- Captain Albert's Website and Blog -

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

Page 31 of 234

12 October 2018; Cadiz, Spain.

October 12, 2018 / / 3 Comments

Cadiz is the only Atlantic port we will visit during this cruise and to do that we had to poke our nose outside the Pillars of Hercules, with other words sail through the Straits of Gibraltar. From Ceuta it is not that far as you curve around the rock of Gibraltar and you are basically there. Getting into Cadiz takes a bit more doing as the port is hidden on the inside of the Cadiz peninsula which always gave the ships a good shelter against swell and Wind. The protection against the swell is still there, the wind is another story. The cruise ships are now that high, that they tower well above the port and nicely catch the wind that blows over the houses, churches and containers. Arrival in Cadiz can be a very windy affair and can cause some uncomfortable moments if you have to swing in the port and/or have to dock against the wind. While sailing in, you sail through a river estuary, which goes from being a fairly narrow river to a very wide delta before it meets the Ocean. As a result there is an enormous muddy area on both sides of the buoyed channel. The buoys are needed to indicate where the deep water is and you have to hug the red side as the green buoys are not on the edge of shallow water but quite a ways onto the mud flats. Most likely caused by sediments which settled in the curve of the river on the slow flowing side.

The port of Cadiz. Blue indicates shallow water and when we sail in and out we hug the red buoyed side of the channel.

The main port where the cruise ships and ferries dock is U shaped and normally the top north corner is used as a cruise ship berth as they have a little terminal there and it is the closest gate to walking into town. But Cadiz is a popular cruise port; a. for the city itself, b. for the easy way of getting to Seville by bus as that much larger city is only an hour away. There are days when there are 6 or 7 cruise ships in port and then the port is really full. Today there was some space left but there were still the three of us. (Plus a small river cruiser: the Belle of Cadiz) At the cruise terminal/dock was the Ventura of P&O cruises as she was the biggest one; then there was us and we were farmed out to the South side container dock and at the side center berth was the Crystal Serenity basically because she fitted in there. When I was captain on the Prinsendam and the S class ships that was my standard dock in Cadiz, as the ships fitted in nicely alongside. Also for the guests it was not a bad location as this dock is on top of the other main Gate.

For us it was a little more complicated today, we were further out on the cargo dock and thus the local authorities had a shuttle bus running to the Gate as walking on a cargo dock is never a good idea unless there is no work being done on a Sunday. Fork and container lift drivers are all convinced that they have to break the record time while racing from one part of the dock to the other part of the dock and they do not tend to pay much attention to the surrounding world while on their record attempting runs.

Most of our Guests were on tour either to Seville or to Cadiz and its surroundings but the few who remained on board were treated to a Boat drill show from the Ventura. All cruise ships have the same basic routine although the way we go about it might be different from company to company. Even for the ships inside the Carnival Corporation (of which Holland America and P&O Cruises are both a subsidiary) there are differences. Some caused by historical routines, some by legal circumstances, Dutch Flag State versus UK Flag State, and sometimes because somebody had a bright idea which the company implemented and what another company thought was not a bright idea at all. (You find that everywhere in the world, just compare the USA army, with the Russian Army or with the Chinese Army. They have guns, but all the guns are different and they all march different)

Boat drill, mother Goose with the little ducklings. As you can see about half are in a circular pattern, guarded by one tender and the rest has gone on exploration and has to be called back.

Today the Ventura held a General Boat drill or Abandon ship drill. Maritime Law or Solas law requires that every crew member will participate in at least one drill every month and that each life boat goes into the water at least every three months. How that is done is up to the Flag State and the individual company. Some company’s strictly follow the monthly / three monthly rule and some have a much higher frequency. As is the case with Holland America, were our boats normally are in the water about every 14 days. Most companies have a cycle of whereby the crew has one focused drill which involves them in detail and then a full ship drill when each has had their focused drill. So in 4 weeks, a lifeboat crew might be in the water with their boat twice in a month.

Lowering all the boats on one side at the same time requires a special routine so they do not bump into each other or land on top of each other when lowering. Once they are in the water, they are all supposed to sail in a semicircular parade until the Officer in charge calls them back one by one to come back under the falls and to be hoisted up again. That sailing in a circle does not always work. Most of the Lifeboat commanders are Hotel officers and Crew and their view on discipline does not always entail the same sort of circle as the Deck officer in charge had envisioned. Also the chance to go sightseeing with your own lifeboat in the port is a temptation that few lifeboat crews can withstand. Hence, and this is for all the ships regardless of company, we have a really lucky day if everybody sails nicely in the oblong circle and keeps doing that.

This evening we sail back into The Mediterranean and then head for Barcelona. As we have to go all the way around the south side of Spain, we will have a day at sea tomorrow while we hug the Spanish coast going eastwards.

11 October 2018; Ceuta, Spanish Morocco.

October 11, 2018 / / 1 Comment

Today we stepped onto African soil although in a European setting. Ceuta is a fair distance from Cartagena and thus our arrival time for today was 13.00 hrs. with an equal late departure time of 23.00 hrs.  Thus this is the official evening call port which Holland America tries to include in each of its cruises, where possible and where feasible.  With Ceuta being Spanish, there is sufficient night life to sustain an evening call. Apart from that, the later departure gives the chance to run tours into Morocco and as the buses are sometimes stuck in border control for a while an early departure does not really work anyway.

