Thus we are on our way back to Norway and we are sailing under a cloudy sky. Courtesy of the British who from somewhere conjured up thunderstorms and rain. We got a bit of that rain dripping upon us in Amsterdam but it was only enough to settle the dust, not enough to make the farmers happy. The cloud cover now extends over part of England, the North Sea, the Skagerrak and the Norwegian Sea. That will result in a cloudy day in Eidfjord with some rain in the late evening.

A band of cloud with rain and thunderstorms came over Europe yesterday, but should slowly move away in the coming days. For Norway it will depend on how it moves to get either sunny or rainy weather again. (Photo Courtesy www.WeatherOnLine.com)

Then this band of cloud should move by and sunshine should return. Although it is expected that the heat wave will also return to Scandinavia, but if it will, will depend on the way the Jet Stream will lay. Thus far it was instrumental in maintaining a large high pressure system over the whole of Europe and keeping the clouds away; but it only has to move up, or come down a little bit, and the whole thing can change. There is a chance that it all will settle on a slightly lower trajectory and if this happens than Scandinavia will get its rainy weather back and go to normal temperatures. Everything south of Edinburgh will remain in the hot zone.

Published in soft back, size A 5 and 147 pages.

Whatever happens to the weather, I am a happy camper as yesterday I received the first copy of my new book: One Hundred and Forty-Five Years (of Holland America Line). As the last book with the complete history (400+) pages came out in 1998 and is only available 2^nd hand anymore; I thought it was time to do something new. Instead of making yet another standard work, I went for a descriptive option, with one page devoted to each year of the company’s history.

The photos from the older years are in black and white and then coming closer and closer to the current day they change to colour.

Thus 145 pages (but as we really started in 1871 with a small company which was transformed into Holland America, it is really 147 pages) with a text to the right and a fitting photo to the left. Although I think it is a wonderful book, we have to wait and see if the public agrees so the printer is going for low numbers at the moment. The shops on board have shown a tentative interest and hopefully that will work out.  My publisher is working on revamping his website into English so –non Dutch speakers – can also get hold of a copy and that revamp should happen in the coming days. (ISBN 9-789492-368294 www.gunsathome.nl) Next project will be a similar book, but about the Cruise history of the company which started in 1895 and continues to the current day. Most authors have always focused on either the fleet itself or on the North Atlantic but Holland America organized some very fancy cruises in the past. Although some big dreams were cut short due to the depression or the world wars. (So now you know what I do during my time away from the sea)

As mentioned in my previous blogs, Holland America normally has one Tour focused port in its cruise while the rest of the ports are mixed options. (Those are for our cruise Alesund and Bergen) Eidfjord is our focused Tour port tomorrow as the town is very small but the hinterland extraordinary. From waterfalls, to Nature Centers & the Hardangervidda National Park, outdoors activities and taking a cruise on Hardanger fjord which gives access to Eidfjord. Most of the Holland America Tours offer a combination of visiting sights and lunch, drinks and nibbles, to offset the overpowering nature with a bit of social interaction. Everything here is close by and most tours do not need more than 30 minutes to get to a dedicated destination. You do not have to travel to get to see Mother Nature here, it will be around us 24 /7 and you also will be able to see it nearly for 24 hours a day as the Norwegian days are still very long.

Hardanger fjord penetrates deep into the Norwegian land. Only Alesund and Bergen are fairly close to the sea. (Chart courtesy Lloyds World Atlas 2005)

For the captain and the navigation and engineering teams it will be again a long day as the pilot has been ordered for 02.15 in the morning and then we should be docked 07.00 in the morning. We are staying here until 15.00 hrs. and then we have to go the same way out.

Weather: Overcast with a chance of showers in the late morning and afternoon. 18oC / 65oF. Regular normal weather for Norway and as we will be tucked away deep into the fjord there should be hardly any wind.

I sometimes think that the guests do not always appreciate how many hours the officers on the bridge and in the engine room make while on these Norwegian Cruises. Hotel can normally continue their shift work day in day out but for upstairs and downstairs it all depends on where we are sailing. And with the Koningsdam on the 7 day run it is really hitting hard. This morning the captain was on the bridge by 02.15 and did not see his bed until 07.00 hrs. when the ship docked. Then by 10 am he is supposed to be around again to meet with people who are, or who think that they are, very important and then in the afternoon by 15.30 (Guest boatdrill) it starts all over again and then it will last until 22.00 hrs. before the Koningsdam is safely back in deep sea again. Tomorrow’s sea day sees all the social stuff and then it is back to early standby’s as the Koningsdam goes deep into the fjords. Wonderful cruises and great to do but after 2 months every Captain dreams about a Atlantic crossing with 6 or 7 peaceful sea days in a row. (Most captains also dream of sitting at home in the garden with a Heineken on the table………. but for that you do not have to be a captain).

The port of Amsterdam as seen on the electronic chart. The cruise terminal is indicated by the purple beam and the large turning circle is to the right. All the black triangles indicate ships that have an AIS transponder. These are not compulsory for small ships but many skippers who sail around Amsterdam in the fog have them so at least the are seen on the radar, if not heard.

But we docked safely again this morning, joined a little bit later by the little Astor witch would fit 5 times inside the Koningsdam and sat as a small tugboat under our bow. But smaller means also visiting smaller ports and that is also good fun.

