The calm weather, e.g. little to no wind, keeps persisting. Also on arrival Aruba this morning while it normally blows considerably here, today there was just a very light wind blowing. The pilot spoke about strange weather, very strange weather. I did not mind at all, as the less wind, the easier the docking. That is one of the reasons why I always arrive very early. The wind tends to be much less before sunrise and that makes it easier as well. The ship is supposed to be docked by 7 am. but most of the time we are already safely parked by 05.45 am. before the sun rises. Same so this morning. Maybe it is due to this lack of wind but, same as in Bonaire yesterday, we had rain clouds floating in. Clouds that off loaded a lot of water a few times during the morning. For the rest it was a sunny day with temperatures in the mid 80’s. Aruba is a short stay, due to the fact that the distance to Grand Cayman is considerable. It takes an average speed of 19 knots to get there on time. So when everybody was back on board just after 14.30 hrs, we raced out of the port, got the pilot off while making the turn to the North West and cranked the ship up. Within 30 minutes we were flying.

As I am nearing the end of my ships contract and my “blogging” period, I will try to tie up some loose ends, e.g. questions posted in the recent past:

1. Stabilizers. The are started, pumped out, from an operating console on the bridge. They have a length of 15 feet and as they are under an angle the stick outside the ships hull for about 10 feet. So it is important that they are pulled in, before the ship docks. If the ship does not move, we keep them in. Stabelizers cost speed and thus extra fuel has to be burned to compensate for that. When the ship starts to roll, the officer of the watch will decide to engage them.
2. Bollard: any sort of belaying cleat on the pier side. Most are round but some are angled. A dolphin is a bollard standing in the water. Some are complete artificial islands, some are just sticks.

3. Receiving a bollicking is indeed “een uitbrander”
4. Reporting “rogue” cargo ships who do not follow the rules of the road. You can only really do it when a ship is in coastal waters. Say if it happens within the three mile zone of a country, you could report it to the local coastguard station and they might take action. Dover VTS which covers the English Channel, has been known to pass “rogue” actions on to port state inspectors if the ship in question would call at an English port directly after the incident. For the rest it is very difficult to do something about it.
5. The captain not drinking. Holland America has an Alcohol policy which sets limits for the amount of alcohol that can be consumed when “on duty” and when “off duty”. The limit is clearly defined in percentages but it is hard to translate that into the exact number of glasses of beer of wine you can drink, before you reach that limit. As the captain is supposed to be “on duty” all the time, it means that whatever accident occurs, he will have to do a D&A test. To make my own life easy and not having to worry, whether I am close to the limit or not, I simply go dry for three months. It also stops the questions of “who is driving the ship” when you stand in the bar.
6. Cruise planning. It is one of the most complicated issues that a company has to tackle as it all hinges on the ultimate question: “will it sell” and you are never certain until the cruise is sold. For Holland America guests we need to offer a mixture of cruises. We have guests who just want a simple cruise to hop onto, such as the Veendam is currently doing at the moment from Tampa. We also have guests who want the HAL product while doing something exotic, such as the cruises the Prinsendam is doing all year around.
Some of the things to consider:
a. Length of the cruise. Has the target group the number of days off during the year to make that cruise.
b. Does the ship fit in the port
c. Can the ship make the ports in the set time? Speed wise and route wise.
d. Is the route safe (middle east as an example)
e. Is it politically acceptable to go there?
f. Is there enough to do in a port for the target group? (shops, tours, local attitude)
g. If it is a change over port: connections with the airport, access to the ships, check- ins, bunkers, provisions.
h. If a whole new cruise is being developed a balance is sought with putting in a few “old-timers” and a few new ports. This way at least everybody will enjoy a few of the ports, if all the new ones do not work out. Even if the guest books a cruise just because of that new port, it is still our fault, if after calling there; the guest did not like it. So mix and match.
i. What is the feedback from the guests during past cruise calls.

Tomorrow we have a day at sea and the weather forecast is really good.

