This morning I reboarded the Veendam after spending a few days in San Diego. As you might know, the company organizes each year a SMC. This stands for Senior Management Conference and means that in two groups all ships staff come together for a three day conference and seminar. Only the onboard staff of the Amsterdam and Prinsendam could not attend as it was too complicated to fly them from the other side of the world and their relieves to the ship. Those three days are filled with (office) speakers who give the latest updates about where the company is heading and what new initiatives are being developed to keep the company competitive with the rest of the Industry. For the rest there are breakout sessions for Captains, Hotel managers, Chief Officers and Chief Engineers to discuss the specific issues for their area’s of responsibility. At the same time the ships Environmental Officers get their refreshment course in the latest environmental rules and insights.

From San Diego I flew to Cozumel and after a hotel night boarded the ship. To my great happiness the ship was docked at the Lagosta Pier which is opposite down town and also right opposite the hotel I was staying in. Cozumel has been a difficult season for the Veendam as the ship had to anchor most of the time. We were originally scheduled all season to go to Costa Maya but since the piers were destroyed by hurricane Dean last year, the ship has been calling at Cozumel. Docking spaces are normally booked two years in advance and that means that the Veendam could only dock if there was a space available; we did not have a scheduled berth as such because of the last moment rescheduling. On the standard cruises, that meant that the Veendam had to anchor or drift as with a Thursday call the piers where all occupied with mega liners.

This cruise we are on a slightly different schedule with calling at Montego Bay and Grand Cayman instead of Key West, Belize and Santo Tomas and that meant that Cozumel was a Tuesday call. On a Tuesday not all berths are booked and one open berth was available at the downtown Lagosta Pier. Perfect for the guests of course. Later in the cruise it will also mean that we are the only in ship in Grand Cayman and that is of course even better.

I will now do a four month contract on the ship and will then be relieved on July 28th or so in Vancouver by Captain James Russell-Dunford which has been the alternating captain since 2004.

We left Cozumel at 1900 hrs. with a romantic sail away as Cozumel was lit up against the dark blue sky on our starboard side. The guests were enjoying a barbecue at that time and entertainment was provided by a local Mariachi band, which left the ship about 30 seconds before we pulled the gangway. We are now crossing the western part of the Caribbean Sea on our way to Montego Bay, where we will arrive at 8 am on the 3 April.

Good morning,

In the past few days the following has been added:

1. Three small photo gallerys: Faces of………….: under the my ship tab.
(With more to come)

2. Another future Avid Cruise article about the first Mass market cruise ship ever built: under table Of days gone by

Enjoy

Good morning,

Today were added:
1. The histories of Veendam II, Veendam III (under Hal ships past and present)
2. A future article for the Avid cruiser magazine about the first dedicated cruise ship ever built. (under Of days gone by)

Enjoy

Good morning,

As promised in December, here are the first new updates to the website. I have started adding pages with the individual history of the companies ships. I am starting with the Veendam’s and will progress from there until the whole fleet has been covered. Just click the tab: Holland America Line ships Past and present above the website header and click the sub-tabs

Enjoy.

Tomorrow we are in Tampa and I will be going home for a four month leave period. Normally my colleague and I are doing three on, three off, but due to the scheduling of the yearly captains conference we have changed it this time to 4 on 4 off and then 2 on, two off. In that way it also works out that I will be on board for Christmas 2008 after having had the previous two holiday periods off.

I will be relieved by Captain James Russell-Dunford who has been alternating with me on the Veendam since 2004.

I would like to thank all the readers for taking their time to follow my daily escapades on the high seas. My apologies for not always answering your queries and questions. Some I could not answer as they would involve company policy and statements. As a captain I do not make company policy, I only execute it. For the rest I have tried to in coorperate as many answers in my blogs as possible. I hope you enjoyed it.

Please check the website later in the New Year; I hope to add two sections to it during my leave. One with history of the company and the Holland America Line ships and items of life on board the Veendam including of who is Who.

Happy holidays

07 December 2007 Georgetown Grand Cayman.

It was a beautiful day, it was a gorgeous day and even better, we were alone. We were the only ship in port. No lines in the shops, no tourist jams in the main street. Having sting ray city all to yourself. It could not be better. The sun shone all day and there was a gentle breeze blowing to make it pleasant.

