Cadiz is sheltered under the Portuguese coast and because of that we did not feel any movement at all during the first few hours. Then late last night, the gentle movement of the ship started caused by the motion of the ocean. Finally we were really back at sea again and so it stayed for the remainder of the night. By this morning, the wind slowly started to pick up from nearly zero to a good 25 to 30 knots by lunch time. As the wind was mainly on the bow, the ship went against it with 15 knots, which is a force 4 and if you would have been able to stand out in the open on the bow, you would have had a severe storm experience. However the Zuiderdam has wind breakers on the top deck and an enclosed promenade deck near the bow and the thus the guests were kept nicely out of the wind.  By this afternoon it started to get overcast with darker clouds and we saw rain developing in the distance. We are coming closer to this weather system which will produce the high waves.

With the increasing wind there should have been more swell already and thus more motion but that was not the case. We had “confused swell”.  Swells and seas from various directions and they dampened each other out quite nicely. Giving for the North Atlantic in autumn a very comfortable ride.  Still there were a few guests rumbling about the moving of the ship and in one instance a gentleman demanded a solution from me at once. I was a bit puzzled about how he singled me out but by now the crew all know me and they gingerly deflected his problems to me. “Ask Captain Albert, he is from Corporate, he knows everything”. ———— I am going up in the world day by day.  So I explained to the gentleman that Holland America had created happy hour in the bars just for this purpose. Two drinks for one and all your problems are solved. The Front Office believes in green apples and crackers, I believe in a planter’s punch or a high ball to cure sickness.  I have never been sea sick on a HAL ship so it must work.  The gentleman did not look completely convinced and opted for a lay down in his cabin instead.

The blue circle was our location today, the green circle is for late tomorrow morning when we enter the wave field. (Courtesy www. Swell-forecast.com)

However the confused swells are not going to last and by tomorrow morning the heavy swells from the North West will start to take over. As you can see from the wave chart we are still expecting 21 feet, while today we had about 12 to 14 feet in confused seas and swell. How much the ship will move will depend on the period of the swell. If it is a nice and long swell then the ship might nicely climb up and go down with the amplitude. If it is a short running swell it might lift the ship up and then drop it down again; we call that pitching and sometimes it becomes severe enough for the bow to bash onto the waves and you get this banging noise which vibrates all the way through the ship.  For those who can stand it, it can give some spectacular water displays over the bow, visible from the crow’s nest. For those who can’t there is the option of green apples, crackers, planters punch and highballs.

With the wobbly ocean it is hard to see night wild life in the ocean and although I looked for a while, I did see anything, neither birds, nor fish. Just a lonely cargo ship heading the other way. For the guests it did not matter that much as the ship was in full swing with lectures varying from flying over the Andes to Portugal and its Empire. Then there was bridge (when isn’t there bridge??) and for the more active people there was Bean Bag Toss, and the Dancing with the Stars competition.  For those battling sea sickness there was Premium Wine tasting, Beer tasting, Mixology class and for the non-alcohol minded the Indonesian Tea Ceremony.  (And that is of course only a small sampling of what is crammed into our daily program)

With the crossing of the Ocean we get time differences and tonight we go our 2^nd hour back and that will bring us on the Azores time. With an hour back it is a good opportunity to have the crew show as it basically means that the crew is not losing any sleep while giving this extra performance for the guests.  Tonight it is the turn of the Philippino’s and if the waves will indeed hold until tomorrow then they should be able to do their regular program.

Tomorrow we will have our 2^nd day at sea and I expect that the afternoon will be quite lively until it dies down again in the evening.  At the moment it does not look like that we have to worry about our call at Ponta Delgada.

Today we were in Cadiz Spain, which is just on the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar when looking west from Malaga. Cadiz is a very popular port to call at as it is located right on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a regular port for ships which are coming from or commencing a crossing. The city is full of ruins and historical buildings and thus there are plenty of shore excursions available or self-exploring to do for independents.  I had all but forgotten that Cadiz also has a Big Red Bus and by the time I saw one coming by the ship, it was too late to still hop on one. I must remember next time. I have done excursions here before and walked around the place but with regular buses your view is limited as the driver has the best view. But with an open top double decker, you can sit where the driver sits, just one deck higher and have a perfect view. Well I will be here again sometime in the future no doubt.  But this time the Big Red Bus lost out on my contribution towards their yearly profit margin.

It was quiet in port today, hardly any movement of ships and only one cruise ship in port, the AidaCara of Aida cruises. This was the first ship Aida built and formed the base for their great success and current expansion.

I pulled this picture from a spanish website as my photo of the ship in port had too much background clutter. Muchias Gracias to the maker.

