With gloomy looking weather we arrived at the cruise pier of Kerkira. There was a considerable amount of wind which was not so nice for docking but did help to blow the gloom away and the sun came out and remained out for the rest of the day. The wind remained as well.  Corfu is a real tourist destination both for land based tourists as well as for the cruise ships. Hence they built a very long pier which can handle six large cruise ships.  And there are days when there are six of those ships in. However as we are here very early in the spring it meant we were the only ship in port.  Which was nice as it gave everybody a lot more elbow room in downtown and no lines for using the port shuttle or the Big Red Bus.

The Fire team lining up before making an entry. The teamleader is still standing up as he tries to get the key in the lock. Then he will hide behind the nozzleman to be protected. Note the good visibility.

While the guests were disappearing ashore, the crew had yet another drill to attend at least about a 100 of them. Those, who are involved with responding to an initial report of a emergency. The greatest danger to a ship is fire and thus we train for anything that could happen in relation to this. So this morning the teams were exposed to a Capt. Albert Special which means a drill with an un-expected twist. The drill set-up consisted of fighting a locker fire, evacuating the area around the locker (about 25 crew cabins) and then go for smoke control to keep smoke and fire away from the rest of the ship. The twist this morning was the little issue of having much more smoke billowing out than anybody was expecting. We are using stage smoke for our drills which makes it possible for me as an observer to remain in the smoke for the whole period. The teams wear SCUBA and they are not affected by any kind of smoke as long as their masks are sealed tight and their fire man’s suits properly zipped up.

This is two minutes after the first entry was made and it got only worse from there onwards with smoke.

Why does a lot of smoke make a difference? It disorientates everybody. As long you can see something you have a reference point to work from. The moment you lose such a reference point you suddenly feel very alone in a small white world. To avoid this issue we train our crews to focus on their hose. It is their protection against the fire and it is their lifeline for getting away from the danger area they are working in. The team going in performed well and the fire was located and subsequently extinguished. After each drill there is always a debriefing to discuss the good points but also lessons learned. Our lesson learned today was, that we found the best way for this particular area for getting rid of the smoke as quickly as possible.

The Dutch Bollard in a recess in the side. They can be reached from tug boat deck level. The white letters on the side indicate the strength of the bollard and how hard a tugboat can pull.

Catching up with yesterday’s walk along the outside of the ship; we are now moving further aft and away from the mid ships. At several locations in the hull we have recesses with a bollard inside. These are called Dutch Bollards. (I have no idea why the name is and why not a French bollard or a German bollard ???) They were first installed on the Statendam in 1992. The logic behind it was to help the tugboats in the Panama Canal for tying up. They do so but not that often. Normally they take a line from the bow or the stern or push in the side. But the tugboats in the rest of the world love it as well. Subsequently all our following ships have had them and thus also the Koningsdam. It has my blessing as it is much more preferable to have a tugboat crew tie the tug up themselves than the sailors having to handle the heavy lines high up on the mooring decks.

The glass staircase connecting the upper Seaview area to the lower Seaview area.

Further aft, we have the novelty which only the Koningsdam has in our fleet. A staircase, running outside the ship with a glass floor.  There is one on both sides of the ship. I believe it was a Princess ship who had the first glass bottom walkway outside the ship and Holland America morphed this into a staircase.

The ships duck tail. A sort of a gigantic spoiler at the stern of the vessel.

Finally we then come to the stern of the ship and here the most obvious item is the ducktail. In an earlier blog I already mentioned the reason for this contraption. This serves the dual purpose of enhancing the stability of the ship as it increases the surface contact of the ship and it helps with consuming less fuel. When the ship speeds up, the stern sinks in, a normal phenomenon we call squat. The ducktail lets the stern “sit” on the water instead of having it sink in. In a similar way as a spoiler does on race cars.

Today we are visiting another port. At 6 pm. when we leave we will hop across to Sarande in Albania, a port you can see from the dock in Corfu. Here we will make an evening call, and guests who are interested can hop in the tender and have a walk along the boulevard. I am keeping my fingers crossed as the wind currently blowing is not ideal for a tender call at Sarande so we need a little bit of luck with the wind angle being behind the mountains and those mountains keeping the anchorage area sheltered from waves and chop.

