Thus everything was setup for the Veendam to lead the cruise ship “pack” into Juneau. 05.00 hrs. first line for Veendam, 05.30 hrs. for the Celebrity Infinity, 06.00 hrs. for the Sapphire Princess and 06.30 hrs. for the Norwegian Star. The latter was hot berthing with the Norwegian Pearl which was scheduled to arrive between 13.00 and 14.00 hrs. I was called by the Officer of the Watch at 3 am. and when I arrived at 03.30 I just saw the Infinity racing ahead of us. That was not the plan. It turned out that they had a medical emergency and requested to dock first. When lives are at stake all else falls by the way side so the Veendam moved aside a bit and the Infinity sped ahead and based on their speed could be docked by 04.30.

Best plans can fall apart and when the Infinity approached the dock, they were informed by a cheerful agent voice that the linesmen were not there yet but would arrive around 4.45 am. Maybe they live far away, or the emergency was a last minute thing but I assume that the Infinity captain was not a happy camper with this 30 minute delay in docking as it would also mean a delay in getting the patient ashore for treatment. As we saw it all happening, we just slowed down and floated gently towards the dock. Docking second does not matter that much for me, although the clearance from stern to stern is only about 60 feet, so it is much easier if there is not yet a ship alongside. By the time we had the first line ashore, we saw an ambulance racing away from the Infinity. Hopefully all went well.

Juneau is an important port for the crew due to the proximity of big shops. There is a Cosco nearby of which we can be members as we are in transportation, a Wall mart just opened on the bus route and there are a few shopping shuttles going to various places, including the Nugget Mall in the valley. Apart from that there is a large Philipino community in Juneau which is very good in arranging “good deals” for the crew and a recently opened Crew centre with internet and a large electronics shop.

However today there was not that much time for the crew, as it was one of those training days and also the planning managers from the office came for a visit. Both Deck and Hotel officers had the chance to discuss their future sailing dates and the ship was buzzing with the exciting news of where next and when. Training today consisted out of:
a. CPSC boat handling. (Training for the lifeboat handler certificate)
b. CMHB for senior officers (Crisis Management and Human Behavior) which basically means how do deal with the way passengers react during an emergency.
c. Regular boat drill for portside boats
d. Leadership in Action Class for middle management (here I was the culprit for keeping officers on board as I just have started twelve of them on a 10 week course)
e. Individual Advanced Health & Sanitation training via the company’s training intra net.

It is not always nice, but in a fast changing work place, training has become more essential than ever and it takes up a good amount of time. Both work, e.g. direct company time, and free time has to be made available to comply with all the requirements set by law and company. We do our utmost to schedule most training in direct company time but it does not always work as some functions such as cabin stewards have to spend all their working time on location. They normally do training in the evening after their shift finishes at 9 pm. and then the extra time can count as overtime. All in all nobody gets the chance to get bored on board because of feeling idle.

We pulled away from Juneau just before 1800 hrs. The Infinity had left at 3 pm. so I had lots of room when coming off the dock. Although the weather had not been sunny, it did not rain either and sail away through Gastineau channel was a pleasant affair. Due to the 6 pm. departure time I could make a scenic cruising announcement once we were away from the port. We have been asked by the locals not to make announcements while the ship is in port area. It hampers our operation a little bit but it is understandable as on some ships the P.A system is used every five minutes and the Ding-Dong must drive the local people crazy.

While we sailed through the Inside Passage to open sea, heading for Sitka, the sun came out and it showed the Alaskan Scenery off at its best.

Tomorrow we are in Sitka and the weather forecast talks about 40% chance of showers. I wonder where this 40% is going to fall, on top of us, on the town or in the mountains.

We are now on our 14 day cruise schedule. Or it are really two 7 day cruises, Vancouver to Seward and then back to Vancouver again. For us on board who consider Vancouver the seasonal home port it feels as a 14 day cruise with a change of passengers in Seward. Not all passengers change in Seward. Normally we have about a 100 who do the return voyage. It is called a Back-to-back cruise in cruise speak. To offer these guests at least one different port during that return cruise, we call at Haines northbound and at Skagway Southbound. Both ports are located in the scenic Lynn Canal so for the route that we travel there is not much difference.