But another ship in port was of more interest as it was a square rigger or tall ship and those you do not see that often anymore.  In this case it was the training ship Juan Sebastian de Elcano, of the Spanish Navy.  There are several navys in the world who still have sailing training ships, especially the Latin American ones. Here we find the largest ones. The “de Elcano” is the 3^rd largest tall ship in the world, the largest one is a cruise ship the Royal Clipper, followed by a Russian Training ship.  It is an old ship, built in 1927 but through the years is has been renovated and updated several times so it can still sail as required.

The ms Prinses Margriet training ship of the Dutch Merchant Marine. She was a bit top heavy due to the class rooms and the 2nd bridge on the top and you noticed that in bad weather

There was a time when sailing ships were the preferred way of learning – literally – the ropes, of a seafaring job. It created comradeship and taught you to trust each other when hanging in the top of a mast with wind force 12. There were even shipping company’s such as the Hamburg America Line who had their own training ship. But these ships are expensive to maintain and operate and only some navy’s and dedicated training institutions still operate them.  When I went to my Maritime Academy between 1976 and 1980 we still had a small motor ship on which we went 14 days a year and which was shared with the other Dutch Seafarer’s Institutes. Apart from finding out what seasickness was (that thing seemed to have been constructed especially to make bad weather even worse) and how too many crew could make a big mess, we did not learn much, but it was a nice vacation. I made two trips on this Prinses Margriet and both times we had nice weather, much to the chagrin of the Captain who seemed to specialize in finding even the smallest disturbance out there in the North Sea. The little ship is still afloat after a complete rebuilt and now operates as small cruise yacht called the Sherakhan. They lowered her superstructure considerably which must have greatly improved her behavior at sea.

The Sherakhan. Rebuilt the ship had much better proportions. She is still out there.

That experience has always made me doubtful about the usefulness of training ships for the Merchant Marine and the Dutch Merchant Navy does not have one any more. A cadet training year on a commercial vessel and bridge simulator work is deemed to be much more beneficial than messing around with sails and getting cold and wet on the deck of a square rigger.

Tomorrow we start our crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean. Today the ship topped up all its tanks with fuel oil so we have more than sufficient to get to the other side. If all goes well we should arrive in Fort Lauderdale on the 9^th. of November . It is not a direct crossing as we call at the ports of Punta Delgada and Horta in the Azores.

The weather is now getting harder to predict. For the Ponta Delgada port call we are looking at partly Cloudy with 16oC/61oF. That is the good part. Getting there might be different.

Red is never good on a weather chart. But for tomorrow the waves are still green and thus low. the Azores are in the centre of the chart (Courtesy www.surf-forecast.com)

For a crossing, the wind and rain are not so important, what is of interest is the swell as that makes the ship wobble. And that can reduce the happiness on board considerably. There is a depression out there, north of the Azores with the potential of coming over the Islands and/or pushing a large wave field that way. If that is going to happen, then we might get some lively movement on Friday, the day before we arrive at the islands. We will see.

We were not the only one in today. When we sailed into the port the MSC Davina was already docked and also the Allure of the Seas who was furthermost in but due to its size still stuck out quite a bit. This evening she will have to go astern all the way through the harbor into open sea as it is too tight for her to swing around inside. We did swing around on arrival in the widest part of the port and there we had about 300 feet clearance but the Allure is 200 feet longer than the Zuiderdam (1187 ft. versus 962 ft.) and that makes it a bit tight. Luckily this ship has so much power so such a maneuver is not really much of an issue.

No doubt this was the biggest Apartment Building in Malaga today.

When I was captain on the Prinsendam, I was once docked nearly under her stern (I felt as if I was a tugboat captain) and the Allure had more horsepower for her bow thrusters than the Prinsendam had in the main engine room. You are talking different dimensions here. So when we looked astern today we saw indeed an “Apartment of the Seas” behind us and the ship took up the complete horizon on the port side.  You cannot talk about a ship here any more, this is a floating resort and the on board approach must be totally different than the way we go about our business on Holland America.

On the other side we had the MSC Davina which with 137,000 Gross Tonnage is also considerably larger than the Zuiderdam and that made us the smallest ship in port today. Proof that whatever our guests say about the size of the new Koningsdam, it will still be a medium sized ship compared to what we saw around us today.  In 1936 the Zuiderdam would have been the largest Ocean Liner in the world if it had been built then and now 80 years later it is one of the smaller ones. Do times change.

I do not know if both ships were full, we are, but if they were then today 6300 + 3400 + 1900 guests were invading Malaga and surrounding areas.  Although it is very much a tourist city with 100’s of thousand living along the coast line, there are a lot of things to see. From the ancient days, as the Romans were very much present here, to the current day, with a Picasso Museum. (I wonder how busy it was there today with 11,000 guests ashore who must all have read the ships shorex brochures) Then there are tours running to the Alhambra which is about 90 minutes away with the Coach from the port.  I hope that all the guests had a good day, as it rained and drizzled for larger periods. Not what you expect in Spain but then it is October and the hot summer is over.

