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Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

Author: Captain Albert (page 29 of 236)

11 April 2019; Muscat, Oman.

April 11, 2019 / / 2 Comments

And thus we arrived in Muscat; the capital of Oman, with approx. 1.5 mln inhabitants. The port is called the Sultan Qaboos port and is not very large. Looking at the activity it is mainly used for ships bringing goods in and thus the cruise terminal doubles up as a container dock. Two piers are fully taken over by the Sultan’s private yacht and a secondary yacht which is used for his guests. Then to these two ships belongs a dedicated navy ship to keep the Sultan (full name Sultan Qaboos Said al Said) safe. The navy ship was nowhere in sight so I assume the sultan is not planning to go sailing in the very near future.

The Yacht of the Sultan. The “Al Said”. and it is not even the biggest one in the world.

The yacht, although it is more like a ship, is called Al Said after the family name and was built in 2006. It has a volume of nearly 16,000 tons which makes it 2/5 of the size of the Seabourn Ovation but that is only because is the less wide and less long, as it has almost the same height. I never entertained the idea of having my own boat or yacht as it is as if you are married to two women at the same time. Very expensive. With the yacht having the worst mother-in-law called “maintenance at sea”, but if I had the Sheiks bank account, I could settle for this. More than enough room to store all my books and memorabilia and with room left for a home cinema to please my Lord and Master. Continue reading

10 April 2019; At Sea.

April 10, 2019 / / 2 Comments

Today we have a sea day and the ship is on its way from Doha to Muscat. This means we are sailing out of the Persian Gulf into the Strait of Hormuz and then further south. Thus we go North East  until we reach the coast of the United Emirates again where we started our cruise and then this afternoon we bend around the top of the area, called Al Khasal also written as Khasab, in the early afternoon and now we are in Gulf of Oman.  This is one of the areas where there is a lot of political noise about. On occasion Iran threatens to close the Strait of Hormuz and then the other parties threaten something in return; and vice versa. Continue reading

09 April 2019; Doha, Qatar.

April 9, 2019 / / 1 Comment

The whole coast in this area is very shallow and thus there are dredged channels and long meandering buoy routes to get you to the ports. Most of them are oil ports but then there is an occasional city as well. Qatar is no different; a very long approach through buoyed channels (with hopefully most of the time with the buoys in the right location) and then coming to a port that is under construction and a VERY LONG way from the new city. Easily visible on the horizon as one spiky mountain of glass and concrete but a long distance from where we are docked. There is not even a cruise terminal yet, just a large Marque  but it is all part of a great plan. In 2022 the world championships Football (soccer for the Americans) will be played here and the plan is to build a complete Olympic center with a cruise terminal. Whether they plan to use the cruise terminal for chartered cruise ships for extra Hotel accommodation, or just for cruise calls, is something I do not know. Just that they have to get a move on, if they want to be finished on time. At the moment, and it is maybe a small detail, there is not a football stadium in sight yet. Continue reading

08 April 2019; Sir Bani Yas Island.

April 8, 2019 / / 2 Comments

Thus we sailed from Dubai Westwards towards Sir Bani Yas Island. This is an island which looks as if it is a sort of knob that has broken off from a protruding piece of land sticking up into the lower part of the open sea. And that sea is in our case the Persian Gulf with Africa to the South and Saudi Arabia to the North. Bani Yas is part of the United Arab Emirates and shelters a number of important refineries. So this morning while the ship approached it was surround by fishing boats but also by tankers, going in, going out, or being at anchor. As mentioned yesterday there are a lot of shallow areas and the port authorities are putting a lot of effort in to ensure that nothing goes wrong with these tankers. A tanker running aground and spilling oil would be a catastrophe that no authority wants to deal with. Thus the routes through the reefs and shallows are dictated by the port authorities and the only thing the captain can do is follow the dotted line and ensure not to deviate from it. Deviation would mean a very hefty fine and some very upset people on the other side of the VHF. Continue reading

