5 euro’s to the ss Rotterdam or into town. Cheaper than a taxi and much more fun.

Our Dutch Head office in the Good old days. The little white boat is the special tender for transporting the company management through the port. It had the name: Dam.

I will have to take a regular taxi to Rotterdam Central Station as they dammed a long time ago the canal which ran all the way up it to the Central Station area, so no chance of taking a boat. From there I will take the local train to Amsterdam and my next blog will be tomorrow from the Koningsdam.

And what it looks like now. To the left the harbor masters office and to the right what we call in dutch a “Woon toren” === tower to live in. (Somebody took this photo but I lost the name. Apologies to the maker)