As I had hoped for, the scattered thunderstorms scattered indeed away from the main land and caused more issues over the sea with generating squalls with considerable wind around the rainclouds.  But with rain at sea there is always a fair chance of a dry day ashore and indeed Dubrovnik showed its sunny self. A bit on the chilly side when out of the sun, but for sightseeing that is more of a plus than a minus. We docked around 09.30 and this time the ship had to be parked between two other ships. At the end of the pier there was a local Ferry called the Dubrovnik and far inside the newest ship of Viking Cruises the Viking Sea. It is a very long pier and thus we had ample room to get the 300 meters of the Koningsdam in between. Official arrival time was 10 am. and just before the clock struck 10, the local authorities had cleared the ship and the guests could go ashore via the two gangways which had been put out. Shuttle buses and tour buses were waiting and a benign invasion of Dubrovnik had started.

The pier at Gruz. The local ferry Dubrovnik at the corner and the Viking Sea deep inside the port.

For the crew the chance to go ashore came in the afternoon if they are not on safety duty, but about a 100 of them had to attend lifeboat training first. As it was perfect weather we lowered all the portside boats into the water. With the sun and hardly any wind it was perfect for our objectives of bringing more and more routine into the operation.  Thus the whole portside when down in the water, sailed around and then came neatly back on board just before noon time.

Koningsdam as seen from the bow.

I have been blogging extensively about the beautiful inside of the ship but today a few things about the outside.  When you look at the outside of a cruise ship you see a lot of peculiar things which are there for good reason, but what is the good reason?

From right to left. Bulb sign. Draft mark. Frame number at the water line. Above the tank indications and to the left the 3 bow thrusters signs.

Starting at the bow, there are several markings. First the indication of the bulbous bow. Although everybody can see it, it is compulsory to have an indication to warn smaller sailing craft about bumping into it. Then there are the three propellers signs indicating the location of the bow thruster. Again compulsory and there to warn anybody of the possible propeller wash.  Finally above it is a mark with some letters. This is to indicate the boundaries of the various tanks inside the hull. In this case WB = Water Ballast, then the tank nbr. and then a name indication Forepc = forepeak tank. At the water line there is a number which indicates the frame number of the ship. The ships frames are about 80 centimeters apart and the Koningsdam has about 370 of them.

The Main Deck cabins. The further forward, the deeper recessed.

Looking up there are the windows of the main deck cabins. Due to the curving bow the windows are more recessed towards the bow and not so much while coming to the flat hull of the ship. A second reason for the recess is for bad weather. With the windows recessed the waves will hit the hull and not the glass.  Above these windows is a little rail with nozzles. This is for cleaning the window glass as with the recessed widows it is hard for the sailors to get the scrubbers in.

The Plimsoll Mark to the right. The draft marks to the left. Above, the ships rubbing stroke, a sort of car bumper for a ship.

Half way down the ship there is the Plimsoll mark. Invented in the mid-19^th. Century by a gentleman called Mr. Hall if I remember correctly. Then a British politician Mr. Plimsoll took on the challenge to have the system turned into law, which was not easy as it meant ships could only load until the line of the Plimsoll mark which became the water line. This was good for the safety of the ship but not so good for the bottom line of the company finances. But Plimsoll managed to get the law passed in Parliament and his name got attached to the draft mark. Basically it allows a ship to have a certain draft in certain areas. Cargo ships have sometimes 5 or 6 options. For cruise ships it is a lot easier and the Koningsdam has two. The maximum draft in seawater P1 and then a deeper draft in fresh water F. As fresh water provides less buoyancy than salt water, the ship will automatically sink in a bit more with the same ships weight. Hence two lines.  The L and R indicates Lloyds Register under which control the ship was built and they approved the ships stability as well. To the left are the draught marks with the Koningsdam having a draft of 8 meters.

More to follow.

This evening we sail at 6 pm. and then head for Kerkira on Corfu for the day and hop over to Sarande for an evening call. We are looking at partly cloudy skies with temperatures around 66oF or 19oC and it is not supposed to rain.

We sailed with a slight delay last evening as we had soo many stores to load and a lot of space in the ship was still taken up by spare parts which we had not been able to re-locate to its final ‘resting place”. Thus it took a bit longer than predicted to get it all on board. But the cruise schedule has sufficient leeway in the schedule to make this possible and thus we know we will make Dubrovnik on time tomorrow morning.

Today the schedule was simply the opposite from a few days ago. Sailing south along the coast and arriving at the Strait of Messina at 10.45 am. We did not do Stromboli this time as we had found out that there was no activity, the day before yesterday. The Strait of Messina was a different story as there is always something to see. Ferries criss crossing, sometimes five at the time, and fishermen drifting with the tide up and down the Strait. Today the current had brought them into the main channel and the ship had to blow the whistle repeatedly to explain to them, that they were really in the way. Going through the Straits with the sun shining on Sicily was indeed a pleasant happening.

