At 7 am. I switched on my computer and all was revealed. In the late afternoon of the day before two bad weather systems, both generated near Cape Hatteras, had merged and its combined force was sustaining the swell running South East over the North Atlantic and in our direction. One system had been moving North West in the direction of the Hudson Bay; it had stalled and the next one travelling east caught up with it and they merged. As a result we travelled for a while through a much stronger and higher wave field than was indicated in the weather forecast. However during the night the ship settled into a more steady movement, a bit wobbly but very good for a North Atlantic crossing especially in November. Now I have to keep a close eye on the next “Cape Hatteras development” and to see if that will affect us as we sail further west. Most depressions generated there go straight across to Europe but the wave fields tend to spread out and also come south. If the storm is strong enough it might reach us and that will cause inconvenience and also affect the ships speed. At the moment the movement is such that I am nicely on schedule but the light pitching does take some of the speed away. That is the amount of speed that normally gives me some “plus” for the case of. I am now waiting for the Azores current to come through as that should give me .5 knots extra. Then later the ship should hopefully pick up the north boundary of the North Equatorial current that eventually becomes the Gulf Stream. Continue reading

Crossing the North Atlantic means a whole change in the way of looking at the navigation. Instead of little stretches between ports, where you have to go weather or no weather; the vast expanse of an open ocean gives more options. Decision number one to make, how will I cross the ocean? There are basically two options. Via a straight line, called a rhumb line, or via a curved line, called a great circle line. The last line is the shortest route as it carefully follows the curvature of the earth. The rhumb line is the longest route but can have the advantage that you stay at a lower latitude and thus a larger distance away from bad weather. When we crossed with the Prinsendam in spring 2009 from the USA to Europe, I used the Great Circle route as Cape Hatteras was fairly quiet and there would be only following winds if something would happen. Now it is November and we are going the other way. Thus I opted for the Rhumb line as it would bring the ship as far to the South as possible; as far away from the bad weather generated near Cape Hatteras as possible. That does not mean that I will escape it if it comes my way but at least I have then put as much distance between Cape Hatteras and the ship as possible. In this case we will have to cover an additional 39 miles, caused by the longer Rhumb line route. That we can absorb in the six day crossing without much problem as the total crossing distance is 3357 from Funchal to Port Everglades Sea buoy. Continue reading

Funchal is one of the easiest ports to dock at, as long as there is not too much wind. The dock is just an L shaped breakwater sticking into the sea parallel to the coast. Madeira, is nothing else than a mountain top sticking above the sea, it rises very steeply out of the North Atlantic ocean and the area in front of Funchal is just a little platform about 30 meters under water and thus ideal to build a port on. They figured that out already 100’s of years ago and since then the port of Funchal has been the lifeline for Madeira and responsible for its prosperity. The docking is made easy as the whole port area is deep so the ship can approach quite close to the coast and then turn to a westerly course and slide parallel along the dock into position. Leaving is even simpler, if you are docked at the end of the breakwater you only have to go astern the length of the ship and then turn the bow to port over the end of the pier and you are back in 1000 feet deep water and safely clear. Continue reading

Thus we started our Trans Atlantic crossing by leaving Cadiz on a wind still and moonlight night. The Cadiz pilot had already forecast that Cadiz was in for some rain and we saw that rain clouds were gathering at the horizon; early this morning it also came over the Prinsendam, courtesy of the tail end of a weather system that is moving over the North of Spain. However that weather system was going North East and we were going South West and logic demands that eventually you have to run out of it and that we did by noon time. The accompanying winds of force 6 to 7 disappeared as well and by late afternoon it was wind still and sunny. Also the predicted forecast of about 8 feet of swell proved to be true and thus the Prinsendam moved steadily through the ocean with just the slightest hint of pitching. It is always nice when the weather follows the weather forecast especially if it is a good forecast. Continue reading