I delved today into shipping legislation. That is for nearly every captain a sort of monthly “enjoyment” as things keep changing and it is not always easy to keep abreast with the latest developments. The IMO (International Maritime Organization) keeps producing new rules and regulations and these become law after a certain number of members have signed up to the agreement and its implementation. That can take a few years but then suddenly –pop- it is there.  Sometimes these regulations are frame works and the “Administrator” that is the Flag State has a certain freedom to implement the regulation. Then there is nothing to withhold the company to add more to it.

What had my attention today were the STCW 2010 Manila Amendments. STCW stands for Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping. These came into being in 1978 and regulate the operational requirements for seafarers. In 2010 there was a conference in Manila and various amendments were made to these rules based on the experience gained through the years. More and more of these 2010 amendments are now coming into being with the bulk of them becoming compulsory as of 1 January 2017.  To give a simple example: It was always compulsory to have a cook on board. The question was who would officially be the cook and what is a cook (e.g. under the law) Thus far the solution for the Dutch flagged cruise ships was where we can have a 100 cooks on board: It is the most senior Cook, the Exe Chef and he has to make sure that he has the required paperwork.  What was required was always a little bit vague but now under the 2010 amendments, there is an official Cook certificate. Our Cooks are way above the qualifications required for this certificate but they still have to have one. Thus the Dutch government is now issuing these certificates as long as Holland America can prove that the Exe. Chef can cook.  My interest today was to find out what this certificate looked like and when it was coming out, so I could prepare the Crew Officer.  The crew office is tasked with verifying on behalf of the Master if all crew members have the required certificates so they can be signed on and thus they have to know and understand the details.

This evening we will be sailing towards Cadiz, were we will arrive tomorrow morning. Around midnight we will leave the Mediterranean by passing Gibraltar and then follow the Spanish coast towards Cadiz.

Weather for tomorrow: partly Cloudy, little wind and temperatures around 71oF / 22oC.

Alicante is typical of the south Spanish ports. A large breakwater / pier which runs parallel along the coast. The inner side of this breakwater was normally used for ships making short stops and with the increase in the cruise Industry that is where the cruise ships are docking as they normally stay for shorter periods than the cargo ships. Several of these piers have now been adapted especially by building cruise terminals on top of it.  Today we docked at one of those piers here in Alicante and it will be the same in Malaga tomorrow.  (It was the same in Barcelona, only Palma de Mallorca was different) It makes arrivals and departures fairly easy as docking the ship is a matter of slowing down and then going sideways to the dock. In several ports you can even leave by just backing out, something the Rotterdam did when it called at Malaga recently. (See my specific blog in the archives)

The cruise terminal is half way along the breakwater. If we had docked at the end, it would have doubled the distance.

Today we thus also parked at the inside of the breakwater and although that was easy for the ship, it meant that it was a long way from the city, made even longer as we were at the Cruise Terminal near the end of this long breakwater.  But with plenty coaches around everybody who wanted to go, could get to the town. There were however quite of few guests who decided to stay on board today to catch their  breath and to build up stamina for Malaga tomorrow. As it was nice weather, sitting on the outside deck and lazing the day away is also part of cruising. Plus often there is the added bonus of seeing the sailors working on the outside decks and there are few things nicer than watching other people work.  (Plus it gives a good feeling to know that your cruise fare helps them to make a living)

As mentioned yesterday, today we had our weekly Fire drill and the focus was this time on the Engine Room and what to do when the normal fire fighting procedures do not work. That means we have to go to the final resort or releasing CO2. The problem with cO2 is, that although it is a good extinguishing agent, it works the best when the temperatures in the Engine Room have not yet reached a too high a value. The longer the fire rages, the more damage and the greater the chance of Reflash due to the longer natural cooling down period. Co2 does not have as much of a temperature reducing capability such as water has. Thus the rule of thumb is that the Master has to make up his mind within 10 minutes after the fire has occurred and the CO2 should be released within the next 5 minutes to be the most effective.

That means the necessary procedures to establish if we need to release CO2, if all crew is out, and if the ER is completely closed and locked down has to be done in that short period of time. CO2 works by replacing Oxygen and is thus fatal for crew still in the area concerned and also very dangerous if it would leak out of the area concerned.  And for that you really need to train well. Coordination between the Chief Engineer who assesses the situation, the Master who makes the final decision and the Officers in the CO2 room who release the agent,  have to be seamless to ensure it goes fast, achieves the objective and there are no casualties. For the older cruise ships it means losing all propulsion power and most of the power for the ship as well. (Only the Emergency Generator is left) for newer cruise ships which include the Zuiderdam it has less of an impact as the ship has two separate engine rooms. The idea being is, if one is out of order than the other one still works and takes over.

These are the officers and crew who man the fire teams. You have to be young and strong to be able to carry the heavy gear and fight a fire at the same time.