Dangerous things Watertight Doors. Once they move, nothing can and will stop them from closing.

I spent my day training crew on how to open and close watertight doors safely. On each deck below A deck (B, C, D) deck we have these doors which split up the ship in various watertight sections and will help the ship stay afloat in case of ingress of water. While sailing most of them are closed and that is a real nuisance for the crew who have to go from A to B and find such a door blocking the way. The company has several protocols dealing with these doors and under certain circumstances they are allowed to be quickly opened, pass through, and then closed again. As there are still (fatal) injuries in the maritime industry caused by these doors, all crew who are allowed to open them, get trained in the various protocols and with the emphasis on how to do it safely. The training consists of a power point with the protocols, a written exam and a practical handling of the door. As everybody authorized, that also includes the Captain and senior officers, it makes sense for me to get involved. (You never know if a Sr. figure would fail the exam. How could a jr. officer deal with that?)

Art all around the dance floor and chairs on it for the lecture.

For those who had no geographical interest there was the lecture and sales pitch from the Art Auctioneers. Apart from their Art Gallery they also transform the Queens Lounge a few times a week in a large exhibition centre. Our two story Lounge is a near perfect location for it and here the art displays do not block off any public sitting areas or bars as is the case on the other ships. Hopefully the much better ambiance will result in a few extra sales.

All seats taken for Dutch High Tea.

A second reason we are very happy with the Queens lounge is for having found the perfect venue for Dutch High Tea. This was always held in a Dining room area which did not take anything away from the quality of the sandwiches, scones and other nibbles being served, but you sat at a regular dining room table. Now we have the two level setup of the Queens Lounge with its nice chairs and lower tables and it looks very stylish. No need to go to Raffles anymore, we can do it better.

A few nice nibbles to deal with this hungry feeling which always pops up between lunch and dinner.

Another piece of art which popped up overnight is the sitting figure outside the Tamarind Restaurant. The entrance to the restaurant is guarded by two Lions but when you step out of the Elevator the first thing you see is this contemplative figure on a large slab of marble. I do not know what the intention is of putting a meditative figure there; maybe it is to contemplate life in general or maybe to contemplate the increase of your waist line because of going to the Tamarind ?? But nice it is.

Reflect on Life, Contemplate on Food,
or just nice Art ?

What is plainly dangerous, at least for my bank account, is a new shop we have on board and which is also new to Holland America. It is a handbag shop, although I suppose there is a much posher name for it. My Lord and Master has joined me for this cruise to look the ship over and as she is an avid handbag collector I have great fears for my credit card.  At the last count she already has about 50 of them but there is always room for just one more…………………

The Starboard Hand Bag shop. Deck 3 behind the upper level Queens Lounge.

Thus we will spend the remainder of the day sailing south of Italy and make the crossing over the Adriatic Sea towards Dubrovnik. The city is located behind a string of islands and with a 10am arrival we should have a nice scenic sail in. The weather forecast calls for scattered thunderstorms but it did this as well for today and I have not seen any rain clouds what so ever. At least today they were scattered somewhere else and hopefully it will be the same tomorrow.

After a quiet night in the port the hustle and bustle of a regular change over day started; our first change over day with the ship. No doubt we will learn a few lessons for the coming cruises today and as with every new ship and with new technology you will find a gremlin where least expected. So this morning we said goodbye to our shake down company cruise testers and prepared the ship for its first regular guests. We are expecting approx. 2200 guests which is below maximum capacity but it can still mean for all the cabins to be full already as we have a lot of guests who book for single occupancy and there are still people such as me who take up cabin space as well.

There are more people like me still on board, trainers, service technicians and extra officers for starting up the ship. As we all were scattered all over the ship it resulted this morning in a re-location of quite a few people. We all met each other everywhere in hallways and corridors while trying to find our new cabins. I was lucky as I just had to move 50 cabins more aft on the same deck. Not all handicapped cabins were sold this cruise and thus I ended up in one.  I do not mind them as they have nice large bathrooms and a lot of space in the cabin but you have to accept that there is no couch to sit on because maneuvering space is needed for a wheel chair. Talking about guests with Special Needs, we also have our first Guide Dog on board and thus it is an “Inaugural – Dog”.

Housekeeping is focusing today on their luggage loading routines as this is the first time we have several thousand pieces of luggage coming on board. Last cruise, the 4 day one, quite a few guests came on board and pulled their own luggage and thus this is the first test. Shore side, longshoremen operation here in Civitavecchia can be quite good (depending on the Italian mood) and this morning it looked like  the first suitcases arrived on board shortly after eleven, way before embarkation started.

