Upon leaving Gibraltar we had to deal with a new navigational challenge. Whale waters. Around this time of the year, there is a (voluntary) slow speed system in place in the most narrow part of the Strait of Gibraltar. Over the years the sightings of whales have increased and collisions are now occurring. The participation in the system is voluntary and as Holland America cares about these things we went through at slow speed. Although it looked like it, that we were the only one doing so. Fast ferry’s, containerships, navy boats all came blasting by at full speed, while we chugged along with 13 knots.

There are more whales in the area than in the past. It seems that the whale hunting moratorium, in place since a few decades, is starting to pay off. More and more whales have been sighted in the Mediterranean itself and also in the bay of Gibraltar. In April we saw a number of them when we sailed from Cadiz to Barcelona, near Ibiza. They are difficult to see, as they do not play around as the Humpbacks do in Alaska. No breeching, no tail wagging and no big tail coming up before they go down. So we have extra quartermasters on the look-out to try to spot the exhaust plumes. If we think that they are coming too close, we change course to other way, and if we can not discern any moving pattern, we slow down until the whale has decided to go somewhere.

This time we did not see anything, just a whole fleet of fishing boats racing across our bow from Africa to Spain. The unnerving thing iwith those boats is the way they perceive safe distances. While we like at least 3000 feet in open waters, they are quite happy with a 100. When we steer away to create a bit more room, they sometimes have the unpleasant habit of steering closer so they can wave at the guests.

Arrival Lisbon was another early morning. It takes approx. 45 minutes from the sea buoy to the pilot station at Belem tower. So if you want to be docked by 7 am., you start the approach at 5 am. When you get to the sea buoy you have to slow down, as you go over the bar. Normally there is about 8 meter clearance under the keel, but if there is a combination of low tide and a big ocean swell, it can be considerably less. When the ship goes at full speed, a phenomena called squat occurs and that can increase the draft by 2 meters or more. Count it all together and you are coming close to touching the bank. By slowing down you reduce the squat and thus increase the under keel clearance. Coming in we measured 7 meters under the keel, and going up (with the tide going up the river) we had 10 meters.

Once clear of the bar, we cranked the ship up to full speed as was a very tight run to get to Vigo on time.

Thus we arrived bright and early at the Gibraltar pilot station. The weather was quite miserable with rain squalls all over the place. The pilot was nicely on time and from the pilot station it was only two miles to the dock. By 6 am, the ship was safely docked and the gangway out, awaiting the local authorities. We were also awaiting our bunker barge who had promised to there at 6 am. but was nowhere to be seen. Then the pilot pointed out a barge still alongside another ship. That was our barge, still working at the other ship

We got the agent on the phone to inquire. At the same time the pilot had some issues with a cargo ship behind us. At 6 am. there was only one pilot on duty, thus he spaced the ships 30 minutes apart. This cargo ship however had, or feigned to have, problems with understanding the instructions of the pilot. He was told to proceed, slowly, very slowly to the pilot station. 5 minutes later he reported that he was already there.

Pilot: Captain, I told you to go slow, very slow, am I still on the other ship.
Captain: yes, I am at the pilot station, pilot ladder ready, where are you ?.
Pilot: Captain you have to wait, I am still on the other ship.
Captain: yes I am here at the pilot station, I am doing 2 knots.
Pilot: Captain, stop the engines and float, I will be there shortly.
Captain: yes I have my engines going, where are you, I am going to the dock.
Pilot: no you are not going to the dock. I want you to drop anchor with one length out and hold position.
Captain: yes, I proceed slowly on my way.
Pilot: Wait I am on the way to you ………………….
…………at this time the pilot left the Veendam and the conversation stopped.

Our bunker barge made it to the ship by 08.30. so all our efforts, including me getting up extra early, where for nothing. When the barge came alongside, the chief engineer asked him why he was so late. He was then told in no uncertain terms, that if the Veendam had been docked by 6 am., the bunker barge would have been there………………..so it was all our fault. However we managed to load our fuel on time. Also by 9 am. The weather cleared and it became a beautiful sunny day. Sail away here is very interesting to the guests, as part from the Rock looming over the ship, there are all the ships at anchor, which we pass by very closely. If you have never seen a super tanker before in your life, then these ships close by are an amazing sight. Gibraltar is used by a lot of ships for loading fuel. One very large tanker is at anchor in the middle of the bay and the bunker barges collect the fuel from this tanker and bring it to their clients anchored in the bay. When leaving from the passenger terminal you have to sail past all these ships and that provides a very interesting spectacle.

