We were supposed to be in Ostend today but this was changed to Zeebrugge awhile ago when we found out that the tide was not cooperating with the departure time of the Prinsendam. Ostend has a very small harbour and the swinging space in the harbour is a maximum of 175 meters at low water. With the Prinsendam being 204 meters the pilots require that the ship leaves around high tide. That would have been 6 hours earlier than the scheduled departure time, which would reduced the port time to half a day and then you cannot make a good day in Bruges. I looked at the option of backing all the way out of the harbor and so avoiding to swing around inside but at departure time there would have been an estimated 3 to 4 knot current running perpendicular to the harbour entrance and than you cannot hold the stern while backing out. Thus Zeebrugge being next door was a viable and workable alternative. Continue reading

The fog never materialized and the haziness left us when we were about 20 miles north of Alderney, the last one of the Channel Islands. By hugging the French coast, as required by the Vessel Traffic separation scheme in the area, we steered a North Easterly course heading for a point opposite Dover. This might sound strange but you are not allowed to sail under an angle towards Dover although this would be the shortest distance. You have to follow the traffic lanes and then the rules require that you cross the traffic lanes on a right angle. Or at least as much as possible under a right angle. Continue reading

Today we invaded Saint Peter Port, with 760 eager shoppers onboard, ready to do battle over the goodies for sale in the port. Due to the tax status of Guernsey quite a few things are cheaper than in England and with the pound being quite low on the exchange rate this was a good day to go shopping. I am using the phrases “invading” and “battle” as the Channel Islands, of which Guernsey forms a part, have seen their fair share. You cannot look anywhere without seeing at least some sort of relic that had a military issue. Continue reading

The pilot was disembarked just after 3 am. in the morning. In the same way as he had come onboard, via helicopter. From the pilot station we set course in a Northerly direction along the French coast heading for Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. Although the weather was forecasted to be very good, with sun most of the day, there was a long and moderate swell running from the NW. This was caused by some bad weather travelling east under Iceland and the swell of it ran all the way down to the French coast. It made the Prinsendam a bit wobbly with once in a while a considerable “pitch’ from the bow. By now the guests had been onboard long enough to have gotten their sea legs and thus I did not receive any reports of guests being inconvenienced or ill. Still I tried to minimize the effect of the waves on the ship by slightly altering the ships course where possible and running at a good stabilizer speed. Continue reading

The pilot boat was indeed out of operation and so the pilot did come by helicopter. On cargo ships it means that there will be one crewmember on standby, maybe with a single fire extinguisher, waiting on a clear cargo hatch for the pilot to be lowered down. On a cruise ship it is a different situation all together. A helicopter can fall out of the air and on deck and then burst into flames. A very, very unlikely occurrence, but it can happen and thus the Prinsendam went to battle stations. Four fire squads on standby, a security guard for crowd control and crew with a lifeboat ready, to retrieve victims etc. As it was still dark and early, it being 05.30, the guests were still in bed and that reduced the need for extra crewmembers for traffic control to keep the guests away. (And especially their camera’s with automatic flashes) Continue reading

Just by looking at the chart we knew that this was going to be a peculiar place. No doubt a nice place but a peculiar place. The harbour entrance forms the border between France and Spain. Where the harbour entrance becomes a small estuary flanked by two breakwaters, the borders veer away from each other. Thus we have Spain to the West and France to the East. In the middle is an area of about a mile by a mile which they call the neutral zone. This zone does not belong to anybody but both countries exercise control over it and it seems to work, except when cruise ships come to visit. Continue reading

Good morning,

Seattle Office managed the transfer from all my historical stuff from Avid Cruiser to under the Captain Albert blog. So there is now a link button on the Hal blog side that leads to what used to be the same setup under Avid Cruiser.

Thank you all for your patience, and I will start uploading the past days shortly.

Captain Albert

As I announced in December; the plan was for me to leave the Avid Cruiser website and go completely in house with Holland America Line.

There were some technical difficulties with getting all the historical pages over, which you can view on the right hand side of my main blog page.

However during this weekend the Holland America blog people will move everything over to the HAL Blog site. So by Monday USA – Pacific morning time I should be fully operational from within the HAL site.

While the transfer takes place I will not be able to upload any blogs. This means that I will upload the 13, 14 and 15 of June blog on the 16th. I do not know yet if the www.Captainalbert.com link will still work after monday but I hope so.

In the mean time I would like to ask all my readers to look for my blog on the HAL website from Monday onwards, where it should look and function in the same way as you are currently used to.

Thank you for your continued interest.

Captain Albert.

Today a relaxing sea day. We are sailing along the Portuguese and Spanish coast towards our next port of call Hendaye, in France. This morning at 08.30 we passed Cape Finisterre and changed course to the East as we came North of Spain. The weather changed noticeably the moment we came around this Cape. Here currents come together and also the weather gets more under the influence of the North Atlantic. Thus, although the sun was shining, it was quite cool outside. However as there was no wind, it was a very pleasant day. While the guests had a nice relaxing day, this was of my busiest days as far as non navigational activities were concerned. Continue reading

I was raving about the weather yesterday but Lisbon decided to go one better and the sailing up the river was fantastic. We had a heavy swell running over the bar at the entrance of the river which made the ship pitch considerably for a short while but that was the only thing to mar a prefect arrival. There was a long ocean swell running from the N.E generated by some nasty and windy weather on the North Atlantic but in Lisbon it was wind still and sunny. Thus we happily trundled up the river while the sun rose over the city. While the sun rose we were treated to an un-expected spectacle, a green flash during sun rise. We see the green flash quite often during sunset in open waters, but this was the first time that we had one while entering port and over land and in the morning. Continue reading