Holland America started calling at Haines about 5 years ago when congestion started to built at Skagway. Before that time the ships would call at Skagway and we would offer a scenic Lynn Canal cruise on a sightseeing boat to Haines for those who were interested. When more and more ships started to call at Skagway, we deviated the first ships to Haines and offered tours to Skagway. Haines is a very small place and came to prominence during the 2nd world war when there was a large garrison in the town. There was the threat that Japan would launch a full scale invasion, either near the Yakutat or approach Lynn Canal from the South via Chatham Strait. As is known, Japan did invade Alaska but it was only a small operation and it did not last very long.

After the war the military presence slowly faded away. Leaving a nice sleepy village with some big standard built Clapboard houses, built against the hill. In the beginning of our calls there was not that much to do as the emphasis had always been on Skagway but since a few years there are numerous tours on offer for the guests to enjoy. At the same time Haines has been able to maintain its local flavor and is still very much an original Alaska town. No Columbian Emeralds or Diamonds International here. You buy your postcards at the local drug and grocery store. But there is a museum and there is a micro brewery that sells beer in Gallon jugs. There is a marina and it has a dock that just fits the Veendam.

It is a tight stretch from Ketchikan, due to the distance, and even more so with adverse currents. But by keeping the pedal-to-the-metal we approached the dock exactly on schedule and had the gangway out by 10 am. our official arrival time. The sun shone all day. By the evening the wind died down and the waters were as flat as in a back garden pond. Haines is sheltered from all wind directions except from Westerlies and that means that it is a real enjoyable port to dock at. Departure was therefore an enjoyment as well. Slowly gliding away from the dock with the mountains reflecting in the quickly darkening night, the ship swung around in the bay and proceeded with a sedate speed into Lynn Canal. Cruising at its best.

From there we went faster as we had to be early in Juneau. We have the best dock in the port, the furtherst one in and as there were three more cruise ships coming, the agent and harbor master wanted us first so that we were out of the way before the others came in. Made sense to me as well, the more room I have for docking, the easier and the safer it is. So we set speed for passing the entrance of Gastineau channel at 4 am, with the plan to have the first line ashore by 05.00.

Juneau weather forecast is showing skies without rain and wind and that means another nice day tomorrow. If the weather continues this way it is going to be a very good cruise,

If it is nice weather in Ketchikan, then the captain has to pay dearly for it by losing his night’s sleep. Just after crossing the Canadian –Alaska border, the ceiling came down and we had dense fog banks all the way up to the Ketchikan pilot station. Thus I had to be on the bridge as the extra man, in case an emergency action was needed. I split these standby hours with the chief officer, who is the second in command. He does 0600 – 1200/1800-2400 and I do 0000 – 0400/1200 – 1800. He has the more decent hours as he has to run a complete department as well, a deck department that starts walking up around 5 am. so it is handy that he is around when everybody checks in. I might be running a complete ship but I do not need to do that at set times.

The fog lifted with the rising sun, note this: rising SUN in Ketchikan; and we glided with a slow speed to the berth. We were the only big cruise ship in today and that meant I could park the ship right opposite Diamonds International. It does not get more central. By 0700 am the gangway was out and by 07.15 the first eager shoppers streamed ashore. All the shops were already open as Ketchikan shops open and close with the arrival and departures of the cruise ships. By 07.30 I was in bed to catch up with sleep. A golden rule here in Alaska is that you pick a few hours of sleep when ever you can, as you never know when the next standby will be. You see the same in the armed forces. Soldiers always try to catch a wink here and there, as they also never know when something will happen next. So I got a few hours until 09.30 when the bridge called for the discussion about the next port.

Ketchikan remained sunny all day and apart from a chilly breeze it was very pleasant. Out of the wind, people where sitting in shorts and T-shirts enjoying the warm weather. We pulled out right on time, as I was in a hurry. The stretch Ketchikan – Haines is very tight speed wise, when the wind and currents are against you and that was the case this time. On average 1.5 knots all the way. Flood while we went towards the sea and then ebb, after changing course to the North and running away from the sea. The strong breeze blowing from the NW, while sailing through Clarence Strait did not help either. At least the wind will keep the fog away this time.