An important part of the drill sequence is the debriefing afterwards. Doing a nice drill is good fun but the objective is to learn from every drill. That is why I act during these drills as Assessor. Going around and observing.  Checking if the policies are being followed, issue compliments where things went well and note the items which could have gone better. Those are discussed and then kept on file to be incorporated as objectives in the scenario for the next drill. In this way we create a continuous learning and improvement process which increases the proficiency of all the crew involved.  Normally the debriefing takes as long as the whole drill, as each participant is given the chance to speak up and help with the debriefing process.

Tomorrow we are in Malaga and the weather will be less good than today. On departure today we already saw dark clouds gathering at the horizon and there are rain clouds coming over the southern part of Spain. According to the weather forecast there is supposed to be very little wind in those clouds and thus all should be well for arriving on time.

As most ships do when going towards the south, the Zuiderdam sailed and kept the Balearic Islands on its port side and then came around the south west side of the island and approached the pilot station from there. With “another day in Paradise” on the cards, the ship docked at one of the cruise and ferry piers. This one called Estacio Maritima nbr 1. With us in port were two cruise ships from Aida. The Aida Vita and the Aida Diva. They are also part of the Carnival Corporation but are solely dedicated to the German market. Their product is more resort type; buffets and flip flops and the larger ships have their own brewery on board; which I think is the best cruise ship invention since cash free billing was introduced.  Maybe something for one of our future new builds: “Dam –beer” Dutch Craftsmanship and Mastership on the high seas.

Today my day was filled with various projects. First there was the General Emergency Drill for 25% of all the Boats and Rafts, then there was the fire drill for tomorrow to plan and then there was the review of the Mustering procedures on board.

Although the SOLAS rules came into being in 1914 as a result of the sinking of the Titanic, these rules have not remained as is, but evolved with whatever lessons were learned at sea or whatever new idea of ship design was and is dreamt up by the cruise companies. Designers are normally thinking outside the box and sometimes they are that far outside the box that their design would be positively dangerous if not kept in check by some logic rules, like not capsizing and being a safe haven for the occupants while on board. Especially cruise ships are the recipients of constantly updated regulations. This makes sense as with the boom in the cruise business, more and more innovative ships are coming out. Not too long ago it became law that there should be a weekly cycle of at least 25% of the crew going through Emergency Training. Before it was just that everybody should be trained on a regular basis (monthly) to be proficient in their safety jobs. To ensure that this did not result in monthly “mass” trainings to comply, the 25% rule came into being.

Today a very un-romantic photo of the ships C02 room. The C02 is stored in pressured bottles and can be released by means of the cabinets on the left. The size of the Engine Space on fire will dictate the number of bottles needed.

We have similar rules for Fire drills. There should be every week a real drill / simulation of an emergency / and there should be monthly extra training to support the proficiency in these drills. To avoid too much routine in the drills (how many new drill scenarios can you keep thinking of?) I normally offer to bring some new “inspiration” to the proceedings. Tomorrow the plan is to put the whole Engine room on fire (simulated) and then let CO2 in to extinguish it. This means that all the crew has to follow strict protocols as CO2 is deathly as it displaces Oxygen. But as it is not a cooling agent, the temperature of the space that was on fire only goes down very slowly. Until it has cooled down there is always the chance of a fire Reflash if somebody would open a door somewhere and let fresh oxygen in.

Muster procedures is something every crew member has to deal with, signing on for the job on board. I normally check on each ship the completeness of all the paperwork of those officers and crew who can be given the watch on board. Each ship has a minimum number of officers required and that is noted on the Safe Manning Document which each ship receives from its Flag State when coming into service. To be qualified for these functions on board you need an enormous amount of training certificates, endorsements and licenses. (I have about 25 certificates apart from my master License, to qualify to be Master on a Dutch and a Holland America Line vessel). The company ensures that we have all those certificates but because there are soo many and there are soo many regulations the administration on the ship can be incomplete. Not because the Officer in charge is sloppy but because it is so complicated to comply with it all. So on behalf of the Master of the Vessel, I spend a day going through each seaman’s book and verifying each certificate and official document to ensure that every dot and comma is in the right place.

Since Barcelona we have started our southward journey which will lead us eventually back to Florida. Tonight we will continue southwards and tomorrow we will visit Alicante on the south coast on Spain.

Weather, mainly sunny with little wind and temperatures in the around 68oF / 20oC.

At 07.00 this morning the Zuiderdam sailed into the port of Barcelona over a flat calm sea towards the berth at the Barcelona Cruise Terminal. Not a bad way to start the day. Today there were three ships in, the Marina (Oceana Cruises), the Costa Fascinosa (Costa Cruises) and us. The Marina had a full change over today, the Costa was expecting about 50 new guests and we had heavy loading. Very heavy loading; as apart from all the stores and supplies coming on, recyclables going off, we also had fuel bunkering and we were getting all new chairs and foot rests for the balconies.