Ceuta a small part of Spain on the African Continent. (Chart courtesy website called Rida-Chakour)

For the Navigators on the bridge, this is an interesting area. Thus far our courses took us away from the beaten path but this morning we entered the Vessel Traffic Separation Scheme which keeps the flows toward the Suez Canal and the flow of ships coming from the Canal separated. This VTS system is on the north side close to Spain and Ceuta is on the south side as it is part of Africa and attached to Morocco.  It was part of a much larger Spanish area which is now Morocco but several small bits still belong to Spain.

Ceuta is mainly sitting on a peninsula curve around a bay which was turned into a harbor. The pier sticking out in the middle of the port is the cruise terminal.

Ceuta is about 8.5 square miles in size (18.5 kilometers) and is not much more than a city perched on a peninsula. Quite strategic, being close to the Straits of Gibraltar. In the same way as the British still have Gibraltar, the Spanish have Ceuta. Politically a very complicated situation but as they both allow cruise ships for a visit, it works for us, and here we are.

Thus the Navigators had an an enjoyable time; zig zagging between the ships going East towards the Eastern Mediterranean. That brings them into contact with all sorts of ships including those where the watch keeping standards are …………… let say…………….. a little bit looser than with HAL. That means that we cannot expect or assume that the other ship will keep a good lookout and will take action when required to do so. Thus we follow the good rule: If you recognize an idiot, sail around it. This morning there was one out there who would have fallen under that rule but luckily he was far away. Every time he heard somebody on the VHF, he would answer with: “are you calling me ?” without identifying himself, so nobody got very far in finding out if he was indeed the ship they wanted to talk to or not.

For a ship the size of the Koningsdam, the port is quite small. By the time the bow comes to the dock, the stern is still between the breakwaters. There is a small cruise ship alongside. Our ship stuck out by over 30 meters behind the end of the pier.

Once you are through the flow of traffic, it is a matter of keeping a good eye out for the fast ferries (catamarans) racing in and out of Ceuta and then it is just sailing into the port under a slight angle and the cruise terminal is right there. A slight angle as the dock is a bit to the West but also angled so it lies in line with the predominant wind. Cruise terminal is a big word, it is a big pier with the Harbor Master Office at the end, but a small shed near the Gate that made up the complete cruise facility. In the olden days this pier was not use in use for cruise ships and we had to make a 90 turn to the west and then dock at the outer breakwater. That could be very nasty as there is often a lot of wind here and the old docks were 90o onto the ship so you could drift all over the place. The cruise ship dock has now been repaired and the wind is most of the time on the bow and the ship can dock without drifting.

the Koningsdam alongside a very nice and wide pier. The little hut where you see all the guests congregating was the only cruise dedicated building in sight.

This means that tonight the Captain will just go astern and sail backwards out of the harbor instead of swinging around; as backing out is the easiest maneuver. Especially with Azi-pods it does not make much of a difference whether you sail making headway or sail making sternway. For the guests it is an interesting port, especially as the Saharan influence has caused a certain disdain for rules and regulations that we take for granted. Our shore excursion booklet goes to great lengths to explain that visiting the local markets is a great experience but also that it might be a bit heavy on the Eyes and Nose when walking around. Plus there are always numerous “collectors” around who are very eager to add your photo camera to their already extensive collection. Carpets are cheap and of good quality here and there are always a few enthusiastic souls who buy a big one without realizing that they have to fly home with it as well.

We will be leaving Ceuta between 22.30 and 23.00 hrs. get back in the VTS for the western flow again and then sail for Cadiz in Spain. So we will be playing around in the North Atlantic Ocean for a while. Cadiz can be very cool under the influence of the North Atlantic Ocean but tomorrow it should be sunny with temperatures around 25oC or 77oF with very little wind. That will make it very nice on the ocean boulevard but a bit warm in the old town.

 

10 October 2018; Cartagena Spain.

October 10, 2018 / / 3 Comments

The good ship Koningsdam docked at Cartagena as scheduled and could look forward to a nice day. There was some talk about a chance of thunderstorms but also that the temperature might go up to the mid 80’s which is not bad at all for Autumn in October. Although Spain is known for its summer / sunny weather it can be quite cold here during the winter time with only the noon time temperature being half reasonable. Early mornings and evening can still be very chilly in the periods between September and April. But today was a good day.

The dock in Cartagena. Photo taken from the starboard Bridge wing of the ms Noordam in 2001. They had just finished the new dock layout with dolphins and catwalks.

Cartagena tends to be a bit warmer and have less rain than the surrounding area as it is laying in a sort of Valley with high mountain or hill ranges on either side. The Romans already knew about that and established a large presence here. For cruise ships it was a bit of a hidden gem and Holland America added the port to the cruise schedules on a regular basis only after 2001. Yours truly was with the Noordam the first one to make a regular call here and to see if we could bring in larger numbers of guests. 1200 guests were a large number in those days. The Authorities had shown foresight and had put in a complete new cruise terminal by rebuilding and extending the old cargo & ferry dock. However their foresight did not go too far into the future as what accommodated two ships easily in 2001 was not enough a few years later and thus they extended the pier and now it can handle two mega liners without too much of a hassle.