The distance between El Guamache and Kralendijk is a long one, so as soon as we left the anchorage, we went pedal to the metal. Keeping my fingers crossed and waiting if our new found speed would hold out. An hour later we were doing over 19 knots and we were in business. Thus we arrived nicely on time at the pilot station. A lot of guests are confused with Bonaire, as they all think that because it is a small island, the moment you see it, is the moment that you are there.

Unfortunately that is not the case. Bonaire is shaped like a crooked Banana with Kralendijk located where the brand sticker can be found. Thus if you come from the South as we did, you still have to sail another 40 minutes towards the north, slow down and then pick up the pilot. The pilot was also nicely on time as he had been awake for hours. He had been piloting a tanker at 1 am., a salt ship at 4 am, the Sea Princess at 6 am. and now us at 8 am. He was hoping to go to bed afterwards, the end of the shift, but as he had drank too much coffee in those past hours, he was still way to awake for that. While I docked the ship, he directed the line boats who had to bring our long mooring lines to the bollards and dolphins at the shore.

The north pier, which was our dock this time, is really much too small for the Veendam. Only about 60 meters of the ship rests against the fenders, the rest sticks out fore and aft. Because of that it is important to dock squarely against the dock with a gentle motion, as otherwise the bow or the stern will angle away. With the long lines given ashore a balance is then found and the ship rests for the remainder of the call against this small pier. That remainder of the call was quite long, as I extended the visit with 2 hours to give some missed time back from earlier in the cruise. Departure time 20.00 hrs. versus 18.00 hrs and thus an all on board time of 19.30 hrs versus 17.30 hrs. All on board is always 30 minutes before the official sailing time as we need some time to trace missing guests, take in the gangway and let go the lines.

Yesterday I explained a little bit about the anchors. This time we move a bit further aft, where the ships stabilizers are located, in the middle. A very important part of the cruise operation as it dampens out 90% of the rolling movement (from side to side) the ship, so it makes the ship less wobbly and the guests as well. It does not do 100% so there will always be some movement left. Thus if the ship still moves considerably with the stabilizers out, you have an idea about how bad it would be without them. The Veendam has two stabilizers as have most other ships. Some very long ships, such as the Queen Mary 2, have two sets. There are two versions; those that are being pushed out of the hull on a 90o angle before they are put in operation and those who fold in and out of the hull. The Veendam has the latter version.

They are located amidships about 15 feet under the waterline and when sailing through clear ocean water you can just see the tip when looking down from the Lido restaurant overhang. The principle is quite simple. When in the out position, the speed of the ship causes water to flow over the wing. The little flap at the end moves either up or down. The force of the flowing water against this flap causes an upward or a downward lift. This lift pushes the side of the ship up or down. By using a gyro scope that at all times measures a level platform, we can use the up and down lift contrary to the rolling, e.g. up and down sideways movement of the ship and so balance things out. On the photos see you the stabilizer just after the ship was dry docked. The top coating paint is missing at various places and that is one of the reasons a ship goes into dry dock. But more about that later.

We left Bonaire just before 8 pm. as it always takes such a long time to get the very long mooring lines in and traveled with a sedate speed of 15 knots to our next port of call Oranje Stad Aruba.

We knew that we would anchor today as another ship had the dock because it was the change over port for its guests. Old guests leaving and new guests coming. The Holiday Dream used to call at Cuba but since they are now part of RCI, which is considered an American company, the can not go there anymore. Thus, they now call at El Guamache on the Isla de Margarita.

That ship normally arrives around 09.30, so I enquired if I could dock from 0700 until 09.00 to make it easier for the largest groups of guests to get off the ship. Well first it was not possible, then it was possible but cost $ 4500 for the two hours, then it was not possible again. So I went to the anchorage. However by 10 am, there was still no Holiday Dream in sight. When calling the agent, I finally got the information that the ship was delayed until 14.00 hrs. due to engine problems. Can happen, we are all too familiar with it, but I could have docked until 1 pm. and that would have made life for the guests a lot easier. I was not amused. Thus we were at anchor all day. As there was no wind at all, the ship sat almost on top of the anchor and swung lazily around on the ebb and flood tide.