Here a quick note to answer some questions posed in the last comments on the blog.

1. Fire fighting squads. Both the deck and engine departments provide two teams. The Officers are the team leaders of two attack teams on both sides and the ratings provide manpower for hose handling and supplies. Hotel department provides teams, such as stretcher teams, medical, evacuation teams, passenger notification team etc. etc. Each position is function related. The safety officer is the On Scene Commander for all non engineering spaces, if he goes home; his/her replacement takes over. Apart from weekly training on board, there is a five yearly training, either in Vlissingen, the Netherlands, or in Seattle or in College Station Texas. Texas A&M University). This summer we are also doing trainings in Juneau while the ship is in port.
2. Picture of the 1920 Ryndam. Sent separately off site.
3. What is the best side to have a cabin when sailing from Seward to Vancouver? We dock: Seward SB, Sitka at anchor, Skagway SB., Juneau SB, Ketchikan PS and Vancouver SB.
4. Captains switching during the Amazon cruise. No overlap for me. It will be straight on for me in the morning and directly off for my relief in the afternoon. I will receive my handover files a few days beforehand and then have a 4 hour hand over when coming on board. As I know the Veendam very well after four years a handover does not take that much time. If it is the first time on a ship, then there is a handover of a week.
5. Photographs. There are absolutely no restrictions in taking photos on board in principle. Just refrain from climbing on things, while you take your photos. Only no photo taking is allowed in the Casino and during Show time in the lounge.

Also note: The new Employee of the Month has been posted under My Ship

Yesterday most of our day was filled with an inspection by the Canadian Port State authorities. There is an international agreement between the major shipping countries in the world to do regular ship inspections. It is called the Paris Memorandum Of Understanding. Most of the time the aim is for two inspections of a ship each year. Unfortunately the USA does not participate in the program. It has its own USCG inspection so it means there are two additional inspections each year if a ship calls at USA ports frequently. When a ship is inspected any deficiencies observed are noted in a database for other member countries to peruse and in that way a close eye can be kept on the state of readiness of all vessels. If a ship is in a bad state, it can be detained until repairs are carried out or the training of the crew is improved to an acceptable level.

In Canada it is the Department of Transport who carries out these inspections on behalf of the Canadian Government. In the course of the season all the cruise ships are visited and the first inspection called the “initial inspection” is announced ahead of time. This makes sense to do, otherwise a certain part of the ships crew might be ashore and then the inspectors would only be able to observe the “in port” emergency procedures instead of the full setup for at sea.

The routine is straight forward. A fire drill is done, followed by an abandon ship drill. This time the inspectors requested a Man Over Board drill as well, no doubt as a result of the recent spate of reports of people falling or jumping off cruise ships. This is followed by a debriefing of the drills on the bridge. This is very useful for us, as the inspectors visit so many different ships and see so many different routines, that they can make some very astute observations. They can be very detailed in their criticism about what they have seen and great was my delight when the verdict was that our fire drill was above the general level observed industry wide. A rare compliment indeed. The remainder of the day was then filled with checking certificates, licenses and inspection rounds through the ship with random smoke detector and fire door tests. Engine room equipment was checked and the emergency generator tested. Quite a bit of time was spent on the bridge as great emphasis is placed on the proper functioning of the all the navigational equipment and the presence of the latest charts and navigational information. Transport Canada requires that a certain number of specified charts are on board and they use a checklist to see if indeed each chart is present and up-to-date. Although we nowadays work more and more with electronic charts, the official change over has not yet come and so the paper charts are still verified. The Veendam came through the inspection with flying colors and so it was a good day for all of us.

I sailed for the late Seymour Narrows tide and then through Johnstone strait during the early morning. That made it possible to pass by Alert Bay during day light. Later on we were in Queen Charlotte Sound again, where the whales put on a considerable show. There was still some swell left from the bad weather of two days ago and it seems that the whales really like that. There was a lot of tail flipping going on but this all stopped when the swell started to level further off, when we entered Hecate Strait.