After hopping from one port to the other for the last four days, we had another sea day. The guests could catch their breath and relax a little bit from all the sightseeing. Although we did keep them busy today as well, if they wanted to of course. This being a longer cruise means that we have a number of extra activities on board. Exploration Speakers, Celebrity Chefs and even I chipped in with a Holland America Line History lecture. To top the evening off, we had a Black and White Officers ball.

The black and white ball is a dance happening that we normally do on cruises of 14 days and longer. It gives the guests a chance to mingle with officers they normally do not see and it is a good excuse to throw a party. The setup is very straight forward. After an announcement by the Cruise director I come down the stairs with my wife, or in this case a cruise staff lady, followed by all the officers, staff and concessionaires. We march onto the stage to the tune of anchors away and everybody lines up behind me. From the dance floor it is very impressive to see this line up of officers all dressed in Black and white. From there we come down to the dance floor at the start of the first tune. We have some special dances, these are called the envelope dances. A few of the officers have a numbered envelope in their pocket. When the number is called, the guest who happens to be dancing with the officer gets a price…………..after answering the questions of who this officer is and where he/she comes from. Some guests can really get into it and already start questioning an officer before the dance starts, in case there happens to be an envelope there. The captain never has one, that would be to obvious. But he has a photographer hovering nearby. That is also an incentive for the Ladies. It always looks good to have a photo with the captain in the photo album from the cruise. So I seldom get a break during the whole period that the band plays bu the photographer does good business.

The dancing normally finishes an hour later, when the band goes on break, but as most people then have gotten into the groove sufficiently, the party continues most of the time in the crows nest until the wee hours. I never saw those “wee” hours. For me it was time to go to bed after 45 minutes, as standby for arrival Gibraltar the next morning was at 04.30 I was going for an early arrival because we had to bunker 1100 tons of fuel and the bunker barge was going to be there by 6 am.

Today we docked at the Palocruceros terminal. This terminal is brand new and one of the four along the cruise ship dock at Barcelona. Apart from being brand new it is also owned by Carnival Corporation and was especially built for Costa who uses Barcelona as one of their change over ports. Thus from now on, we will dock at this terminal unless there are more corporation ships in port and one of them has turn over day. My favourite place for docking is at the World Trade centre, as it is located right on the edge of downtown, in the inner harbor. Those three docks are now most of the time used by smaller ships.

For this inner harbour they made a new port entrance and therefore you do not have to sail through the draw bridge anymore. Before this entrance was ready, every ship destined for the world Trade centre dock or going to dry dock had to go through this bridge. The bridge connects the artificial island behind the breakwater, where the passenger terminals are located, with the mainland. Clearance is about 140 feet and with ships with a width of 105 feet or more, that gave not much room to play with, especially on a windy day. Thus a new entrance was created and the bridge now seldom opens.

The terminal itself is very big and airy. When you walk in there it give you the feeling of a place with a pleasant temperature just by overall impression. Very handy for the summer time when it can be very warm here. Nice seating area’s, three shops and a little bar, plenty check in terminals, all meant to make embarkation a pleasant affair. Outside there is ample parking space for the buses. I thought that the whole place was designed very well. Embarkation is by means of a skywalk, as used at the airports.

Barcelona is busy with a big port extension program which includes extending the breakwater by nearly a mile. That means that the sailing in takes a bit longer but also that you can keep the speed up while sailing in. The pilot is most of the time quite happy to let the captain do the job, “captain you know your ship best, I will tell you when to stop when you are there” so it is a fun port to go to, if only for the fact that I can play with the ship to my hearts content.

We had over 700 guests on tour today, as Barcelona’s offers something for everybody, and for those who do not want to walk, the panoramic tour is of great interest as the town has so many interesting things to look at. Biggest draw is of course the church still being built. Designed by Gaudi and not supposed to be finished for the next 20 years. It is one of those things that you have to have seen, if only once in your lifetime.

It is only a short hop from St Tropez to Marseilles and we went for an early arrival as the full day tours were leaving shortly after 7 am. Apart from the regular city tours, there are also tours going deep into the Provence and that takes a bit of travelling by bus. Marseilles has been working very hard to accommodate the increase in cruise ship calls and therefore we had a beautiful and spacious berth to dock at. In the past I have docking at old cargo berths, where the sheds where almost falling apart but this dock was really beautiful.

As it was our first call, the local tourist centre had laid on a little show with a group of dancing ladies and men on old instruments playing folkloristic music. A few little shops had been set up to sell local products and knick-knacks and the tour buses could park right across from the gangway. All very convinient. The only issue with Marseilles is the long distance from the terminal to the town centre. That is the case for all the ships. The old port has been revamped as a Marina,and the nearest deep-sea berths are now exclusively in use for the ferries. All other traffic is docking quite a ways away. The port lays on shuttle buses for a nominal charge and they ran constantly during our call, so there was no delay for those not on tour to get into Marseilles.

