Recife has always been a cargo port which until recently was seldom visited by cruise ships. When I came here in the past the docks were always dirty from cargo handling and the authorities could not care less about cruise guests. My surprise was therefore great that when we arrived, I saw a very nice and clean dock to park at; everything ran as clockwork and the ship was cleared as soon as the gangway was out. The pilot mentioned that they have 50 cruise ship calls this year and they will build a cruise terminal during the coming summer (their winter) ready for next years season. Today was an extra busy day with two cruise ships in port. The port is still a bit limited if you are not going on tour as the city is very large and very spread out. Not unlike an American city with a business district and high rises and then suburbia around it. If you do not have a car and do not have local knowledge it is not so easy to find your way around and to see something of interest.
The approach to Recife is for a sailor very interesting. It contains of a 90o turn to the North, followed b a 90o turn to the West into the port. There are two entrances, a North one (that is the simple one, shooting straight in or out) and the South one with the two turns. The North one is however too shallow for only but the smallest ships as all the silt that the tide takes out of the harbour is deposited there. Thus it is easier for the authorities to dredge the south channel as it is less affected by the silt depositing. However it leaves the larger ships with this “swivel” approach challenge. Especially for a cruise ship, on a windy day, it can be an issue as you have to make the tight turns with slow speed and that increases your chance to drift onto the breakwaters. However we arrived with nearly windless conditions and that made a slow approach possible without danger. The pilot was very eager to sail the ship into port as he did not very often get the chance to conn a very maneuverable ship, so I let him have the pleasure.
The harbour basin is quite large but shallow. Once you are passing the inner breakwaters you have to make a sharp turn to the right and sail between the outer and inner breakwater to the south, to open sea.
As soon as we were in the basin, I took over again and we swung the ship around to dock nose out. That took a long time as, although the harbour had been dredged, there was not much water under the keel. A lot of chocolate brown water kept billowing up around the hull while the Prinsendam swung 180o and crabbed towards the dock. (Crabbing is a movement where you combine a swing, a sideways and astern movement in one maneuver, in such a way that you keep a fluid momentum going) Although our official arrival time was 8 am., I had set the pilot time for 0600, to build in some leeway in case there would be clearance issues in the port and also to be alongside before the day wind (generated by the warm weather) would start to blow.
The port is basically a long single dock, several miles long, that is protected by a breakwater. Also visible the MSC Melody and the ships boats carrying out lifeboat exercises.
The 2nd ship that came in was the MSC Melody. This cruise ship had been briefly owned by Holland America in the past. In 1988 HAL bought Home Lines which had two ships, the Homeric and the Atlantic. We kept the Homeric and renamed her Westerdam (II). She stayed in the fleet until 2004 and was then sold to Costa and is now sailing as the Costa Europa. (As such she is currently in the news) The Atlantic was a much more inferior ship in quality. Both in design as in layout and did not live up to Holland America standards. Hence she was quickly sold on to Premier Cruise lines, where she sailed as the Starship Atlantic for their “Big Red Boat” brand. After the demise of that company she was taken over by MSC when that company started to build up a cruise division. She is currently for sale, as MSC is phasing out all the older tonnage in its fleet.
Thus we spent the day at a nice and clean pier and shipboard life carried on un-eventfully. The crew had their morning drills; I spent time dealing with the coming Amazon challenge and the guests enjoyed a call at a port that is not so often on the cruise ship schedules. But that is what the Prinsendam is all about, picking a few ports on the run that are not visited everyday by the t-shirt crowd.
On departure I had to wait until the channel was clear of a cargo ship and used a tugboat to get the stern off the dock. With about 5 feet under the keel there was hardly enough water to create a water flow to push the ship away from the dock and to avoid a very long and drawn out departure maneuver I called a tugboat in.
Tomorrow we will be at sea before we come to Fortaleza and it looks like another beautiful day.
March 5, 2010 at 4:50 pm
Hi:
My wife and I will be joining the ship in FLL fro 51 Grand Med Cruise. Can you give us an update on the status of the new stern cabins?
Enjoy your blog.
Phil Eslinger CDR USN retired
March 6, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Good morning Sir,
All cabins were completed on Febr. 4th. and have been in use ever since. I have posted some photos of the cabins (insides ones) on my blog I think on 2, 3 or 4 feb. So have a look in the archives. The outside cabins as the same as the others on deck 9, as shown in the brochures. Looking forward to welcome you on board.
Best regards
Capt Albert
March 5, 2010 at 11:37 pm
I would like to agree with the many comments that I have been reading in your past entries. Your accounts of the daily operations of the ship are fantastic, and anyone who reads them understands the complexity and expertise needed to be called “Captain” for HAL. My wife and I have traveled a few times with HAL, out to Hawaii twice, same to Alaska and down to the Caribbean 3x”s on Rotterdam V, magnificent ship and we are glad it is being preserved in Holland, in the early 70’s. We are scheduled to go out to Hawaii once again on Ms Zaandam and then follow that up with a trip to Alaska on Rotterdam VI. A long winded intro, but my question is how are ship assignments handed out? I am interested if you may be assigned for any of our upcoming cruises? My apologies if you have responded to this type of question in the past. Thank you again for keeping us informed!!
March 6, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Good morning,
Our assignments work as follows: Each HAL ship has two captains who rotate 3 months on and 3 months off. Except here on the Prinsendam where we do it by the voyage as our longer cruises do not tend to be in synch with 3 months stints. All captains normally stay with a ship for a few years; unless a captain retires or requests another ship, then we get musical chairs for a moment until things settle down again. I am the regular captain assigned to the Prinsendam so I will here, for a long time to come. At least I hope so, as I really love this ship. Same for the two captains on the Zaandam, they have been assigned to that ship as well for some time now.
I hope that you will enjoy your cruise on the Zaandam it is a very nice combination of relaxting sea days and visiting beautiful Hawaii.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 6, 2010 at 2:26 am
Good day, Captain…I sailed the north Atlantic on the Homeric in 1958, and also on the Westerdam (which I thought was the Westerdam II) in the early 2000’s to Alaska. I recall the crew of the Westerdam mentioning that at the end of that season it was to be sold to Seabourne.
Is it possible that this is the same Homeric I sailed in in 1958?
Regards,
Neil C., Vancouver
March 6, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Good morning,
Our Westerdam I sailed from 1946 to 1963 and our Westerdam II from 1988 to 2004. The current westerdam is nbr 3 of the same name. Westerdam II was built in 1986 as the Homeric for Home Lines. They, Home lines, used to have an another Homeric. That ship was from Pre World war II and had been taken over by them and was used as an immigrant carrier but also for cruises. I remember from the top of my head that they made special cruises from New york in 1950 to Europe for the Holy Year. That old ship left the fleet when they constructed their first newbuilt called the Oceanic in the early sixties.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 7, 2010 at 12:41 am
Mr. & Mrs. DeSantis, I sailed on the Zaandam last summer to Alaska. The Captain on duty was Jan Smit and the Zaandam seemed to be a well-run ship. Almost, or just as important, Cruise Director was Michael Headla . They seemed to be a good team, or at least Captain Smit let the cruise director put on a good entertainment program (finally, an event for the 20-somethings!). One of the features unique to the Zaandam that I loved is a TV screen on the port side of the Crow’s Nest that shows the ship’s navigation screen (it shows the Zaandam, any ships in the area, and a navigation-style map). I hope it is still there on your cruise. I hope there is something similar on the Prinsendam.