Today we had a quiet sea day while on our way to San Diego where about 700 of our guests will be disembarking. We were sailing around 12 to 20 miles from the Mexican shore line and the weather remained good but the outside air temperature was slowly dropping.
We are in full swing with the preparation for the Alaska season. Due to environmentally sensitive area’s that we will be sailing in for the whole summer, there are numerous rules to comply with and to prepare for, plus a lot of local protocol. The navigation officer has to prepare all the charts, as although we will be sailing nearly constantly under pilotage, we have to have our courses and distances in place, to check on what the pilot is doing.
Most of the cruise is inside territorial waters and that means that for the first day and a half we have a Canadian pilot on board, then for 3 days an American pilot in Alaska and then for one and a half day a Canadian pilot again for getting back to Vancouver. It is also not one pilot but two, who relieve each other while we are under way. British Columbia has different rules as Alaska in relation to navigation and all of this has to be planned.
Same goes for the ports. Apart from the regular navigational rules, the Captains of the port in Alaska (USCG) have made special rulings for the interaction of local craft and the big cruise ships, while in the port. To have a successful season without incidents and accidents all navigators have to be aware of all these issues and thus we have started to do extra training sessions.
In the coming blogs you will read about the various peculiarities of the Alaskan ports.
Apart from the navigators, there is also work going on in the engine room as we have to comply with very strict emission regulations. So the chief engineer is busy with fine tuning all the machinery that emits any form of exhaust. In the hotel department it is the same. There are a few different procedures in regards to custom and border protection as the (small) Alaska ports can not muster as many officials as on the mainland. Furtheron special licenses have to be applied for so the purser is also a busy man.
To get this all properly prepared we get help from our agent in Alaska. All the cruise ship companies use one agent called Cruise Lines Agencies of Alaska (in the old days South East Stevedoring) and they have been there for years. During the winter in Alaska they prepare all the information that is needed for a successful season and send it by April to each ship in the fleet. Information about clearance procedures, Medivacs and hospitals, docking arrangements and dock layout, which ships are calling each day in which port,
Etc. Etc Etc.
Thus I spent most of the day perusing the information that the agent had forwarded to the ship and in the coming days I will be checking if everybody is fully aware of what is needed to know and if all is ready by Vancouver.
San Diego is supposed to be bring us a sunny day with temperatures in the mid seventies. Perfect for the guests to travel home and with the airport minutes away from the ship.
April 29, 2008 at 11:57 am
Looking forward to seeing you sailing into the Coal Harbour bay from under the Lions Gate bridge, Captain. Copied all sections that interest me from your updates and study them at my leisure at home. Wondered if a BSc is a mandatory prerequisite for Deck Officers aspiring to become Captains. Many thanks again for sharing your experiences.