For those of you who are not that familiar with anchoring; The Veendam has three anchors. On each side of the bow and one in the centre of the stern. The latter one is only used when you have to anchor in confined waters and or on the river and you can not afford to swing too much with the ship. The St Lawrence River is one of those places. I try to avoid using the stern anchor as there is always the chance that it fouls the rudders or the propellers. Thus normally we use one of the bow anchors or sometimes both.

When you prepare for anchoring, you first select the anchor location in the chart unless the local authorities assign you an anchorage. If at all possible you like the ship to be able to swing freely all the way around in a circle. Normally that is for a ship with the Veendam’s length about 3/10th of nautical mile or three cables. Depending on the depth of the water, a certain amount of chain is paid out with the anchor to hold the ship. There are various theories about how much that should be but rule of thumb is the depth of the water plus three extra lengths. A length is 15 Fathoms or 90 feet or 27 meters. This length of chain is a left over measurement from the ancient days. The Veendam has eleven lengths of chain in the chain locker for each anchor. The anchor weighs 13000 pounds and each chain link about 80 pounds. There are 90 links to a length. Next thing to decide is which anchor to use. Most of the time that is the anchor on the wind side of the ship. In that way the ship will eventually lay behind the anchor without the anchor chain wrapping itself around the bow.

When the ship comes to the anchorage, the first thing that happens is that we lower the anchor out of the hawse pipe, where it is stored when at sea, to just above the water line. That is being done so that we know for sure, that when the moment comes, the anchor will fall and does not remain stuck in the pipe. The bow is then brought above the exact anchor location. Sometimes it does not matter very much if we are a bit off, sometimes, as in Grand Cayman, we anchor on a spot of 20 square feet. When we are on the spot, the anchor winch brake is released and the anchor will fall under its own weight. The brake is applied again if enough chain has been paid out. Now the ship comes astern and slowly but steadily the anchor chain stretches out. Then more chain is paid out until we have the right amount paid out. That amount we decided upon during the planning stage. The brake is firmly closed and we wait until the chain fully stretches, rises out of the water and then falls back again. This is called that the “chain has been brought up” and that the anchor is holding. The flukes of the anchor will dug into the sea bottom and provide the “anchoring point” for the chain. The friction of the chain over the sea bottom is what is really holding the ship in place. Not the anchor as such. During the whole maneuver there is an officer forward above the anchor who relays to the bridge the necessary information about the anchor and the chain. How much chain has been paid out, the direction of the chain, and the tension on the chain. When it is time to raise the anchor, the procedure is the opposite. Except now we also have the anchor wash going to clean the sand or mud from the anchor chain when it comes out of the water.

We were “anchor aweigh” at 16.30 hrs. and left El Guamache at 17.00 hrs. after all the guest were back and the tenders retrieved. Tomorrow we are in Bonaire and tonight we are going to run full out to be on time.

Major panic this morning among the local authorities. During the night one of the big channel buoys disappeared and nobody knew where it went. These buoys are big. About 6 feet high, 3 feet in diameter, weighing over 1000 pounds and connected with a chain to a large piece of concrete on the sea floor. So it was not a matter of a passing small boat pinching the buoy. This particular buoy marked the shallow waters on the Southside of the pier. Exactly the side where I wanted to come in so I could dock portside alongside. As explained yesterday, I was under strict orders of the Bo ‘sun to do so. But the pilot was concerned that the buoy might have sunk somewhere near the dock and thus the harbor master ordered a docking on the North side, which is starboard side alongside. They had been looking for the buoy yesterday but could not find it and they were going to look again tomorrow. Obviously on Sunday’s you do not look for buoys. A spare buoy was being prepared to be installed if the other buoy could not be found back. A buoy of such a size can only disappear if it gets hit by a ship but nobody had observed anything and thus it will remain a mystery unless they find it somewhere on the bottom of the sea lateron.

