In a way it is a pity that we did not arrive early in the morning, as the locals normally have a nice parade for the 4th of July. Many a year did the HAL ships participate as the agent normally organized a Flat Bed truck for that purpose. Quite often the ship won the first prize as well, which is not so amazing as we are a sort of floating circus, cum entertainment vehicle rolled into one. We do have the resources to put up a good show. There were years when my ship was in port on the right days and if it was nice weather then we managed to get the complete Band on the truck plus all the dancing girls. The amazing thing is that the HAL ships always participated and the other cruise lines did not. I never understood why.

Today would have been interesting if all the ships would have participated. Apart from the Volendam, the Pacific Princess (or baby Princess as they seem to call it) and the Disney Wonder were in port. I do not know about Princess, but Disney should have been able to put up something nice. Even if they only would have been able to roll out Mickey Mouse and Cinderella. Success guaranteed.

There are also fireworks but these are the night before. Of those I have seen only one and that was momentous, although for the wrong reason. I do not know how they do it now, but in 1984 they put a barge in the middle of the harbor. Safe against any fall out and a good view all around guaranteed. As City Juneau is on one side of the harbor and the town of Douglas on the other side, this setup worked very well. So all of us on board the Noordam (III), sitting at anchor at the North side of the harbor, had the prime view. The fireworks lasted for about 20 minutes and then everything felt silent, a few seconds only, before the Grand Finale was to occur.

Then the Grand Finale came:…………….. everything on the barge exploded sideways. What was supposed to go up in the air as the final treat, did not go up in the air, but went sideways with an almighty bang. Luckily the barge was from steel, the firework experts coordinated it all from the attached tugboat, so there was no damage and no casualties. I do not know about the locals but the guests on board did not really notice it, they thought that the town of Juneau started the 4th. Of July with a big bang. This time they did.

Sweet Memories The ms Noordam (Ill) at anchor in Juneau harbour in 1994. (Photo courtesy Anton Janssen. On board Ships Photographer)

But the Volendam had a 1 pm arrival and that it did, just before 1 pm. The gangway was in and everybody streamed ashore. For the gangway security a 1 pm arrival is the most awkward time as everybody has gone to lunch early and is ready to go by 1 pm. Unfortunately 1400 guests do not fit through the break door all in one go, so it takes awhile. That means that Security really has to urge everybody on otherwise the wait in the staircases will be too long. Today they had the extra challenge that it was raining and that meant that everybody wanted to stop on the gangway threshold to put up their umbrella.

This time I did not mind that it was raining, as part of the roll out of this 3 alarm system that I am on board for to support, we are running training classes for lifeboat handlers. In summer time the rule of thumb in Juneau is no wind when it rains. So today we had rain and thus no wind. Wind makes waves and that makes the return of the lifeboats to be picked up again a lot more difficult. The boats have to be hooked into the falls, and if the boat is going up and down then that is not so easy. Especially not if you have a training class in the boat. So a flat calm sea is appreciated.

We are having these practical classes today, tomorrow in Skagway and then in Ketchikan. Today we had Dining room and supervisors. Tomorrow we have the Cast and dining room and then in Ketchikan, kitchen and Stage Personnel. I am looking forward to tomorrow as with a boatful of dancers, there will not be a dull moment. The weather forecast for tomorrow is very low hanging clouds in the morning, which is also a sort of rain and that means that there will also be no wind. Exactly what I need.

With the pedal to the metal the Volendam raced up the coast towards Seymour Narrows, to catch the early evening tide. This stretch of water which separates Vancouver Island from the mainland is called Georgia Strait. Named after an English King from the days of the British Empire. It has wide open waters and as it is just off Vancouver the banks and islands along the shore line are inhabited. Some with Holiday homes but some live there permanently with both active and retired people. Beautiful area to live in, as long as you do not mind the long trek to Vancouver.  As a result there is a lot of water sport activity, varying from professional sailors to six-pack navigators for a one-off afternoon. Being a Wednesday ship means that there is a lot less activity than on a Saturday or a Sunday afternoon.  A blessing in disguise for Captain, Pilot and Navigators.

