Today we are in St. Thomas and although we always call it that, it is officially Charlotte Amalie, and the area we are docking in is Crown Bay. When I first came to the island in the early 80’s it was still a submarine base for the US navy. They left somewhere in the late 80’s and then it was decided to redevelop the area as a cruise terminal for the overflow of cruise ships. With the ships getting larger and the length of the pier at Havensight (West Indian Dock Company Pier) being limited, more and more ships had to anchor or were forced to have different calling schedules. Carnival Corporation invested in the dock and allocated it primary for the use of Holland America and Princess. It is of course also used by other companies, including Carnival.
Crown Bay on full house day. The red roofs in front of the ships is the little shopping centre. In the far distance Havensight with three mega liners alongside.
Holland America is parking it ships here now permanently and the dock can take two large ships. Today we were by ourselves and the captain decided to dock nose in at the north side. (He was probably pushed by the Staff Captain as it was boat drill time today and the sb. boats had to go down. The portside boats get their chance in San Juan which is nearly always sb. side alongside) Also coming in to dock has two options as Crown Bay is laying behind Water Island and you can come in/leave via the West Gregory channel or the East Gregory channel.
Crown Bay in the shelter of the island.
Which one you pick depends on your arrival maneuver. If you are planning to dock stern in, it normally works best to come in from the West, overshoot the dock and then go astern alongside. If you are planning to go nose in, then the East approach works better as it is a straight shot in. When you leave it is just going astern, bring the bow over to port and open sea is right there. Today we were alone at Crown Bay but Havensight was full with the Freedom of the Seas, the Norwegian Gem and the Norwegian Spirit. Altogether bringing 8000 eager shoppers ashore. So maybe it is not such a bad idea of being in Crown Bay, it is a lot quieter there. There are also shops and the open air island taxi’s run very frequently for those who feel the need to go to downtown.
While the guests were running ashore, 25% of the crew went on exercise. As blogged before, all crew has to be trained during a monthly cycle and this normally means they get one training and then a drill in this one month’s time period. During the training – drill the officers take the time to explain and exercise everything, either to teach the crewmember or to refresh. Then when the months cycle comes to an end there is the drill-drill where everything has to go smooth and fast without any help or explanation. Today was training time and then things are being taken very slowly as for most crewmembers messing around with lifeboats is not their daily job. Normally they are focused on passenger services, either front of the house or back of the house.
I am starting to gear up for my school class which will be joining this coming Fort Lauderdale. This week I am also doing some training for the regular crew and some audit work but the main reason for my being here on the Westerdam is the Nautical Excellence Class. To my amazement I found three of my previous students here on board. One from the December 2014 class on the Rotterdam and two from my last class on the October Rotterdam class. Makes sense I suppose as they are just in the cycle of being on the ships. Those of the March Noordam class joined their ships in April and May and are now on leave.
We sail from St. Thomas at 17.00 hrs. and will spend tomorrow at sea, retracing our steps back towards Florida. But we have one final stop to make and that is a call at Half Moon Cay, our private island. We were lucky with the weather today although mainly overcast, it remained dry in Crown Bay. What will come in the next 36 hours is a bit of a guess as the frontal system is still here but it has cleared the Bahamas area. So in principle we should have sun shine and if the weather develops as forecast the winds should die down to a gentle breeze. That is always nice if there are two ships in, as you anchor at HMC quite close to each other.
November 18, 2015 at 6:25 pm
Looking forward to hopefully meeting you on the December 5 sailing. Since you have been with HAL for a number of years, do you remember the previous Westerdams Captain Van Bilyau…We were lucky enough to sit at his table in 1992. He was quite a character. I would love to relate his story about sailing into Key West.
November 19, 2015 at 5:17 pm
Yes, I will be on board. Please wave me over when you see me
I sailed with Capt. van Biljouw for 2 years on the Westerdam. He was indeed a character and he enjoyed the good life.
thank you for reading my blog
Capt. Albert
November 19, 2015 at 7:52 am
I have just recently found your posts and am really enjoying reading them. We will be on the Westerdam December 5th and hope you are still aboard. Catherine
November 19, 2015 at 5:15 pm
Thank you for reading my blog.
Yes I will be there
Best regards
Capt. Albert
November 19, 2015 at 1:24 pm
Hope you will still be aboard the Westerdam when we board on Dec. 5. We had dinner with you when you were Captain on our Panama Canal cruise. Also, I am the “eye lady” that you had to disembark in Grand Cayman…years ago. Carol
November 19, 2015 at 5:14 pm
Very good.
Yes I am on board until Dec. 12th. for my 3 week class of new Holland America Officers.
Hopefully we will run into each other.
thank you for reading my blog
Capt. Albert
November 20, 2015 at 5:31 pm
Captain, when you wrote (in your paragraph 2) that “the Captain decided to dock nose in … “, does it mean that the Captain can decide in every harbour which way the ship docks into the slip? Or, does it depend on which harbour he is entering and has to obey the decisions of the local Harbour Master? Or, even can negotiate with same what he (the Captain) prefers?
(Thinking of the Zuiderdam under command of Captain Chris Turner who always docked with the nose in at Canada Place.)
November 20, 2015 at 5:59 pm
Nearly all the ports the captain can decide. But quite often the decision is make for him by due to the best way of landing the gangway. Thus a Vista class ship will dock nose in Vancouver (otherwise we have issues with the hook up of the shore gangways) then with boatdrill we try to have the side of the drill on the water side. But if none of that applies, docking nose out — to make a quick escape, is a preference most captains cannot let go by.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
November 20, 2015 at 6:28 pm
Thank you, Captain. I think I understand! 🙂