Thus with one very disappointed Bo ‘sun glaring at me from the forward docking platform we docked starboard side alongside for what was going to be a very warm day. Due to the light winds of the past days, there was absolutely no wind in the town and also no clouds to be seen. The first rain cloud appeared above the island around 5 pm. when it was almost time to leave.

I have now been coming to Grenada off and on since 1986 and you can see what a positive impact cruise tourism has on the local economy. More and more houses are renovated and a lot of new construction is going on as well. There are many houses that have not been repaired yet, since the last heavy hurricane of a few years ago but there is definite progress being made. During a regular call a cruise ship brings in quite a bit of money. Port taxes which can mount up to $20, — a guest and on top of that pilot, linesmen and handling fees, normally in the area of $ 5000. On average each guest spends $ 100 a day in port, not counting the tours. So for the Veendam that would be $ 120.000 a day and then add another $ 30.000 for tours. Altogether the revenue for Grenada would be in the region of $ 175.000 a day. With ships calling each day, it soon mounts up to a lot of income. Grenada is not that busy with cruise ship calls, as it is located too far to the South for the seven day cruise ship runs. Therefore islands as St Thomas and Grand Cayman must be really raking it in.

I did not go ashore so I can not say if all the shops were open. Part of the island is quite strict in observing the Sunday but otherwise with all the eager Veendam shoppers streaming into town a good day could have been had by the local shopkeepers.

Most of our guests were back by lunch time and some were moaning about the temperature outside. They are the ones who like an overcast Caribbean. Then there is the other group who head for the beach and can not get enough of the sun. I hope that those people were careful with the sun, as I saw some of them coming back rather brightly colored.

We left right on time and after swinging around off the berth, set course on a South Westerly heading aiming for the East side of Isla de Margarita. Tomorrow we will be at anchor as another cruise ship will have the berth, as El Guamache is their change over port.

…………..And the spa girl who was late in St Thomas……. she got an very official warning and a bollicking from the Chief Officer. So she has to behave now; one more warning and it will be the end of her contract.

Bridgetown Barbados is a busy day on a Saturday. In the line up were the Emerald Princess, the Star Clipper, The Veendam, the Seabourn Pride, an oil tanker, two Royal British Navy support ships and a French destroyer. The Freewinds and another cargo ship were already inside. As a result the two pilots could not cope and our pilot boarded 25 minutes past the agreed time. This upset the Seabourn Pride who came in just after me. I was not going fast enough for their taste so the pilot started squawking. I can dock very fast if I have to but with only 100 feet clearance to the Freewinds and a 100 feet to the Emerald Princess behind me, I took my time this time. Also the weather was so gorgeous that the guests really enjoyed this arrival, so why hurry. Just after 7 am. we were docked for a long day in port as I had postponed sailing time by two hours.

We docked at the sugar berth, which very close to the passenger terminal. Guests can easily walk it. The Emerald Princess was at the breakwater, which is a long walk and then the port has little shuttle buses running, to transport the guests from the gangway to the terminal. The funny thing to see was that the pilot of the Veendam was later on driving one of the buses. Either being a pilot in Barbados does not pay that much or his wife is a very experienced credit card user.

The problem with the sugar berth is that the ship can only dock starboard side alongside. Otherwise one of the Sugar conveyor towers will touch our overhanging Lido Restaurant. This is much to the annoyance of the chief officer, who desperately wants to dock portside alongside everywhere to do maintenance on the portside hull. In the preponderance of the ports we have to dock starboard alongside because of local circumstances, such as here in Barbados. If there is a choice, then the docking side is decided for me by others. In Grenada I have to dock portside alongside on orders of the Bo ‘sun, who want to paint the portside blue hull. In coming Bonaire I have to dock portside as the 3rd officer has to lower his starboard lifeboats. Who said that a captain
was in command ??? I just have to do what I am told to. For Aruba we are all in agreement. Portside it will be. I have to get out of the port, the Bo ‘sun wants it for his blue hull, the chief officer for the white superstructure and the engineers for off-loading garbage. It is wonderful to have a harmonious ship…………………..