Starting to unload 2 x 40 ft. containers. This was shortly before the Cabin steward brigade came out to cart it all away.

Changing furniture is always a major upheaval for a cruise ship as we cannot store all those boxes on board and then leisurely unpack them and bring them to the balconies. And then keep the old furniture somewhere until it can be landed. No it has to be done in one day. So the Cabin Stewards were put on alert and first all the old furniture came out, went ashore, and then the new furniture came the other way. Unpacked and then the empty carton boxes went straight to the recycling. Balcony furniture is replaced on a regular basis as the elements play havoc with the rattan. It would not make any difference if we had other material as the combination of salt, sun, rain and cleaning will eventually conquer the sturdiest materials. So by tomorrow all the guests will have nice new chairs and food rests on their balconies again.

Cabin Stewards waiting for new furniture on the Navigation deck.

While we are on the topic of furniture and decoration, the Zuiderdam has a sort of Italian theme throughout its public rooms and staircases. As is known Holland America has a tradition of putting antiques & art on their ships for the guests to enjoy while cruising. Something which really started on a grand scale with the Nieuw Amsterdam of 1983. This ship had as a theme our previous Colonies in the West, New York included. The Noordam of 1984 had the former Colonies in the East and with the S and the R class this continued although not so strictly focused. But Dutch heritage, craftsmanship and artistry continued to be put on display on a grand scale.

The large wall painting opposite the Explorers Lounge. Showing the Grand Canal of Venice.

With the Zuiderdam, the first Vista class, this changed a little bit. The Netherlands did not have sufficient colonies to stretch the theme forever. (Just think what we could have done, if the Dutch had had an empire similar to the British………) Thus the theme of the Zuiderdam went Italian with a few deviations to ensure that the guests were still reminded that they are on a Dutch ship.  The easiest this can be seen is in the Explorer lounge. All the ships that went before had a Dutch nautical scene of some sort on the large wall painting; the Zuiderdam has a city view, still from the water, but of Venice.

The Carnival display opposite the Art Gallery. due to the glass, the photo is less than perfect, but I am also a less than perfect photographer.

Then there are more touches which reminds of Venice. That Venice was taken as the Italian theme made sense as the ship was built there; just to the south of the city in the town of Marghera. Apart from furniture in the staircases and statues in the hall ways, there is the big Venetian Carnival Costume Display just opposite the Art gallery.  As we all know Venice has the most elaborate Carnival of all, with costumes that are both chique, stylish and elaborate. Rio de Janeiro might be the most exotic and have the least clothing on show, but the costumes of the Venice Carnival ensure that you cannot even see who the other person is who you just have been dancing with.

We are staying late here, only sailing at 22.30 this evening as, it is just a short hop to Mallorca. Holland America has a policy to stay, if possible, during each cruise one evening late in one of the ports of call and for this cruise that is Barcelona. You could not ask for a better port.  I do not know if many guests are going ashore tonight, they might all be tired from all the sightseeing, but the crew is certainly going. At least those who can. There was a long row of people outside the crew office this morning, all wanting to cash money, to support the local economy tonight. Plus Europe goes back one hour tonight to get on winter time and that means that if some of the crew come back a little bit too happy tonight, they will have an extra hour to get over it again.

So tomorrow we will be in Mallorca and the weather is holding although with a bit more clouds than today. Temperatures around 67oF / 19oC. and very little wind. That is a lot better than being in Puerto Vallarta where Hurricane Patricia is creating havoc at the moment.

During the night the Mistral in the Rhone area thought the better of it and decided to abate completely so this morning we only had a long running swell left and a flat calm sea. As the Zuiderdam was happily pottering long with a speed of 11 knots it did not even make the ship move.  It was full on the bow and thus it could have created a pitching movement but we hit the waves so gently that there was no wobbling whatsoever.  Also for the remainder of the day it looks like that the wind has gone completely. During the late afternoon and early evening we will sail just south of the Gulf of Lyon and if the Mistral would have been still there, large waves would have coming rolling out of it. But we are lucky today.

I would love to take credit for this photo but the few times I have seen a Fin whale this close, there was no camera handy. (Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia)

Some guests were lucky today as well, as we had a number of Fin whales coming by. The bridge counted 5 or 6 of them but I only saw one and that was much later.  Still seeing a Fin whale in the Mediterranean Sea is not as usual as seeing Humpbacks in Alaska and seeing 5 or 6 together is quite rare.  The navigators and quartermasters easily recognize the various whales as we are all trained in doing so. Holland America stipulates that each person who keeps a look-out on the navigation bridge is proficient in recognizing the various sorts of whales. If we recognize them, then we also know what sort of behavior to expect and that helps to make a more quantified decision in how to avoid them.  Fin whales we can recognize in two ways: looking for the small dorsal fin near is tail or by the exhaust plume (expelled air) which has a very distinctive shape.