That gentle breeze is also of extreme importance to me as it is needed to keep the ship in position. Georgetown is the strange place where if there is too much wind and or from the wrong the direction then you have to cancel. If there is not enough wind then you can not anchor as the ship will drift unto the reefs.

Georgetown has four anchorages each one about 2000 feet away from the other. The ship anchors on a ledge with the bow in 30 feet of water and the stern in about a1000 feet of water. The steady trade wind keeps pushing the ship away from the coast and the anchor then holds it connected to the ledge. If there is too much wind, the anchor can not take the strain, it starts dragging and will fall of the ledge. If there is no wind, the current that runs along the ledge will slowly push the ship onto the ledge and into too shallow water. The only thing you can do to avoid this is to keep one propeller working and going a little bit astern so the ship stay off the reef in that way. Having a gentle breeze doing it for you if of course much better.

To find the right spot on the reef is done with the help of the local Pilot Captain Banks.
He comes out in a tour boat and parks himself on the exact spot that he thinks is best for the ship. It is then up to the captain to bring the anchor above the pilot boat and the ship to a standstill when it gets there. If you overshoot, you end up in too shallow water. As soon as the anchor is above the pilot boat, the pilot boat moves away and the anchor is let go. That letting go of the anchor is always a bit scary with that pilot boat floating under it. There have not been any accidents but there have been a few close calls, when a too eager young officer forward was too quick with giving the “let go” order after permission came from the bridge.

When the anchor has landed on a sandy spot on the ledge, the ships bow (and thus the rest of the ship) is moved sideways and the chain is paid out over the ledge. In that way we create maximum holding power. The anchor will dug into the sand with the flukes and then the ship moves little bit astern so that most of the ship is over deep water again. For a person that has never seen this sort of “ledge anchoring” being done it is a bit of an eye opener. The bow is moving closer and closer to the beach followed by almost dropping the anchor on top of a boat and then for the remainder of the day relying on the wind to keep you in position. But it is safe and never has ship has come to harm over it.

Due to the influx of bigger ships, the town has a new pier for tender boats so there is now a lot of space, even when there are six or seven ships calling at the same time. Plans have been made to build two docks for four ships but the starting date of the construction start has been moved back a few times and a firm date is not in sight yet. Until the piers have been completed, we drop the hook on the ledge and float behind the anchor on the easterly trade winds.

We left Grand Cayman on time and headed Northwest in the direction of the West point of Cuba. Tampa is our final destination. It should be a good home run as the weather forecast looks very good.

Today was meeting day. The ship was merrily on its way to Grand Cayman and making good speed for a timely arrival. That gave time to get a number of “end of the month” things done. We have several monthly committee meetings, where representatives from the various departments on board come together. There is the environmental meeting which is shared by the Environmental Officer. In this meeting various aspects of improving environmental procedures on board are discussed which include recycling, better garbage separation at source and ideas about how to reduce waste etc. Then there is the Safety meeting shared by the Chief Officer, which pertains to on the job safety. How to reduce accidents, if any, how to improve procedures, have any un-safe situations being seen and are there contradictions in the company’s safety procedures. The theory on paper versus the reality of real life.

Then there is the Unit meeting, which is shared by the Captain. “Unit” means groups from the Indonesian and Philipino community who meet to discuss various issues at hand. The crew is hired via unions in Djakarta and Manila and they nominate for each group on board a person who can represent each faction when there are issues. The persons nominated as representatives have all worked for a number of years for the company, so they can advise their group about how things work and will also know where to go when there is an issue. If there are more persons who fit the selection criteria, then the faction on board votes for their representative. Minutes are kept of the meeting by a lady from the front office and the ships staff ensures that items that do come up are resolved as soon as possible.

These are all monthly meetings. Then there are weekly meetings, such as the Health & Sanitation meeting, the ships staff meeting and the Crew Activity Committee. As everywhere else in a big organization there are also a large number of departmental meetings on a daily basis. If I would get a dollar for each time, that a meeting is taking place somewhere on the ship, I would drive a much bigger car.