We as cruise ship people like nice weather as it is good for the guests but sometimes we hope for a little, just a small one, bit of thunderstorm around 4 pm. to clear the sea before we depart.  As it takes the worry away of having to focus on whether a boat is going to do nothing, going to do the right thing or going to do the wrong thing. We prefer of course that all boats do the right thing all the time, and that is to follow the Collision Regulations Rules for everything that floats. However it is not always the case. Some boaters do not even know the Rules and some have completely forgotten them after their 2^nd or 3^rd six pack of Dutch courage.

If boaters do not know exactly what to do then we prefer in general that they do nothing at all and we as the professionals will sail around them. The danger is always when they start doing the un-expected thing, such as crossing the bow of a large ship, right at the last moment. I have never understood the thinking behind this. A ship that is 800 feet long, comes charging by at 20 knots, so the time it takes to cross behind it instead of crossing the bow, does not make for much of a delay. I once put a stop watch on it.  After a speed boat had crossed our bow, I clocked the time from the moment the bow passed its wake until the moment the stern passed the wake again and it was less than 90 seconds. Not much in the scheme of things. But they are out there……………. and we find them on a regular basis.

Getting through the Narrows early, helps with making it on time to Juneau, and having a bit of plus in the hand always helps.  Also in this case, although the weather forecast had predicted that it would be calm all the way, there was a strong adverse wind blowing in Queen Charlotte Sound which whipped up the waves and made the ship move. Not much, but enough for a large Chinese contingent on board to be convinced that we were in a real storm. Photo and video camera’s all over the place trying to catch each white cap on the waves for posterity.

One can see that cruising is becoming popular worldwide. The guests on board our ships were always  99% American or Canadian in the past, that percentage is now going down to 70 or 80% and on some cruises even more.  Europeans are getting into it and so are our friends from down under. Then with the Far East becoming more and more mainstream in politics and economics, large numbers of guests are coming from those areas as well.

As a result cruise companies are now starting to cater for these area’s and Royal Caribbean and Costa offer Chinese only cruises from the main ports in China. Star Cruises from Singapore has been doing that for a long long time, but their emphasis has always been on the gambling angle, and less on the pure – part of it.

Holland America is making it’self available to that clientele as well and while I was in the office, I came across a HAL brochure in Chinese. Until now I had never seen one before and I will have find out if there were any published in the previous years.  Something to get used to, seeing a photo of a cabin steward happily smiling towards a Caucasian couple and that all surrounded by Chinese characters, no doubt extolling the virtues of a cruise in the East Mediterranean.

Tomorrow we are in Juneau and it will be 4^th. of July. That means that there is normally a Parade and that means they block off the roads. I remember running a tender service all the way up to the small boat harbor to get the tours back some years ago, as the tour busses could not get back to down town. Luckily we are arriving in the early afternoon and thus the parade should be finished by then.

After the beautiful weather of yesterday, Vancouver did not let us down either. By the time the ship docked at Canada Place, the sun was out and indeed it became a nice warm day.  Especially on a day like this it is great to be on the West Side of Canada Place as this is the side where the regular promenade is located. The ships bridge wing is normally right on the top of the kiddie’s pirate ship right in the middle of the promenade and the Officer of the Watch can see the world go by right in front of him/her.

On board the ship we call Vancouver day – Change Over Day – as the guests from the past cruise are leaving and new guests are boarding. Normally all guests are off by 09.30 hrs. and the new guests are coming on board any time after 11.30 hrs.  In between the Hotel part of the ship has to be turned around and made ready for the new cruise.

The most hectic department during this day is Housekeeping. All cabins have to be changed, all luggage off and all luggage on. Although the other departments are busy as well, such as the provision master with the loading and the engineers with spare parts, repairs and fueling, it is the Housekeeping department who has the smallest window to accomplish all the work.

One of the items that needs attention and is often not thought of, are medicines. Nearly all guests have medicines with them and quite a few have medicines that need to be kept refrigerated. Only the suites have fridges and that means that the other cabins have to be supplied with a small fridge. As a result we have most of the morning a bell-boy running around with a trolley picking the fridges from last cruise and delivering new ones to the cabins for the coming cruise. A small but vital operation.

The luggage trolleys are specially designed for ships use. Height and width prevent damage to the ships corridors and the small wheels at the back, too heavy lifting for the handlers.