Our cruise plan for voyage 87 from 29 July to 05 August.

Today we said goodbye to nearly all our 2900 guests. The regular ships capacity is 2500 but it was school vacation time so there were about 400 younger people on board varying from 2 months to 17 years and the ship was heaving. Still with all the ports, the ship was never over crowded or in a chaos. This cruise we have a full house again but I do not know the total numbers yet.  We will call at Eidfjord, Alesund, Geiranger in Geiranger fjord and Bergen. Four ports in seven days. With the long sail ins and outs and Amsterdam being a day sailing away this is as much as you can press into a seven day cruise.

We docked today starboard side alongside for propeller cleaning but also for hull cleaning. While sailing, algae sets itself onto the hull, turning the red under water ship into an emerald green one and that growth slows the ship down by about 10%. The Koningsdam will get a new sort of paint applied in December which will stop most of this growth but as December is still far away, the company has decided to clean the hull. We get the costs back in one or two cruises due to less fuel consumption, making a sound investment. For this purpose a large barge comes alongside and lowers a scrubber machine in the water which (with magnets) locks onto the hull and then travels from bow to stern scrubbing all the growth off. This machine is under water accompanied by one or two divers who steer it where it has to go. Removing this growth from the ship and then letting go into the water does not affect the local environment as the growth is already dead, so carries no toxics and will just decompose.

The river barge which is a diving headquarters.  The cables for the scrubbing machine are kept on a large drum and pay in an out depending on where the scrubber is located.

They come by barge as most transport and service company’s use self propelled barges as it works a lot easier and you never have any parking problems. Hence we had apart from this barge, a fuel barge, a lub oil barge and also a water barge alongside. The latter was here to top the ship up as we make our own water but it is more cost effective to load from shore in port than to run our own onboard plants. Hotel supplies still come by truck as many of the distribution centers are not near water.

We will sail this evening around 17.00 hrs. and because we docked nose in, we have to sail first south in the Amsterdam – Rhine Canal to the large turning circle before we can head for open sea. The turning circle opposite the cruise terminal can handle ships up to 225 meters but then it gets tight, so they arranged for a bigger one a little further down.

Today the weather was considerably cooler due to a weather system with thunder storms coming over from South England. That is going north and we will follow it. So we might have one day with a bit of rain somewhere, depending on when the Koningsdam catches up with the system but then the Norwegian heatwave should return.

Amsterdam is an important cruise port. Not only deep sea cruise ships also river cruise ships, and we also have these Barge & Bike cruises. Probably the only cruise where you do not put on weight.

Today we have our final day of the cruise and are on our way back to Amsterdam. As we are still in the middle of this high pressure system, the weather stays unabatedly beautiful and the only thing I can say is that we moved from a Norwegian heatwave into a Danish heatwave as most of the day we were sailing in an area which is called the Skagerrak. This is still the North Sea but the piece along the Danish coast up to the Norwegian coast. There it becomes the Kattegat where the North Sea connects with the Baltic. It is a bit of a question where the Skagerrak exactly ends and the North Sea begins. Scandinavians are quite focused on using the name Skagerrak; sailors seem to keep calling it North Sea until their ship sails over the letters in the chart that gives it the other name.

Our route from Oslo to Amsterdam. The water remains the same, the names change. (Thank you World Atlas via Wikipedia)

Whatever the preference, it is all the same water, water that comes from the North Atlantic Ocean flowing in north of Scotland or from the south through the Straits of Dover which the French call La Manche. The Dutch have adopted the English name: Straat van Dover while the Germans have gone for the French version: “Armel Kanal: which in both languages means sleeve or bent arm. And the bend in Dover Strait resembles something as a bent arm. The Dutch being the inventors of double Dutch have of course a second name for the strait: Het Nauw van Calais or the Calais Narrows, which makes sense as well as Calais is right on the edge of the narrowest part. Hence the fact that most ferries are sailing from Dover to Calais and back and also the Chunnel has its submerged pipes right here.   So things are not so simple with the names in this area and the Skagerrak name is just one of them.

Unfortunately it is us the Dutch again who are also responsible for this name. Rak, in old Dutch means a straight Strait (so not a bent strait one as Dover Strait is) and thus we are speaking over here about the Strait of Skagen; the town on the east side of Denmark where the Skagerrak becomes the Kattegat. To make things worse the Dutch are also responsible for the name Kattegat.  Kat = Cat and Gat = hole. The meaning is that this thoroughfare is a hole so tight that only a cat can get through. All these names are from the 17^th. Century when the Dutch were the most powerful nation in the world and had the biggest fleet, produced the best charts which were then bought and used by the rest of the world. And so the names stuck.

The ss Veendam (II) docked at what we think is Bermuda. Please note the wind catcher above the aft lifeboats. This was the only form of A.C the ships had in those days. Going on a cruise was not for the faint hearted. The ships also went to Norway so they might have also experienced a “Norwegian Heatwave”.

Until well into the 19^th. Century the Dutch dominated the trade to the Baltic and Russia and Holland America has its own connection with this, with the town of Veendam in the North of the Netherlands. Our current Veendam is the 4^th. ship which carried this name. Veendam was such an important town of ships registry that Lloyds Register (and Lloyd’s insurance) opened up their first foreign office here in this town in Holland.