All these meetings ensure that information is shared with all involved. Information needed to make the ships operation run more smoothly and daily life on board more pleasant. One of the things that I try to keep a very good eye on is the trickle down effect of this information through the various layers. As every manager knows; at each level of an operation information and context gets lost. As a result the person at the end of the chain can sometimes make neither head nor tail of the order that has been handed down. This is on a ship an even bigger challenge due to the many nationalities involved. If a message is given by a Dutch captain, in his English and it goes via a German chef to a Philipino cook and is discussed in their English, than there are bound to be variations in the way the message is brought forward from one layer to the other. Thus when something does not happen or happens in different way then anticipated, I always try to find out, the why. And the why is quite often very puzzling and sometimes mind boggling.

One of the biggest hiccups in the trickle down system is the perception of time that various nationalities and races have. If a Dutchman says that something has to be done, he really means it should already have happened yesterday. For a German now is now, but for a philipino, now, is when he/she gets round to doing it and that might not be “yesterday” or “now”. So when a message is passed on, it is important that the time frame is explained as well as the reason fir it. Something might have to be done directly or today but it might also have a time frame of several days before it has to be accomplished.

For me this is still one of the most fascinating parts of managing. How to anticipate this trickle down effect through the layers and to get that message across on each level exactly as it was meant.

Therefore there are these meetings that bypass the various levels on operation and the message reaches directly the representatives of all groups. It creates better understanding of the issues at hand and there is better and more direct feedback to the senior ships management for follow up.

Tomorrow we are in Grand Cayman and the weather forecast promises us a very nice day without a cold front in sight. Last cruise it was a sudden cold front that forced me to cancel the call at Grand Cayman but now it looks very good.

The calm weather, e.g. little to no wind, keeps persisting. Also on arrival Aruba this morning while it normally blows considerably here, today there was just a very light wind blowing. The pilot spoke about strange weather, very strange weather. I did not mind at all, as the less wind, the easier the docking. That is one of the reasons why I always arrive very early. The wind tends to be much less before sunrise and that makes it easier as well. The ship is supposed to be docked by 7 am. but most of the time we are already safely parked by 05.45 am. before the sun rises. Same so this morning. Maybe it is due to this lack of wind but, same as in Bonaire yesterday, we had rain clouds floating in. Clouds that off loaded a lot of water a few times during the morning. For the rest it was a sunny day with temperatures in the mid 80’s. Aruba is a short stay, due to the fact that the distance to Grand Cayman is considerable. It takes an average speed of 19 knots to get there on time. So when everybody was back on board just after 14.30 hrs, we raced out of the port, got the pilot off while making the turn to the North West and cranked the ship up. Within 30 minutes we were flying.

As I am nearing the end of my ships contract and my “blogging” period, I will try to tie up some loose ends, e.g. questions posted in the recent past:

1. Stabilizers. The are started, pumped out, from an operating console on the bridge. They have a length of 15 feet and as they are under an angle the stick outside the ships hull for about 10 feet. So it is important that they are pulled in, before the ship docks. If the ship does not move, we keep them in. Stabelizers cost speed and thus extra fuel has to be burned to compensate for that. When the ship starts to roll, the officer of the watch will decide to engage them.
2. Bollard: any sort of belaying cleat on the pier side. Most are round but some are angled. A dolphin is a bollard standing in the water. Some are complete artificial islands, some are just sticks.