As far as lowering lifeboats, in Barbados we had a general drill, with ALL the crew involved and the plan was to lower all the portside lifeboats into the water for exercising. Normally with a strong easterly wind it is a great port to do this, as the boats can play in the lee of the ship. With the little wind we had the last few days, there was a northerly swell running along the island and into the port, making the ship slowly rock along the berth. Then it is getting a bit difficult to operate the davits. Lowering away and sailing away with boats is not a problem. Coming back can be dangerous as the lower blocks, connected to the falls, rise and fall with the movement of the vessel and there is always a chance that a crewmember gets stuck between the block and the lifeboat if it moves too much. So we kept the boats out of the water and left the sailing around for another day.

Sail away from very beautiful. No wind, the Star Clipper had all its sailing masts lit up, the cargo terminal was one blaze of light and the skies were ablaze with stars. No wind at all, so I could steer the ship out of the port using only the bow thruster and the main propellers. It is a slow run to Grenada and with the following (little bit of) wind we will be gliding over the waves tonight.

The wind only died down in the early morning hours so I lost that one mile each hour during the night and not being able to compensate for it. Also Starboard shaft needed another slow down and thus we docked over an hour late in Dominica. I think this was the fastest docking I have ever done here. The pilot who is as black as spades got noticeably white around the nose when I lined the ship up for the dock. However the Veendam slows down very fast and by the time the bridge wing came on the dock mark, the ship had come to an exact standstill. Spring ashore and gangway out.

Today we landed another 100 matrasses and blankets for the local Red Cross and that more or less completed our exchange program for the ship. This time it were mainly double ones, from the officer cabins.

Good news is that the Chief engineer reported in the course of the afternoon that we can now put a lot more power on the portside and that should balance out the starboard side. Of course as luck will have it, I do not need that extra power until we leave Venezuela, which is a few days from now but at least it is available. Kudo’s to the whole engineering team who worked very hard over the last period to get it done. Unless nothing unforeseen happens I should be able to keep the cruise schedule for the remainder of the cruise.

As I have been moaning for the last few days about the weather and with now the wind suddenly falling away, I have attached here a weather chart that shows what I mean.

Courtesy of the NOAA.

Above Hispaniola (block 20 to 30 N, 70 to 60 W) you can see that is blows around 20 knots. (Each line on the directional arrow denotes 10 kts wind velocity) In the area where we now are (block 10 to 20 N, 60 to 50 W) it only shows 10 knots. The thick black line near the top is the next cold front coming down from the USA. We are now going to travel West with the ship to Grenada, Venezuela and Bonaire, that is in the direction of the L 1009 on the chart, so the wind will remain light as the whole system will move with us for awhile. A weather chart like this is issued four times a day and remains of value for about 48 hours unless there is an un-expected development somewhere. With normal weather I check these charts about twice a day. With hurricanes in the area, that goes up to about every three hours, as the projected path of these storms can change very rapidly and suddenly they can move in the direction of your intended route.

What is a very handy addition on the internet nowadays is that a lot of ports have real time weather. One or more weather sensors are directly connected to the internet and give a minute to minute update about the weather on location. I use it all the time for Tampa bay, to see how much wind there is at the dock. This helps to make a decision whether a tugboat is needed or not, if there would be a lot of wind in the turning basin. Tugboats normally require 1 to 3 hours notice and in this way you can already make up your mind, based on reliable info, before you get to the area. If one is needed, you can reserve on time and there is no gamble any longer based on lack of information. I have listed the URL below for those who are interested in having a look.

http://ompl.marine.usf.edu/PORTS/tampa.bay.html

Departing Dominica was the regular sideways off the dock movement and within five minutes we were on our way to Barbados. This is 14 knot run and that means that even with the North Atlantic Ocean swell coming in, it is a nice and quiet overnight trip. The chief engineer reported good things from below and so all is well in the world.