In this case the whales happily swam along on either side of the ship and thus no course changes were needed. When we are near whales we are also advised to slow down to 10/11 knots to reduce the chance of a collision even further but as we were already doing that speed, we were in compliance without having to take any action. The whales did not take any action either to make our life difficult and thus everybody was happy.

Although we are sailing between the Island of Corsica and the Italian main island, the sea is still quite deep here, up to 9300 ft. in the North Western part and that would make Corsica a very high hill if we could pump the Mediterranean Sea empty. But the sea is full and Corsica is a big mountain top called an Island, right between Livorno and Barcelona.

Safety Indoctrination by Matt the 2nd officer for the new HAL employees. In the audience, the ships doctor, the piano player, photographer, beautician, sailors and fireman greasers.

One of the things, which I am exposed to every time I change ships is the Shipboard Orientation Program. Everybody has to attend it, from the captain downwards and thus I happily show up each time and watch the proceedings. There are two parts: 1. when coming on board, before you allowed even to start to work you need to get familiarized with the basic safety concepts of the ship and your safety duties while on board. Then there is a second more in depth part on the 2^nd or 3^rd day, depending when is best as long as it is within 72 hours of boarding. Captain and Ships Staff, introduce themselves and speak some wise words, the ships nurse tells us where to find the hospital and how to stay healthy and the Security Officer tells us to be alert and wear our I.D’s at all times. Then there is a session with the Safety and Environmental Health officer, who touches on all the basic concepts we have to follow.     Then the crew who are not new, or have sailed on the same class of ship in the last 3 years are dismissed and can go back to work.

The rest have to stay for a walk about to get some explanation about watertight doors, fire extinguishers, station bills and everything that might just be different from what they were used to before, or what is completely new to them. I normally trundle along with this group as it gives me the chance to observe the quality of training being given by the Training Officer.  He did a very good job and the audience remained alert. Thus all went well today and one hour later the whole group was dismissed.

Tomorrow we are in Barcelona, where we stay until late in the evening. We will not be the only one; The Marina, the Costa Fascinosa and the Berlin are also expected. Weather sunny with temperatures in the mid 60’s or 18 to 19oC. Perfect day for sightseeing.

Well, the predicted windy weather was a bit of an “Italian” storm in a glass of water as it was really pleasant when the sun rose above Livorno.  The good ship Zuiderdam thus happily docked at the regular cruise pier. By 08.05 the ship had been cleared and it emptied out with all of those eager guests desperate to soak up some local culture and history. Many guests had booked the shore excursions which were going beyond Livorno and those tours leave early in the morning and some are not returning until just before this evenings sailing time.

The route of the ms Zuiderdam into Livorno and the 180o turn at the dock. The little hic-cup in the approach was caused by the drifting of the ship as it had to suddenly wait for delayed outbound traffic.

As mentioned before, Livorno is not an easy port to get into and while the ships have increased in size, the port entrance has not and that makes every captain pray for no wind, or no more than a gentle breeze; with the emphasis on gentle. It is a tight turn going behind the breakwater and you cannot do it with too much speed. The slower you go, the more influence the wind has on the ship. With the cruise ships being virtually apartment buildings, the wind has a lot of influence. On top of that the sides are full with balconies and that makes it even worse, as the wind has now three sides “to hold” onto, instead of one flat surface as is the case with a container ship or a car carrier. Full on the beam does not matter that much, it is the same for any ship, but with having a wind under an angle then there are suddenly all those balcony partitions which help to catch the wind. While otherwise the wind would just whistle along the superstructure.

Those early leaving tours cause a bit of a headache for Culinary Operations as it has two immediate effects. One: guests are getting up much earlier than normal; Two: there is an enormous increase in Room Service Orders.  Item one is easily dealt with, the whole kitchen brigade gets up a little bit earlier and the Lido opens at 06.00 instead of 06:30 or 07:00. That might give some unhappy cooks but they are later compensated for the extra hours.  Item two, is a bigger challenge as we only have a finite number of Stewards available to provide Room Service as the regular Dining room is also in full swing at an earlier time. Thus the Culinary Operations Manager had sent out to all the cabins a note, requesting for patience as the delivery times might be not exactly at the exact time as was requested.  When I saw him later in the day, he did not have any black eyes, so I assume all went well.

The shore team paying out the air hose of the diver. With these projects they do not use SCUBA gear.

