Time to start a new contract on the Prinsendam. Seldom I had it easier to get to the ship. I flew a few days early from England, to spend some time with my 95 year old mother, and then took the train to Amsterdam this morning and just walked to the ship. No jet lag, no airport immigration or having to stay overnight in a hotel. By the time that I will leave the ship on September 11th, I might have it even easier and will just drive home from Tilbury in England. However that is still faraway and today it was back to the regular business, which is with the Prinsendam not so regular at all as each cruise is different and with the multitude of ports that we are doing, we never know what might pop up along the way.
The Prinsendam will start today a 18 day cruise from Amsterdam and will go as far north as The North Cape and will then make is way down again the Norwegian Coast with the cruise ending in Tilbury. Our first highlight will be the Kieler Kanal (or more officially the Nord-Ost See Kanal) tomorrow. As it is drizzling today in Amsterdam, it will most likely mean that we will have nice weather tomorrow. If we had sunshine in Amsterdam then the chance is always rather great that it will be foggy on the river Elbe and it normally does not lift until well in the morning. That is of course not ideal for sightseeing in the Kieler Kanal as the rolling farm land along the banks is one of the major attractions of the Canal. So a drizzly day in Amsterdam is a good thing in this case.
So while the drizzle did its job off and on until the early afternoon, I got myself familiar again with the ship; wished a happy leave to my colleague and immersed myself in the coming cruise. We started as usual with our guest boatdrill which is nowadays a fairly quick affair as the guests do not have to put on their lifejackets anymore. Shipping is going the same way as the air industry where you also do not put on your lifejacket when starting a flight. As long as you know where your lifejacket is (under your seat) then the stewardess will show you how to put it on. So the ships are now doing the same. The lifejacket remains in the closet or stays under the bed and at the muster station it is shown how to put it on. I am all for it, as the proper donning is also shown on pictures on the sign in the cabin and not wearing the lifejacket prevents a lot of falls and trips down staircases from the guests.
By 5 pm we were on the way to open sea via the North Sea Canal. Amsterdam sail-away is always very scenic as you can look over the old city while passing Central Station. The rest of the area is being built up with new apartment buildings and in the future they will block the view more and more. Apart from that, it is also very interesting to watch the various river traffic. Some are the regular river barges but there are also contraptions coming by, of which you really wonder how they manage to stay afloat. An unusual craft is a Russian Jetfoil that ferries passengers over the canal from Central Amsterdam to ports further in the west.
We were lucky that the traffic sequence worked out and the lockmaster had the gate open when we approached, so we were in and out within 30 minutes. From the locks it took another 20 minutes to get to open waters and after saying good bye we were on our way to the entrance of the river Elbe.
Tomorrow we will have the Elbe river pilot at 06.30 in the morning and then we should we approaching the South entrance of the Kieler Kanal by 09.30 subject to traffic.
The weather is supposed to be overcast and fairly dry, so a good day for scenic cruising.
June 8, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Sooooo excited to have you back Captain Albert !!!
June 8, 2010 at 9:06 pm
Captain,
As luck would have it I decided to check if you had written anything recently. Great to have you back again. Hope you had a nice rest and are ready to be a Captain again.
Yours,
Eric Wood
June 8, 2010 at 9:22 pm
Captain Albert
Welcome back. Like many others I look forward to hearing your stories from the Prinsendam and the sea.
Trust your vacation was excellent!
Roger T.
June 8, 2010 at 9:49 pm
Welcome back! I have my World Atlas at hand and look forward to sailing with you and hearing about all the adventures that this cruise holds.
June 8, 2010 at 10:27 pm
Welcome back ! The “blog-deprivation-period” has ended !! Now all we need are your wife’s wonderful photos. Hope she joins you on board ! A. E.
June 8, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Gosh Captain Albert, it is so great to have you back. Hope you enjoyrd your leave. Can’t wait to read your next 90 days (??) of installements.
Ruud Hartog
June 9, 2010 at 2:56 am
So glad you are back so I can start my imaginary cruise again …too ! Sometime I hope we can actually cruise with you as Im sure you make them very interesting………….wishing you a wonderful 90 days of cruising…………. Sincerely, J. Knuth
June 9, 2010 at 6:21 am
Captain,
See You on the Top of the World cruise July 23rd 2010
June 9, 2010 at 10:12 am
Captain, It were two long months waiting for your blog’s, but now every day a new story. This one was a good starter, also hope to see pictures from the special reporter.
And as we say in Holland : Werk ze!(Work well).
June 10, 2010 at 6:32 am
Welcome back Capt! Looking forward to “sailing” with you on the voyages of the ms Prinsendam. Her three month and four day mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before……well, almost no man! 🙂 Goede vaart!
June 11, 2010 at 5:11 am
I’m happy to see your posts again. I had marked the date in my daytimer, and right on schedule, there it was. I’m looking forward to my daily dose of vicarious cruising for the next 3 months.
June 11, 2010 at 12:32 pm
We did the cruise Fort lauderdale-Amsterdam and we mist You albert even so the other 3 cruises we made on the ms Prinsendam. We met a very nice crew member Norbert Covacs and he give me Your blog, from now on I will follow Your nice journey’s. I always make a film from the cruise now I made one from crossing the Atlantic with I did maybe 40 or 50 Time’s but never so smooth. See YouTube fredclaessen.
June 11, 2010 at 7:24 pm
In copying ‘Detective’ 10-8, Welcome back Captain! Will be looking forward to the 3 months and 4 days of dissecting interesting reading material again. I’ve already enjoyed videos of the ms Prinsendam in motion, trying to relive the feeling of plowing through deep ocean waters. “May the weather gods be with you” 🙂
June 18, 2010 at 2:27 am
Welcome back. Looking forward to reading about the next round of cruises.