I had hoped to go ashore here, there is a great nautical bookstore in the old port and a small but beautiful maritime museum but as it had been a short night between St. Tropez and Marseilles I needed my sleep. Hopefully next time. The port keeps up an old tradition of offering a memento, commemorating the first call of the vessel. By 11 am, I had the harbourmaster, immigration and the tourist bureau on board for a plaque exchange. Those plaques are hung on the bulkheads in the forward passenger staircase for all to see. The more new ports a ship does, the larger the collection. Especially ships on long and exotic cruises, such as our Prinsendam, accumulate quite a collection. The ship gives in return the ships crest and framed photos with dedication.

We were in port with the Disney Magic and the Thomson Celebration, which is the old Noordam. It was funny to see that ship now from the other side. I was part of the new building team of the ship in 1983 and she was my first regular command, also sailing in Europe. She is still owned by Holland America and now on a 10 year bare boat charter to Louis Cruise Lines, who in turn have chartered her out to Thomson. Bare boat means; renting out only the ship and the charterer takes care of the full operational side, including the crew. Thomson is an English package holiday company. They fly their guests to their own ships using their own planes, and offer pre and post packages all in house. My wife and I did the first shake down cruise of the ship as I wanted to see what they had done with my Noordam and it was a very pleasant product. Simple but enjoyable.

A beautiful invention they came up with over there was the roving beer pump. A beer pump on a trolley with a little philipino waitress behind it, roving around the deck and everywhere she saw a few men standing together, she stopped and sold a pint. As the British do like their beer it was a roaring trade. I must admit, that I was one of her most enthusiastic customers. When I work, I do not drink at all, sticking to Perrier water but I do enjoy a glass when off duty. A roving beer pump was an invention not to be missed. Instead of going to the Bar, the bar came to you. I thought it was a great idea.

When I read the agents email with the arrival information, there was a mention about a sailing race taking place during the day. That always gives me a bad feeling as it means most of the time, pleasure boats all around the ship, boats anchoring where they should not be, boats not behaving according to the rules of the road, speedboats creating wake along the tender platform Etc Etc.

Thus I decided to build in an hour leeway in arriving, just for the case that there was something unplanned going to happen. Glad I did. The sailing race taking place was called the Giraglia Rolex Cup 2007. Several races were taking place over a period of 3 days and they had scheduled one of their meetings at 11 am. in a location between the open sea and my anchorage. Our official arrival time was 11.30 but we sailed into the bay at 10 am. Just at the moment when the first big single mast sailing boat came out of the marina to take position. 20 minutes later the bay was completely closed off by all sorts of boats filled with spectators.

Next issue was to find an anchorage, I have been to St Tropez before and I have my favourite location, safe for the ship and a short distance to the port for our tenders. Ofcourse that spot was taken by a large yacht. The next best spot was clear of yachts but full with buoys that marked a long rectangular. According to our local agent, it were just fishing buoys, but the moment I stopped the ship to lower the tenders, the racing committee came on the VHF asking very anxiously if the “Viedamme” was going to anchor there. It must have been their buoys in use for an un-explained purpose. Then the agent enlightened us with the news that the harbour master had closed the marina for our tenders and that we now had to tender to a dock outside the breakwater. That meant for our tenders a route through all the yachts at anchor.

In the end I had to anchor far away from my intended spot, resulting in a twice as long a tender distance. However as the weather was beautiful, the longer tender ride was of no concern to the guests. The ride past all the yachts was very interesting and St Tropez is very scenic close up and from a distance. One of the yachts was called the Pink Gin and that generated a lot of photographic activity. Boogles my mind, these sort of names. This yacht was worth at least $ 25 mln. if not more, and then you call it Pink Gin.

At least the Veendam was the most expensive yacht in the harbour for the day. We stayed until 2300 hrs. and for those guests who went ashore in the evening, it was a very romantic ride. The wind had died down, it was a clear starry night and all the yachts were lit up as were the old walls of St. Tropez. Although we know St. Tropez as a mondain sea resort, frequented by the jet-set, the town was founded as an ancient fortified trading port with roots going back to the days of the ancient Greeks. The harbour is sheltered for winds from every direction except the N.E and that made it a strategic place for refuge and shelter.

