So with a good weather forecast on my mind, I went to bed while the ship sailed down the coast to our next port of call Leixoes. While I was dreaming about my upcoming vacation and seeing my wife again, I was woken up by the ships whistle just before 3 am. Followed up about 30 seconds later by a call on the telephone. A rather apologetic voice advised me that he could not see anything anymore. It had become as we say in the nautical business “a very small world”, fog had settled in along the Portuguese coast. Here waters of different temperatures come together and if there is no wind then the chance of fog is quite high. The weather forecast for open waters had indicated a wind force 2 to 3 and I had hoped for that. But it turned wind still and bingo, the haziness settled in. So my presence was required on the bridge to provide mental support to the bridge team. The way it works is that the Officer of the watch continues conning the ship, his assistant does the paperwork, telephone calls and all the other issues that occur during a watch and the captain provides the additional radar watch for locating and tracking targets. Continue reading

Thus with a large swell on my mind we approached the pilot station of La Coruna, also known as A Coruna. Indeed a large swell was running, pushed up by the shallow waters of the entrance bay to the port. Ahead of me were the MSC Orchestra and the Aida Luna. I could not follow the discussions between the Orchestra and the pilot as they spoke Spanish but the Aida Luna was easy to follow. They had a hard time getting the pilot onboard due to the swell. In the end the pilot had to go back further inside before the swell was low enough to make a safe boarding possible. I knew enough. I was going to keep up the speed to enable the stabilizers to work properly and board the pilot near the breakwater and not out in the open. So with a fairly steady ship I sailed into the bay and made the turn lining up towards the port. By the time that I was a mile from the breakwater most of the swell was on the starboard side and the pilot could climb onboard on the portside. Continue reading

For once my voyage planning was not sent helter skelter by un-expectedly changing weather. It did what the weather forecast said it would do. We crossed the English Channel and the tide, read the ebb current, kicked in when expected and so we gained about two knots for free for a four hour period. Then the channel widened and the tidal influence became less noticeable. Still with a smooth sea surface we could keep the speed up, we made maximum progress during the night and until this morning around
8am when we came out of the lee of England. Now the ocean swells touched the ship and we started moving about a little bit. Still the stabilizers could deal with most of it and I thought we had a very good ride. Some of our guests found it rough though. I assume it depends on what you are used to and what you expect. The wind started to pick up but as it was a following wind, it was relatively calm on the outside decks. In this way we made our way down the coast of France towards La Coruna in Northern Spain. Continue reading

It has been a long time since I saw a flat surfaced sea but that is what we had during the night and morning while we approached the port. It is nearing full moon and that moon hung as a big Dutch cheese in the sky with the bottom part cut out. The pilot station for Zeebrugge is quite a ways away from the port and thus we needed to be early. By 04.30 we were at the Wandelaar pilot station. “Wandelaar” means casual walker in Dutch and is the name of a sand bank in the area, which is know to shift around. The whole area is very shallow and full of sand banks, with only about 30 feet under the keel, hence the need for the pilot station to be so far out from the coast. The pilots are waiting on a large mother ship and are transferred to the approaching vessel by means of a small skiff. The Prinsendam is a firm favorite among the pilots as we have this very low side door that makes it possible for the pilot to walk straight into the ship without having to use a pilot ladder. Only if the pilot boat is very large itself, then we have to rig up the pilot ladder from a higher deck. Continue reading

All our guests made it safely onboard during the embarkation day yesterday. This morning they had the option to explore Greenwich and it’s surroundings but the majority stayed onboard. Trying to get over their jet leg I assume as until 11 am it was rather quiet in the ship. I was involved in two meetings which pertained to building a new cruise terminal in Greenwich. A terminal where the ship can dock and the people can walk off the ship and directly onto the shore. If all plans come to fruition the terminal would be ready before the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Greenwich has been working on plans for a cruise terminal for a long time already and they now hope that the stimulus of the Games can get these ideas finalized. Let’s hope it all becomes reality. Greenwich has a lot to offer but the current situation is far from ideal. So I am glad that I was able to help, if only a tiny bit by offering the hospitality of the Prinsendam. Continue reading