A Photo from almost the same location. The year 2016 and seen from the portside bridge wing of the ms Rotterdam. Docked in front, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam. the catwalks have gone and the main pier has been extended.

It is a nice and sheltered harbor which only has to deal with nasty winds if they blow directly from the south. The other 3 points of the compass are quite well protected by the mountains. Swell is never much of a problem as the entrance to the harbor is protected by two piers which force the ships to do a zig-zag when coming in but as the in-rolling swell is not very good at zig-zagging, these piers serve their purpose very well. That makes the captains very happy on most occasions and the shore side does its best to make the guests happy at all times.

The port of Cartagena. Please note the mountain ranges enclosing the port as a horse shoe. The two breakwaters are overlapping and keep the swell out. The ship alongside is our old Westerdam (II) which left us in 2004 but still sails around quite happily until the current day.

Cartagena is one of my favorite ports, although I have not spent enough time there to fully appreciate all that it has to offer. Due to its sheltered harbor it was founded more than 200 years BC and after the Carthagians, came the Romans, then the Moors (read the Ottoman empire for the area that is now Turkey) and then it became Spain and it remained focused on its harbor. With a change of owners came war, decline and then time of prosperity again, so there is a lot to see in the area with ruins and artifacts from all these periods. Even the Art Noveau Period (my favorite art style) is present with numerous houses and apartment buildings from the 1920’s and 1930’s when Cartagena had a merchant boom due to the nearby mining industry. A lot of important history was also created during the period of the Spanish Civil war when the city was the last major stronghold in Spain to fall during the advance of General Franco.

The Roman Theater in Cartagena. I am always fascinated by the fact that the Romans managed to get their acoustics so well done that a voice from the stage could be heard – un-amplified – over the whole spectator area; while we are still messing around with amplifiers and microphones to get the same result. (Photo Courtesy: Spain tourist Info web)

For those not going on tour to look at antiquities, the old town is very nice and very south Spanish. It is NOT sitting directly on top of the port as there used to be an inner Sea here which dried out and was then built upon in the 20th century, so if you take the wrong turn you could miss the old watering and eating spots.  But there is enough to do for everybody as long as you have done your homework or listened to our EXC Guides. And if all else fails, there is a Big Red Bus with a sightseeing loop, to help you make up your mind to find out what you want to do during the day.

We stay in Cartagena until 18.00 hrs. and then after zig-zagging out of the port set course for Ceuta, Spanish Morocco. And that is a Spanish foothold on the North Coast of Africa. Again a port which only gained cruise ship prominence in early 2000’s. Less in favor by ship captains as it is open to the prevailing winds from most sides.

Those winds are not expected to be an issue tomorrow but there is a chance of 70% of rain in the morning petering off to a 30% chance of drizzle in the afternoon. Not that great for our guests but no doubt the locals will be very happy as they do not get that much of it.

09 October 2018; At Sea.

October 9, 2018 / / 5 Comments

As the distance between Civitavecchia is not one that requires a top speed, the captain could wait with sailing until all the guests were on board. Guests departing late from Rome, or returning from tours (I just found out we have over 500 back to back guests on board, that is over 20% of all on board) can have delays on the roads out of Rome or from the airport. Looking at the number of small cars parked everywhere in Rome, it seems that public transport is not that popular and all those little cars come racing out of all the small roads of Rome any time after 1600 hrs.; to into the country side and or into the suburbs. And racing the Italians do like. I was picked up yesterday by a private Mini Van from my hotel near the airport and the driver was clearly training for the next Grand Prix. Normally it takes at least 45 minutes on the motor way, or autostrada, to reach the outskirts of Civitavecchia and he did it in 32 minutes. The speedometer seldom went under the 140 (90 miles) kilometers an hour and thus we overtook anything and everything. And that in a country where even the Garbage Vans thunder by with 100+ (62 miles) kilometers an hour on the motor way. I did not mind as I would not have to pay the speeding ticket and there was no opposing traffic as this was a multi lane motorway.

The Koningsdam did not go for 90 miles an hour; we leveled off at 17 knots. That brought us to the Bonifacio Passage or strait between Corse and Sardinia around 10 pm. last night. A pity as it is quite scenic during day time. But with autumn in full swing it was dark by this time and the sides of the strait are only sparsely populated so it is not as if you are sailing into New York or through Istanbul. We go through the strait as it saves more than 4 hours sailing at full speed, compared to going around the south side of Sardinia. The strait is 11 kilometers wide or six nautical miles and the fairway is not straight but has a bend in the middle which can be a challenge during bad weather; or with a lot of shipping and or fishing boats in it. Nowadays with the modern navigation equipment it is not such a challenge anymore but in the old days most ships did avoid the strait, especially if the Captain did not have any local knowledge. There is current, and it can blow very hard through the hole, shoals are not always clearly marked if you stray a just little bit off course and on the west side near the town of Bonifacio there are ferries crossing and they take the “right of way” even when they do not have “the right of way”. The latter is mainly caused by the fact that they consider a “big passing distance” what we consider a “near miss”. There is pilotage available for the Strait but it is only compulsory for tankers and strongly recommended for ships not as well equipped and maneuverable as the cruise ships are.