While the guests were out, the ship was getting a scrub under water. With the Livorno Alto Fondale dock being a safe and quiet dock, Technical Operations grabbed the chance to have the propellers and under water hull scrubbed from the marine growth which had come on during the past European period.  The divers who are doing it are not cheap, but the reduction in fuel consumption is considerable if the hull is clean and I would not be amazed if the total cost of today will already be earned back during the one crossing back to the States in a week’s time.  Although the fuel price has come down considerably since last year we are still talking millions of dollars per ship per year and thus 5% on the total bill has a big impact. Especially if you multiply this amount with 15 ships. Let alone thinking about the over a 100 ships in the Carnival Corp. fleet.  I wonder if the corporation had ever thought about having their own diving teams, or is that too complicated with licensing in the various countries? As part of the safety precautions they have a speaker on full volume so they can gear the diver breathing all the time. Due to the distortion it sounds like a very heavy smoker trying to run up the stairs. But if the breathing would suddenly stop it would indicate directly if something was wrong with the diver, the air hose or both.

The ship will sail, hopefully, by 19.30 hrs. depending on the fact if all the tours are back on schedule. Then we set sail for Barcelona, where we arrive the day after tomorrow. We will sail north of  Corsica through the Ligurian Sea and then angle down towards Barcelona.

The weather forecast looks a bit unsettled and once we are clear of  Corsica we might get a sort of mini-Mistral on the stern with about 30 knots of wind, which will later die down to 10 to 15 knots.  On the stern means following wind and following wind means that the relative wind on the deck should be quite reasonable. Not bad for Mediterranean Sea weather in autumn.

Today I boarded the ms Zuiderdam in Civitavecchia after a stay at the Fumencino airport hotels in Rome after transferring from the ms Rotterdam. I managed to clear away all my outstanding paperwork, work on the blog and squeezed in a visit to Rome as well. The Hilton has a free shuttle bus every day to the city Centre (or at least as far as they can go into it) and I would not be a Dutchman if I had not taken full advantage of it.

Maybe hard to see but nearly everybody in the photo was in the line which curved all the way around St.Peters square to enter via a far right entrance.

It being a weekend and nice weather meant that every tourist in the area was attracted to the St. Peter’s Cathedral as if it were a magnet. By 10 am. the lines for getting in curved all the way around the square into the far side of the Cathedral. I do not know if Bernini foresaw how handy his “curved arm” Colonnades around the main square would be in the 21^st century but it was, as it formed a sort of natural guide and buffer for keeping this long line on track. By 10 am. there was already an average waiting time of approx. 2 hrs. I did not see the Pope but if I had so many people in my front garden, all trying to take selfies, I would hide as well.

The Trevi Fountain. It is under restauration, made possible by a gift from a Fashion house. The city of Rome does not have any money and thus it encourages sponsorship to save it’s historic treasures.

I had never explored Rome properly by foot but even now I did not get much of a chance as there were too many people everywhere and all the special tours were sold out. I wanted to see the catacombs at one particular church (ex Capuchin Monastery) but these tours are limited to 20 people due to climbing through the caves, dungeons and the catacombs itself.  But I did manage to walk from East to West. From the Coliseum via the Forum, past the Trevi fountain and the Parthenon to St.Peters.

Most of the roads are a sort of cobbles or square stones and you need good foot wear. Although I saw several very fashionable Italian Ladies walking over them on high heels. But maybe not for a long distance.

The Panthenon. 2000 years old, built of concrete and still in perfect condition. You wonder why our concrete buildings do not last 2000 years.

After 3.5 hours on the trot it was time to sit for 2 hours on the Big Red Bus. Although I took the blue one (City Tour Rome) as it has more stops.  A disappointing thing was that they only do the central area of Rome, nothing outside. In a lot of other ports they also cover some of the more residential areas and I always find it nice to see how the other half of the world lives.

The HAL class of October 2015. Happy officers from NewZealand, The Netherlands, England and Belgium.

The Rotterdam Nautical Excellence Class was completed after three weeks and now four of the eight new 3^rd Officers have been assigned contracts and the other four will follow in due course. The next class will be held on the Westerdam on 21 November and thus I am doing a ship in between for my other part of the job; On board Team Support Officer.

The Zuiderdam cruise. partly Mediterrannean and partly Trans Atlantic

Between now and mid November I will sail with the Zuiderdam from the Mediterranean to Florida. From there she will start a Caribbean winter season.

As it is “support”; what I will do on board will greatly depend on what works best for the ship and that will be figured out during a meeting between the ships staff and myself.

The Master of the vessel is Capt. Chris Turner who came to us a long time ago from Windstar. He has been designated Master of the Zuiderdam since 2009.

I left the Rotterdam in Civittavecchia to stay in a Rome hotel and thus this morning I had to make the journey the other way again. With the bus driver showing up 45 minutes late it was not the best way to start the day at 06.30 in the morning. For me not so bad but those with long flights behind them could have used the extra hour better than hanging around in the hotel lobby. So I informed our travel department and hopefully they can ring the bell somewhere.

But here we are and work started straight away with nosing around during the Passenger Safety Briefing to see what standard the crew brought on display (= read asking nasty questions) and from there the trainnings and other activities will start from.

