With the Elbe pilot on board at 06.30 in the morning we sailed up the river Elbe. I was a bit concerned about the weather as we had wind force six blowing in the open waters and the estuary and the weather forecast was not good either. However the further we sailed up the river the better it looked. The frontal system coming from the East was indeed going slower as forecast and the updated weather forecast indicated that it would not reach Kiel before 8 pm in the evening. If nothing was going to hamper our transit we should be in open waters by that time. So the weather cleared and cleared and by the time that we arrived at the 2nd pilot station, the sun was shining and it was nearly wind still. That was what we needed for the Canal passage. The 2nd pilot is only onboard for a short stretch, from the Elbe River bank into the first locks. As there is a current running of 3 to 4 knots in front of the canal entrance, you have to steer under an angle into the lock approach and that takes some good local knowledge of the river. As the current’s strength varies with the ebb and the flood and also from moment to moment and location to location, hence a special pilot. By 10 am we were in the locks and then this pilot left us and the canal pilot with two helmsmen joined. Continue reading

Last time I was caught on arrival by a tanker going extremely slow out of the locks, causing me to arrive just too late at the dock. So this time I brought my ETA forward to include some leeway for slow tankers and other issues that might delay a timely arrival. Good thing that I did as once again there was a tanker in the locks and we had to kill about 40 minutes. This time the tanker was not slow it was just that the lock schedule for him was not in synch with our arrival time. Still I had built in sufficient spare time now and we were docked at 0700 hrs. as scheduled. We were docking at the Cruise Terminal and according to the pilot we were the last ship to do so before Sail Amsterdam was starting at the end of the coming week. The Eurodam scheduled for the 19th has been banned to a cargo pier somewhere far away from town as the cruise terminal will be full with square riggers and other sailing ships. We already saw a number of them slowly making their way down the coast under Norway and no doubt we will see more of them tomorrow when we go through the Kieler Kanal. Continue reading

Today is Friday the 13th, which scares a lot of people as it is supposed to a bad luck day. For us it turned into a good day, as yet again, on our final day of the cruise we had sunny weather with just a gentle breeze from the South West. That created a brisk wind on the deck as we were sailing against it but as we are only travelling at 16 knots, it was just a brisk breeze, not a storm. When we go to Tilbury, our first day is a port day, so the guests can wind down slowly. Amsterdam is a one day change over day and that means that today is the last sea day, where guests have to pack but still want to enjoy all what the ship has to offer. The Hotel department really pulls out the stops for a good farewell to the guests and that makes for a crowded program. Continue reading

As we had a 0700 arrival, it meant a pilot boarding time of 0300 hrs. and the start of the approach one hour before. With the aid of the AIS system on the radar, we could see the pilot sitting at his dock tucked away between the rocks and that made life a lot easier. In the past all we could do was look with our binoculars to see if we could find the pilot boat and then to slow down on time to match it’s speed and make a lee for safe boarding. Now we can see when the pilot leaves the dock, how fast it is going and how much time it will take before it meets the ship. Thus slowing down, changing course for a lee side and opening the correct access door can all be timed a lot better than before. The pilot boat does the same and some pilot boat skippers take pride in delivering their charges right at the agreed time. Here it was no different, the pilot stepped on board with 30 seconds to spare. Five minutes later we were back to full speed, as the first 30 miles up the Fjord it is wide open and there is no speed restriction to avoid wake damage. Also the ferries that transverse between Horten and Moss about 1 hour in, do not operate yet, so the ship can race up the fjord unhindered. Continue reading

The weather turned out very changeable and within a few hours it went from nearly wind still with calm seas to wind force 8 and torrential rain. Although that is normally very unwanted; in this case I saw a positive side to it. This was the weather that was forecast for tomorrow in Kristiansand. If I had it now, 10 hours before arrival then I could not get it tomorrow morning. In the Dutch language we have a saying, after rain there will be sunshine and based on that logic it would mean that we would have nice weather in Kristiansand. So let it rain and let it wobble and then let it be nice while are in port. Well the theory worked out quite nicely. On arrival at the pilot station the wind was down to force four and the cloud cover was breaking up. By the time we were at the dock, the wind was nearly gone and rays of sunshine were coming through. It turned into a very nice day. Continue reading