The Strait of Bonifacio. Named after the town at the Western Entrance.

Diagram courtesy of Bonifacio Strait pilots.

Once through the strait you leave the Tyrrhenian Sea behind and you are sailing in the West Mediterranean Sea, which showed us this morning that autumn has arrived in the Med. The weather is changing over from Sun & Wind, to Wind & Thunder storms, but there is still a lot of sun once the thundering is finished. Early this morning we passed through a band of rain and the electric show was quite impressive. And that weather we kept most of the day while sailing under the Balearic Islands of Mallorca, Menorca and Ibiza. Ports we also regularly call at but not during this cruise.

The top of one of the four MaK engines that provide all the power for the ship. The ship can make just over 17 knots on two engines and over 22 knots on four engines.

Tonight the captain will put three engines on line, so we will go a bit faster and then we will arrive nicely on time in Cartagena. The ms Koningsdam has four main engines connected to generators which provide all the power for the ship. So what is normal in the cruise industry, is that you run an average maximum speed which is a little bit too high and then you “drop an engine” when that average speed to maintain is the same as what one engine less can deliver. Or you start with just sailing on the edge of the correct speed and you switch another engine on “to make up” if you are just not going fast enough. That was decided this time as on departure Civitavecchia it was not known how much time the ship would lose while going through Strait Bonifacio and how much favorable current the ship would get once sailing under the Balearic Islands. Thus tonight we go to three engines unless Mother Nature gives us an extra free push in the right way tonight.

This evening we will sail under the coast of Spain until we come to the deep bay of Cartagena after sunrise. If there is no delaying traffic we should be docked fairly quickly as the distance between the pilot station and the cruise ship dock is not much more than 2 miles.

Weather for tomorrow should be good. The band of rain we have seen today will be completely gone by the time we get to the port and the weather gurus are expecting a dry and sunny day with very little wind. Temperatures around 76oF or 24oC. Nice weather for sightseeing or sitting on a terrace to see the world go by.

08 Oct. 2018 Civitavecchia, Italy.

October 8, 2018 / / 8 Comments

Rather un-expectedly I ended up on the Koningsdam for one cruise. My original schedule called for joining the Nieuw Statendam on October 05 but that was rescheduled to October 26, leaving me with a small gap in the program. Hence the option came up to go for one cruise to the Koningsdam for a project that will also be useful for the Nieuw Statendam when she starts sailing. It all has to do with fine tuning a special safety feature the ships have that were constructed after 2014. More about that during one of the coming days.

Our coming 10 day cruise called Mediterranean Mosaic

The Koningsdam is currently making Mediterranean cruises from Civitavecchia and today it will commence a West Mediterranean cruise with a length of 10 days, sailing from Civitavecchia to Cartagena (Spain), Ceuta, Spanish Morocco, Cadiz, Barcelona, Marseille, Monte Carlo and Livorno. Then the next cruise will go to the East side of Italy to Croatia and Greece. The cruise world is still monitoring the situation with Turkey so for the time being the cruise ships (of all the major company’s) are not doing the longer loop cruises which would include Kusadasi and Istanbul.

Captain Noel O’Driscoll has been at sea for 24 years of which 19 with Holland America. See his bio on this blog site.

Master of the ms Koningsdam is Capt. Noel O’Driscoll formerly of the ms Veendam who joined this ship in June  after having played with the 3rd oldest ship in the fleet, he is now in charge of the newest ship in the fleet. In the olden days of yore the youngest captain would start on the oldest or smallest ship and then go by seniority to the larger and newer ship once those ahead of him had moved up and the oldest, normally the commodore, retired. Then we had a period when each ship had a senior master and a Jr. Master would fill the gap when the Sr. went on vacation.  When we went to the 3 on 3 off schedule that did not work anymore either as both captains now served equal time and the younger one did not fill in anymore when it was just convenient for the Sr. Captain.

When the 3 on 3 off schedule for all captains (and other Ships staff members) was established, the company went to teams and that made it possible that a very senior captain would sail on an older and smaller ship and a less senior on a newer and larger one. It came down to personal preferences and where the gap was when you started out. Nowadays the whole system fluctuates even more as several captains do stints at our Simulator school in Almere and when they step out, those gaps have to be filled by whoever is available. The company does like to keep captains with their teams on the same ship but you will see more variation in who is on board a ship nowadays than a few years ago. Once the Nieuw Statendam is in operation, there will be a re-alignment again as it means an addition to the fleet with no ship leaving.

The first ship that will leave will be the ms Prinsendam on 1 May 2019 but in the period afterwards there might also be some captains retiring and that will start another musical chair dance. (I cannot say who is going to retire as they might change their mind again……….. sailors love playing with their boats and the thought of having only a rubber duck in the bath tub to play with, does make many change their mind)

Today in port we have the Costa Magica and the Vision of the Seas so at 17.00 hrs. or just thereafter we should have a nice sail away from the port and heading into the Thyrrenian Sea. It is and will continue to be a beautiful day here, mid 70’s and sunny with a gentle sea breeze and that will give a good start to our new cruise. We have quite a few back to back cruise guests on board who are spending 3 weeks on board and then have the chance to see both the east and west Mediterranean during one vacation.

