Cozumel is a favourite port for the 7 day Mass market ships and thus we had The Carnival Glory, The Liberty of the Seas and the Anthem of the Seas in port today. (I think this is at the moment the largest cruise ship in the world) This as the port fits right in the triangle, Miami, Grand Cayman and Labadee /Haiti (for RCI). We call here as it gives another port when we alternate our cruises. But it is hard to get here for an early morning arrival and hence we docked at 11 am. Ships that go the other way, normally spend a day at sea while sailing towards Grand Cayman or have a late morning arrival there in the same way as in Cozumel. Most ships stay in Cozumel until 23.00 hrs. Holland America tries as a standard to have one evening call in port during a cruise but that does not always work out, if there is nothing to do in the port after 18.00 hrs. Cozumel is blessed with an exciting night life as long as you think in the terms of Carlos & Charlie’s, Senor Frogs and you want to brush up on your Conga Line Dancing. Which is normally not a problem after consuming a bucket of beer, or one of their special Margaritas Continue reading
Category: Destinations (page 8 of 11)
Thus today we arrived in Georgetown, Grand Cayman and here we have to anchor or drift. There are only two small docks for the local cargo ships that call here and I doubt if even our Seabourn ships would fit in. But there was a small cargo vessel alongside and thus it was not only cruise ships. There were supposed to be five of us. NCL, RCI, Carnival, MSC and HAL. The first 4 are regular callers and thus they were assigned the 4 anchorages and because we are only coming in once in a while would have to drift further out. For reasons not entirely clear the MSC Armonia cancelled the call and anchorage number four (which is the closest to town) was vacant. Although we are too big to be safely at anchor here, we still had the chance, and used it, to poke the nose as far forward as possible to reduce the tender distance into the port. I think it reduced the tender distance by at least 5 minutes and that is 50% of what it could have been. Grand Cayman has been debating for at least 10 years about putting a cruise ship pier but it gets delayed and delayed so for the time being we stay at anchor or drift around. Continue reading
And thus we docked at Falmouth Jamaica. Mickey Mouse was sitting next to us, by means of the Disney Fantasy and we had the other dock. Normally all ships dock here nose out, to have the pointy bit towards the open waters as that is normally the best escape possible. But that logic does not always work for an Azipod ship which has much more power in the stern then in the bow. Based on the weather forecast the captain opted for nose in. In case the wind went beyond what the Weather Forecast predicted then we could still leave as the strong Azipods would hold up in the wind and then use the bow thrusters for steering. This would make it possible to leave while the Disney Fantasy would have to stay in port. Unless that ship can make speed very quickly so she would not be affected by the drift of the wind. But that is something I do not know as I have never sailed on her. Continue reading
Today we are sailing at a leisurely pace from Half Moon Cay to Falmouth Jamaica. That is a pace of 14 knots. This is one of those distances which you cannot make in one night because if you would go full speed you would arrive around midnight and Falmouth is not known for its thriving night life so we adjust our speed and have a nice day at sea. Because that is part of the package anyway, a cruise is not just about the ports, but also about the ship. Although those who are new to cruising tend to select a cruise with as many port days as possible. Continue reading
I was amazed about the internet last night. When I verified the weather for today, I typed in Half Moon Cay instead of Little San Salvador Island (which is the official name) and Low and Behold the weather forecast popped up. So the Weather Guru’s must have decided that HMC was an official enough name to add it to their database. Holland America is going up in the world…………. And they were right with the weather. The sun was there, the clouds were not there, there was just a bit more wind than anticipated. 30+ knots on arrival. Lessening to 20 knots during the day. If we would have been there with the Prinsendam it would have been complicated but the Nieuw Statendam has so much power that staying in position was still a doddle and we had a very good day. Continue reading
Promptly on time the Nieuw Statendam arrived at the Key West Pilot station at 06.30 in the morning. We had an hour back last night, and by 06.30 when the Lido opened, the place as already heaving. So there was great interest in, first in the food and then the sailing in. Quite a few people had forgot to set their clocks back; with one lady complaining why we had to go to “funny time” and then back again to normal time. Well if Caribbean Time is “funny” time then I wonder what she would make of West European time, which is 4 hrs. more “funnier” than Caribbean time, plus that we do not do am. & pm. But run the 24 hrs. Clock. Which the States calls Navy Time. But at least it meant that everybody was up and about for CBP immigration inspection which everybody had to see, including my good self as I am that most complicated of person who is a crew member but travels on a “Guest” visa. So I had to show my face to the CBP officer, to make sure that my face belonged to a passport and that the passport belonged to me. Once that was done all was well in the world. Continue reading
Thus we sailed to day through “Cruise ship alley” or the Old Bahama channel. The water way above Cuba which is taken by the cruise ships from Miami if they go to the East Caribbean. It is nice and sheltered, being protected by Cuba to the south and the Bahama Banks to the North. Those Bahama banks we did not see today, the reefs, cays and sandbanks are too low to poke above the horizon. We did see Cuba though as it has a high mountain range and we had with sunrise the sun shining straight on it. That works extremely well when we are going the way we are going today. Sailing North West and thus having Sun, Wind and Sea going with us while doing so. The ship was doing about 19 knots on the engine and 20 knots over the ground, courtesy of a 1 knot current behind us. A following current that will become part of the Gulf Stream once the water reaches the Straits of Florida. Continue reading
Amber Cove has slightly different weather than ports which are at the west side (lee side) of an island and of the Trade Winds. Amber Cove is located at the North side of the Dominican Republic and is surrounded by mountain ranges on three sides. This means that rain showers which develop overnight in this area and then pull away in the morning due to warming up do not do that here. A rain cloud is just a bit of vapor which expands and contracts. When it expands (surrounding temperature goes up), it can take in more fluid or moisture, when it contracts (surrounding temperature goes down) then it becomes over saturated and will release water until everything is back in balance. So during the night clouds can gather and densify as the vapor gets more concentrated and thus we can often see bands of rains clouds when the sun rises. Later in the day they are then completely gone because the air is warming up and the vapor can spread out. Continue reading
Last week I had to moan and groan about the weather guru’s in the area of St. Thomas who did not have a clue what they were doing but in this area the forecast was spot on. The sun quickly burned all the early morning clouds away and it was a warm and sunny day. Both: Very Warm and Very Sunny. We were the only ship in port today as the dock can take two cruise ships. Even if two mega liners are in and offload 4000 guests each then the resort can take it quite well although it is full then. Today with only 2500 from our Nieuw Statendam there was oodles of space everywhere and even the shuttle bus system to Cock burn town could cope with the traffic. Cockburn town is about 1.5 miles away and although you can easily walk it, it is not a pleasant walk in the burning sun. I wished all the sun worshipers the very best but I stayed happily inside in the A.C. Most guests only went for a few hours, either in the morning or in the afternoon and long flows of family’s (in various states of “happiness”) came back between 1300 and 1400 hrs. It is going to be mayhem later on at the Dive-Inn, New York Pizza and the Ice cream stand. Continue reading
The only way to get to Grand Turk (and arrive on time) is to sail above the Bahama Bank and then downwards. You can go the other way as well, staying in the shelter of the reefs, banks and Cays against the North Atlantic swell, but it is quite a few hours more steaming. But the weather is beautiful today, the sun is shining with a gentle breeze and there is only a very low swelling running from the North East. All under 8 feet and thus the Nieuw Statendam is ploughing through the ocean as steady as a rock. We are looking at a regular and nice 7 day Caribbean vacation cruise. Continue reading
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