All the islands in the North Sea protecting the Frisian Hinterland since  times immemorial. (Unknown Source on the Internet)

When sailing further down we come to the Frisian Islands. Also here enough room for confusion. As we have the west Frisian Islands (Dutch), the east Frisian Islands (German) and the north Frisian Islands (Danish). The Frisians are an ancient tribe, with their own language, who in the course of history got divided over what are now The Netherlands, Germany and to some extent Denmark. Thus the islands are split up as well between the three Nations. Normally when one speaks about the Frisian Islands the focus is on The East and West ones. The biggest ones belong to the Netherlands: Texel, Ameland, Terschelling, Vlieland, Schermonnikoog and then there are 9 more which are uninhabited. The Germans have more of them but on average smaller: Borkum, Juist, Norderney, Baltrum, Langeoog, Spiekeroog, Wangerooge, Neuwerk, Pellworn, Nordstrand (but now connected to the mainland) Halligen, Amrum, Fohr and Sylt. And they have 17 un-habited islands. On top of that the Germans have the island of Helgoland which is not part of the series but does belong. In the same way as Barbados is outside the Caribbean island ring but still considered to be part of the Caribbean. Then these Frisian Islands are part of a chain which runs from Texel all the way up to the Kattegat and those we call altogether the “Wadden Islands”.

So far the geography we are sailing past today. During the night we will come straight down the coast and then very early tomorrow morning we will be sailing into the North Sea Canal. In Amsterdam we will be docking Nose in, Starboard side alongside because we have a propeller / Azipod inspection. Last cruise we went portside, so they inspected the starboard pod and this time it will be the portside pod.

Weather, no change from expected. Warm but not so warm as in Norway. 28oC or 82oF.

Today we experienced a Norwegian heat wave as the temperature rose to 34oC in Oslo and that even with all the cold water around and in the port. Even on arrival at 07.00 in the morning it felt more like a Puerto Rican arrival than sailing into a Norwegian port. Still for me it is better than the other way around and having to stand on deck with cold toes. Getting to Oslo takes a long time. We had the pilot this morning at 02.15 am and it was not before 07.15 when we approached the dock. Oslo Fjord is 56 miles long and although you can do the first part with about 19 knots, the second port varies between 10 and 15 knots and that costs time. Luckily the scenery makes up for getting out of bed early. With the majority of our guests (families) it is different; they seem to prefer sail-a ways as they all congregate around 08.00 in the Lido before going ashore. I suppose it works easier with the kids. Do something “boring” in the evening creates fewer tantrums, than in the morning when you have to get them all organized. I am not into children but I have the greatest respect for parents. Today I saw a Ma and Pa breaking up a serious alternation between three or four siblings about a soda card. It was really funny to watch the face of the Bar Man who was stuck in the middle. He has two children himself and he knew exactly how to handle this but could not as they were guests and he was a  crew member. Listening to the noise, the lack or abuse of a Soda card was a very traumatic experience for one of the younger ones. For those who do not know, a Soda card is a sort of charge card which only works on soda’s and a lot of parents give one to the kids so they do not have to borrow the cabin key or abuse their own. Works very well and I have seen cool guys buys cola’s for the “most beautiful woman in the world” they just met on the cruise.

Arrival Oslo. Please note, there is not a single cloud in the sky. As in other Norwegian ports they have started building on all the old cargo docks and here in the middle a large huddle of apartment building has been erected in the last two years.

While the guests were exploring sweltering Oslo, we had something else going on. TOWNHALL. Americans will know what it is, it is when politicians come to the (small) town to press the flesh, ask for votes and sometimes even listen to the audience. Holland America has taken that concept over but not for politics but to come to the crew at sea to explain what the office is up to. Not an easy gig as they do a ship everyday with travel in between as well. Thus we had V.P’s and Directors from Hotel, Nautical, Human Resources, Finance, and Interior on board today, to meet with the ships staff, have a walk around the ship, do target meetings but above all, hold a town hall in the Main stage.

The Main Stage gathering. With 800 crew members on board it is possible to fill all the seats but the (few) guests left on board are still entitled to their service so not everybody is there.

Our company is very good at communicating with the fleet by means of regular email updates but nothing beats a live presentation with the option of Q&A afterwards. Thus was presented to us how the company was doing (doing very well, higher occupancy rate) what the plans for the future were (Nieuw Statendam on time and an expansion of the Music Walk) and what the plans were for the crew. The last one is a very important one, and at the moment, more than ever. The cruise industry is expanding rapidly with a lot of big ships and those big ships need a lot of crew. And the other cruise companies know that Holland America has the best crew, so they are trying to pinch. Most of our crew do not want to leave but they also have families and there will be a moment that there is: “an offer they cannot refuse”. Thus the Q&A is very important for the policy makers to find out what the crew finds most important and most of the time it is not salary as such but often the side perks and conveniences around it. Luckily the trust between the ships and the head office is good enough that the crew really can speak freely and thus there was a good and meaningful discussion to day.

The leader of the team Sr. Vice president Guest Experiences and Product development, Mr. Michael Smith.

