15 April 2018; Tampa, Florida.

The weather remained good during the night and the ms Rotterdam was nicely able to follow the Rhapsody of the Seas to the dock and both ships were parked on time to start discharging luggage followed by disembarking about 90% of the guests. The remainder were the CVG or Collector Voyagers Guests who are staying board for this coming cruise and a few even beyond. These guests also have to go through Immigration inspection but that is arranged by marching the whole group ashore when the last guests have left. Once they have been seen by CBP, and the so-called zero count has been achieved, the whole group is marched back on board again. These are of course those who decided not to go ashore and explore Tampa and surroundings. As we were all warned to expect very inclement weather, most did stay on board. I normally tag on with this group as I am neither guest nor crew but something ephemeral called a non –revenue passenger. Basically somebody who CBP cannot classify in any other way. I am normally joined by the Port Shopping Ambassador who is sailing as an outside representative, although working for Holland America, but not as a crew based entity, so today we waved our passports together at CBP. And the gentleman was much more interested in her as she is much prettier than I am or ever was.

While the CVG guests stayed on board I went ashore and tried to be back before the arrival of the rain, while trying to buy a large TV for the Bo ‘sun store. With a smaller ship we always lack venues to conduct training and although the Bo ‘sun store is not the most posh of surroundings it is a larger space and to my utter amazement the ms Rotterdam did not have a TV in the Bo ‘sun store. The Bo ‘sun really felt left out. We have funds for these sorts of things but the challenge with larger organizations is always to find the right piggy bank to get it out of. And here I can help the ship and I do have time in a change-over port to go shopping. Tomorrow the Deck Machinist will weld supports and then we have a 55 inch TV in place for training of the sailors and others begging for a space.

Our Transatlantic Cruise.

Today we started our transatlantic crossing which eventually will bring us to Rotterdam on April 30^th. First we go the Key West and then we head in the direction of Bermuda followed by the crossing.  We started our journey an hour later than planned due to the inclement weather. The Harbor Master of Tampa kept the cruise ships wisely at the berth until the wind had really died down so it was safe to go through Sparkman Channel and then into Tampa Bay. As explained yesterday, Sparkman is very narrow and you have to go through with slow speed to avoid wash and damage to the fuel barges docked at the side. The slower you go, the more you drift, and here there is no room to drift.

This is what scares sailors. A sharp edge in a cloud line as it indicates a sharp border between little wind and a lot of wind. Today the edge was not as sharply defined as it can be and the clouds not so dark, hence the passing weather front was not as severe as originally predicted.

So what the Captain and his team do today. First figure out when the frontal passage with the expected rain, wind and thunderstorms, were coming through. That turned out to be between 13.45 hrs. and 14.30 hrs. After that time the wind would slowly die down again and only the rain remain. On arrival extra mooring lines were given out and at 13.30, the bow and stern thrusters came on line. Then the tugboat arrived which had been ordered to push against the side of the ship if needed to keep the gangway (on the other side of the ship) in place as we had embarkation going on. The Radar was set on 24 miles to see the nasty rains approaching. (We cannot see clouds on the radar but we can see rain). 60+ knots of wind gusts were predicted but luckily some of it was dispersed before it reached the ship and the wind meter peaked at 42 knots. Still not nice but better than Hurricane Force. By 15.30 the wind had peaked and then the rain started.

The tugboat arriving before the wind picked up. Only this is not called a tugboat but a Docking Module as it can go with the same speed in any direction, instead of what a normal tugboat does, pull in one direction.

So we went to plan B, conducting the Guest Boat drill inside the ship. The portside boats were directed to the Show lounge and the Starboard boats to the Dining room. When we do this, we always have some confusion as on the first day most guests have not yet figured out what port and starboard is, or odd and even, let alone where the bow and the stern is. So for about 15 minutes I was a very popular person helping the Stairway Guides by directing guests in Dutch, French, English and German to the correct mustering location. The Stairway Guide I was with came from South Africa, spoke good English but as 2^nd languages, Swahili and Sud-Afrikaans and those two languages are not so much in demand on a Holland America Line Ship.

Lifeboat drill inside the ship. Normally this is only done on large ships where the deck space is too small for all the guests to stand, such as on our Koningsdam. The Rotterdam musters under the lifeboats except when it rains, and it DID rain today in Tampa.

The Harbor Master gave permission to sail at 18.00 hrs. and the good ship Rotterdam pulled out of Tampa for the last time this season just after 18.00 hrs. Tomorrow we will be in Key West. The weather should be nice sunny with 24oC / 76oF but breezy after lunch time.