The bulk of the work is dealing with luggage. Everything is brought down during the night to the marshalling area and is off loaded as soon as the ship is docked. This off loading is done by local longshoremen who, when finished, continue with loading provisions. As soon as the first luggage bins with luggage have been filled on the shore side they will start loading those again. Not always bins are used, in Vancouver most of the time they use a conveyor belt as it is faster and easier to handle.  In the meantime guests are going through CBP – American Immigration. That is done in Vancouver as the Alaskan ports do not have the facilities and the manpower. It helps us as well, as it will not disturb the cruise that we are going to make.

Luggage being gathered as it come into the ship by conveyor belt

So while the guests are being checked, stamped and finger printed, the first luggage arrives on board. Here the people from Housekeeping are already waiting with trolleys. Those go in one of the guest elevators (which for this purpose has received a padded inner wall to protect the cage) and then it is taken up to the deck required. From there the Cabin Steward takes over and will deliver the suitcase to your cabin. This makes it possible that if you arrived early at the terminal, by the time that you come on board, your luggage is already in the cabin.

Occasionally there are delays in delivery. This can happen when the luggage label has been ripped off during the handling or if people have the same name and they have not written the cabin number on the label. Then there can be an issue with luggage coming directly from the airport, unaccompanied. We do not know what happens in the airport of departure or in the airport of arrival and the truck only loads what the airport gives. Sometimes a Taxi has to be dispatched to pick up one or two pieces, forgotten or late arrived. Then we are talking lost luggage and that is another story. We have people in Seattle office who have a constant headache because of trying to deal with this and also the agents in the various ports do their best to solve “the cause of the lost bag”. Most of the time that piece of luggage will make it to the ship in the next port. One just has to hope that the next port is not after a 10 day Pacific Ocean crossing.

Today the Volendam left in a hurry. Seymour Narrows slack tide is around 21.45 and the ship can just make that with full speed. If we would go for the later tide, then it would jeopardize a timely arrival in Juneau, as the cruise schedule to get there on time is on the tight side.

Today is the last day of the cruise and the weather forecast responded to the requirements of the sightseeing schedule. The moment the ship entered the Inside passage near Pine Island (that is close to the NW point of Vancouver Island) the sun came out and stayed out until sun set. That meant that the ship went through Seymour’s Narrows in full daylight with the sun shining on the Eastern Bank and that is the Mainland side.  It is not often that you get a view that good and I almost thought: for this we could charge a lot of money.  Luckily the guests appreciated it all and every window seat was occupied with happy guests gazing at the Canadian Inside Passage at its best.

Seymour Narrows, bottleneck of the Alaska Cruises

The ship went in with the following tide and that meant that the ship was “flushed” through the three narrow passages along the route, Blackney Passage, Race Passage and Seymour Narrows itself. On average there was 4 knots of current running with the ship in some areas. When you have four knots it does not mean that the ship goes 4 knots faster. It all depends how much grip the water has on the hull of the ship and that depends again on the fact of how wide the passage is. Yes in Blackney Passage there was 4 knots but as soon as the ship was out of it and entered Johnstone Strait which is much wider, it dropped down again to a knot or so. Still it helps with reducing the fuel consumption and if the ship is able to sail with one engine less for a day, then that means $ 12,000 saved.

The Volendam has 5 motor engines, all 12 cylinders which produce just short of 60,000 HP. Most of that power goes to two Electric motors and that gives the ship a speed of 24 knots maximum. But then everything that is available in power is directed to the Electric motors. Normal maximum cruising speed is about 22 knots and that leaves then enough power for running the whole hotel operation. When the first ship, the Statendam came out in 1992 with this diesel – electric configuration, the crew tried to let the engine – configuration run by itself as that was the way the ship was designed. However it was soon found out that if usage went up just one Watt over the maximum, automatically another engine would start. So the cook switching on his grill would cause another engine to come on line. Not very fuel sufficient. Plan A was that when the kitchen started working, the bridge took a little bit back in speed (read power consumption) and when the kitchen was completely on line, tried to nudge back up again to maximum output on the same engine configuration. That output was mostly around 86%, on whatever engine configuration that was in use.