We were at another dock today. A cargo dock as there were more cruise ships in port. Although the dock assignment is always puzzling in the ports, it does not make much difference as the port of Oslo is laying around the City in a sort of crescent moon with the curve to the outside. Today we were at a cargo dock on the west end and from there you could walk directly to the town square. The Regal Princess was at the Akerhus dock under the castle and from there you can walk directly to the town square. The Albatross was docked at River quay and from there you can walk directly to the town square. The walk from the Regal Princess is the most scenic one as you walk under the City castle and past the old port.

This was our last port of call and tomorrow we have a sea day on the way back to Amsterdam. And there it is supposed to be a bit colder: only 28oC / 82oF. ……… but we will see,

It has been about 8 years since I have been to Kristiansand and I was not impressed with the (nautical) changes. They built a new cruise dock and because (I think) they wanted to save money on concrete; the dock is too small for a ship of the size of the Koningsdam. Although we can have our two gangways on the dock, the ship either has to move aft to have good headlines or to move forward to have good stern lines as there are not sufficient bollards available to tie the ship up in a safe way under all circumstances. Today we have beautiful weather as Norway is suffering from a heat wave but it can blow here considerably and then the situation would not be good for your heart. The old cruise dock has been given over to new apartment buildings and they did not pay for having cruise ship people peering into their apartments so we cannot go there anymore.

Approaching the cruise terminal as seen from the mooring deck. The port is industrial, not as picturesque as Stavanger but once past one block of warehouses the downtown area is right there.

The town itself is located in a nice big bay and has a large natural harbor where a large size cruise ship can anchor; close to the tender dock and very close to the city. The town is a very pleasant place to walk around in and the soft ice creams are of a reasonable price. For those not on tours, the downtown area is very nice to spend a good amount of time in. For those going on tour, this is our port of call for Norwegian scenery and things from the olden days. Blessed with a picture perfect day guests could have gone on a full day excursion inland and visit original Norwegian towns or go on cruises of the archipelago around Kristiansand to admire the dramatic scenery of the islands and the surrounding area. If you want to get a good impression of “rural Norway” without having to climb up a steep mountain, then this is the place for you. If you want to do something nautical, just behind the cruise terminal is a little museum ship from 1911, which played an important part for Norway in two world wars.

A 195 feet long Norwegian coaster from 1911 has been turned into a museum ship. http://www.hnsa.org/hnsa-ships/ds-hestmanden/

But that is for the guests, the crew were otherwise occupied as it was drill time. In accordance with international Maritimes Law (SOLAS) all crew shall attend at least one boat drill and one fire drill each month. As it is not nice for the guests to shut the ship down while ALL crew are at drill, we have a drill each week so 25% of the crew attends an in-depth drill. Then once a month all the crew has to attend a fire drill. This does not mean that they all have to run around with fire hoses but they have to be part of the evolution. For today the ship had split out the various drills; the fire squads had their compulsory weekly drill and 25% of the other crew went through the motions of dealing with lifeboats and life rafts.

With a bit of creativity you can do a lot with 2 tables, six luggage bins, a bit of tarpaulin and four sailors.

When I am on board I try to offer the ship a little bit more than just the standard drills, simply because I have more time to prepare for something more extravagant. Thus we went for a Helicopter crash on deck. We use helicopters for Medical Evacuations and luckily never has anything happened on any of the cruise ships anywhere. Helicopter pilots involved in this work are highly skilled people and so are the crews of the cruise ships. The pilots drill and train and so we do. Our nightmare is the situation where the helicopter hits the ship during the hoisting evolution and then crashes onto the deck. Although helicopters are made more and more of non-burning material (Kevlar) and have special fuel tanks, it would still be a messy affair. Thus we have to protect the ship and we also would like to save the 4 helicopter crew that is normally involved. So I built a crashed helicopter on the forward deck. With 2 pilots stuck in their seats, the winch man stuck in the back and the patient in the stretcher having crashed back onto the deck again.

Two teams in position. One with water and the other with a foam hose. The fire fighter standing up with the red helmet has a thermal imaging camera ($ 10,000 worth) and will check for all fire is out. Then they can release the hoisting wire of the stretcher and remove it to the medical team waiting in a safe area. The other casualties were more of a challenge as they had (simulated) burns, broken legs etc.

Once the area has been made safe by two fire teams (And two teams a deck higher who protect them with extra water & foam hoses), the rescue of the four crewmen can start. Afterwards there is a debriefing where each detail is looked at for lessons to be learned and skills obtained for future use.

Tomorrow we are in Oslo, which is the last port of our cruise. Oslo port is close to down town and here the focus is on shopping and local sightseeing. I heard today a few ladies getting highly excited about the shopping prospect and the Gentlemen considerably less as Norway is not cheap.

Weather tomorrow: The Norwegian heat wave continues: 36oC / 96oF, full sunshine and very little wind.

I had been waiting for it: warm weather brings low hanging clouds, very low hanging clouds. And while approaching Stavanger a white woolly world descended upon us and did not clear until we were almost in the port itself. And thus the fog horn wailed its warning every 2 minutes over the waters advising everybody that we were out there as well. Most commercial ships now have so good radars that it makes a sound signal almost obsolete, were it not for the small craft out there for whom it is not compulsory or who are just too small. The warmth of the port did then help to burn it all off very quickly.

Early morning at 08.30. Not too many people around yet.