The tide dictated that this was going to be a midnight affair and so we prepared accordingly. Going up the river during the night is quite nice. The first part up to the Thames barrier is boring with passing only the car factories at Dagenham and the occasional power plant but after the Thames barrier it becomes very scenic. The London skyline produces so much light that there is not much difference in sailing on the river during the day or during the night. Most London pilots said that they even prefer the night as there is less distraction, most of the time less traffic and somehow the place looks nicer. As we are docking on the buoys in Greenwich, the voyage up river is timed to arrive there during the period of slack water. It take about 30 minutes for the current to go from Ebb to Flood and vice versa and that is normally enough time to get the mooring ropes on the buoys. Continue reading

The weather remained very unpleasant for the remainder of the night. Strong winds and high seas but the Prinsendam was riding the waves very nicely and we had a really comfortable ride. Some guests even started to wonder if it really was that bad. I was almost tempted to change course for a few minutes…………and turn the nose into the waves…………… Of course I did not do that but it would have solved the argument quickly. The Hotel department flipped the whole daily program over and so what should have been done today (the scheduled sea day) was done yesterday and what was to be done yesterday (the Leith port day) was taking place today during the new port day of Tilbury. That takes a bit of doing as the components that the cruise director has to work with; entertainers, are not so highly structured as the regular departments on board where things happen with a click of the finger. Entertainers, when not working, are sometimes quite hard to find, things have to be discussed, (dramatic) opinions expressed and then finally the CD gets his show on the road. I work with yes and no’s, the Cruise Directors with a lot of if’s and why’s, and yes but’s. With creativity comes emotion and we have a lot of creativity on board……… Thus our C.D Thom had a nerve wracking day yesterday to get it all together and hold it together as it was all last minute scheduling. Continue reading

The wind force 9 winds, gusting 10, came over later than expected. They came whistling off the coast after 21.30 hrs. which was just fine by me. We sailed close to the coast already but each minute that the wind came later, the closer we came to the coast and the more in the shelter the ship would be. Because the winds had just started and did not blow over an exposed sea surface where we were, there was no swell building up and thus we were not affected at all. Apart from the whistling sound, most guests did not even notice that there was bad weather outside. Everybody was in dinner or in the show. Nobody ventured outside as the weather has been cold, windy and rainy and it had cooled down even more during the evening. A wind chill factor force 9 certainly helps with cooling down. The late arrival of the strong winds had me worrying about something totally different. How about for getting into the locks? The weather forecast from the pilots was clearly based on an earlier passing of these strong winds and the subsequent lessening of them after the centre has passed. I was getting an unpleasant feeling over me. Continue reading

This town is located just north of Aberdeen and is mainly in use by fishermen and the supply boats for the North Sea oil rigs. It has a rather large harbour for its size with two big breakwaters that provide good shelter for ships in bad weather. We were scheduled here for a full day stay. Nice tours can be made to the interior of Scotland. The town is cute except today. The inclement weather that started to come over Stornoway in the late morning and the afternoon had spread all over the North of Scotland during the night. More bad weather was on the way from the North Atlantic but it was not certain when that would arrive. By the time I went to bed, it was still looking good for a dry morning in Peterhead with rain expected in the afternoon. However the system moved along nicely and the rain started around 4 am in the morning while at the same time Aberdeen Radio issued its first gale warning. However for the time being the wind was from the NE, making a docking possible and if the wind would later change, the only thing that could happen would be that the Prinsendam would be pinned against the dock. Continue reading

Based on three good forecasts for very good weather we approached the port of Stornoway. Indeed it was wind still and the sun rose in a clear sky. Stornoway has a very sheltered harbor from most wind directions as it is shaped like a boomerang. (Not a Scottish instrument though) Small and bigger cruise ships the size of the Prinsendam do not fit in and so they are directed to an anchorage outside. However that is almost 2 miles tender distance to the dock. Although it is too small to swing around in, on the anchor it was possible to drift inside as there was no wind. Thus I moved inside and lowered the tenders. It would mean that I would have to maneuver all day, staying on the engines but I now could reduce the tender distance to roughly half, so I found it worth while to do so. My guests were entitled to a extra treat after all the past days of inclement weather. Continue reading