We saw a full port in Tallinn, a full port in St. Petersburg and now the Helsinki berths were also all occupied. The harbour masters, keen on getting as many ships in as possible, try to park as much ship as they can get per length of quay as possible. Most of the time that means that for a smaller ship as the Prinsendam there is a little corner left in a nice spot in the downtown area. Unfortunately not this time. Therefore we ended up in the West harbour which is about 15 minutes by bus from downtown. For me it is easier to dock here than in down town; the approach is much easier and the docks are newer and better laid out. For the guest the downtown option is better as you can walk to town within 10 minutes. However the agent can only request the best berth. The port decides which customer gets what. Today we did not get the best place for a change. Continue reading

In Russia we bunker fuel because the prices are good and we can get the low sulpher version that we normally burn during these cruises. One of vague things in St. Petersburg is the organization of when the bunker barge will arrive. We always try to get the barge in the morning, when most of the guests are ashore as the barge tends to make quite a bit of noise. The pump room aboard the barge can be quite loud and during the night time it would disturb the guests whose cabins are on the sea side. However finding out and getting a schedule is nearly impossible. Thus the announced time of early (last) evening did not materialize at all. By 11 pm. I decided to give the agent a call to find out what was going on. Due to the language barrier all communication has to go through the agency and they have a set up for this a 24 hrs. Dispatcher with his own VHF channel. It works extremely well. He made another call and suddenly the hours of waiting were reduced to 20 minutes. 20 Minutes Russian time has to be multiplied by 3 and indeed just before midnight the barge was alongside. Continue reading

St. Petersburg is a 3.5 hours travelling distance from the pilot station. Not because it is so far away but because the approach channels are so shallow that higher speeds cause too much squat and bow waves. Thus you travel the whole distance with speeds between 8 and 12 knots and then it takes time to get there. Hence we had to be at the pilot station at 04.00 to be near the dock at a good time. As all the cruise ships sail on similar schedules, it was to be expected that all of them would be at the pilot station around the same time. If you included the ships already docked, it was a real gathering of the cruise world. St. Thomas Virgin islands could be jealous of it. In the port was already the Queen Victoria (Cargo dock) the MSC Lirica (New passenger terminal) and the Seven Seas Mariner, Ocean Majesty, Seabourn Pride (Leutenant Smith embankment = inner harbor) To this fleet another four ships were going to be added. Continue reading

This is the peak time of the Baltic season and it sees each port full of cruise ships. Tallin was no exception with four cruise ships calling at the same time. Zenith, Costa Atlantica, Prinsendam and the Silver Shadow. The two big ones on the cruise pier outside the main port and the two smaller ones docked inside the commercial port where also the ferries dock. Continue reading

Today was a sea day and for most guests a day to relax and to get over the heavy sightseeing day of Warnemunde. Those who went to Berlin for the whole day, came back very happy but very tired and those who stayed near the ship where tired as well after being involved in the German party drive of the HANSA week in the town. When they all stepped back onboard, there was more to enjoy as the Hotel manager had arranged for a German Om-pah band to give a performance. First with a performance around the Lido pool where authentic German food was available; and later in the more formal setting of the Show lounge. We have various sorts of German Beer for sale and the band itself made sure that the barrel level went down considerably in the course of the evening. It resulted in a very quiet morning when the sun arose. Continue reading

Not calling at Kiel in the evening made it easy to be timely in Warnemunde. I wanted to be timely, read early, because we always have issues with the local ferries on arrival. They arrive and depart around the same time as our normal ETA and then we have to wait. The ferries, being on a strict timetable, get preference over cruise ships who only call on a seasonable basis. So after studying their schedules, I thought that I had found the solution. Arriving at 04.30 in the morning and being in the port docking the ship while the first ferry was approaching. It would mean that I would be docked very early but I had to be on time for the train to Berlin. If I manage to get the guests on the train and out of the station by 7 am., then the train will run ahead of all the commuter trains and will arrive in Berlin without delay. As with the ferries, commuter trains have preference and a late arrival in Berlin upsets the whole tour. It also means that the tour will return late and subsequently that will result in a late departure. So I tried the early arrival to see if it would work. Continue reading

For me the Kieler Kanal starts a long time before the guests get their first glimpse. You first have to go on the Elbe River; the river that leads to Hamburg. It is roughly 36 miles from the Pilot station to the entrance of the Kieler Kanal and as I have to be at the entrance at 10 am. it means that I pick up the Elbe pilot at 0700. With three hours for 36 miles, I do not have to run up river full speed and I have also some time on my sleeve in case something happens. As it is a busy river, it always does. This time it was very busy at the pilot station and several small container ships pushed their way in, all being in a great hurry, as they are on tight schedules to deliver their containers on time. I prefer then to take some speed back and wait until they have all scattered their different ways. Thus we had the pilot about 10 minutes late but for these things I had built this leeway in the schedule in the first place. Continue reading

One of the things I like about an overnight stay is that you see a city slowly coming alive in the morning. With traffic bustling through the port that you normally do not see, because their work is in the early morning, and slowly that whole machinery that makes a metropolis tick comes to life. The beautiful weather of yesterday continued through the day, with very little wind, and that meant that a lot of small pleasure craft where out and about during the day. It is August so many people in Holland have vacation and with water all around, whole family’s potter around in all sorts of boats. Some of these boats beggar belief. One, that they stay afloat and Two that people are daring to sail around with them. The port of Amsterdam is not tidal so there is no current and it is also quite sheltered which means that the wind can not whip up the waves to great heights. That results in some floating constructions to defy the laws of stability in top heaviness. However when they come to have a look at the Prinsendam, they have to come out of the shelter of the canals and onto the IJ; the large fairway along which we are docked. Here is a lot of commercial traffic coming by. Including large inland barges which draw a considerable wake and these self assembled “sea castles” rock, list surge and wallow in the wake of these barges and quite often nearly tip over. Not something for a professional sailor to look at too long. Continue reading

Due to a long departure from amsterdam and an even longer and exciting day in the Kieler Kanal no blog today but two tomorrow.

Best regards

Capt. Albert

After our windy departure from Rosyth we were flushed to open sea with the strong ebb current. We had just over three knots going with us but in a few days it will be full moon and springtide and then that current might reach six knots. The pilot onboard was not very happy with that, as it made transits down river very tricky. The ships are then difficult to slow down and a ship is being pushed all over the place when going around bends. From the Firth of Forth to Amsterdam you have to cross the North Sea on a South Easterly heading which is basically diagonally. As most traffic in the North Sea is North South or South North and follows the coast line, we did not have to deal with very much traffic until we came closer to the Dutch coast. During the night and morning we sailed through extended areas with oil and gas platforms and once we neared the Dutch coast we came across several Wind Parks. The latter all being part of a drive to diversify energy sources. My Dutch officers tell me “green electricity” is still dearer than normal electricity but with the number of Windmills still being planned that is supposed to change. Continue reading