We docked at the same spot as on the 20^th. of July only now we went bow in as that worked out better for the 2^nd ship, The World which came in shortly afterwards. For those who do not know what The World is, it is the only large apartment cruise ship in the world. A sort of floating country club and owned by those who have an apartment on board. Once every so often they all vote on where they would like to go (or where they NEED to go to be seen in the appropriate places) and then the captain cobbles a schedule together. So there must have been a decision to go to Norway for one reason of the other as the ship is now here. Maybe it was the Party-Fest around the old port the reason as it is still going on and even expanding as some larger eat & drink locations have been erected. Including a sort of Beer Garten with a fisherman theme. But as I find paying 10 dollars for a beer a little bit over the top (Norway is not cheap for booze), I joined the deck officers on the bridge wing and we observed it all from high above.

The Engine Control Room port side. Showing the Main maneuvering stand. The two red boxes are the :Lock out – Tag out protection, which means these engines are not on priority standby.

Today a little bit about the technical happenings in the ship. Yesterday we put medical inside a water tank and while we did so it was all carefully monitored from the Engine Control Room. Nowadays there are camera’s everywhere so one single person can keep a complete engine room fully under control and direct a 2^nd person in the engine room to where human attention is needed. I put the emphasize on the word person as the days that it was only men who were engineers are long gone. More and more Ladies are filling the ranks and we have a female Staff Chief Engineer in the company, who will make Chief Engineer in the not too far future.

The starboard side of the ECR. Where the Engineer of the Watch monitors everything via computer screens but also large TV banks which switch location every 10 seconds or so. The buttons to the right are the shutdowns for the ships ventilation.

While we were downstairs giving medical a hard time, we were carefully monitored by a Filipino 4^th Engineer in the Engine Control Room. As we have a hard time filling all the ranks with Dutch, British and engineers from the Balkan, we now also recruit for engineering officers in the Philippines. Philippine crew came first to Holland America in the late 70’s in skilled petty officers jobs such as carpenter and upholsterer. Then in the mid 80’s they came as cooks and as bar tenders and then they also popped up in the Front Office. In the early 2000’s, the quality of the engineering schools in the Philippines was raised to the level that they gained recognition from the Dutch Flag State licensing authority and now they have the option to join Holland America as well. And also in the Philippines ladies opt for engineering jobs.

The engine room of the ms Koningsdam is almost completely automated. Everything can be monitored and operated from a keyboard in the Engine Control Room. So the watch keeping downstairs consists of walking around to see “why it still works” and to ensure that it keeps working or to carry out repairs. With a new ship the number of mechanical repairs is not so great but as everything is electrical, changing PCB’s and related is much more prominent than it was in the past. The ship has four main engines, from the German brand MaK, which produce a maximum speed of 22 knots. This means that we normally can do our cruises on 2 engines, have 1 on standby and one under maintenance.

The Engine room in simple lay out. Four main engines, each connected to an Electric Generator. In converters the electric energy is transformed into a maximum of 21 MW power for each Azi Pod which takes care of the propulsion. Some of the electric power generator is diverted for operational ships use. Making available power sources of 440 V, 220 V, 110 V, 24 V and 12 Volt.

We will sail from Stavanger around 18.00 hrs. if we leave on time, as no doubt the guests will want to linger as long as possible in a port where so much is going on, with such good weather. But then we sail for our next port Kristiansand, west of Oslo. There is also a port called Kristiansund but that port is somewhat smaller and thus one of the Prinsendam specials. At least if you want to dock in downtown.

Weather for tomorrow: A sunny Norway day with temperatures around 25oC / 77oF. Good for me as I am facilitating a helicopter crash fire drill on the outside deck.

The good old days. When strong men turned the wheels that let steam into the turbines. No air conditioned Control rooms and simple clicks with the computer mouse. Guts, Brawn, Muscle, Perspiration……… and going deaf from the engine noise.

Sailing into Flam. This is the last turn before we arrive at the end of the fjord where Flam is located.

Flam is located at the end of Sognefjord and that is a long way in. For the first part it is quite wide and the ship can run at sea speed after boarding the pilot. Then it gets more and more narrow near the end, that is where it gets very scenic, and the speed has to come down to 15 and then to 10 knots. This reduction in speed has to do with not creating waves as there are boats moored at the various hamlets en route but also not to upset other floating items such as kayakers which can we found here all over the place and not all of them took their common sense with them when jumped into the kayak.

This is basically the whole town. all centered around the railway station. The trains are ready to take all the guests coming from the ship. You can do a 7.5. hrs. tours, a 3.5 hours tour and a 2.5 hrs. tours -un escorted. the long one is part coach trip and the shorter one includes lunch at the top of the mountain where the train stops to go back down again.

In Flam the focus is on the railway so it is our pure shore excursion port. In the coming days we have Kristiansand, Stavanger and Oslo where guests can do their own things and get about all over the place. Here in Flam it is more limited. There are souvenirs shops, eateries and restaurants but the main idea is to go on the train (Flamsbana) or take a shore excursion by Coach. The bus tour takes you inland and to local visits but also to have you experience the Stalheimskleivane which is the steepest road in Norway. I have done that tour in the past and if Norwegians say that the road is steep, believe me it is steep. It also offers some very nice pieces of scenery (horizontally and vertically…………… straight down)

We can still surprise the medical department. None of them had ever been in a tank before. Mr. Dummy was very well looked after.

