With high hopes in my heart and a strong belief in the weather forecast I approached Skagen early in the morning. The ship was already moving around a little bit, while still in the shelter of the Kattegat, so I knew it was going to be a breezy day. However it was much breezier than forecasted. There was a sever gale blowing with storm force gusts. The sun was shining so the weather forecast was at least partly right. The problem was that the wind was not from the North West but from the South South West and that meant that swells could build up and they did. They were freely running along the breakwater and over the anchorage. This was going to be an issue. Skagen port control called and said that things did not look good and when I brought the ship closer, I saw the swells breaking on the breakwater. This was not going to work. Continue reading

That weather remained indeed miserable and it looked more like autumn than high summer. The locals are complaining about the fact that their summer has not started yet while normally May and June are already good months for Denmark. Luckily there are a lot of things to do in Copenhagen which are not weather related and I doubt if most of the guests came here for a day at the beach. I just hope that the weather for the coming days will be better. Tomorrow should be a sunny but breezy day, as the frontal system with all this rain is moving out of the way in the course of the evening. Continue reading

As the Baltic is a very busy sea, due to ships crossing North – South and the extensive traffic going East –West; shipping lanes have been established to avoid too much chaos. Chaos that can be created if all these ships change course at different times and then run into collision situations, just due to the sheer volume of traffic. Hence the traffic lanes, which nicely separate East from West bound Traffic and also ensures that the North- South traffic flow crosses at right angles at the right locations. Thus the Prinsendam joined the endless stream of ships in the East bound lane and shortly after midnight we changed course to the North heading for the entrance of Drogden channel. Continue reading

Travemunde is tucked away at the southwest corner of the Baltic. It is mainly a ferry port nowadays with regular services to Trelleborg and Malmo. Ferries with very German names such as Robin Hood, Nils Holgerson and Peter Pan are sailing in and out of the port on a regular schedule. For the rest it is a well known seaside resort with at the most northern end an area for the well heeled and monied people. Travemunde is also a gateway to the town of Lubeck. As this city was founded in 1143 it is the oldest Baltic port and as a result has a lot of culture and historic things to offer. Thus the reason for our call. In the same way that Warnemunde gives access to Berlin, Travemunde gives access to Lubeck and Hamburg. Thus far the Prinsendam has been the only HAL cruise ship calling here, once a year, but the company is keeping a close eye on the feedback from the guests to see if they are enjoying the call and if so, then more calls will be scheduled for future cruises. Once again the Prinsendam is indeed the elegant explorer by testing new destinations. Continue reading

To get to the Kieler Kanal (Officially the Nord Ost See Kanal) the ship sailed North from the Ijmuiden locks and followed the Dutch coast. Around midnight we turned to the North East and then passed all the Dutch islands at its extreme North. These islands are called the “wadden eilanden” and are encircled with shallow water area’s and extensive sand banks so we stayed away from them. If those banks were not there, then the islands would make nice places to visit for the cruise ships as they are quite quaint and very “Northern Dutch”. From there we entered the wide estuary of the river Elbe and with about 2 knots of flood current in the back we sailed towards the pilot station. Continue reading

Time to start a new contract on the Prinsendam. Seldom I had it easier to get to the ship. I flew a few days early from England, to spend some time with my 95 year old mother, and then took the train to Amsterdam this morning and just walked to the ship. No jet lag, no airport immigration or having to stay overnight in a hotel. By the time that I will leave the ship on September 11th, I might have it even easier and will just drive home from Tilbury in England. However that is still faraway and today it was back to the regular business, which is with the Prinsendam not so regular at all as each cruise is different and with the multitude of ports that we are doing, we never know what might pop up along the way. Continue reading

It might be awhile before you visit my blog again but I am still (slowly) working on adding bits and pieces to the blog site. Today I have uploaded the history of the Nieuw Amsterdam (III) of 1983. So hopefully, you will find this entry eventually.

Enjoy.

Captain Albert

With three knots of current in the stern we were pushed up the Florida Strait towards the pilot station. With two cargo ships in the same approach, we lined up for the pilot who hopped on the ship at exactly 0600 hrs as planned. Fort Lauderdale has been a Holland America home port for a long long time and as a result we know all the senior pilots very well. Some of them since 10 or 15 years and even longer. That makes dealing with them very easy, they do the thing that they have to do and we do the thing that we have to do. The pilot brings the ship to the dock and the captain brings the ship alongside. So in good cooperation the Prinsendam was docked alongside by 0700 hrs. with the gangway in. Normally we say gangway out but here a shore gangway comes into the ship. In the same way as when an airplane arrives at the airport. This jet walk leads into the upper level of the terminal. Holland America’s standard terminal is pier 26, unless there are more ships in port, then we might get moved to somewhere else depending on the size of the other ships. Having a standard terminal makes life a lot easier as all the people involved, sea and shore side get used to the lay out and that makes things go much faster. Efficiency is important especially when there are more ships in port. Last Saturday there were 9 cruise ships in and they caused a total of 53,000 people movements. 26,000 coming off the ship and the same number going on. According to the pilot, the Oasis of the Seas was sailing with her first full house and that was over 6,200 guests for one ship alone. Continue reading

By the early morning the ship sailed above Cuba into the Old Bahama Channel. It was fairly busy with ships as the Windward Passage, the opening between the East point of Cuba and the West point of Haiti, is a very busy route to and from the Panama Canal. Four traffic flows meet here, as there is also traffic to and from the USA and the East Caribbean Sea including Puerto Rico. Since Recife we had not seen any other cruise ships (with the exception on those in port in Bridgetown Barbados) while at sea but now we met a few again. Most cruise ships leave Florida on a Saturday or Sunday and then they are past Cuba by Monday night. So now a steady stream of them coming by and speeding down towards the Caribbean Sea. Tuesday’s, Wednesday and Thursdays are the busy days in St Thomas and St. Maarten so by Friday they are all racing back again to Florida to end the cruise. For the Prinsendam with its long cruises and no steady home port that is a bit of an alien concept. We saw the Silver Shadow of Silver Seas and the Caribbean Princess of Princess cruises, they must have had a departure date out of the regular routine as well. Continue reading

If you want to make it back to Fort Lauderdale in one sea day, then you have to leave Ponce at 1 pm and race full speed North of the Bahamas’ towards Florida and hope for nice weather. Nice weather so that the wind and the waves will not slow you down. That is of course not the right way to end a 70 day cruise and thus we are spending two days at sea. Instead of full speed, we are sailing with a sedate speed of 15 knots all the way. There are two routes that you can take to sail to Fort Lauderdale. The shortest route is staying in the North Atlantic Ocean keeping to the East of the Bahamas and then approach Fort Lauderdale via North West Providence channel, south of Freeport. The second option is via the Old Bahama Channel; going North of Cuba and keeping the Bahamian islands and the banks to the North; this route is 10 miles longer. Thus a number of things have to be considered. 10 mile shorter saves fuel but being in the North Atlantic makes the ship bounce more on the ocean swell. That slows the ship down and also makes the ride more un-comfortable. Important is as well which route bring the most favourable winds and currents, (I do like a free ride when I can get it or at least a push in the back for free). All these items are looked at and then I make up my mind. Continue reading