Well, the wave field extended until the Puerto Rican coast and we had to sail through the whole length of it. Mother Nature was not helping and the waves kept coming until about 6 am in the morning, when it started to dampen out as the swell was becoming confused. That meant that two wave patterns interacted with each other and took away each others amplitude. It kept being windy however. As a result the ship had gotten way behind schedule during the night as we had to keep reducing power on the starboard shaft.

In the end we docked over 3 hours late at Crown Bay St Thomas. Guests had a hard time believing that this delay was caused by the influence of the weather on the ship, as the weather was not that bad. It was just rocky enough to make the starboard shaft unhappy. In order to get alongside as fast as I could, I charged into the channel and the pilot boat could barely keep up with the ship. Normally we go into Crown Bay in a more sedate way but I knew that I could squeeze 10 minutes out of the docking evolution so I went for it.

Good news for all of us was that there were three couriers standing on the dock with the last engine parts that we needed. By tomorrow evening we should be able to put a lot of extra power on the portside while remaining gentle on the starboard side and still getting all the speed that we need.

I could not extend the stay in St Thomas to compensate for this later arrival as the run from St Thomas to Dominica was a fast one again and I won’t have the extra power until tomorrow night. However I will be able to stay a bit longer in Barbados, so that is what I decided upon. Instead of sailing at 18.00 hrs. we will leave at 20.00 hrs. Guests can stay ashore longer, or go for an evening walk if they wish. Also sail away after dark is quite festive from Bridgetown with all the other ships lit up. In this way I can at least do a little bit to take away the disappointment.

An un-expected happening was that in the afternoon, while I was sitting in my office, the ship suddenly shook. Just as if they were starting up an engine. Normally I know about engine tests in port, so this was peculiar. As the engine room was not doing anything, it was even more peculiar. The ship was however safely docked and I did not pay any further attention to it. Only to find out from the pilot on departure that there had been a 7.3 strength earthquake off the coast of Martinique. That tremor went through the whole East Caribbean and that is what I felt in the cabin. In the beginning there was fear for a tsunami but the epi centre was in such deep water that the pressure wave could not build up any momentum on the sea surface.

Apart from a few mud slides, there was no damage reported from Dominica so we were oke for going there. As soon as everybody was back on board we sailed as fast as we could out of the port. It took 10 minutes longer than last time as a Spa girl was too late in coming back on board. She will now have to face the chief officer in the morning. The weather was still not following the weather forecast and it blew over 25 knots, while a maximum of 15 knots had been forecasted. 20 knots of wind full on the bow, cost me about one knot of speed and for the time being I have no power yet to compensate for that.

At least the weather should be good for Dominica with partly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 80’s.

During the morning we made good progress and we were nicely on schedule for a timely arrival in St Thomas. However in the afternoon a North Atlantic wave field came towards us with heights of about 8 to 10 feet, with peaks to 12 feet, and this made the ship start to pitch and that costs speed. If this would happen with the ship running at full speed then it starts to slam on the waves as the bow comes out of the water and falls down again upon it. That is a very unpleasant motion, as the whole ship shudders and the G forces can make you feel quite queasy because of it. Now it was only a dipping motion, not that unpleasant but enough to slow us down. The starboard shaft did not like it either and that meant that we had to reduce the output at times. It will depend on how long this wave field persists whether we are going to be delayed and if so by how much. I can not cut any corners anywhere and I have no other tricks on the sleeve to speed up the passage, so Mother Nature now decides how much speed the ship will make and when we arrive.

According to the weather chart the wave field is not supposed to reach the coast of Puerto Rico and as we are coming close by there, I hope that I can take advantage of it. Will see.