While the guests are doing their best to fall out of the train, to fall off the Cliffs and to fall in the Fjord (we have had that all happen in the past), ship side dealt this morning with somebody who had fallen in a tank. Simulated. One of the most dangerous activities on board is tank cleaning and we have to do it once in a while. For structural inspections or to get sediments out which had settled down after long periods of use. Oil tanks are particularly nasty but also ballast water tanks as the seawater we pump in is not always pure.  The Koningsdam is only 2 years old and thus cleaning is not an issue yet but inspections have to take place.

The engineers had potable water tank nbr 1. empty for quite a while and also open for quite a while and thus it could be considered a regular space in the Engine room as long as we took precautions; as there is normally only one way in and out. But what an opportunity to do a tank extraction with a casualty and give medical a chance to get familiar with the inside of a tank. In a real situation, we will not even let them get close but this time they could see what it really looked like, what sort of injuries crew could sustain in there and to exercise how to get a stretcher up the stairs. There is nowhere in the ship safety construction regulations that engine stairs need to be wide enough to accommodate a full stretcher team so it can be challenging.

And this was the hard part. First a 90 degree turn and then climbing up a steep staircase with a dummy weighing 160 pounds (approx. 80 kg.)

And thus we put the dummy in the tank, got the stretcher in, let two very excited nurses have a go as well and then got the stretcher with the dummy on it out. As was expected carrying the stretcher up the stairs was the hardest thing of all. We have techniques for that so if the stretcher bearers would let the stretcher slip, it would not go bouncing back down again, but a lanyard anchorman going ahead of the group would stop the slipping. In our exercise we used the full stretcher team, in reality we would probably use four strong engineers working two by two to get it done faster……………. But if all the engineers would be occupied in another emergency then the housekeeping stretcher team would still have to do it. So we train and exercise.

The good ship Koningsdam will sail at 17.00 hrs. and for those who did not make it this morning during the sail in, they now have the chance to see the impressive scenery during the sail out. We have to sail all the way back to the entrance and then enter the next fjord to sail back in again. Next port of call is Stavanger.

This was the last port of call, when we sailed south back to Amsterdam. This time we are expecting more clouds and maybe a little drop of rain in the morning. Temperatures 68oF or 21o C.

We departed right on time as the captain needed all the time available to make it to the first port, Flam (Also spelled as Flaam unless you can do a zero or O on top of the a) on time. When we left the dock we had an escort boat from the Harbor Master ahead of us to keep the Sunday sailors and the six pack navigators out of the way. Lots of them milling around in the main channel of the IJ (Or Y in English), sometimes with floating contraptions which should not be in such open and busy waters at all. Everybody in Holland who wants to operate a boat over 15 meters or anything that goes faster than 20 kilometers an hour needs a license. But it sometimes looks like as if all skippers, varying from bathtubs, to small sailing boats, motor yachts and even the Rhine barges seem to develop a general amnesia about what was learned when sailing around a large ship. For floating things of 14.99 meters and less, it is in general even worse. The Koningsdam has a dead angle of 60 meters from the line Bow to Bridge and once inside that line, the bridge has no clue of what is going on there below and just has to hope that things go ok and the officer forward can keep an oversight. While for the average small boater 10 feet of passing distance is more than adequate, ………………… it’s not for us. Thus a traffic control boat to help us out is well appreciated.

The escort boat in position. See how close the little boats come while the ship starts to maneuver? Only the white one is visible from the bridge. These will be out of the way before the ropes are in, so the escort boat is leaving them in peace.

We are now embarking on a seven day “Viking Saga” cruise with calls at Flaam, Stavanger, Kristiansund, Oslo and then back to Amsterdam. In all the ports we stay until 5 or 6 pm. to ensure that the guests get as much scenic cruising as possible. Sunset is every evening after 11 pm. hence opportunity galore to see Norway at its best.

Just after 21.00 last night we were well into the open waters again and turned north towards Norway and the Sognefjord. And today we had a quiet day at sea. The officers on the bridge really appreciate these days as on cruises like this the port days are so hectic that a peaceful sea day is a nice way to recuperate and relax. The high light of this morning’s 4 -8 watch was: one course change of 3o to port to stay on the track line. That is one click on the button to confirm that the automatic pilot can do its job.  The equipment is now so sophisticated that we could sail into port, and almost to the dock, only on the instruments as long as there would be no traffic in the way. Similar but at the same time different to the airline industry. Airplanes normally fly in set lanes or corridors and do not meet traffic. If they do then you normally read about in the newspapers. Airlines can and do fly completely on instruments and can do this also for take off and landing. Ships sometimes follow Vessel Traffic Separation Schemes where traffic follows the same route.  But for most of the seas and ocean, it is a free for all (Mare Librium as the old folks used to say) so traffic can come from all sides.