3. Receiving a bollicking is indeed “een uitbrander”
4. Reporting “rogue” cargo ships who do not follow the rules of the road. You can only really do it when a ship is in coastal waters. Say if it happens within the three mile zone of a country, you could report it to the local coastguard station and they might take action. Dover VTS which covers the English Channel, has been known to pass “rogue” actions on to port state inspectors if the ship in question would call at an English port directly after the incident. For the rest it is very difficult to do something about it.
5. The captain not drinking. Holland America has an Alcohol policy which sets limits for the amount of alcohol that can be consumed when “on duty” and when “off duty”. The limit is clearly defined in percentages but it is hard to translate that into the exact number of glasses of beer of wine you can drink, before you reach that limit. As the captain is supposed to be “on duty” all the time, it means that whatever accident occurs, he will have to do a D&A test. To make my own life easy and not having to worry, whether I am close to the limit or not, I simply go dry for three months. It also stops the questions of “who is driving the ship” when you stand in the bar.
6. Cruise planning. It is one of the most complicated issues that a company has to tackle as it all hinges on the ultimate question: “will it sell” and you are never certain until the cruise is sold. For Holland America guests we need to offer a mixture of cruises. We have guests who just want a simple cruise to hop onto, such as the Veendam is currently doing at the moment from Tampa. We also have guests who want the HAL product while doing something exotic, such as the cruises the Prinsendam is doing all year around.
Some of the things to consider:
a. Length of the cruise. Has the target group the number of days off during the year to make that cruise.
b. Does the ship fit in the port
c. Can the ship make the ports in the set time? Speed wise and route wise.
d. Is the route safe (middle east as an example)
e. Is it politically acceptable to go there?
f. Is there enough to do in a port for the target group? (shops, tours, local attitude)
g. If it is a change over port: connections with the airport, access to the ships, check- ins, bunkers, provisions.
h. If a whole new cruise is being developed a balance is sought with putting in a few “old-timers” and a few new ports. This way at least everybody will enjoy a few of the ports, if all the new ones do not work out. Even if the guest books a cruise just because of that new port, it is still our fault, if after calling there; the guest did not like it. So mix and match.
i. What is the feedback from the guests during past cruise calls.

Tomorrow we have a day at sea and the weather forecast is really good.

The distance between El Guamache and Kralendijk is a long one, so as soon as we left the anchorage, we went pedal to the metal. Keeping my fingers crossed and waiting if our new found speed would hold out. An hour later we were doing over 19 knots and we were in business. Thus we arrived nicely on time at the pilot station. A lot of guests are confused with Bonaire, as they all think that because it is a small island, the moment you see it, is the moment that you are there.

Unfortunately that is not the case. Bonaire is shaped like a crooked Banana with Kralendijk located where the brand sticker can be found. Thus if you come from the South as we did, you still have to sail another 40 minutes towards the north, slow down and then pick up the pilot. The pilot was also nicely on time as he had been awake for hours. He had been piloting a tanker at 1 am., a salt ship at 4 am, the Sea Princess at 6 am. and now us at 8 am. He was hoping to go to bed afterwards, the end of the shift, but as he had drank too much coffee in those past hours, he was still way to awake for that. While I docked the ship, he directed the line boats who had to bring our long mooring lines to the bollards and dolphins at the shore.

The north pier, which was our dock this time, is really much too small for the Veendam. Only about 60 meters of the ship rests against the fenders, the rest sticks out fore and aft. Because of that it is important to dock squarely against the dock with a gentle motion, as otherwise the bow or the stern will angle away. With the long lines given ashore a balance is then found and the ship rests for the remainder of the call against this small pier. That remainder of the call was quite long, as I extended the visit with 2 hours to give some missed time back from earlier in the cruise. Departure time 20.00 hrs. versus 18.00 hrs and thus an all on board time of 19.30 hrs versus 17.30 hrs. All on board is always 30 minutes before the official sailing time as we need some time to trace missing guests, take in the gangway and let go the lines.

Yesterday I explained a little bit about the anchors. This time we move a bit further aft, where the ships stabilizers are located, in the middle. A very important part of the cruise operation as it dampens out 90% of the rolling movement (from side to side) the ship, so it makes the ship less wobbly and the guests as well. It does not do 100% so there will always be some movement left. Thus if the ship still moves considerably with the stabilizers out, you have an idea about how bad it would be without them. The Veendam has two stabilizers as have most other ships. Some very long ships, such as the Queen Mary 2, have two sets. There are two versions; those that are being pushed out of the hull on a 90o angle before they are put in operation and those who fold in and out of the hull. The Veendam has the latter version.

They are located amidships about 15 feet under the waterline and when sailing through clear ocean water you can just see the tip when looking down from the Lido restaurant overhang. The principle is quite simple. When in the out position, the speed of the ship causes water to flow over the wing. The little flap at the end moves either up or down. The force of the flowing water against this flap causes an upward or a downward lift. This lift pushes the side of the ship up or down. By using a gyro scope that at all times measures a level platform, we can use the up and down lift contrary to the rolling, e.g. up and down sideways movement of the ship and so balance things out. On the photos see you the stabilizer just after the ship was dry docked. The top coating paint is missing at various places and that is one of the reasons a ship goes into dry dock. But more about that later.