Tomorrow we will be in Ketchikan and according to the weather forecast we are going to be in for a rare treat. The sun will be shining. As it is dry only for 33 days of the whole year in Ketchikan, and most of those days being overcast, its means that it will be a special day indeed. Sunshine normally also means reduced visibility and thus I expect long standby hours on the bridge during the coming night.

Imagine a flat sea with the mountains reflected into it. A Bridge back lit by a red sky of the rising sun. A cargo ship slowly moving into port in the distance ahead. Not a sound to be heard. That was the scene that greeted me, when I arrived on the bridge at 05.30 for arrival into Vancouver. The city had been blessed with a number of early summer days and this was one of them, accompanied by near windless weather. It was a beautiful morning and it was going to be a great day.

When we approach the port, we prepare the ship for docking. That means that an anchor party is woken up and will be in position about 2 miles before we reach the Lions Gate Bridge. First we have the anchor party normally consists out of two deck hands for operating the winchlass and an officer. This in case we have to stop at once in case of an un-expected development. Then the anchors can act as brakes and slow the ships speed down very quickly. Furtheron we switch on the thrusters in case we suddenly have to wait and hover in position and we will need them later for docking as they are our built in tugboats. The engine room goes on standby, which means that the chief engineer will be in the engine control room, in case I suddenly need to make an emergency stop or a rough maneuver on the engines. It would not do if that would cause a black out, so the chief is at hand to push the necessary buttons to prevent the computers from making decisions based on in correct information. Traffic in Vancouver harbor is very well regulated but something can un-expectedly happen to another ship and then drastic action might be necessary.

There can be a lot of current under the bridge depending on the ebb or flood time. This morning we had about 3 knots of ebb coming out of the harbor so we made sure that the ships speed is around 12 knots on the engines and that gives the pilot good steerage when he makes the turn under the bridge. The approach course is about 80o and the line up course under the bridge around 130o and the turn is made just before we pass the first pillar of the bridge. This means that I watch both the pilot and the helms man closely as there is no room for error here. One mistake and the current grabs the ship and flushes it back to open waters, or even worse straight onto the rocks under the bridge pillars.

As soon as we are past the bridge, speed is reduced to about six knots to make sure that we do not create a surge along the docked Cargo ships on our port side. Just before we make the turn to Canada Place the mooring parties arrive, forward and aft. This means that all the sailors are now in position and there is also an officer aft on station. The chief officer is on the bridge and he controls the mooring lines to bring the ship in position and to hold it alongside.

After the pilot had made the general turn into the direction of Canada Place he handed “the conn of the ship” over to me for the actual docking. If a ship uses tugboats the pilot will do the docking but if a ship has thrusters then he normally leaves it to the captain as he knows his ship best. Upon request of Shore operations I docked the ship starboard side alongside the terminal that meant with the stern towards the city. I personally prefer portside alongside as it is a more natural approach but the other way around works better for the disembarkation flow.

With 3 knots of ebb flowing through the port, there is a considerable current off the dock as well and that means that I swing the ship around at a fair distance. Close to the dock there is normally a back eddy running and if you swing the ship to close to the dock you can suddenly be set upon the dock. The dock at Canada place is bending with a knuckle halfway and it is not the idea to get an “imprint” of that knuckle in the side of the ship. Thus we swing a little bit further away and then come sideways towards the dock and slowly astern to line the ship up with the gangway.

The gangways at Canada place are fixed, they only go up and down with the tide and that means that there is only a 2 inch margin. The break door of the ship has to be exactly in line with the gangway bridge. It depends on the correct count down of the security officer at the gangway and the reaction of the officer aft with tightening the spring line, whether I can stop the ship exactly on time. This time it worked perfectly without having to move the ship with the ropes; 720 feet of ship came to a standstill on the inch. By 7.15 am. the gangway was in and just before 8 am. the disem- barkation started. As the guests go off in groups, depending on when their transport is ready, the last ones were off the ship by 09.30.