Watch keeping on the ships has changed as well. We used to, and many shipping company’s still do, operate the 4 hours on and 8 hours off watch schedule. (Not off work but not standing on the bridge) That schedule worked quite well in my opinion as long as the captain allowed a rotation through the watches. I used to do as much as possible giving each officer in a 3 month period, a month in each watch.  4-8 was the gentleman’s watch; with time to do side duties the mornings, have a nap in the afternoon and dine with the guests in the evening or see a show. 8-12 was the party watch. Finishing at noon and the Officers Bar was just opening, finishing at midnight and in the ship or in the Officer Bar the party was just getting into full swing. Then finally there was the 12 – 4 watch. This was the lonely watch. In the afternoon the ships staff took a nap to prepare for the evening activities, so you hardly saw anybody and the same after midnight, it was very quiet as well. That is nice for some contemplation but it is not good to be in this watch month after month as it can get very lonely. In the past I knew a few people who had spent 10 years in this watch before they were promoted up into the 4 -8. One did notice a number of peculiarities that they had developed in those years and not all of them were positive. Which watch you went into depended on your seniority and if promotion was at a standstill, you could be stuck for years.

Even when it is quiet you have to be careful as the North Sea is full of these oil rigs. And the people on board there get very nervous when you come close. For ships coming too close they have a Guard Ship on duty as you can see to the left of the rig.

Since the arrival of the full time double watch system, two officers on the bridge at all times, the company has been experimenting with 6 and 2 and 5 and 3 hour watch systems. Basically to see if more rest hours could be taken in one block and to give some more time off. With the old watch system, taking out the side duties and eating and sleeping, you had to swap watch hours to get some decent time ashore. Now the hours are more together. In the end the company decided on 5 and 3 hours. As an example, the dog shift does 22.00 to 03.00 in the morning and then 09.00 to 12.00 hrs. The officers are off from 11.00 hrs in one go to 22.00 hrs. again. Or they do 00.00 hrs. to 05.00 hrs. and then 09.00 to 12.00 hrs. Again a nice long stretch of time off. The officers on the ships like the system and they also rotate through the watches during their contract. Nobody gets bored and everybody can get a share of the good life.

Late this evening we will be at the pilot station and then we enter the Sognefjord which is the longest and deepest fjord in Norway. All the way at the end is the town of Flam, known worldwide for its railway. We will be docking tomorrow morning and I will be forward again with the senior cadet to get the ropes ashore. Not just to get the ropes ashore but in accordance with Holland America Line standards and there is a big difference there.

Weather for Flam: Overcast with a chance of showers in the afternoon and 73oF or 23oC. It looks like that we have the real Norwegian summer weather back.

It was 02.15 this morning when the Koningsdam arrived at the Pilot station. Because of the sail in via the Vessel Traffic System, the captain had already been called an hour earlier, so he had a long morning as the ship only docked around 06.30 hrs. Then it was back to bed for him but not for very long as by 11 am. there was movie crew waiting for him to take shots for an American travel program. And then there was still a regular day to be followed by Guest Boat drill. Then departure again which will take until 21.30 tonight……………. And then we have guests asking, if the captain went ashore for the day because we are so close to downtown. Sometimes I wished that all the guests in the company read my blog, if it was only to understand how busy a ship’s captain is nowadays.  The days of the “jolly old salt” standing on the bridge and having not much to do besides arrival and departure are long gone. After 3 months in command, the ships captains are tired, very tired and ready for 3 months off.

Good ………………. That was my moan and groan for the day.

Ijmuiden Locks and the port of Amsterdam. Courtesy of an unknown publisher on the internet, who must have been thinking the same thoughts as I did.

The only option to avoid this long time of sailing in and sailing out again is to dock in Ijmuiden. It makes us as captains very happy as it is barely an hour from the pilot station to the dock as you do not have to go through the Ijmuiden locks. Plus you avoid the slow run through the North Sea Canal all the way to downtown. Some company’s do so and then run a shuttle service to downtown Amsterdam and for the turnover of the guests it is not a problem either. It takes as long from Ijmuiden to get to Schiphol as it does from Amsterdam.  Our Prinsendam has done it in the past for turn over calls. Although currently she is docking downtown Amsterdam but her calls are very infrequent and she has many guests on board for several voyages. And for them Amsterdam is a regular port of call and then…….the closer the better.

The ms Koningsdam aerial photo taken during her maiden arrival in Venice in 2016. She does fit in the cruise terminal in Ijmuiden but unfortunately the train does not stop in front of the cruise terminal. (Photo courtesy Holland America Line)

But; For the Koningsdam it is slightly different. The Koningsdam sails with a very large number of Dutch Guests often 50% or more. And a lot of these guests come to the ship by public transport. Central station is only 5 minutes away and you just roll with your suitcase down to the ship or take a taxi for the short distance. (If we had bicycle storage on board, I would not be amazed at all if a lot of them would come by bike towing a wheelie box with the suitcases behind it. Nothing unusual as everybody bikes in Holland, even the King and Queen. For those guests it makes good sense to park the Koningsdam right in downtown. Also this morning there was a long and steady flow of Dutch guests rolling their suitcases to and from Central Station. I could not get a photo of this phenomenon as we were just docked too much behind the Mövenpick Hotel.

Behind us was the Seven Seas Navigator and if she had been just a little bit longer then we would have been a little bit more forward and be able to peak around the hotel.

Departure Amsterdam. Coaching the senior Cadet on board so this photo is from the forward mooring deck. to have a good view of the city, the ships bow has to be where now the red harbor patrol boat is. She will later keep the “six pack navigators” out of the way when the ship sails through the canal. To the top left the rows of river cruise vessels. This was a group of 14 with more further down.