Most of them took the train to Rome or walked into Civitavecchia today to avoid the mayhem of change over day. Tomorrow we are at sea then we will have our first port of call Cartagena Spain, which came to cruise prominence after the year 2000 and although very popular is still a bit off the beaten track. Yes you can buy the T shirt there but you have to look for it.

 

 

04 Aug. 2018; At Sea.

August 4, 2018 / / 18 Comments

This is the last day of Voyage 87; another 7 day cruise to Norway almost completed. The Koningsdam is making a varied pattern of 7 day and 14 cruises to Norway and then in between a cruise going another way. That is what she will do when she starts voyage 88, called the Northern Isles and includes calling at Scottish ports and visiting Iceland. The mixture of various lengths of cruises and destinations is a pattern which Holland America’s prefers to have so it can attract guests who stay for more than one cruise.

The next cruise of the Koningsdam which will offer a few more sea days to relax and enjoy.

Nice for the company but also nice from the focus of the guest. Especially those who come from far away. It does not make much sense to fly all the way from Vancouver to Amsterdam, do a 7 day cruise and fly all the way back again. Jet lag will cost you 2 days and the last day is half gone with packing. Thus on our ships we see a pattern of travelers coming from far way staying on board for multiple cruises or combing a cruise with overland activities. Because Holland America is offering that option we see a lot of Aussies and Kiwi’s on board who have made the 26 hrs. journey from down under and then embark on a month long (or longer) period of traveling through Europe. We often see them near the end of their overland travels so they can make a cruise and at the same time relax without packing and unpacking their bags, as we will park their hotel for them in a new place every day. The company even has a name for them. CVG guests. Collector Voyages Guest and, time permitting, we treat them to an extra lunch or cocktail party out of appreciation.

Club Hal is made up out of three sections. Toddlers, those in between ( a bit of a vague area)  and teenagers up to 17. This the Loft, a place for teenagers to hang out and to be cool.

The Koningsdam is focusing on 7 day cruises as it expects that all the amenities this ship has will attract a younger crowd and families with children. We need to do this as otherwise there will be no HAL cruiser left in the future. With our 7 day cruises we do have a lot of families on board, at least during the school holidays. Not only Dutch but also from the USA, Canada, Russia, India and this cruise also from the East Mediterranean. It gives for a nice kaleidoscope of languages, sometimes clothing, but above all the various ways of families bonding and having a great time. For an interested observer the actions going on in Club HAL are even more interesting. We always have one or two child minders on board but when the bookings indicate that there are a lot of children expected, then those numbers go up pro rata to 6 or 8 club HAL staff. Kids do not do politics (except when it comes to hoarding toys) and it is interesting to see that all the nationalities just mix in without any reservation. Sometime I wonder if it would not work better if we put all the big political shots of the world on a HAL cruise (without advisers), make the drinks half price and let them sort it out. It is amazing what you can agree upon after five Heineken’s. I know from experience, I sold one of my bicycles once that way. Turned out the next morning that it was not my bike at all but nobody could remember who the real owner was and what had happened to him. But the evening before it all made sense. And I wondered ever since what happened to that person as we all came to that party on a bike. Maybe he got a date with a girl who had a tandem.  This was in Holland and with bikes everything is possible, there is even a pub on wheels where you peddle with 10 people and drive the thing around the town while drinking.

On the last day of the cruise Holland America puts out scales in the staircases on every deck. The idea is that you can weigh your suitcase so it is not too heavy when going back on the plane. Some people use it for that purpose, but a lot of guests step on it to see how much weight they have put on during the cruise. Most of the time they are not very happy with the result. But then they have 358 days to deal with it before it is time for the next cruise.

This is most of the time the main cause for frowning at scales. The Dining Room of the ms Koningsdam.

The good ship ms Koningsdam will dock at 07.00 hrs. tomorrow morning in the port of Amsterdam and that is also the end of my cruise. At 09.30 my private car (Holland America looks after its captains very well ) will be waiting at the gangway. Schiphol is only 30 minutes away and by 2 pm. I will be home in England, ready to face the Honey Do list from my Lord and Master and that of the Apartment building. My focus point for the coming period is designing and building new garbage sheds that offer enough space for the recycling requirements of the local council.

That brings me to the end of this period of blogging on board the various ships of the company and my blog will now stop until approx. 5 October. Then the plan is to go to the new building of the Nieuw Statendam in Marghera near Venice. As I did with the building of the Koningsdam I will take you again through the preparations of bringing our next new ship into service. I thank all my readers for their continued support and I hope I did not bore you too often.

The ms Nieuw Statendam under construction at Marghera late last year. She is going on trials this month and by the time I see her the shipyard they will be hard at work to finish the inside for a delivery date of 01 December.

