13 March 2010; Manaus, Brazil, day two.

We were docked last night by 21.45 and by 22.15 I was in bed as it had been a long day. First standby during the night while going up the river from midnight onwards, relieved for 2 hours by the chief officer, then the drifting off the dock, then the anchoring and later on the waiting for the approval to dock. As I was informed by the agent about every hour that things would be settled “soon” I had to remain on standby. With the situation at hand, there was no way of telling what they might have come up with next, so I remained standby for…….. whatever………. could or would develop next. Luckily it ended with us docking and spending a quiet night alongside the dock. Thus I had the plan to sleep in. At least until 8 am in the morning. That would mean 9 hours un-interrupted rest. It did not work, by 06.30 I was awake as I could be, all due to the body being tuned in to the watch system by now. So time to get up and get ready for the next challenge.

That was a very pleasant one. For those who have been following my blog for a while might remember that when I was on the Veendam, we were always collecting items for good causes in Santo Tomas de Castilla. The crew were active and guests joined in; with the “slipperman” donating over two pallets of computers and medical supplies, as just one example. The company actively supports this sort of thing, so when I moved to the Prinsendam there was no reason not to continue with it. As Nelly the Chief House keeper came with me to this ship, I also had somebody “on the deck” to get things going again.

The challenge for the Prinsendam is, that we cannot plan during a season multiple calls at the same port, as we only call at each port once. Thus the cruise was reviewed and the best thing was to plan for one of the ports on the Amazon. A guest sailing with us, from Tulsa, brought with her 5 boxes of knitted baby clothes and blankets and so we had a core donation to start with.

From there it rolled all by itself and I just had to sit back and watch in admiration what Club Prinsendam was coming up with. The Hotel manager reviewed his stock and a lot of ex inventory items were approved for donation, including towels and bathrobes. The crew cleared out their lockers and a lot of good clothing appeared. All was cleaned and packed up by the housekeeping department. So things were rolling. Now it was time to bring forward our secret weapon in the form of Human Resources Manager Andrea Consentino, who is Brazilian and now faced the challenging task of finding suitable places for our donations.

In the end, she came up with two places in Manaus an old folk’s home and a children’s care centre (www.larbastistamanaus.com.br). Now the Cruise Director and the hostess became involved and started a fundraising session among the guests. So the day before yesterday, we had a number of old folks visiting the ship and a delegation going ashore to hand over various donated items. There are now about 130 old folks using HAL towels and HAL bathrobes and a lot of other valuable items for their care.

Today we had the children coming onboard for ice cream and the official donation of the 5 boxes of baby clothes, school supplies, toys and the result of the fund raising among the guests. It was a very happy time. Club Prinsendam brought a lot of joy to the hearts of many deprived people in Manaus. See the below photos.

The Prinsendam itself left at 18.00 hrs. from Manaus on its way to Parintins for a half day call. Highlight will be the Boi Bumba show for which 300 guests have signed up. We will be there at 8 am. for what is normally the hottest or rainiest (or both) day of our Amazon expedition.

Lar Batista Janell Doyle – is in a neighborhood known for high incidence of drugs, guns & gangs. This is the address for children who suffered from family abuse and it’s now 12 years old. The name is in honor of an American missionary who worked very hard in the Amazon region fighting for children and family rights. The institution has 5 teachers responsible for the children’s education. They are given balanced food approved by nutritionists, medical care, psychological & pedagogical support and lots of play time. Currently there are 150 children; 100 in daily care and 50 sent to them by local authorities for permanent stay. Each child received a pack with school supplies and a “penguin” and the institution got the check.

All photos courtesy of our Photo and Video manager Vuk.

The childeren and carers after having been issued with balloons. In the front some of the boxes with baby clothing and knitted blankets and ship gifts. Aft row: Hotel Manager Francois Birarda, Cruise Director Thom Faulkner, Chief Housekeeper Nelly Reyes Perez, Hostess Ashley Edinger, H.R.M Andrea Consentino,

Cruise director Thom and Hostess Ashley handing over the cheque for $ 1380.50 to the leader of the childerens group. There was also a private monetary donation from a guest

What is in my goody bag………………
Penguins in Manaus

The kitchen department somehow managed to create a cake with the logo of the childrens home on it.

First balloons and then Ice cream and cake

I had the whole gang on the bridge for a quick look and some photos and I think that this photo says it all: