The challenge with the southbound passage is that we have to start early in the morning, in order to have enough time left to get to Amsterdam on time. That meant being in the Holtenau Locks, at the East side, at 5 am in the morning to start the transit. To get to the Locks we need the Kieler Bay pilot and thus we had to pick him up even earlier. So by 3 am I was gazing at the Kieler Lighthouse while we were approaching it. The pilots have accommodation in the base of this lighthouse which stands in the middle of the approaches to the bay as a sort of traffic cop, while ships pass around it from several sides. We were exactly there at 4 am and then cranked the ship up again to full maneuvering speed to be in front of the locks before 5 am. There our first delay started as the lock chamber was still full with 3 cargo ships who only came slowly spilling out of it. Hence we were only inside by 05.15 hrs. The Kieler Bay pilot left us here, replaced by the Kieler Kanal Pilot with two helmsmen. Then we proceeded with the grand speed of 7 knots into the canal. This side of the canal is the narrowest part, and still comes closest to the way it was constructed back in 1895. On either side there is a lot of expensive Real Estate to look at, some from the 19th century and some from the late 20th century. So the guests who were up and about early, had numerous interesting things to look at apart from the canal . Continue reading

After so many port days in a row; Warnemunde, Tallinn, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm, finally a sea day for everybody to catch their breath. The funny thing is that most (not everybody) guests like to book the cruise that offers the most ports, as it offers the best value for money. However when they then make the cruise, a great sigh of relief goes up when there is finally a sea day coming. Sightseeing is hard work, especially in Europe, where each country has its distinct culture and the impressions are overwhelming. By the time you are on day 10, you cannot remember anymore which ruin you did on day one. So today was a day to relax; at least nobody was going ashore. As we only had a few sea days this cruise, we had to cram the 2nd half of all our standard Holland America activities into this sea day. We had the mariners luncheon (two sittings as the whole ship is a mariner here), Walk the Cure on deck and numerous other things, including lectures, get togethers, cruise staff activities etc etc. Cruising is hard work, especially on this cruise where there are so few sea days. Continue reading

There are two ways to get into the Swedish Archipelago and from there to Stockholm. Either via the North Entrance or via the South Entrance. The North entrance is always used by ships coming from the Bothnic Gulf. I did the same last year when we came from Vaasa in North West Finland. Also the ferry’s that run a night schedule will use this entrance and some of them do not even go to Stockholm as just inside the entrance is a ferry terminal. The South entrance has two issues, it is day light restricted for over 200 meter ships and some of the very large ships, including cruise ships cannot use it at all, due to a 90o turn near the entrance. Also those ships have to use the North Entrance. However if you come from the East from the mid of the Baltic Sea as we did, then the South entrance is much closer and easier to reach. Hence us going that way and in order to comply with the day light rule, I arrived at the pilot station at Sunrise. It was perfectly timed, the moment the pilot boat came alongside the sun rose as a fiery ball above the horizon. Ahead of us we could not see any horizon or any islands as there was dense visibility due to fog. Continue reading

When we left the pilot of Saint Petersburg behind, we observed flat calm seas, that sort of calmness that makes the waves look oily. This morning there was a faint ripple over the waves but it was nearly wind still and thus we knew that it was going to be a very nice day again. The powers that be had decided in their infinite wisdom that the good ship Prinsendam was going to dock in downtown and thus we headed to the eastern pilot station. There are also cruise ships docks in the Western harbour and they are used when downtown is full or when a cruise ship calls that is too long to fit at any of the downtown berths. Today there were only two cruise ships calling, us, and we are not that big and the Ocean Countess which is even smaller. Hence our scheduled appearance in the downtown or the South port. Continue reading

As was expected, the loading of oil continued throughout the night and today. Every year we hope that they will have bunker boats with a greater pump capacity but until now it is slow going. In most western ports, pump capacities of up to 250 -300 tons in the hour can be achieved but here in St. Petersburg we are already happy with 70 tons an hour. That makes for long and tedious standby hours for the watch engineers and the chief engineer. Company protocol requires that the bunker transfer at the manifold (there where the hose enters the ship) is overseen by a licensed engineer and there is also the requirement that the chief engineer is in or near the control room while bunkering is in progress. The company is that strict as it wants its most capable people standby in case something is going wrong. A hose rupture could result in major pollution and in the un-likely event that this would happen you want the best people on location, to minimize any impact. So for most of the engineers they only thing they saw of St. Petersburg was an oil barge. Luckily we do not bunker everyday. Continue reading