03 Aug. 2018; Bergen, Norway.

August 3, 2018 / / 1 Comment

Bergen is part of Norway but somehow apart. People here say, there is Norway and then there is Bergen. They like to do things independently here and that means that routines are not always the same as in the rest of Norway. That also applies to the weather. One is not always certain what the weather is going to be like here as it really depends on the way the wind is blowing, or the lack of it. It worked out in our favor today; it did not rain. There was no wind at all so the moisture laden clouds that floated by above us did not hit the surrounding mountains hard enough that they started releasing all the water inside and so we had a very good day. It had rained before and during our arrival and then it nicely stopped.

There is a funicular going to the top of that misty mountain but the clouds do not always stay out of the way.

We were not the only ones who were lucky today as it was a busy day with cruise ships. In port today Koningsdam, Ventura, MSC Magnifica and the Nordkapp (Hurtigruten), not to count the regular ferries, cargo ships and off shore vessels as Bergen is a big port. Together with Stavanger it is a major home port for the North Sea oil and gas industry and just outside Bergen is a large Gas complex which feeds a gas pipe line to the United Kingdom. So I better say nothing negative about Bergen as otherwise the gas to my apartment might be cut off.

The downtown port has not much expanded through the years as most ships visiting there are not that big and still fit in the downtown harbor. Large ships, cruise ships are only here in the summer and then things change. They can still handle one biggy in the downtown area but others have to go to the cargo port which is not far away but gives an extra hurdle to take as you are not allowed to walk on the dock. The port lays on an elaborate shuttle service to avoid accidents in the port area and we had to use buses today. Right under our starboard bridge wing was a ferry dock and behind us a container dock and you do not want pedestrians milling around when those ships are discharging and loading.

Bergen is a World Unesco port and the down town area considered important as an outstanding cultural inheritance site. This photo is courtesy of Bergen Travel and they must have waited for a sunny day to take it.

Bergen is our final port call of this cruise and planned so the guests have the option of a company tour, or take off by themselves for shopping and sightseeing. For those nautically inclined it has a very nice Maritime Museum with a lot of Viking Era items. Then the old port is made up of wooden buildings from the days of the Hanseatic Treaty in Europe (a sort of European Common market but then between cities) and the wooden houses and warehouses have survived quite nicely. Some of them are still in use for trading purposes but a lot have been taken over as tourist shops. Then further down is the regular main street with department stores, restaurants, bars and supermarkets. A glass of beer here is ultra-expensive and the deck officers had figured out that for less money they could take their girlfriends on the funicular up the mountain for a good look over Bergen with the mountains in the background all covered in rain clouds.

The ships dummy was a willing casualty laying in a chemical spill. He is about to be transferred to a stretcher. I use milk for this as it shows up very well in the dark.

The crew did not have much time to go ashore as it was time for General drill. (Fire drill, followed by General Assembly, followed by disembarkation in lifeboats and life rafts) I ran one of my specials to challenge the teams and had come up with a fire in the Bo ‘sun store combined with a chemical spill. This means that the teams have to combine their trained routines for the various evolution’s into one plan to achieve their objectives. Extinguish the fire, contain the spill and save the casualties.

The medical team and helpers ready to receive the casualty covered in chemicals but also to deal with de-contaminating the fire teams coming out.

During the General Drill the focus is on achieving a 100% count of all guests and crew. During a regular passenger embarkation drill that is not so difficult to achieve. But our experience is that in a real emergency there are always a few guests who go in denial or get nervous or freak out. Still we want to save them so we also train for this. And for that we have a whole large team lined up who tracks all the search and evacuation teams on board and then coordinates what is needed to get EVERYBODY safely off the ship. The captain is the last one leaving so I suppose from him it is optional if he wants to go as there is nobody to push him into a life raft and off the ship.

The Muster Control Support Team in action, coordinating the movement of 2500+ guests and 900+ crew.

Tomorrow we are at sea, going back to Amsterdam the summer home port of the Koningsdam. Weather should be good, 24oC / 76oF and a gentle breeze. That will be my last day on the Koningsdam which I will close off with a Holland America Line History lecture for the guests, followed by the handing out of certificates to the sailors and followed by the all-important exercise of packing my suitcase

02 Aug. 2018; Geiranger Fjord, Norway.

August 2, 2018 / / 2 Comments

It is always a bit confusing with this place as the fjord and the town (or hamlet) have the same name. Everybody is talking about going to Geiranger Fjord but we are not really doing that, we only sailing through it and then park ourselves off the town of Geiranger. We can also call it the port of Geiranger as it has a dock for the small local ferries, excellent tender facilities and 3 anchorages for the cruise ships. And then there is space for those ships that have to, or like to, stay on the engines and drift. As I had hoped for, the rain that was predicted must have fallen at the other side of the mountain so we had a dry day. The mountains here are at least useful for something. They cut off internet connection all day but they are nice to look at and they keep the rain away.