But fuel got more expensive and then it was figured out that the most economical speed for our Sulzer diesel engines as 70%. We have fuel curves from various tests that show that output/versus fuel is at its best around that percentage. Since that time we do not have to worry anymore about the kitchen as now the startup limit for the next engine lays far above that 70%. Still it was funny to see the Officer of the Watch take speed/power back in the morning, to anticipate the cooks starting up all the galley equipment at the same time. You could plan for that as shipboard routine is nearly always the same. In the same way that the OOW starts to recognize standard fire alarms. At 06.30 hrs. you can expect a fire alarm as that is the moment, the bread toaster in the crew mess is switched on and while it is heating up it burns off the residual of the night before.

Even at slack tide the waters at Seymour Narrows are still restless,… one of those Eddies.

So we sailed through Seymour Narrows, just before slack tide. The B.C pilots are normally comfortable with a window of 3 knots flood to – slack – to 3 knots ebb.  Slack is the easiest time to go through as with zero knots current you have the most time to make the zig zag course in the fairway. Although the current is zero, it does not mean that the water is quiet. There is still turmoil in the form of eddies, as the current is changing and it does not change everywhere at the same time. When you go through such an Eddy, it is strong enough to make the ship list. The more current there is, the less eddies as the water is now flushing straight through. As a result the pilots are forever having arguments among themselves about what the optimum moment is for going through. I normally put the stabilizers out and that takes care of any wobble that those eddies might cause.

Tomorrow we are in Vancouver and it promises to be a great day if a bit breezy. Temperatures up to 25oC are expected, so the guests on this cruise should be very grateful for the great cruise that they have had.

After a very successful day in Glacier Bay, the Volendam turned south. As the visit to Marjorie Glacier is as far north as we go, from now on we are looking at southerly or south easterly courses to return to Vancouver. The distance to Ketchikan is such that the ship cannot make it during just a night sailing and arrive at 0800 for a normal port day. Therefore the arrival time has been set for 10 am.  Because we are there on a Monday we meet the north coming parade of Saturday ships.  As a result Ketchikan was full. All four berths were occupied with two big Princess ships and an NCL ship, sharing the same pier as we did, Berth 1, which is about as “downtown” as you can get.

As part of my mission to help with the alarm system roll out, I had the whole crew on the move today as there were two meetings in the show lounge, one of which each crew member had to attend. Most crew, somehow, always make it to the morning meeting and then the afternoon session is only for those who could not get away from work in the morning.  You would think that the crew would split themselves up in 2 halves to attend but that never happens. Ketchikan is home to a Wall-mart and that is a very powerful incentive to do one’s utmost to attend the morning meeting.

All crew meeting in the Frans Hals Lounge/ Showroom at Sea

We always hold these meetings  in port, as on a sea day it would affect the guest services too much with pulling the crew out. Hence today in Ketchikan it was all happening with two 30 minute sessions to enlighten the crew about the new enhancements coming. I say enhancements as it is just an improvement on the proven system that we already have. Ever since the Titanic there have been upgrades to the emergency drills on board ships and that process will never stops as long as new evidence and insights are coming along.

Apart from this all crew happening, there are breakouts with trainings for the various teams who perform various functions. Most functions do already exist but now they are formulized in a different way and specific crew members are assigned instead of what was more common in the past that any standby crewmember could be ordered to do the job.

One of those teams is the Official Document Securing Team. This is a group of crew members under the direction of the Purser who collects all passports, seaman’s book, important paperwork and the contents of the purser safe and then take it to the lifeboats.  The purser had since a long time been issued with bags for this purpose but there had never been a formulized approach for this issue. It had never been much of an issue. If a ship sank, shore side had plenty of time to sort things out, before the first survivors would reach land.