After the drill we left as the second of 4 cruise ships; the pecking order was this time: Rhapsody of the Seas, Zuiderdam, Empress and then the Seven Seas Mariner. The port sometimes has 8 cruise ships in at the same time, not counting 5 ferries, so today was a sort of quiet day.

Tomorrow we are in Livorno and it is supposed to be a windy arrival. But the wind is supposed to be from the North East and then we stand a better chance of getting in than the Rotterdam had a few days ago.

Yesterday I mentioned that it would be windy on arrival Livorno and that it was a tight hole to go into. Well it was more than windy; it was stormy, with wind gusts up to 40 knots. Too much wind to sail into that tight hole safely.  The Captain had one good look at the local situation and the decision was simple. This is a no-go. If I do not feel safe, then the ship is not safe. Then the next thought is, what can we do now? Stay a day at sea, go sightseeing, or go to another port? Based on the weather forecast the captain had already been thinking about that of course and scrutinized the chart for options for another port nearby. The wind was from the South West so if there was a port which is sheltered from the South West than you can go there. Livorno is fully open the South West.

Elba is about 2 hours sailing south of Livorno.

Thus the plan was hatched to go to Elba. It is close by, has a natural harbor on the North East side and a mountain ridge to the south so it could be expected that it would be sheltered enough from the SW wind to make the visit there. A quick call to the local authorities and yes we were welcome. The only question that remained was: would the anchorage be sheltered enough from the swells (which can curve around the island into the bay) for a safe tender service? The main town of Portoferraio on the North side of the island only has ferry docks and even if the ferries would not be there the Rotterdam still had to anchor as it draws over 8 meters and the pilot cannot guarantee more than 7,6 meters at the maximum.

The ms Rotterdam has too much draft to anchor in the light blue area’s.

When the Rotterdam poked its nose into the Bay it was clear, a bit of waves but with making a good lee for the tenders when coming alongside the ship, it would be a safe operation. In the town itself, tucked away deep into the Bay, it was flat calm.

The town has city walls and a fort protecting the island from the outside world, but what can you do against an invasion of eager cruisers?

Thus by 10 am. the tender operation went into full swing and the “invasion” began. Because of the change in scheduling everything on board came to a grinding halt and that included the weekly fire drill which had been planned around my trainee’s. They would be fully involved with the drill and attack whatever fire might occur. Now there was a gap in the schedule and that allowed me to finish the class in the morning and let them go ashore in the afternoon. Somehow I have the impression that they did not mind missing the fire drill and go ashore instead. This is their last day of the 3 week course and 4 of them fly out to their assignments and the other four go home to wait for their first assignment to arrive.

The inner harbor of Portoferraio, Elba.

It also gave me the chance to go ashore. I had been here with the Prinsendam in 2010 and although the ship could dock it was not possible because of the ferries. So we had to anchor and thus I stayed on board. Resting on one hook on an open anchorage is something totally different than being securely tied up with lots of lines in the shelter of a port.

If I could afford to maintain it, this would be my yacht.

The tourist season is almost over here so it was quiet in the town and in the bars and restaurants around the fishing harbor (now mainly occupied by yachts); that was until the Rotterdam arrived. and we saw a split in behavior depending on nationality. While the Americans tried to shop and look inside every church and museum, the Dutch parked themselves en-masse on the terraces on the harbor front. I felt as if I was in Holland, Dutch yapping all around. Unfortunately most shops and Musea closed for a 2 to 3 hour siesta and they must have missed out on a lot of money. Two 2^nd hand bookshops were open and although I was impressed with their stock, there was nothing for me, as the two things on offer, where already in my collection and the 3^rd item (genuine ocean pill box) was a fake.

Plenty of Napoleon around, but he was also out for lunch…………….

This it is a very nice place with lots of things to do (between 0900 and 13.00 & 16.00 and 21.00) so hopefully Holland America will call here more often especially with the smaller ships.  Plenty of history, including the 300 day stay of Napoleon, beautiful beaches and beautiful nature. Coming Sunday it will be busy as they will the Moto GP (Motor Cycle Grand Prix) of Elba. A motor home camp had been set up in the port and I saw the teams registering at the local tourist office for the coming event.

Our last tender will be at 6 pm. and as soon as the last guests are back we will sail to the south east heading for Civitavecchia, which acts as the access port to Rome. There my trainees will fly either home or to their first ship and I will transfer to the Zuiderdam. The Zuiderdam arrives in Civitavecchia on the 21^st. so I will wait for the ship. It turned out to be easier than to fly and catch it in one of its small ports along the cruise during the weekend.

Thus my blog might cease for a few days unless I have something exciting to report. (Like meeting the Pope or something). I will use my time in the hotel to catch up with administration and I will also grab the chance to ride every Big Red Sightseeing bus there is in Rome.

The weather for tomorrow; a lot less wind, about 15 knots, partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid 60’s or just under 20oC.