In the mean time the ships crew was gearing up for our annual Port State inspection by the Canadian Authorities. More about that tomorrow.

During the night the wind died down and by the morning there was only a moderate breeze left. At the same time the wind had also veered to the North West and so we had following winds which made it chilly but pleasant on the outside decks. As this bad weather had been caused by a “warm” frontal system, warm relative in relation to the water temperature, fog patches developed overnight so during the morning we had to blow the whistle until the fog cleared around 3 pm. That was about the time that we re entered the Inside Passage. Perfect timing.

As mentioned before, when sailing the Inside Passage, everything depends on the slack tide time of the Seymour Narrows. As it was around 10 pm. this time, I had room for some extra sightseeing, so we sailed by the Indian Village of Alert Bay again. He was not there last week, but this time he came out in his speed boat. A few years ago, a local man decided to start serenading the passing cruise ships. Although the quality of his play depends a little bit on the steadiness of his speedboat sitting in the current, it has become a nice tradition. This week I saw for the first time a big sign in the form of an Orca on the boat, advertising his website. Here it is. http://alertbaytrumpeter.com. This time he played O-Canada, the Canadian national anthem and I also heard When the Saints go marching in. He got a cheer from most of the guests on deck, who where out in force to see the largest totem pole in the world.

With the sun brightly shining and not a bit of wind left it was a beautiful ride down Johnstone Strait. I had announced an approximate time schedule of when we were going to see what and it was good to see that the guests took the opportunity to take in all the sights. In the end we sailed through Seymour Narrows at the exact slack tide of 21.30 and as it was still dusk, everybody could see Seymour Narrows clearly and also how narrow it is. There was a lot of Barge traffic around and some Canadian Navy ships but everybody’s schedule somehow did not interfere with the other and we all sailed through the gap at our own preferred time.

Most of the time that is with a speed of between 10 and 12 knots. This gives good steerage speed but is still slow enough not to cause a wake. Just to the north of Seymour Narrows is an inlet called Brown Bay, which has a big camper park and a large Marina. It is protected by a floating breakwater made up of what looks like old oil tanks, once used on railroad carriages. Quite an ingenious idea but as they float they still will go up and down with the waves rolling into the inlet so it does not give docked yachts a full protection against wake caused by speed boats and larger ships. The Veendam creates the least wake by going slower then 12 knots, or going faster than 16 knots. But as nobody believes that a ship can have less wake when going fast, we have to go slow.

But it is indeed the case with the Veendam. If the ship goes faster it develops more squat and the hull, together with the bulbous bow, sinks deeper into the water. This changes the flow around the bow and when doing 16 or 17 knots the bow wave and the ships wake is much less pronounced than with 13 or 14 knots. However the layman on the shore side only sees a ship charging by and will complain about excessive speed. Thus we go slow and keep the wake down.

About an hour after Seymour Narrows the ship was in the open waters of the Strait of Georgia. Here the sailing became boring. We traveled all night at a speed of 10 knots, to line up for a Lions Gate bridge time of 06.15, followed by a 7 am. docking. If the Tide at the Narrows is later we have to go fast of course but with a 10 pm. slack tide it is a slow boat to Vancouver most of the way. For most pilots this is a normal speed of traveling as the majority of the pilots have a tugboat back ground. For me, used to full-cruise ship-speed it is as if I am watching paint dry. You see a light house and an hour later you still see the same lighthouse.

The weather in Vancouver is going to be gorgeous. Clear skies, 80oF and no wind. Maybe we can take that weather with us on our next cruise.

Early this morning we sailed through Sumner strait and by the time that we had navigated through Snow Passage the wind started to blow. Not just a little bit but a lot. By 08.30 there was nearly 50 knots of wind velocity. The Ketchikan agent had advised us that is was supposed to be a windy and rainy day in Ketchikan but not a stormy day. Looking at the wind and the waves I was getting worried about sailing into Ketchikan. While approaching the port through Tongass Narrows from the North West you have to pass , with slow speed to avoid a wake, the Ketchikan Drydock company. If there is too much wind on the beam of the ship; it pushes you either into the drydock or on the rocks along the airport. Neither an option you want to exercise. Docking with too much wind in the port does not work either as the wind will push you too fast to the dock and at the same time you can get caught by reflecting winds coming off the mountains which will push you the other way again.

