If this weather continues and the weather charts do not indicate the opposite, then this is going to be the best weather cruise of the whole season, thus far. We sailed from Tampa with almost wind still weather and while going south there was just a gentle breeze. The weather in Key West was as it was supposed to be, about 10 to 12 knots and from the North East with sunny skies. That brought out the locals in force, fishing or doing six pack navigation near the sea buoy. I had to zigzag all over the place to get to the pilot station. This is the high season for Key West and when we docked the town was packed with people. The presence of three cruise ships, Carnival Freedom us and the Carnival Fascination helped of course but the town was heaving also without the 9000 extra. We carefully docked at the Mallory pier, carefully as we did not want to crumble the small and old dock and then enjoyed a beautiful day. Continue reading

Arrival Tampa was beautiful. The wind abated late yesterday afternoon and by the time we approached the pilot station, it was down to a gentle breeze, creating just enough flow over the water to keep the haze away. The Carnival Legend moved alongside in good time and thus I could park the Veendam without having to wait. In the end we were not as early as usual but certainly not too late. It remained a beautiful day with the sun shining; thus for the guests coming onboard a perfect day to start the new years cruise. I promised another Q&A a few days ago, so here we go. Continue reading

We had wobbly weather all day long, courtesy of a frontal system that had come down deep into the Caribbean Sea. Luckily the wind and waves were mainly coming in from starboard and thus the ship did not move very much. As it was sunny and warm guests could still enjoy the outside. The one nice thing about this weather system was; that it was moving over the Caribbean Sea and creating some calm weather in the Tampa area. Thus tomorrow will be a calm and sunny day while at the dock. The chance for fog is rather small as the wind in the Tampa area will only have just abated when we get there and that lessens the chance of fog forming over water. Inland there might be some as there will have been less wind to keep the haziness away. Continue reading

It all looked like a good day in Roatan. I arrived while it was still dark in order to get the ship cleared early and to get a good start with getting everybody ashore. This was a short stop from 7 am to noon time only and with ferrying a potential 1395 guests ashore, the ship had a challenge on its hands. The dock was occupied by the Carnival Legend, they have a regular call here each week and thus we had to anchor. The Veendam approached the anchorage while the Legend was still behind and she passed by while we were in the process of lowering the tenders and picking up the authorities from the shore side. Continue reading

I arrived at Costa Maya at sunrise with a heavy heart because of the forecasted weather. The weather chart indicated very strong easterly winds and a heavy easterly swell and that meant that it would be difficult for the ship to remain alongside the dock as it would move up and down on the swell. If we had to cancel it would mean that two HAL ships would be missing Costa Maya as the Statendam was right behind me. However while I was inching the Veendam closer and closer to the dock to see how much she would move on the waves, the wind decided to abate and thus the waves leveled of a little bit as well. Not much but just enough to make docking feasible. Continue reading

I arrived a little bit earlier than normal in Belize because my Shorex excursion manager was getting in a muddle with the tours. Not something that the guests noticed but as the tours did not always depart as planned on paper, she wanted to start a little bit earlier. As it entailed only me getting up 30 minutes earlier to help her out it was not a big thing. The rest of the officers involved in the approach were on watch anyway and the pilots get paid for the pleasure, so why not. It also helped with the arrival sequence as we had an unusual customer in the line up this time. Namely the Statendam whose Christmas cruise was different than her regular cruises and so she popped up today in Belize. Continue reading

It was a stormy day indeed. The Cold front with its rainy sector was lying over the Yucatan channel and created Gale to Storm force winds and strong rain showers in the afternoon. We had the wind three quarters on the stern so we did not feel the full brunt of it but it was still windy especially on the portside. However, if we have to go through a stormy cold front better today than tomorrow when we are in Belize and the guests want to go ashore to enjoy the beaches and the water life. The Veendam moved around a bit for most of the day, courtesy of this wind three quarters on the stern. The swell, whipped up by the wind, caused the ship to move in a cork screw motion. Continue reading

It was a breezy arrival this time but with the wind blowing in line with the dock it was not difficult to dock. Wind on the nose only pushes the ship astern and that is easily corrected by the main engines. It is always the sideways drift of the ship that makes life difficult. We docked at Pier B with the Costa Fortuna at the Navy pier. That ship has just come over from Europe and after calling at Ft. Lauderdale it is now employed on the Caribbean circuit. Continue reading

Things turned out right indeed. Visibility was still good when the Veendam made it to the Pilot station just after midnight. Going through the channel I kept up the speed as much as possible and as a result we were docked by 04.30, instead of our normal 06.00 hrs. The nice and calm weather outside had helped a lot to gain all this extra time. The Captain of the Carnival Legend had opted for the same logic and was hot on my tail, docking 20 minutes after me. The fog eventually came in the form of patches around 7 am. However it was not as thick as the night before and thus Tampa Bay did not need to be closed down for the traffic. Continue reading

The weather was beautiful when I woke up. The sun was shining with almost no wind and just a very low swell running from the East. A swell that was nicely handled by the stabilizers, so a beautiful day to end the cruise. The only thing that marred the perfect day were the ominous sounds coming from Tampa. There had been no wind there for a few days in a row and together with nice warm temperatures it created the perfect set-up for a chance of F.O.G. As matter of fact they had had dense fog in the bay last night, closing down traffic. Thus if that would happen again the coming night, I would have to drop anchor and wait for the fog to lift. That means a late arrival, missed flights, late embarkation, late departure, a complete nightmare. Thus I did the only thing I could do, kept up full speed and went for an early arrival. My experience is that if I get inside Tampa Bay before 2 am. and be at the dock around 4 am. then I beat the fog most of the time. Not always………but most of the time. Thus there the Veendam went, after burners on, white curl around the nose, racing towards Tampa bay. Continue reading