With the recent happening of the Costa Concordia this changed, as the survivors were ashore very quickly. Everybody was busy with saving lives but at the same time the authorities got a headache with 4000 people coming ashore without any I.D. Plus the hotel owners like to see people paying for the hotel once everything was done.  So it would make sense if the Purser would come ashore with all the passports and setup an emergency post to help identifying all those who came ashore. That would make the authorities very happy. Also if the crew could be issued with money for a Per Diem while ashore, that would make Restaurant, Hotel and Taxi owners also very happy. (As you can see even in an emergency it is our duty to make everybody happy)

The “Shopping Bags” of the Purser

Now we have an official solution for this logistical challenge and a new team has been setup officially. Duties were discussed, time frames were reviewed and for a medium ship as the Volendam it was estimated that about 15 overnight bags were needed to get it all in. That means 16 hands and thus 8 team members.  These 8 crew, will be the only ones who will arrive “with luggage” at the life raft station and will not be told to leave it all behind. And no doubt everybody will take extra good care of the purser as he/she will be carrying the most important bag of all………………………..

It might be a small detail to formulize something like this, but it does have a major impact once on the shore side.

Ketchikan offered a dry day, which is not that usual so all the more reason to be content with the visit. Tomorrow will be the last day of the cruise, with scenic sailing through the inside passage in the afternoon. Seymour Narrows slack tide is around 2100 and that means that the guests will be able to see the ship going through Discovery Pass, the narrowest passage of our whole cruise.

The trouble with Glacier Bay is that you never know what the weather will be like. It can be totally different at the entrance of the bay compared to what happens in the Upper Bay where the glaciers are. This is all courtesy of the extended ice cap that feeds the glaciers that we have come to see. The only certain thing is that it will be chilly. The Glaciers lower the regular air temperature to about 5 or 6o, and the water is near freezing. Normally around 4oC and that is of course due to the melting/calving glaciers but it is not less than that because the water is sea water. Glacier Bay has a direct connection with the North Pacific Ocean and is tidal.

Glacier Bay National Park. Near the green square/visitors area in the chart is the narrow area (shallow under water)  in the lower bay with high currents

It is very tidal and that keeps the sea water temperature near the Glacier fairly steady. Regardless of how many ice cubes the glacier throws in. This morning the tide was really showing off, because when we arrived at the Ranger station at Barlett Cove there was almost 5 knots of current running. Caused by seawater being pushed into a smaller/shallower bay when going in, or when it is ebbing, let out again from this bay back to the North Pacific Ocean.

I did not see that many whales this morning, but they were there, as the Rangers had already declared “whale waters”. That is a phrase that is being used to indicate that there is a high concentration of whales in the Lower Bay entrance. Due to the strong currents here it is a good feeding area and thus whales will concentrate in higher numbers on this relatively small area of the Inside Passage. While they are having a continuous breakfast, lunch and dinner, they do not pay any attention to these steel tin cans full of people. Why should they? They were already swimming around the area, while we were still trying to invent fire. That means that for the narrow area of the lower bay a maximum speed is set of 13 knots. Scientists have figured out that such speed is slow enough to alert the whales of the approach of a mechanical vessel. Enough time to swim away or to dive. The crew on the bridge goes through a special training to deal with this issue.

When in waters where there is no speed maximum, but whales are expected, extra good lookout is being kept and if a whale comes too close, the ship slows down to that speed. If you see a whale from far away, you can also change course as a whale normally keeps swimming in the same direction. Normally………..but not always. So slowing down is a very good solution to deal with this issue. There are other areas in the world where these speed restrictions exist as well. A well-known is example is Boston. There is an area which forms the habitat of the Right Whale. To say it bluntly they seem a lot less clever than their nephews the Humpback whale, as they do not notice very much at all. As result they are almost extinct. So as a passing ship you have to be very careful and if there is a sighting, it is being passed on to the USCG who will then inform the ships that will be coming to the area later.

In Upper Glacier Bay we do not see that many whales. There might be one on occasion but the food is less abundant so they tend not to go there. Whether they know that by experience, or whether they tell each other (Those whale songs must mean something) I do not know, but as soon as the ship has left the lower bay it can speed up again, to whatever speed is needed to maintain the schedule. For most ships that is about 18 knots, so they can make up some time. Time, which might be lost again when having to slow down for ice when approaching The Glaciers.