So I called the agent who advised that it was real “snotty” weather, which I suppose is a local expression for very bad weather. The local tugboat reported 40 knots along the dock and the airport tower (opposite the Ketchikan dry dock company) reported 25 to 35 knots of wind from the SSE. Too much to even contemplate entering the port. At 09.30 I decided to cancel the call and advised the guests accordingly. The weather forecasts from across the Canadian border were getting worse and worse by the hour and thus we were in for some “good times”.

With having cancelled the call at Ketchikan we only had to maintain a slow speed now. This was a blessing in disguise. While the winds were howling up to 60 knots (the highest read-out we had was 68 knots around noon time) and the seas starting to build, it meant that the ship was going to pitch. The slower you then sail, the better the ship moves through the waves, as it is not pounding into it and the better the ride for the guests. In the end the ship only gently moved, while around us a heavy storm blew and raged, causing spray and foam to be whipped up from the waves.

As it is compulsory to have pilots on board to sail in the Inside Passage, I could not just deviate to between the islands somewhere. Apart from the fact that the pilots were not available at short notice they would never have been able to come out in the pilot boat, as it was bad. Really bad. The ships speed set on the engines was 16 knots but we made barely 12, so much we were slowed down by the wind, which was full on the bow. As the ship was not moving that much, there were hardly any guests sea sick and quite a few were sitting in the crows nest enjoying a very upset Mother Nature in full rage around the ship.

The wind is supposed to abate by early tomorrow morning and by the time we re enter the Inside Passage as per schedule, it should be nice again. The irritating part is that in Vancouver it has been wind still and sunny since a few days; while we just at the other side of Vancouver Island were having the worst of it. The mind boggling thing is, is that this weather is not supposed to be here in May. On average May has calm and cold weather. What we had today was a real Alaska autumn storm. Hopefully this was an end of the season hick-up and now we will get back to a regular weather pattern.

Glacier Bay is located just West of Skagway with only a mountain range in between and that means that the weather is similar to that of Skagway with only a different wind pattern. The latter, because Skagway has this Lynn Canal funnel effect that increases the wind velocity while blowing up the canal. There is however a big difference between the weather in the lower bay, similar to Skagway, and the weather in the upper bay, close to the glaciers. In the upper bay with all its ice there is a sort of micro climate that only follows the weather in the rest of the area if that weather is very pronounced. It means that I can never predict what the weather off the Glaciers is exactly going to be.

The Rangers were on time and so was the Veendam and by 7 am. we had the complete group onboard. Apart from the two Rangers, the bird watcher and the Native interpreter we also had a Ranger Coach on board with two trainees’ to follow the proceedings of the day. All in all a group of seven to show us the sights of the day. This is also the last call of the Veendam to Glacier Bay until September. Next week we start our cruises to Seward and then we call at Hubbard Glacier.

Indeed the micro climate was apparent again and while we sailed up the bay, the weather got better and better. By the time we arrived at the glacier the sun was shining through the clouds and lit up the top of Marjorie Glacier. It was going to be a good day.

Sailing in Glacier Bay is an exercise of close cooperation between the ship and the Rangers. In order to get our yearly entry permits, we have to live up to the Rangers expectations of being good custodians of nature. Holland America has always obtained the maximum number of permits available for Glacier Bay entry’s so we are doing well but we have to work hard to keep our record up. The Glacier Bay National Park organization sets a number of requirements that we have to comply with in the bay to ensure a maximum enjoyment for the guests. It is up to the Captain to juggle all the requirements, both Rangers and company, and balance them into a perfect day.

