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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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