Apart from the SSN, the port was full with Rhine cruise vessels. River cruising has become extremely popular in the same way as deep sea cruising. I made my first Rhine cruise in 1972 as my mother loved it and in every town along the river we were the only ship in. Now that has changed drastically and I counted 20 river cruisers getting ready for their next cruise. As a result they were docked 4 deep or more alongside. Ships varying in quality from 3 star to 6 star and there is even a catamaran version out there that has a regular size swimming pool inside. Most of them were leaving today, with quite a few of them doing the same ports,  so they only way to avoid all this congestion is to sail on a Monday or Tuesday, when you follow “the crowd” instead of being part of it. In the same was as you see less cruise ships in the ports of the Caribbean and Alaska if you are on a 10 day cruise just because most ships are sailing on Saturday or Sunday so with an odd day departure you stay out of that cycle.

What is left from a 200 meter long cargo pier. You can see the support of the pier jutting out of the water. Each house, building, factory or other construction in Amsterdam has these, either from wood, stone or concrete. Without these supports, everything would just slowly sink into the muddy underground.

A little bit of nostalgia. When sailing out, we passed “Het Stenen Hoofd” (The Stone Head) now flat and due for redevelopment. But between 1905 and 1930 Holland America had this pier in lease (and the wooden one before that) for its ships that called at Amsterdam.

Het Stenen Hoofd in her glory days. This drawing is hanging on all the S and R class ships of the company, somewhere in a guest corridor. On the photo the ss Amsteldijk (I of 1901) .The tower housed the office of HAL for its Amsterdam business.

Tomorrow we are at sea and it has been promised that it will be a sunny day but maybe a bit breezy. We are on our way to Flam in Norway which is a tight schedule, due to the long sail in into the Fjord. So the captain is putting the pedal to the metal to get a bit of time up his sleeve as with fjord sailing you never know what can happen.

After a glorious day the good ship Koningsdam set sail for Amsterdam early last evening. In Amsterdam this cruise will end and we will turn around for the next one. Stavanger had provided us with a cloudless day and made Norway look at its best. (And there are not that many days when Norway looks at it best, as it can rain here profusely) Because of this extensive high pressure system that is lying over the area, we had a nice day to day as well and we will also have a nice day tomorrow.

The isobars are very far apart. So hardly any wind and no wind means no rain clouds coming in from the Atlantic. (Both diagrams are courtesy of a weather site called Seaweed)

The wind picture today. Just a gentle breeze on the North Sea and even less around England.

Not everybody is happy about this very good weather. At home in England they have imposed the first hose pipe ban. This means that individual households are not allowed to water the garden or wash their car. Quite an achievement for a country that is known throughout the world for the amount of rain it gets. But it indicates how little rain has fallen recently in the area. The Netherlands are coming closer to this situation as well, although there is plenty water around, it is not evenly distributed. The greater part of the west might be below sea level, the east is well above and thus water shortage might become as issue here as well. The west is also dealing with a very peculiar issue and that is that the dykes are drying out.  The dykes are there to keep the water away from the low lying land and that that do very well. But the parts that are above water are now drying out and the strong clay of which most of them have been made is starting to pulverize. Thus there are now boats sailing around the canals and water ways which pump water up and spray it Fire brigade style over the surface of each dyke.

None of these problems here on board. The North Sea is only there to float in and we make all our own water on board, also courtesy of the North Sea. We do try to load water in port if it is cheaper than producing it on board; but often we can make a lot of water by using the hot exhaust gases from the engines before they are released into the outside air. For that purpose we have Exhaust Gas boilers fitted in the funnel and that water does not cost us anything to make as the engines have to run anyway.

British Admiralty chart 301, re-issued by the Norwegian cartography services.The North Sea. Everything that is purple is either indicating a boundary, an under water cable or a Highway at Sea.

Sailing in the North Sea is nowadays a major headache and the place is getting so full and (over?) regulated. Thus we are following the vessel traffic separation schemes and being southbound we are basically right in the middle of the North Sea. In the good old days we could have hugged the Dutch Coast while coming down and save a few miles here and there. But there were so many ships doing that, that several bumped into each other and now the routes are (compulsory) spread out. Even if we wanted to deviate it would be hard as to starboard we have oil rigs and to port we have wind farm parks. Thus we have to find our way in between them and that has been made easier with the Vessel Traffic Routes.

British Admiralty chart 125. Approaches to Ijmuiden. The Koningsdam will join the VTS where the triangle is located above the other purple blocks. It will merge here with East /West traffic coming / going to England and/or to Dover Strait. The pilot will join where the purple blocks of separation zones stop.

Early tomorrow morning we will make a 90o turn in the middle of the North Sea, a turn to port or to the East and then follow the approach channels to Ijmuiden pilot station. That will be around 02.00 in the morning and the pilot will board 45 minutes later. From there is about 4 hours to the cruise terminal in downtown. The Koningsdam will take 4 hours as it will swing on arrival so we can dock nose out. Because of the size of the ship, we go a little bit into the port than shorter ships as we go to the main turning basin. More about that tomorrow.

If we did not have a these regulations in the North Sea, our time at sea could be about 5 to 6 hours less but with the increased chance of hitting somebody who decided to do the same thing.

Weather for tomorrow; Partly Cloudy skies with temperatures around 26o C / 78oF with a gentle breeze.