The ms Koningsdam at her anchorage. We are close to the shore but it looks closer than it is. The brown triangle is the safety zone of the ship. If the ship moves out of it an alarm goes off as the safety margin is then breached,

The cliffs of the mountain ranges come directly up from very deep and that makes is possible to anchor very close to the shore side; it also makes it very difficult to anchor as the water is very deep, very dark in color and you cannot see if the anchor is doing its job or not. On windless days that is not so important as the weight from the chain on the sea bed will keep the ship in place but on windy days it would nice if we would be 100% sure if the anchor had dug itself in and was preventing the anchor chain from slipping (dragging we call this) from its supposed location. But today was a windless day and thus one anchor down with a lot of chain and four mooring lines to a bollard ashore was enough. If it had been windy then the ship would have stayed in the middle of Geiranger fjord and would have just drifted on the engines.

The stern of the ship is kept in position with mooring ropes. As you can see we are not THAT close to the rocks.

As mentioned yesterday with us in port was the Zenith, who was on a shorter stay call and was thus docked on the mooring buoys at the very end of Geiranger fjord. If you have that berth then you also have the option to use the Sea Walk which is a floating pontoon that zig/zags out to the ship and then provides a nice walkway to the shore. In that way at least one ship does not have to use the anchorage and run a tender service.

Our tenders are not that big but still dangerous to anything smaller. My question is why do they have to be exactly there? There is 200 miles of fjord around them and they have to drift 100 feet from the ship?  The tender driver is standing in his cockpit now, half outside to makes sure he sees everything.

Our tender drivers who freshly obtained their new certificates, had their work cut out today. Normally their challenge is wind, swell and current, today it was traffic. Although it is here the very end of the fjord, there is a lot of traffic. The local ferry is in and out, we had the Midnatsol from the Hurtigruten mail service come in and go out, local speedboats and what we hate the most, kayakers. It is wonderful to kayak in Geirangerfjord as you really feel one with Mother Nature but with larger ships around it can be dangerous. And I sometimes doubt if the companies who rent out these kayaks, warn and train the peddlers to stay clear of all the other traffic.  Because kayakers do not pay attention to anything. And even our small tenders have dead angles and could create a dangerous situation. We train our drivers and helpers to be on the look- out at all times as we do not know what the kayakers will do.  Our rule for avoiding issues here is quite simple:   slow down, stop and wait until you are completely sure of what that other craft is going to do. And today we saw that Golden Rule applied quite few times by the Tender drivers.  Stop, Watch and then very slowly go one direction and hope that the kayaker either sits still or goes the other way. If not, then we repeat the process and try going the other way.

Our route out of Geiranger Fjord. Long evening again for the captain on the bridge.

By 18.00 hrs. we will start sailing out of the fjord again and sail for Bergen. We will disembark our pilots at the pilot station just outside Alesund and then sail south to the pilot station of Bergen. From there it is only 2 hours to the dock instead of a whole long night as is the case with Geiranger Fjord.

Tomorrow we dock, that is the good news, tomorrow it might rain, that is the not so good news. We can only but hope that the rain is delayed as Bergen has mountains on three sides but the rain comes in where there is not mountain range.

01 Aug. 2018: Alesund, Norway.

August 1, 2018 / / 0 Comments

Welcome to sunny Alesund. After an overcast day in Eidfjord we saw the weather back from last cruise. Sunny and pleasantly warm. Unfortunately it is not going to last. While southern Europe continues to swelter in the heat (You have to be in Paris at the moment to quickly lose weight) Norway has arrived at the edge of the sunny weather system and in the coming days it is going to look more “Norwegian” again. For Geiranger we are expecting about a 40% probability of rain and for Bergen about 60%. For Geiranger this does not mean very much as it can be on one side of the mountain or on the other side or exactly in between and then we will get it. Bergen is the rainy capital of Norway as it catches most of the rain coming in from open sea and the incoming clouds then hit the mountains which surround Bergen. But savor the day in Alesund; and we are staying late so the guests can make the best of the weather.

Beautiful Alesund and our approach to the dock. Two large ships can dock at this location and we had an “Apartment of the Seas” behind us today. Then at the other side of the town there is a another dock for one more big ship or several smaller ones.

For most of our journeys here in Norway we are under pilotage as most of the time we are in Norwegian Waters. When we sail deep into the Fjords we normally have two pilots on board so they can run shifts on the bridge. This does not mean that one is in bed and the other one on the bridge. Normally they are both there but relieve each other on a two hour cycle in order to stay fresh and focused. Most pilots come out of the Hurtigruten coastal mail system but some are from the Navy and a few come from deep sea. The Royal Norwegian Navy is mainly a coastal defense navy and thus they are in and out of the fjords all the time.

An overview of all the pilot stations of Norway. The black lines indicate where there is a Pilot dispatch center for the coordination of all services.

To serve the coast there are a large number of pilot stations dotted along the coast. Most of the time right in front of a fjord or sometimes north and south of a main city such as Bergen. To get our pilots scheduled we use our Agent in Norway and as this agency looks after most of the cruise companies it works out very well for the arrangements. The agent works closely with the pilot dispatcher to get pilots on board in the most economical way. Embarking two pilots and keep them on board for the whole coast does not really work as the coast is very long and the pilots are specialized in certain sections of the coast. As an example the Oslo pilot comes on and goes off at the beginning of the fjord and does not sail on with the ship to Kristiansand which is just around the corner.