07 April; Dubai, Seabourn Ovation.

April 7, 2019 / / 9 Comments

There was a reason for me having been vague a week ago about my next ship, as the Seabourn Ships are hard to visit. First of all they are often off the beaten track and their embarkation ports often require Visas, either as guest or as crew, or for both. Applying for a Visa takes more than a few days and that brings a un-necessary complication to my activities so I try to avoid it. Secondly Seabourn is very successful and thus the ships are always sold out and often it needs a last minute cancellation to get a function like mine on board. As the ships are smaller, the chance of an empty cabin goes down, and there is also not the option to have a few “extra” cabins on board as there is simply no space.  So I assume that my cabin availability is the result of a last minute cancellation although I hope that the underlying reason is not one of great tragedy or illness. But whatever happened it got me on board the ms Seabourn Ovation where I stepped this morning in Dubai. As with all developing cities in the Arabic peninsula, Dubai consists of a gaggle of skyscrapers sitting in a desert of yellow sand. At least that is what you see from the ship.  I am not into sand, as I prefer the sea or woodlands so it does not mean much to me but if you are into modern architecture then it is THE place to be. Continue reading

25 March 2019; At Sea.

March 26, 2019 / / 13 Comments

Happy Bo’sun today. Yesterday I was afraid that the opposing wind would give the numerous seabirds in this area (Starlings and Brown Booby’s) the chance to use the ship as a resting place. This as the wind would be favorable for them to land. But the wind veered through much faster than expected and the opposing wind became a following wind and with a following wind the birds cannot land in a stable way. So clean decks and a happy Bo’sun. The gentle following wind was less than the ships speed and thus the ship created a little breeze over the decks and that made it a very nice day to sit outside. And that was what a lot of guests did. The rest were cooped up inside and received a crash course in Holland America Line History from yours truly. Our guests do enjoy lectures and something about their own company always generates a full house and that makes it very enjoyable for me to pass on some of the highlights of our history but also what we are up to for the future. (X-Dam coming in 2021) Continue reading

24 March 2019; Panama Canal.

March 24, 2019 / / 1 Comment

Good news all around, the weather gurus were off their track today and they only got it right as far as the outside temperatures was concerned. No rain and hardly any wind.  The wind I could not predict as I did not look at the 500 MB charts lately, which show (under the influence of the Jet stream) how the larger weather patterns move.  But I had it in my mind that there would be no rain. Panama is going through a severe dry spell at the moment and thus there is not enough moisture building up in the air to create rain clouds that will reach sufficient density to become over saturated and start releasing rain. We had a few overcast spells today with dark clouds building up but they were not dense /dark enough and the cloud bands not compact enough.  Good for our guests, dry and partly overcast which reduces the chance of sun burn. Continue reading

23 March 2019: Cartagena, Colombia.

March 24, 2019 / / 4 Comments

Well the amount of wind amounted was less than the weather guru’s had predicted and the good ship Volendam arrived without any hassle at 05.30 at the pilot station. Some ships have a dedicated pilot break but on cruise ships there are always several breaks (that is what we call the shell doors in the hull side that can be used as they are on the lowest deck).  For the Volendam that is A deck as B deck is below the water line and Main deck is passenger accommodation. There we have the Tender break, the Water break, the Bunker break, the Marshalling area (2 doors), the Provision break, and another Water break. So plenty of choice but we normally use the Marshalling area, there were we load the suitcases and store the spare parts coming on board, as this break has the most space. And it is exactly amidships, so it has a flat hull and no bow wave playing around it. Continue reading

22 March 2019: At Sea, 2nd day.

March 22, 2019 / / 1 Comment

With the sedate speed of 15 knots are we sailing through the Caribbean Sea. The weather is following the weather forecast and that is appreciated by everybody. We expect that the Trade Wind will start to re-establish itself this evening and through out the night and with it the swell. But by tomorrow morning 05.30 we will be slipping inside the entrance of Boca Chica, the large inland water area where at the far North East the port of Cartagena is located. As explained in previous blogs, it takes about 90 minutes from pilot to gangway out and thus the captain is aiming to have the pilot on board at 05.30 hrs.  The ships average speed has been set up for this as arriving earlier has not much use. If we put the pedal to the metal we could be there my midnight but what then. Continue reading

21 March 2019: First Day at Sea.

March 21, 2019 / / 5 Comments

This current wind is our friend. It came from the north and was thus a following wind and then fell away (shielded by) when we entered the Windward Passage with Cuba to the West and Haiti on Hispaniola to the East. Then it turned to the north but only with a low velocity blowing against us.  All due to that large frontal system that came through in the last few days and as a sort of Vacuum cleaner emptied the whole area out of wind. Well not emptied out, it balanced out the difference in High pressure and Low pressure here.  Now the Trade Wind system has to re-establish itself and then we will be back to normal. The normal will be Easterly winds four 4 to 5 beaufort but here we still have this near wind still weather (which also means less whipped up waves) and that is something to enjoy and cherish while it lasts. Continue reading

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