The time spent in the bay in accordance with the company’s schedule is from 7 am to 4 pm. In that time I have to get up the bay to the Glaciers and back to the Ranger station. For the Rangers I have spent a minimum of 5 hours in the Upper Bay and at least 1 full hour in front of a Glacier. When there are a lot of whales around in the lower bay, speed restrictions are imposed so we can stop quicker in case a whale would cross our bow. This all requires different speeds and at the same time I have to make sure that the funnel emissions are kept to an absolute minimum. Further on the tidal currents change every day, so one cruise I can have 4 knots against me and the next week 3 knots with me.

Finally I have to take into account that I might not be able to make the speed that I calculated, based on all the requirements listed above, as I do not know how much ice there will be until we reach the glaciers. If there is a lot of ice, I have to go much slower in order not to damage the ships hull, than otherwise would be the case.

Every captain has to deal with this “Glacier Bay puzzle” and nearly all the time the pieces come together exactly and we all have a great day and we had one today. Sun on Marjorie Glacier, we managed to have a peek into John Hopkins although there was quite a bit of ice and we did all exactly on schedule. The Rangers disembarked just after 4 pm. and by 4.30 pm the bingo could start for those who were “natured out”. While sailing out of the bay we saw a lot of whales so those still intently watching on the outside decks were not disappointed. Even the sea lions were out on the rock when we exited North Inian Pass for open sea.

Tomorrow we are in Ketchikan and according to weather forecast it is going to be a windy and rainy day.

( Note: There is a map of Glacier bay on the blog of 6 May)

Those who operate the ships have a hate/love relation with Skagway. It is a nice place to call at and easy accessible for all guests but not always that easy for docking a ship. Today was one of those days. Overcast, rainy and about 25 knots of following wind funneling up the Lynn Canal.

The Veendam was scheduled to dock at the Rail Road Dock all the way forward with the Dawn Princess behind us. The latter one we overtook while entering the southern part of Lynn Canal, just below Haines. When docked at the Railroad dock the ship is in the shelter from southerly winds but while approaching, the winds buffets off the mountain range with ever changing and unpredictable angles. So the approach looks a bit as that one of a drunken sailor navigating towards the entrance door of the pub. The wind pushes one way, and the captain corrects the ship the other way.

Apart from the wind there was also a current coming from the inlet to the West of Skagway and its direction changes constantly in the bay and is even less predictable. Thus I made my approach slowly and watched intently where wind and current where pushing the Veendam to. By the time the ship was half up the pier it came in the shelter of the mountain and then it was just a matter of adjusting for the current which changed from a set off the pier to one towards the pier while moving forward to our position.

In the meantime the chief officer was keeping an eagle eye on his sailors to make sure that no line was thrown ashore before 0600 otherwise he would have to pay extra overtime for the linesmen. By 06.15 we were happily docked with the bulb about 50 feet away from the rocks at the end of the dock and the gangway hooked in. The Dawn Princess came alongside behind us about 20 minutes later as they use the same linesmen as we do. Therefore she was scheduled for first line at 06.30

The weather remained very un-settled during the day with intermittent periods of rain and it continued to blow from the south side of the Lynn Canal. While the guests where ashore, the ships crew went through a General Drill which comprised of a fire drill and an abandoned ship drill. Today we had a simulated fire in a passenger area. Accommodation fires are, apart from engine room fires, the greatest worry on cruise ships and we rehearse scenarios for it on a regular basis. To be successful in fighting a fire you need basically two things. One; your teams have to be on the scene quickly so that the fire can not spread and secondly; control the smoke so that it does not affect the rest of the ship.

As soon as a fire is reported somewhere, all the fire screen doors are closed to contain everything in one area. Then the fire squads will approach from behind the nearest door and move forward step by step towards the “hotspot”. While a hose handler team moves forward, there is a second team behind them for backup and a third group who checks each cabin in the closed off area. The success of the fire squad relies on its timely arrival. As soon as the fire alarm has been raised, the team has about 5 minutes to dress up and to get going towards the scene. Ideally we want to have the attack teams in position within 8 minutes after the alarm was raised and from them they advance within 10 minutes towards the fire. By the time they arrive at the scene, the first responders, those are people who close doors and clear areas, have rigged up fire hoses so that the fire team is not delayed by having to do this.