For most guests the two day call at St. Petersburg is the highlight of the cruise. I think mainly because Russia and all that goes with it, still gives a sort of mysterious feeling of entering an unknown and alien world. Which is not far beside reality as the Russian mind does think very different from a western one. That in combination with a mind boggling bureaucracy makes it for all of us a very interesting place to visit. The approach is through a 25 mile long channel which is so narrow and shallow that we have to maintain a slow speed to avoid the ship from digging in and suffering from squat. Then, when passing Kronstadt the old navy base, we have to reduce even more speed to avoid wake damage. At Kronstadt the sea barrier is almost finished so we are sailing through its opening just before we pass the island itself. From there it is another hour of narrow channels before we approach the dock. For docking there are two options, either you are directed to the new cruise terminal or you dock in the old cargo port. The exception is when you are small cruise ship, then you can continue upriver on the Neva and dock in downtown at the Lieutenant Smith embankment. Continue reading

Avoiding congestion we arrived nice and early at the pilot station. To make things easier for the pilot we came in through the Northerly approach, although ships coming from the West normally use the southerly entrance. An entrance which answers to the Grand name of Suurupi 3 Pilot station. The one we used is just called North Tallinn. I think that was an unexpected variation on the regular proceedings as the Jewel of the Seas coming from St. Petersburg was clearly startled by it. The fact that the Prinsendam was sitting at the pilot station at the same time as them did not go down very well. However it is the pilot organisation that decides in which sequence the ships are being serviced and thus they had to wait until the pilot boat had delivered a pilot to the Prinsendam first. Not that it mattered very much; as the Jewel of the Seas was going to the cruise pier, which is outside the old port and thus could dock much quicker than us. For the cruise pier it is basically putting the brakes on in time and the gangway out, while for the old port you normally swing around and back into the port. Continue reading

It seems that the nice weather is here with us to stay. Again the sun brightly shone all day long and with a flowing wind, a wind matching the ships speed, it was a very pleasant day at sea and certainly very pleasant to be on the outside decks. The first part of our route is following the busiest part of the shipping lanes here in the Mid Baltic and thus there were many ships to be seen. The route went from Warnemunde directly North North East and by 5 am we passed the island of Bornholm on our starboard side. That was followed by the Island of Gotland on our portside in the early afternoon. By that time the traffic started to get less; as here you have lost by now all the traffic going to Sweden and West Finland. As soon as you are past Gotland more and more ships were moving away from the main lane and by late evening we only had the traffic left for the East Baltic countries such as Estonia and Russia itself. Continue reading

For some reason I like this port very much. Maybe because the local population feels so closely connected to the shipping business and there is always a good turn out when the ships are sailing out. Some of my colleagues are not so happy here as a normal arrival time always interferes with the early morning ferry arrivals. They have preference due to their time table and then you have to wait. That is indeed quite irritating and I prefer to solve that issue by arriving an hour earlier. That only leaves the ships agent unhappy as he has to get out of bed even earlier than normal. So I arrived at 0400 at the pilot station after another night of dodging ships. After exiting Drogden channel, the courses are basically North to South and that means crossing those Vessel Traffic Separation routes. That crossing has to be done at 90o angles, or as near as 90o as possible, as the Collision Regulation rules say. As Warnemunde is to the South West in relation to Copenhagen, it means that you first join the system going west, work your way over to the south side of the lane and then make a 90o turn due south. Hopefully without having a delay due to opposing traffic. It all went well but it was very busy during the night and thus we had to remain very alert. Continue reading

Another day in (Danish) paradise. Today it was nearly windstill and the temperatures crept up to the very high 70’s. No other cruise ship came in and thus the guests had the whole city to themselves. It made me wonder therefore, why the harbormaster had parked us all the way forward at the Lange Linje instead of all the way down where we normally are. That part has a few little shops as well; carved out in the stone walls of the upper pier level. However such are the vagaries of life. At least the Chief Officer was a happy camper with a rented cherry picker for two days. He could paint the whole portside during this stay. So we are finally catching up with the aftermath of the dry – dock in last January and all the ports in South America and the Mediterranean where outside maintenance is simply prohibited. Continue reading