So we had our weather forecast for a sunny day. We started off overcast with a little sprinkle but indeed later on the sun came through and we had a very beautiful sail away. The whole weather on the coast here is very changeable due to the fact that it comes across from the North Atlantic Ocean and then moves over Norway by going into the Fjords. With the result that a weather front gets split up and one fjord might be bathing in sunshine, while the other might have rain. Just a slight wind change and that weather pattern might move over a mountain ridge between two fjords and the whole situation changes again. On top of that, when coming inland, the ice caps have a great influence on the weather was well. The total result is that is best to look at the weather forecast at least twice a day, to see if there are any changes and normally there are. While I am writing this blog I am downloading the weather forecast for Kristiansand for tomorrow and it is already different than this morning and it is not an improvement. Continue reading

At 0600 we embarked the pilot for Bergen as we were scheduled for a 0900 arrival. We did not need to be that early as we will be staying overnight here and that gives two days to explore beautiful Bergen and the surrounding areas. So we have some full day tours running here that will return to the ship at a time that we would normally be pulling out. Not today; we will have a quiet overnight, great for the guests and interesting for the crew. Although the local prices will probably keep the crew from having too good a time ashore. Bergen itself is lying in the shelter of two strips of coast line, facing a large open bay called the Byfjorden. Therefore it takes a while from both pilot stations to get to this port. Whether you come from the North (Fedje Pilots) or from the South (Marsteiner Pilots) you have to sail through an approach fjord which will lead to Bergen port. This port is sheltered from the elements, especially in the winter, and that made it possible that the city rose to become the 2nd city of Norway in size. If you talk to some inhabitants of Bergen, then they will claim that Bergen is the foremost city in the country, far ahead of Oslo. It is a rivalry not uncommon to other countries as well. In my own country there is Rotterdam and Amsterdam and never “the twain shall meet”. Being educated at the Maritime academy of Amsterdam and sailing for a company originating from Rotterdam, I know everything about that. Continue reading

Today we had another restful day at sea with still the same smooth seas. At least until late in the morning when the wind and swell started to pick up a little bit. Normally there is a southerly flow blowing along the coast of Norway and on most cruises that I made here we have had this flow. So also this time. Thus the ship moved a little bit on occasion but you had to look at the curtains to be able to notice it. For the rest the weather is holding perfectly and that means that this is just a perfect cruise as far as that is concerned. The rest is always a matter of personal taste but I think even the greatest pessimist has to agree that this cruise has been rather spectacular with its ports and accompanying weather. We just have to keep our fingers crossed for the three coming ports, Oslo, Kristiansand and Bergen (in reverse order) as far as the weather goes. Although these three ports are less weather dependent than those that lay behind us, as there are things to do that do not require you to be in the open that much; still most of our tours are focused on the Norwegian scenery and that looks a lot better in dry weather than in a downpour. Continue reading

After the excitement of the Top of the World visit we had today the first of our two sea days. Two days are needed as we have to cover about 1160 miles, straight down, to reach Bergen in the middle of Norway. As the sea is very smooth we are having a very nice ride following a course of 185o which will not change for those two days. With every mile that we make we are coming closer and closer to the real world, of email, twitter and facebook. I expect that we will be able to pick the signal again in the early evening of today. I am not very much into satellite signals but it all seems to depend on the angle above the horizon and the strength of the signal beamed at any given time. That means that we might not pick it up at the same latitude where we lost it last year while Northbound. Still today we should be back in “civilization” as they call it and it will mean that I can upload my blogs tomorrow morning. Continue reading

From the “Top of the World” we sailed slowly south towards our next highlight of the cruise Ny-Alesund also on the island of Spitsbergen. It is located on the banks of the Kongsfjorden about a 100 miles North of Longyearbeyen as the crow flies. The “Kongs” or Kings fjord was created by a glacier system called the Kongsbreen which is very big. So large in fact that it looks like an ice plateau that flows around mountain peaks and gives the impression that there are several separate glaciers. This glacier reaches the waterline and thus there is ice calving off and floating to open waters. Normally not much of a hindrance as the fjord is very wide but in foggy circumstances you can still bump into little bergs. As we have been having fog banks in the early mornings, there would be a good chance that this would happen today as well and that complicates dealing with little bergy-bits of ice. Continue reading