In my 30 years of coming to Glacier Bay I only had twice the opportunity to keep up the speed up all the way to the Glacier. Both times were late in the season, when the sea water was a little bit warmer and caused the ice-cubes to melt faster and at the same time the glaciers were not very active. But normally you have to slow down to 10 knots or less, when you get into the ice, to avoid dents in the hull but also to avoid that beng- beng noise that you get if you bump into larger pieces, which are not big enough to damage the hull, but sounds as if it will. You do not want to upset the guests with something like that. The pilots try to get through these iceflows without hitting a single cube and sometimes they feel quite embarrassed if they do not manage to do so.

Nose to nose with Marjorie Glacier. It was overcast so perfect weather for photos

Today there was a lot of ice as the Glaciers were very active. There were a few good calving’s and the Glaciers put up a nice show. I did not see too much of it, as I was busy with training the purser and her team to collect all the money from the ship timely, so it can go with the lifeboat. More about that tomorrow.

As mentioned yesterday we were going to dock at the Railroad dock, this is the largest dock in the port and can handle two 1000 ft. ships. For a ship’s captain it is also the best dock as it is sheltered from the Lynn Canal wind.  This wind is a local phenomenon that regularly occurs in the afternoon. The ship will arrive during wind still weather in the morning but by 3 pm in the afternoon it is blowing 30 to 40 knots from the south. It is a funnel wind caused by the warming up of the land to the south and then enhanced by the fact that most of Lynn Canal is straight and has fairly high mountains on either side.

As the wind is not there on arrival, every dock is an easy gig to dock at. There are four larger docks in total: Rail Dock Forward, Rail Road Dock Aft, the Broadway Dock and the Ore dock. The latter was built for Ore transport from the interior but it takes some time to get sufficient ore from the interior to load a ship, so we only see a Bulk carrier here once in a while.  Then there is a small dock that is used by the Alaska State Ferry or the very small cruise ships.

Thus captains have no issue with the docks on arrival. But when it comes to departure it is a different story. The wind is then very strongly blowing (the most I have experienced was 75 knots of sustained wind) and when you are then docked at Broadway or at the Ore Dock it can be a real challenge to get out. That is caused by the fact that the wind hits the port under an angle. If the wind would blow straight on the stern then it would not matter but it hits the ship (and the funnel) about 30 degrees on the side. That means that the ship will be pushed straight back alongside if it is along the Ore dock or is being blown away if docked at the Broadway dock.  In principle the Broadway dock is my favorite as it has the shortest walking distance to town (to Broadway, hence the name of the dock) but I also like to leave on time, so when I can park my ship at the Rail Road Dock, there I go.  And every other cruise ship captain will do the same.

Normally the Rail Road dock is occupied by the Big Boys, those who would have a hard time docking at Broadway. So when the ships are on a Saturday/Sunday cruise cycle, the whole parade heads for Skagway on Wednesday or Thursday and then the biggest ones go to the Rail Road dock. Holland America operates medium sized ships, so we go to Broadway. Great for the guests but a headache for the captain who needs to sail on time.

When this funnel wind is blowing, leaving from the Rail Road Dock is not an issue. When undocking you are still in the lee of the mountains and by the time that the wind is catching the ship, the ship has enough speed to make it to the middle of Skagway harbor  where it can drift all over the place without the danger of hitting anything.

Skagway Rail road dock fwd. In the distance the train that takes the guests on the Trail of 98

The Volendam is a Wednesday ship and thus there is no pecking order. So it could happily dock in the lee of the mountains, even leaving room for the Seven Seas Navigator to go behind on the aft section. The wind did pick up during the day and by looking at the waves near the Broadway docks I estimated a wind force 7 and that is not as bad as it can be. For the guests this is all of no concern. Those who left us today, hopped on the Bus, those who joined us hopped off the Bus, and everybody enjoyed a sunny day.

Sailors are superstitious. We live too close to nature to believe that not everything has a rational explanation. Thus we have mascots. In the archives of my blog you can find somewhere the mascots of the Veendam and the Statendam, but also the Volendam has a collection.

Now the logic is that a mascot only works if it is given by coincidence as a genuine gift, without any second thoughts.  Then the puppet or whatever it is will be placed on the Bridge.  So a guest pushing to give a charm to the bridge with the intent to have THEIR charm there, results in an opposite effect. So the mascots arrive on the bridge by coincidence, by sheer luck, by the spur of the moment.