When we simulate these fires, we use a smoke machine that gives off dense white smoke and reduces the visibility to zero. It is the same sort of smoke, or dry ice, which is being used during a show in the theatre.

If fighting the fire would have been un-successful than you have to progress to abandon ship and that involves all the crew on board in one function or the other. That was what we rehearsed to this morning and apart from the weekly training drills, a full abandon ship drill is a monthly requirement. Unfortunately the weather did not make it very pleasant for the crew to stand on deck for 20 minutes, while undergoing Q&A, but Safety comes first.

By the time we left Skagway, the wind had increased to nearly 40 knots, so while going south again through Lynn Canal we had a relative wind on the bow of about 50 knots. Luckily the wind is supposed to die away so it should be better tomorrow in Glacier Bay. Maybe the wind will also blow the rain clouds away.

I could only fool Mother Nature partially. By going inside I did manage to give all our guests a quiet night without the ship moving. However the currents were all the way against us from the moment we neared the Pilot Station at Ketchikan until we docked at Juneau. That meant loosing one to two knots each hour. Apart from that, the slow down for transversing Snow Passage cost me time as well. Thus in the end we docked 1.5 hours late in Juneau.

Even on this inside run, I had to dip into the Pacific Ocean for about an hour and between 6 and 7 am in the morning, the ship started to pitch and move about while we made the turn into Chatham strait. During the night the waves had abated a little bit, instead of 18 feet waves it was now down to about 14 feet but that was still very unpleasant even for the short spell that we felt it. Arriving late in Juneau is not too much of a problem as it gets dark quite late and we could simply move all our tours up in time and everything that the guests wanted to do was still possible including shopping as the shops do not close until about 10 pm.

Still it was better to be late and not to be sea sick than to be late and to be sea sick. I think all the guests agreed with me on this one as not a single complaint was received. Especially our large Aussie contingent on board was quite happy as “they had not come to Alaska all the way, just to puke all over it”. At least that was the way one of the gents described it.

The docking was one of the more interesting ones as the cruise terminal dock was occupied by the Celebrity Millennium and that meant that there was just enough room left for me to park the Veendam at the Alaska Steamship dock. Normally arrival times are arranged in such a way that the ship that has to go the deepest into the port goes first and then the rest follows. With an afternoon arrival that does not work of course and so I had about 800 feet of room to park a 720 feet ship.

Where ships dock depend on various issues. First of all there is the number of passengers onboard. The Millennium being the biggest one was thus allocated the Cruise terminal as then most passengers could enjoy the floating ramp and did not have to be involved in steps, steep ramps and changing gangway locations. The Dawn Princess was docked at the Franklin terminal. This is a 10 minute walk to down town. All Princess ships go there, as Princess paid (partly as far as I know) for the construction of this dock. They also have the gangway hassle there. Ships less then 800 feet in length go to the Alaska Steam dock, which is the best dock for access to the town but there is also the hassle with the gangways because of the tides.

There is one more dock, the A.J dock, which was constructed about 4 years ago. It is meant to accommodate the mega liners but is a long ways from town and most guests use a shuttle service to get to town. It has a floating pontoon in the middle and so there is no hassle with the gangway because of the tide but it is a long ways out. On average most guests are quite happy with having to wait for a relocation of a gangway while the ship is docked at Alaska Steam as the main shopping area and the Red Dog Saloon are straight across from the gangway.

I extended the port stay in Juneau so that the guests had the option to still spend the lost time of the late arrival in the town after dinner. About 200 did so. The crew was very happy about this as well, as it gave most of the cabin and dining room stewards the option to run ashore for an a hour after service finished.

We departed by following the Dawn Princess out, who had an earlier departure time. The Millennium was already long gone. During the night we will overtake the Dawn Princess as tomorrow we are scheduled to dock ahead of the Dawn at the same dock in Skagway. She will be leaving earlier that evening and thus will dock behind us, facilitating an easier departure.

For those who asked who is who in the photos yesterday and last cruise Glacier Bay: Captions have been added with the names.