We left Bonaire just before 8 pm. as it always takes such a long time to get the very long mooring lines in and traveled with a sedate speed of 15 knots to our next port of call Oranje Stad Aruba.

We knew that we would anchor today as another ship had the dock because it was the change over port for its guests. Old guests leaving and new guests coming. The Holiday Dream used to call at Cuba but since they are now part of RCI, which is considered an American company, the can not go there anymore. Thus, they now call at El Guamache on the Isla de Margarita.

That ship normally arrives around 09.30, so I enquired if I could dock from 0700 until 09.00 to make it easier for the largest groups of guests to get off the ship. Well first it was not possible, then it was possible but cost $ 4500 for the two hours, then it was not possible again. So I went to the anchorage. However by 10 am, there was still no Holiday Dream in sight. When calling the agent, I finally got the information that the ship was delayed until 14.00 hrs. due to engine problems. Can happen, we are all too familiar with it, but I could have docked until 1 pm. and that would have made life for the guests a lot easier. I was not amused. Thus we were at anchor all day. As there was no wind at all, the ship sat almost on top of the anchor and swung lazily around on the ebb and flood tide.

For those of you who are not that familiar with anchoring; The Veendam has three anchors. On each side of the bow and one in the centre of the stern. The latter one is only used when you have to anchor in confined waters and or on the river and you can not afford to swing too much with the ship. The St Lawrence River is one of those places. I try to avoid using the stern anchor as there is always the chance that it fouls the rudders or the propellers. Thus normally we use one of the bow anchors or sometimes both.

When you prepare for anchoring, you first select the anchor location in the chart unless the local authorities assign you an anchorage. If at all possible you like the ship to be able to swing freely all the way around in a circle. Normally that is for a ship with the Veendam’s length about 3/10th of nautical mile or three cables. Depending on the depth of the water, a certain amount of chain is paid out with the anchor to hold the ship. There are various theories about how much that should be but rule of thumb is the depth of the water plus three extra lengths. A length is 15 Fathoms or 90 feet or 27 meters. This length of chain is a left over measurement from the ancient days. The Veendam has eleven lengths of chain in the chain locker for each anchor. The anchor weighs 13000 pounds and each chain link about 80 pounds. There are 90 links to a length. Next thing to decide is which anchor to use. Most of the time that is the anchor on the wind side of the ship. In that way the ship will eventually lay behind the anchor without the anchor chain wrapping itself around the bow.

When the ship comes to the anchorage, the first thing that happens is that we lower the anchor out of the hawse pipe, where it is stored when at sea, to just above the water line. That is being done so that we know for sure, that when the moment comes, the anchor will fall and does not remain stuck in the pipe. The bow is then brought above the exact anchor location. Sometimes it does not matter very much if we are a bit off, sometimes, as in Grand Cayman, we anchor on a spot of 20 square feet. When we are on the spot, the anchor winch brake is released and the anchor will fall under its own weight. The brake is applied again if enough chain has been paid out. Now the ship comes astern and slowly but steadily the anchor chain stretches out. Then more chain is paid out until we have the right amount paid out. That amount we decided upon during the planning stage. The brake is firmly closed and we wait until the chain fully stretches, rises out of the water and then falls back again. This is called that the “chain has been brought up” and that the anchor is holding. The flukes of the anchor will dug into the sea bottom and provide the “anchoring point” for the chain. The friction of the chain over the sea bottom is what is really holding the ship in place. Not the anchor as such. During the whole maneuver there is an officer forward above the anchor who relays to the bridge the necessary information about the anchor and the chain. How much chain has been paid out, the direction of the chain, and the tension on the chain. When it is time to raise the anchor, the procedure is the opposite. Except now we also have the anchor wash going to clean the sand or mud from the anchor chain when it comes out of the water.

We were “anchor aweigh” at 16.30 hrs. and left El Guamache at 17.00 hrs. after all the guest were back and the tenders retrieved. Tomorrow we are in Bonaire and tonight we are going to run full out to be on time.