When the pilot station and the sector is somewhat in between two locations then we can have the same pilots on board. Thus our friends from yesterday for Eidfjord stayed on to take us to Alesund as well. As we are staying a long time in Alesund, they went home after breakfast (very important for pilots) and tonight we will get two who will take us to the Geiranger anchorage. Most likely they will stay on for the return trip but they could be relieved in Geiranger as the access from the port the National road system is very good. The pilot system is based on the average usage of traffic and thus they are quite strapped for pilots on occasion during the summer time when all the cruise ships are coming in. And quite a few of those ships will be going deep into the fjords. Either to Eidfjord or to Geiranger or into the Sognefjord (the smaller ones which fit under the bridge) to look at the pulpit rock. Hence our agent has his hands full with getting the reservations confirmed on time and having the pilots lined up at the right time and in the right place.

This is Alesund pilot station with an indication of all the routes the pilots are looking after. This evening we will follow the brown route going down and then going East into Geiranger fjord.

My right place was in the tender today as it was Sailor re-exam for tender driving. The company requires a yearly evaluation of their skills to ensure that they run a safe tender system for our guests. Something they have to do again tomorrow in Geiranger as there is no dock there.

We should be all set in Geiranger by 08.00 hrs. We will be together with the Zenith which is on a shorter stop and therefore it is expected that she will be scheduled closer to the tender dock than us. We have six tenders so for the distance it does not really matter that much. I just hope that the rain will decide to drift into another fjord and we will have a dry day.

31 July 2018: Eidfjord, Norway.

July 31, 2018 / / 1 Comment

It was a busy day in Eidfjord with two ships in. As there is only one dock, the Pacific Princess of Princess Cruises had to go to the anchorage. As there is not much of an anchorage, the fjord is very deep everywhere near the port, she stayed on the engines. For most guests an unusual sight because as she was drifting she did not stay in the exact same position all the time. Which made one of the guests wonder if the captain was drunk. In the old days we would have probably just said yes but as Princess Cruises is now our sister company, we are friends and do not stoke the fire anymore, and thus the guest received a truthful and detailed answer from one of the officers. We docked because we were the biggest one in port today, so it made sense to inconvenience as few guests as possible with a tender ride. The PP carries about 800 guests which is less that our total crew count.

When the ships are nearly the same size, when together in a port with limited docking space, then the pecking order changes. Preference is then given to the ships which call the most often. Which here in Norway is Aida Cruises. Also part of Carnival Corporation and thus also a sister company but from a different branch. In the same way as Princess and Holland America have been teamed up, Aida has as her partner company Costa Cruises. You would think that it would make more sense to team the Dutch up with the Germans but the decision to line up the various brands in groups was not done because the officer might have a link but because the products, the Brands, are close together. Both Aida and Costa have very large numbers of Europeans on board (Aida nearly 100% Germans) and that translates into similar ways of approaching the operations. Regardless whether it is with a German flavor or with an Italian flavor. (Bratwurst or Gelato??) As Holland America and Princess draw most of their clientele from North America, the logic is there as well.

Germany has a population of around 83 million people but has a very high percentage of cruise interested people, more than most other countries. And they are very interested in going to Scandinavia or the Nordland as they tend to call it. And they have been doing that for a very long time. When other company’s still had to discover that going to the fjords was interesting, the German shipping companies were already there. With the first ships calling as far back as the 1890’s. For more details have a look on this blog site under the drop down box Of Days Gone By. There is a story about the first REAL cruise ship ever built and one about the first real MASS market cruise ship. Both German, both going to the Fjords.

The ss Rotterdam in Stavanger Fjord. She is seen here docking in almost the same position as the Koningsdam last cruise. The KODM was a bit further back. The white buildings are still there and now house the Stavanger Maritime Museum. Those were the days that a cruise ship called and the whole town came out for a look.

Holland America went to the Fjords for the first time in 1933 with the ss Rotterdam (IV) and then popped up occasionally with the Veendam and the Volendam. But most of the “North land” trips were made by passenger ships from the company’s from Amsterdam as their ships were smaller and easier to fill. After the 2nd world war our ships returned but mainly on long cruises from the USA. It was not until the expansion from Holland America into the S Class that Scandinavian ports appeared regularly on the schedule.

The ss Volendam at anchor in Geiranger Fjord. She is also just floating due to the deep anchor ground. We will be in the exact same position the day after tomorrow.

We stayed in Eidfjord from 0700 hrs. until 15.00 hrs. under an overcast sky with the occasional rain shower. Tonight it should really belt down (although maybe not where we are as there are everywhere mountains in the way) and then tomorrow is should be a sunny but a cool day.

We will bypass Bergen as we will call there on the way back. Alesund is at the entrance of Geiranger fjord so we can make the call at Alesund a long one and we will be staying until 23.00 hrs.

Tomorrow we are in Alesund and to get there we have to race all the way out again, dip into the Norwegian Sea and then hop back in again. That going back is only 10 miles as Alesund is very close to the ocean. If all goes well we should be docked by 08.00 hrs. We will be together with one other ship, the Independence of the Seas but Alesund has some large docks with room for 3 or 4 ships so we all can dock.

Weather: dry 16oC / 61 of and with the sun coming out.

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