Most danger comes from ahead and thus the mascots are keeping a sharp look-out

That does not mean that the sailors cannot have a bit of fun with it, and therefore the Chief Mascot on the bridge (there are 6 in total) is wearing a (doggy) lifejacket to ensure that he is prepared for any eventuality.

Tomorrow we are in Glacier Bay. Marjorie Glacier is very active at the moment, so hopefully we will have a great show of “White thunder” crashing down.

As was expected yesterday the weather in the Alaskan Inside Passage was glorious. Lots of sun and most of the wind was caused by the ship itself, so not annoying. The temperatures were fairly cool in the morning and that meant clear skies and thus excellent visibility. Summer has just started here and thus there is still a lot of snow on the higher part of the mountains; and the combination of the blue sea, the green slopes, the black mountain faces and the snow topped mountain peaks, produced an awesome sight. People are going to be very lucky this cruise if this weather lasts. The ship picked up the Alaskan pilot at the metropolis of Kake (population 150 souls, as far as I have been told) but as it has a plane connection with the outside world it is good spot for pilots to board and thus it is an official pilot station. That was in the early morning and from that moment it is a good 7 hours sailing to the dock at Juneau.

When coming closer you pass the entrances to Tracy and Endecott Arm which is for some of our ships a scenic stop, a sort of mini Glacier Bay. Not however for the Volendam on this cruise. Inside these fjords or arms as they are called in this case (Seen from the top they look like a bent arm) are glaciers and sometimes the ice bergs are large enough that they make it all the way into the main deep water area. Exciting for the guests, as it was the first piece of ice they could see on this cruise. There will be lots more in two days from now.

One of the reasons it takes a while to get into Juneau, is the fact that the last 5 miles go very slow. This is when entering Gastineau Channel, the entrance Fjord to Juneau harbor. Due to civilization on the sides of the channel, speed restrictions have been imposed to avoid damage to boats or excessive surf along the shore.  When the ship comes charging in at 21 knots, it has to come down to 16 knots for the first 3 miles, then to 10 knots for the next mile, then to 7 knots for the next mile and before entering the harbor itself: the speed has to be down to 5 knots. For the rest there is no restriction and that is also not really needed as every captain or skipper will ensure that his/her ship has stopped before it arrives at the dock. Failures in the past have proven that the alternative results in way too much paperwork.

By 1300hrs. the Volendam was parked at the Cruise Terminal, which is the 2nd berth in the port. The smallest is the Alaska Steam Ship Dock which is long enough for the Statendam Class ships and anything shorter. The Volendam is one size too big for that dock. Although the Volendam is an evolution from the Statendam it is longer (as it has a 3rd = center staircase) and thus it docks at the center dock, which we call the Cruise Terminal. Then there are two more docks further out, at the southern edge of the harbor.

What used to be a lumber, fish and general cargo dock, has long since been transformed into a Tourist – Tour assembly area.

The Alaska Steamship Dock and the Cruise Terminal are supposed to be gone by next year, as the city of Juneau is planning to build a very long floating dock at the same location. That floating dock has the advantage that it will go up and down with the tide (which can reach up to 14 feet or so) and that saves all the hassle of adjusting the mooring ropes and moving the gangway every 3 or 4 hours, when the main access break to the ship disappears or re-appears under or above dock level. The Volendam is a Wednesday ship (= departure from Vancouver on Wednesday) and that is an unusual day.

The only other cruise ship in port, docked at the furtherest dock away from downtown.

Most ships leave on Saturday or Sunday and if you are one of those ships, then it is really a convoy sailing to Alaska and the ports are always full. Now when sailing out of synch with the normal world means that there are not that many ships in port, which is of course good for the guests. The only other ship in today was a Mickey Mouse Boat.  A quiet day for Juneau as there were only about 3,500 guests milling around. The crew, if off duty, does not mill around, they take the shuttle to Costco. I honestly believe that the revenue of that retailer must double during the cruise ship season as it is amazing what the crew brings back from there. Tomorrow we will be Skagway. Again because the ship is on this unusual cycle, there will be only one other ship in, the Seven Seas Navigator and that means that both ships will be at the Rail Road Dock. Which is every captain’s favorite location as it is sheltered from the afternoon winds blowing up the Lynn Canal

There are several routes a ship can take to go to Alaska and the one that is taken, mainly depends on time available and distance to travel.  If the ship is going to Ketchikan from Vancouver and the Seymour Narrows tide is early, then a lot of sightseeing through the Inside Passage can be done and various routes can be taken, while still making it on time to Ketchikan. It then comes down to the weather and the captain’s preference of where the ship exactly goes.