Highlight of the day was being buzzed by the USCG. Suddenly out of nowhere we saw a Sky hawk helicopter approaching who first passed us on the starboard side and then on the portside. I gave them a call but they were rather non-commitment about what they were doing here so far from home. Normally that indicates that they are on an anti-drug mission, trying to catch boats who use the more remote Bahaman islands for a stop over, while on the way to somewhere in North America. Buzzing is nice, if you know what it is what is flying by, but if you are not a helicopter expert it might startle you. So we made a quick announcement for the guests on the outside decks. As the helicopter was not carrying any extra fuel tanks, they must have had a base nearby, or a cutter hiding somewhere which they use as a home base. We figured out that there were several options, taking into account the time that they would like to spend at sea, but we could not track where they were exactly going or coming from.

I am getting near the end of my contract, going home on December 9th and that means that it is time to write my end of term report for the head office. This is basically a review of the past period, highlighting issues that have not been resolved and that need the attention of the very senior management. Secondly there is the hand over report to my relief which details the current issues going on. Thirdly there is the hand over file, on the computer with “things to read to get up to speed again” and fourthly there is the “in progress file” also on the computer with items still not completed. From the latter there are always a lot of them and therefore it was a great idea of the company to have two captain’s rotating on the same ship. It certainly gives consistency.

Because of the amount of material to hand over, there is also a special hand over period if a new captain would be joining. New to ship class (S- class R- class, Vista Class or Prinsendam) and new in rank, then there is a 14 day overlap. If he is new to sort of class, there is a week overlap. If he is been on the ship before, such as my relieve will be, then it is about 4 to 6 hours.

If I get half the chance, I will post the photos of the current team Veendam and the relieving team on the blog under the “My ship” sub directory before I go home.

Today is our second regular sea day and again we were blessed with beautiful weather. Advice from the engine room is positive about progress being made with improving the output on the propellers and thus the speed but it will be a few days before it will make a significant difference.

As I already “blogged” in the past about the Old Bahamas Channel, Cuba, Hispaniola and the Puerto Rican trench, this time something about a fairly unknown group of people on board: the Upholsterers.

Apart from dry docks, which only take place every two years or so, most maintenance on a cruise ship has to be done while sailing. With the wear and tear of all materials on board the life cycle of carpets and soft furnishings is not much more than 2 to 4 years. Curtains maybe a little bit longer. Thus there is a constant renewal process going on. Each Holland America Line ship has two Upholsterers on board while there is also a roving team of four more who move around the fleet. On a regular schedule which is made up by the Interiors department in the home office, step by step curtains, carpets, chairs and couches are renewed. Sometimes by just exchanging the fabric, sometimes by re-covering it with a complete new design. That makes is possible that a ships lounge looks totally different today when compared to a number of years ago while no structural changes have taken place.

The upholstery department has a workshop in the bowels of the ship where also most of the fabrics are being stored, as the ship carries small amounts of each sort of fabric on board for regular repairs. In the past the upholsterers used to report to the Chief Officer and for a period of 7 years, when I had that function, I learned a lot about the business although not having trained for it at all. But that is what makes a sailor so versatile and that is what makes a job at sea so interesting, there is always a different angle to it.

Nowadays the upholstery department falls under the Facility Maintenance Manager. This is a fairly new function, created about two years ago. The company recognized that to run an engine room or a bridge you need licensed Sea officers but for regular ships maintenance that is not a necessity. So a licensed officer can now spend more time on items that requires a license instead of thinking about bed ruffles, glass curtains and high or low pole carpets.

Most of the work of upholsterers can be done un-obtrusively. Nobody notices it, if a chair is gone for the day or that work is being carried out on the curtains. Different is it when it comes to carpeting. The new carpet comes on board in large rolls and those can not be carried through the ship or up and down the staircases. Luckily all the hal ships have this massive observation deck on the bow. There is where we store the carpet and that is where the carpet gets cut to size for laying in the ship. On the Veendam we have at the moment quite a bit of carpet laying on the bow, under a tarpaulin, waiting to be installed when we have the chance. At the moment here on board they have just finished the couches in the piano bar (new design) and are now working on the main show lounge (regular replacement).
When that is finished, then it is time for carpeting again.

