18 November 2007, Tampa.

After arriving at the pilot station we were in very good hands. Not one, but three pilots came on board. One was the official pilot and the other two junior pilots who had to make a certain of trips under supervision before they could get licensed for the larger type ship. When a pilot passes his exam, he or she is first limited to a certain tonnage, draft or length. After gaining some operational experience the license is endorsed for a large(r) vessel until after a number of years it becomes unlimited. So under the watchful eye of the senior pilot one of the two juniors conned the ship in. On departure all three returned and then the other junior pilot conned the ship out of port. I think they were both rather disappointed that I dock and undock the ship myself. However as the Captain remains responsible for the ship at all times, a dent caused by a pilot is still going on the account of the captain. So I prefer to make my own dents or better said do the docking myself so there are no dents. Pilots are normally very skilled ship handlers but nobody knows his own ship better than the captain, as he handles her every day.

So we happily docked (without a dent) and started the change over of our guests. We had a bit of drama with the two guests who had missed the ship in Aruba. They had flown from Aruba to Grand Cayman to rejoin the ship. They had just arrived on the pier when the medivac tender was coming back in again. I could then not pick them up anymore, as I had been already in an uncomfortable situation when having to make a lee for the medivac transfer. Thus the agent put them back on the plane to Miami and from their to Tampa. How much bad luck can you have? Upon arriving at the passenger terminal there troubles were not over yet, as now local security rules forbid them to come back on board. Upon departure Aruba, I had double locked the cabin with my master key and sealed it was well. The day before Tampa the security officer, with witnesses present, had packed and inventoried all the belongings. So on arrival Tampa, we took their luggage ashore, checked everything against the inventory list and that was it. Why were they late in Aruba??? They thought that all on board time was 15.30 hrs while it was 14.00 hrs. Thus they arrived at the Aruba dock side around 15.20 hrs. I do not think that they will make that mistake again.

Meanwhile I was occupied with something else. This week it was 25 years since Holland America came to Tampa for the first time. On 16 November 1982, the old Veendam left for its first in augural season from Tampa to the Caribbean. Since then the company has had over 600 000 guests sailing from Tampa. We also had the 1 millionth passenger sailing from Tampa on board the Noordam in 2001 when I was in command of that ship.
Thus we had to have an official party with all the movers and shakers from the port of Tampa and our Vice president Caribbean Operations Mr. Matthew Sams. We also recognized two employees who had been from the beginning. One was a Lady, Mrs. Aldona Weekly, who had been part of the shore operations check in staff since the first call of the Veendam. Second was Mrs. Sandy Naugle our ships agent who started looking after our ships from 1983 on. For both I made an Letter of Commendation expressing our gratitude and I think both made it on the 6 pm. news that evening.

We pulled out on time sailing through Tampa Bay as fast as we could as it was going to be a high speed run to Key West. The Sunshine Skyway Bridge is still under maintenance with only one pillar lit up which was a bit of a pity. This is a Seven day Thanksgiving cruise and we have a lot of family’s on board including approx. 150 kids. They normally keep the security department VERY MUCH occupied during the cruise, as the guards try to re-unite families all evening long. Mothers who desperately want to be “re-united” and kids desperately trying to avoid being “re-united”. It is going to be a noisy week.