Cadiz is one of the most important cruise ports for Spain, after Barcelona. It offers sightseeing options to Seville and the surrounding area and also towards its own city centre. Hence that many cruise ships make a call here, some on a regular basis and some such as the Prinsendam during Atlantic crossings and when repositioning from the Baltic to the Med and back. For us it was the last call on the European mainland before we start our Trans Atlantic crossing. The port is located in the shelter of a peninsula which is laid out as a crescent moon with the entrance to the port in its sheltered curve. The only issue with the port is that the bay is very shallow and has a heavy high ocean swell if coming from the South West that tends to build up over the shallows. That can make the approach very rocky to say the least and getting the pilot onboard a real challenge. Nothing of that today though. The North Atlantic weather has been predominantly bad further to the North with the British Isles and the Bay of Biscay taking the brunt of it. That generates North Westerly swell and Cadiz is reasonably protected from that by the coast of Portugal. Continue reading

Malaga port is basically constructed in the same way as Barcelona. Lying nearly north to south and with a very long breakwater that is also used for docking ships. It is just a lot smaller than Barcelona and also more exposed to the elements. The elements are something I constantly have to worry about with the Prinsendam as a lot of wind means using a tugboat and tugboats sometimes have to be pre ordered. Then you take chance and pay for a tug while not needed or not order a tug and find out that the wind has suddenly breezed up and you have problems docking. An average tugboat cost about $ 2000, — so it is worthwhile to be prudent with those costs. Because of the wind in Spanish ports, a tugboat can be called out an hour before arrival and thus the problem is not that challenging here as somewhere else. However the wind was predicted to blow from the NW and only with a wind force 3 to 4 and that does not create a problem. 2ndly I knew that while making the turn in the entrance, the Adventurer of the Seas would be acting as a wind breaker and all little bits help. Continue reading

Cartagena is a port that has only recently become part of the main stream cruise business. I went, with the old Noordam in 2001, as the first HAL ship to this port and then they were just adapting an existing pier to be more cruise ship friendly.
There were the occasional cruise ships coming in, but mainly those who were on far flung itineraries, calling at ports off the beaten track. Since that time the port has been included as a port of call for the 7 day cruise business and larger ships are now visiting. Today we had three cruise ships in port; the Prinsendam, the Discovery and the Azamara Journey. Three ships that are focusing on calling at the less usual ports, albeit for different company’s. Discovery sails for Voyages of Discovery, which is a one ship company, focused on the British Market and Azamara is a sub company of Celebrity which is a sub of Royal Caribbean and focuses on the American market. Continue reading

After a windy night it turned into a very nice day. The wind was from the starboard side and so it pushed the ship against the dock and thus we did not have to worry about the ship blowing away. The north westerly wind did make it a chilly day something that you do not equate directly with Spain but then it is November which some people tend to forget. The Mediterranean also has seasons although they are less extreme than in Northern Europe. At least it was a dry and sunny day so those on tour could make the best of it. For us onboard it was a normal working day and not as hectic as the past week. Since Athens we have had two Lloyds Inspectors onboard who sailed with us to Barcelona to renew our Passenger Safety Certificate. This is a sort of paper that indicates that the ship is equipped with all necessary and required safety equipment, that it all works and also that the crew knows how to use it all. Although most of it is taking place behind the scenes, some times the guests will notice it, as there is equipment that is out in the open. The fire screen doors are in all the public lounges and corridors and they will have to be closed. Once locally, one by one, and once all together by central release from the bridge. We call the latter a general closure. To avoid it affecting the guests too much we do this in the middle of the night when everybody is sleeping. Nobody will get confused if suddenly the long open corridors are gone and closed of by a door that was never seen before. Continue reading

After a quiet night we arrived at 0630 at the pilot station of Barcelona. Again for the area to the north of us, near the Provence, gale warnings were given but by now we were far enough to the south not to be bothered by it. Barcelona has two port entrances; a new one that leads to the old port and the old one which used to serve both the new port and the old port. The two separated by a double draw bridge. As this bridge had to be opened frequently, causing great delays for the traffic going to the ferries docking on the Eastern breakwater, it was decided to create a 2nd entrance. This new entrance is serving the fishermen port, the shipyard, the marina and the docks around the World Trade Centre. Docking at the WTC has always been my favorite place as you can walk straight across the street into down town. However we were assigned one of the new cruise terminals as the WTC docks were going to be taken up in the evening by ferries coming from the Balearic Islands. So we lined up for the south, the old entrance. Continue reading