With the tendency in the cruise ship world to go to lighter colors, carpet needs to be replaced more often, as lighter carpet stains so much quicker. A darker color makes the ship look less cheerful and thus the designers tend to go for more and more pastel colors. A trend that is not always appreciated by the chief housekeepers of this world nor the Facility managers.

The carpet that comes on board the ship is not the same as the carpet that you buy at home. It is specially woven in a similar way as hotel carpets and it is also fire retardant. Many a passenger ship fire in the past was “enhanced” by the cork dry and highly inflammable carpet in the corridors. Nowadays there are strict rules for the specs for ship carpet. That makes replacing not cheap but safety comes first. Most of our carpet comes from the Netherlands, where Holland America has a long standing relation with the Desso Company.

Guests do not often realize how important these skilled craftsmen are that we have on board and how important they are for the presentation of the interior of the ship.

Tomorrow we have another day at sea. A cold front behind us is coming closer and should bring some more wind and rain in the afternoon. Also there is a large wave field moving in from the North Atlantic and thus the ship will start to pitch a bit tomorrow.

Well our progress was not as good as I had hoped for. Although we are doing already better then last cruise, we could not get the speed up to a full output on both propellers. That meant that I would never be able to reach San Juan at a decent time. As San Juan is an evening call, the arrival time would have been so deep in the night that making the call did not make sense anymore.

Thus I had to cancel and reschedule for St Thomas. With the average speed to maintain for Charlotte Amalie I was confident that we are going to make that call on time. I made my announcement, the guests received their compensation letter from Head Office and we continued on our way. We had a lot of head wind during the day but on the aft decks it was very pleasant and most guests were out in the sun.

With the 14 day cruise, we have lot of familiar faces on board again and this cruise it seems that we are more of a floating country club that a regular cruise ship. Everybody seems to know somebody and has time to revisit old friends and that is what makes a cruise even more enjoyable. With so many “old timers” on board, cancelling a call such as San Juan does not have much impact on the cruise. I hate doing it but I do not feel so badly if I know that most guests just raise their shoulders and carry on. They have been there before, bought the T-shirt and quite a few were not even planning to go ashore at all. I can think about worse ports to cancel.

By early evening we came close to the coast of Cuba and with it into the shelter of the land, thus the wind let off a little bit. Normally we see a lot of cruise ships here but as those also leave on a Saturday or Sunday from Miami and Ft. Lauderdale, they were all a day ahead of us. This evening it was particularly quiet as there was not even a cargo ship insight. Later on we came across one and that was a most bizarre occurrence. Every sailor is used to see once in a while a cargo ship floating in the ocean. That is most of the time because they are waiting for orders or waiting to enter a port without an anchorage. They put on two red lights, called the Not Under Command lights or N.U.C lights and expect all ships to stay clear of them. Using N.U.C lights for this purpose is totally against the rules. You are only allowed to use those lights if your engine does not work and you can not maneuver at all. If you are just floating, you have to keep your engine(s) ready for use at all times. But using NUC’s is so much easier as it puts the burden of avoiding a collision on the other party. So it happens a lot.

The bizarre part of this was that this ship was floating close to the Cuban Coast and in the middle of the shipping lane. In comparison; it would be about the same if you would stop your car in the middle of the road on Times Square and then proceed to change a tire. You are inviting a collision and for this ship there was also the danger of drifting into Cuban territorial waters. You are not supposed to drift into anybody’s territorial waters if you are not calling at that country but drawing the attention towards you from the Cuban Coastguard is never a good idea.

So we made a wide turn around that ship. If you can not understand the logic of why somebody does something then you better stay away from him. The weather for tomorrow looks good and I am quite happy, as I can hold the schedule for St Thomas.