Coming from Seattle makes the schedule a lot tighter as there is the additional distance from Seattle to the Vancouver area to travel. Then you still have to go for a slack tide at Seymour and have to arrive at your destination on time. Whether you can do much sightseeing will all depend on what time slack water is at Seymour Narrows. If it is not favorable then a captain will sometimes decide to go outside, sailing around Vancouver Island and catch the normal Inside Passage route near the Queen Charlotte Islands. If the weather is bad outside, then the Inside passage has to be taken but once being past Seymour Narrows, the shortest route possible has then to be used, to make it on time to the next port.

Then there is the 3^rd situation and that is the one of the Volendam. She has to make Juneau as a first port of call after Vancouver. That is a very tight schedule and it means that the ship cannot do the maximum amount of sightseeing in the Canadian Inside Passage, which it could have done if going to Ketchikan.  But what it loses in the Canadian Inside Passage, it gains in the Alaska Inside Passage.

So last night we sailed through Johnstone Strait, after Seymour Narrows and then dipped into Queen Charlotte Sound once past Pine Island. This is an open area, with little land but famous for wildlife and indeed many whales, dolphins and flying fish were seen. The ship is booked to capacity with about a 100 children on board and they saw flying fish everywhere.

In the late afternoon, the course went west into Dixon Entrance, where the weather can be really bad with storms from the Pacific rolling straight in, in the winter. But we have wonderful weather at the moment and then taking the short cut into the Pacific Ocean is a nice option. This route avoids sailing by Ketchikan altogether. Ketchikan is on most cruises the first port of call and then you go through the Inside Passage to Juneau but by night.

We will pick up that Inside Passage tomorrow around 0500 when we will be in Chatham Strait.  Once we come in more confined waters, near the town of Kake, we will board the American Pilots who will be with us for the next 4 days.  Sailing from Kake is all the way in inside waters and here the guests gain what they lost today. Ketchikan ships do this stretch by night so they do not see very much, but as the Volendam will arrive at Juneau around 1 pm In the afternoon, there will be some glorious sightseeing in the morning.

This is my 236^th cruise to Alaska and I will not see very much of it, as I will be cooped up in the ships training room for today and tomorrow while teaching  48 crewmembers the inner secrets of how a lifeboat works.  I am having a very varied audience, from Cast members to the kitchen, dining room and BLD all the way to Laundry crew and shop persons.

In 14 days they will learn how to operate a lifeboat, how to deal with nervous guests that might be in the lifeboat and a 1000 other small details that will result in a safe emergency operation.

So tomorrow morning, we will sail part of the Alaskan Inside Passage and then we will arrive in Juneau around 1 pm.  The weather looks great and in Juneau a gentle breeze with a sunny temperature of 75oF is expected. I hope there will be a little bit of wind, otherwise we might get those very low hanging clouds again and that is not good for anybody. Not for me either as I have an outside cabin right under the Radar Mast where they have that whistle that blows every 2 minutes, if there is no visibility.

In the early morning I flew from Seattle to Vancouver to join the Volendam. My first plan had been to take either the train or the bus, as it saved the company money and secondary it is the more scenic route. I was advised against this, as both options are very busy with cruise guests which increases the time at the border and that normally makes it also more complicated to explain what I am going to do on the ship, in relation to having the right visa. So I ended up on the 40 minute flight to Vancouver, courtesy of air Alaska but carried out by Horizon air with a propeller plane. I felt as if I was flying from England to Holland where we use propeller planes as well during off-peak hours. Then my plan was to take the Sky train to downtown but lack of Canadian dollars put a hold to that one. I was expecting a fee of 3 to 4 dollars, but if you use the ticket machine at the station they add a $ 5 cover charge because you use the machine. With the extra charge for using a foreign credit card that was going to make it an expensive train ride. So I paid a bit more and took the cab. Continue reading