Bright and early we arrived at the pilot station and slotted into the parade of all the approaching ships. The sequence worked out as follows:
Galaxy first. Then delay for all due to an out coming car carrier. Ferry next, followed by us. Followed by Disney Magic, Oceana, Thomson Celebration, Seabourn Legend and then another number of ferries. This all in the time span of 90 minutes. Disney has a ship in Europe for the first time this year and they have installed one of those big TV screens over the top of the swimming pool. As the Magic was docked ahead of us, my quartermasters spend the morning watching cartoons, while on standby on the bridge. Mickey Mouse and Goofy are also appreciated by the people from Indonesia. By having a bridge window open, they could also hear the sound. If we could hear it over 2000 feet away, it must have been very loud over there on the deck.

An exciting piece of news was an email from our President and CEO Stein Kruse that arrived on board this morning. The building option for a second Signature Class ship has been exercised so we are getting a sister to the Eurodam. Completion date will be in fall 2010. No name has been given yet, but as the Euro-dam is named after Europe, it would be my guess that this ship is going to be named after another continent. Let’s wait and see. The ordering of a second Signature Class ship does indicate that there is a strong interest by our guests in the Holland America product. Again this ship will feature a number of inovations including an 2nd specialty restaurant, this one located in front of the funnel. With a capacity of 144 seats it will serve Asian Fusion Cuisine. The company is sticking with the concept of building medium size class ships, 86000 tons, and is not planning to go to mega carriers and high density ships. The Holland America guest likes space and lack of crowds. Thus the ship will carry a maximum of 2000 guests while a comparable size ship from another company would carry 2700 or more.

It was a beautiful windless day and a great but hazy evening while we waited for our guests to return from Rome. Departure was delayed due on bus coming back very late. The bus had to wait for two guests who had somehow decided to return to the bus much later than everybody else. We try very hard not to leave guests behind who are on HAL organized tours, however it is very irritating as it has a great impact on the shipboard operation. The Lido restaurant has to stay open longer and the crew involved in the departure has to hang around for an extra 30 minutes, while they could do something else or be in bed. Then the ship has to make up the lost time by going faster through the night, what costs extra fuel. This delay in sailing cost me approximate $ 3000 in extra fuel costs. I was still lucky that we pulled out at the time we did, another 20 minutes later and I would have had to wait another hour, as this was the ferry departure period and they go first. If that would have happened then we would have arrived too late in St. Tropez and that is where we are going next.

It was a beautiful sunday today. We had a flat calm sea and a brightly shining sun while we sailed around the southern part of Italy. Our guests first had the chance to see the East side of Italy during the early morning. Then the South side at noon time followed by the West side in the afternoon. As we sailed with the sun, the sun always shone onto the coast giving a very clear view of the scenery. We passed through Strait Messina around 1 pm. and had Stromboli at 15.30 hrs., so all on board had ample opportunity to enjoy the sights.

My day started in an unusual way as I had been asked to do the bible reading for the Sunday service. Normally I stay away from that as I do not want to show preference to any variation of the Christian faith but this was different. The Reverend we have on board this cruise is the Chaplain General of the International Seafarers Ministry and is from Dutch decent. I met him for the first time about 25 years ago and he shows up from time to time with his wife for a cruise. His name is about as complicated as mine, Uittenbosch, which translates into English as “from the Forest” but as he lives in Canada he uses the name Dubois. This makes the life of his wife, who is a French teacher, a lot easier. About 75 guests attended the service, which was more than for the bingo, so I assume there is still hope for mankind.

Going through the strait of Messina was an easy affair this time. The pilot came on board while the ship was going at full speed, had his cup of coffee, had his bill signed, and hopped of 20 minutes later, with the ship still going at full speed. He had one look out of the window to see if I was going the right way and spend the rest of the time talking on the VHF. The main aim of that conversation was that he tried to make a tanker, which was approaching Messina strait after us, to go faster to fit in his schedule. The tanker captain was saying that 11.5 knots was the top speed of his ship and he could not go any faster, but the pilot was having none of it. But top speed is top speed so the argument did not get resolved. The tanker kept moving at 11.5 knots and the pilot had to wait.

Stromboli was producing white smoke today and as the crater top was not covered in clouds, the smoke plumes could be clearly seen rising from the crater hole. We passed by at a distance of just over a mile while the port lecturer gave a little narration about what was there to be seen. In the meantime we kept the pedal to the metal, was it was a tight run to Civitavecchia. I wanted to arrive early because 6 other cruise ships were expected. All of them around the same time. If you do not arrive on the agreed time, you can loose your spot and then be delayed by an hour or more. For the call here, you want to have the buses to Rome on the road by 7 am. which means that arriving on time is of the essence. It will be a Monday, thus traffic is going to be a challenge to get to Rome and to get back to the ship again. My crew has already given up on bus transport and they all go to Rome by train, if they have the day off.

Another busy day in this port. There was the Brilliance and the Legend of the Seas at anchor, the Veendam and the MSC Armonia alongside, and the Costa Marina and Costa Serena at the downtown anchorage. No reason for the shopkeepers to complain. We had our normal fun and games with the sailing yachts upon arrival, including one who decided that the best spot to lower his sails was right in front of my bow but we were docked exactly at noon time, the official arrival time.

This cruise we have a very mixed group of guests on board. Naturally the big majority is Canadians and Americans but we are starting to get more and more Australians on the ship. This cruise we have 50. We do not see them on the short European cruises, the 26 hour flying time it too much for that, but on the longer cruises more and more are coming. Holland America started a marketing campaign about 10 years ago in Australia and New Zealand and it looks like it that it is paying off. Because of their accent and their penchant for a “no worries” attitude, Aussie’s always stand out in a crowd and for a lot of guests on board it is the first time that they meet people from down under. We have a ship sailing in Australian waters during the winter, the Statendam, so they could take a cruise close to home but more and more are coming this way to see Europe by ship. I would not be amazed at all if some of them are adding the first Baltic cruise to their travel plans as well. It is a long long way from the other side of the world, so if you make the journey, then you might as well make the most of it.

As usual I listened this morning to the local weather forecast on the VHF ship’s radio and completely puzzled I was. While all my other weather forecasts and the view outside gave beautiful weather I was advised about a gale warning in the Mid Adriatic. When I was just about to leave the bridge to have another check of the weather on the internet, a rather hesitant voice came back on, apologizing in three languages, (English, Italian, and Croatian) and re reading the weather. Turned out that somehow the script from two days ago had been given to the news reader.

In some parts of the world, the person who reads the weather forecast is also the person who composes it and I never thought about it before, but it makes sense, as it does prevent mistakes like these. The Weather girl at home on my local television, is responsible for her own script and contents and that works very well for now obvious reasons.

Our tours were all back in time and thus I could leave the dock exactly on schedule. It was a nice convoy leaving the port with the Legend and the Brilliance pulling out just ahead of me. The Costa Serenade had left the anchorage in downtown and we all met at the same time at the same point. ………And they keep telling me that only Florida has busy cruise ports. Tomorrow is a sea day, with as highlight the transverse of the Strait of Messina.

Change over day, is normally one of the busiest days of the whole cruise, for everybody, except the captain. There are no meetings, it is difficult to do inspections and there are no parties. The ship is in change over from the old cruise to the new one. Thus I normally spend change over day with clearing away the paperwork of the past cruise and deleting the hundreds of emails that have come in during that cruise.

This morning I had something else on my hands, loading carpet. Not exactly a job for a captain but caused by circumstances. A thing that happens during change over day is the crew change. That makes every department short handed. In total we had 31 crew leaving including a number of key players. Apart from the fact that they are leaving, they also have to do a handover to their relieve and that means they are not available until 1 pm. At 1 pm. There is the compulsory safety indoctrination meeting and nobody is allowed to start working on board until they have gone through this indoctrination. At the same time the deck department was testing Firescreendoors and ventilation stops. That is something we have to do, but only want to do when there are no guests on board. It is rather unsettling for a not-initiated to see all the doors in the ship closing and the familiar hallway suddenly disappearing. Also it does not give a good feeling if the Air-conditioning and ventilation suddenly stops. AC creates white noise in the ship and you get used to it. If it suddenly stops if feels as if a deadly silence descends over the ship and that really startles people. Thus we prefer to do it when there is only crew on board. It takes only one announcement to explain to them what is going on and the deck officers can push buttons to their hearts content.

All these things left nobody available for supervising the loading of the carpet. We were expecting 12 big rolls of carpet and they are too cumbersome to be stored inside the ship. So I wanted them on the bow. There is plenty space there, it does not bother the guests, and in port the upholsterers have a big open deck available to cut the rolls. We have permanently two upholsterers on board. They repair curtains, chairs and guests suitcases and they also spend time on renewing carpet where needed. I had arranged a crane for the loading and it was a fun few hours spend get the rolls on board. On a cruise ship we do not do much cargo handling (our cargo walks on and off by itself) so messing around with cranes and slings is a nice deviation from the normal things going on.

Once the rolls where on deck, the bo’sun with his sailors secured them against the bulkhead and covered them over with a tarpaulin against the sea spray. In the coming ports, when the guests are ashore, the Facilities Maintenance Manager, will start selecting area’s in the ship where the new carpet will go.

We left nicely on time, under a bright setting sun, which showed Venice at it’s best for our final departure. We are on our way to Copenhagen.