Civitavecchia port map. There is a port, a large industrial area and, off the map, a town centre.

Civitavecchia is the gateway port to Rome and in itself not very exciting. I has a fortification constructed by Michelangelo and a small boulevard with shops and pizzerias. For the rest it is an industrial area but with a Railway station which has a direct connection with Rome. And some savvy cruisers take the train to Rome instead of the bus.

This cruise will also be the first cruise where we have children on board approx. 50 of them and I have no doubt they will test the Club HAL facilities to the limit. The setup we have on this ship is considerably different than on the other classes, much more open space and also for the first time two dedicated outside deck areas screened off from the open deck areas accessible for the rest of the ship. Not a bad idea at all, it stops from suddenly having to duct for ping pong and tennis balls that come flying by.

We will call at Corfu during the day time and then an evening call at Sarande on the same day.

Embarkation will continue until 16.00 hrs. and then we should have our Passenger Boat drill followed by departure. This is a seven day cruise with calls at Dubrovnik, Corfu (Greece), Sarande (Albania), Katakolon (Greece), Naples and then back to Civitavecchia. The next cruise is a 12 day one but as you can combine cruises anyway you like we have guests who are staying past the christening cruise of 21 May.

As Corfu is located on the other side of Italy we will retrace our steps from the days before and sail south. Messina Straits passage should be around 10.45 am and then we curve around the South of Italy again for an arrival in Dubrovnik the next day at 10 am.  Weather is supposed to be a bit drizzly as there is long cloud layer all over the this area as it rained a little today here in Civitavecchia as well.

Last night we sailed by Stromboli and its volcano but there was no action. As it was overcast it was all pitch black and the only thing we could see were the lighthouses on the Main land and the little lighthouse on Strombolincino which is a little bump almost attached to the volcano on the east side where the ferries dock that  maintain the contact with the rest of the world. There was hardly any sulpher smell either and that was good, as when it enters the A.C. then the whole ship can enjoy the smell of rotten eggs. Not a good idea when you are just having dinner.

The Lido deck by night. As it is still chilly in the Med. the Dome was closed.

It also did not influence the movies under the stars in a negative way. We now have every night movies playing in the Lido Deck with the Dome open if it is nice weather and the dome closed if it is inclement. Last night’s offering was Mad Max Fury.

Close up: Mad Max driving into a Sand Storm.

Daybreak brought more sunshine and very little wind and that was pleasant for docking. We are docked at the north side terminal with the nose out and to accomplish this you have to swing inside and then back track again on to an outbound course. With the length of the Koningsdam it does work to swing in the basin as there is not much room for clearance and the more wind there is, the more you drift and the narrower it gets. Thus arrival was a pleasant affair with no wind of concern.  At the moment I am going with the 3^rd officer to the forward mooring deck to ensure we implement all the safe practices needed and required and that gave me a chance to observe the Italian linesmen who pull the ropes ashore. Linesmen nearly everywhere in the world are always convinced their work is too heavy, that the ships are giving out the wrong ropes and that the whole world is against them. And they yell and scream accordingly.  The only exception is probably Mexico and Costa Rica where they run with the ropes as if there is no tomorrow. So we had our “standard friendly exchange” with them and somehow the ropes got ashore and went where they had to go.

Nice new white head lines. 8 going forward and 2 going aft (not visible)

The number of ropes we put ashore and the configuration varies from port to port and in relation to the expected weather. If the ship is bigger it will give out more ropes as it can catch more wind than a smaller ship. The Koningsdam with the two extra Guest decks above the bridge can catch a lot of wind and thus we give out quite a few ropes.  Most rope configurations work on the 2+2 example. For the S- Class (Maasdam/ Veendam) 4 +2   = four headlines and two spring lines is considered enough. For the Koningsdam the standard configuration is, at a minimum, 6 and 2.   Six headlines under various angles to keep the ship alongside the dock and two spring lines to keep the ship from moving along the dock; as the latte would cause problems for the gangway and those on it. One spring forward and aft would be sufficient but in case a rope would break we use at least two.

A view from inside the mooring deck. The ropes are kept on a large drum and when brought tight switch to a small drum for better holding power.

But here in Civitavecchia we stay overnight and then company policy dictates to use more ropes just for the case of. Even if we keep perfect weather a few extra lines are required. And thus we went up to 8 & 2 for the night. On the mooring deck the whole layout then becomes a real spaghetti junction with the various directions the lines are going from their mooring drums. Giving out the lines are the Storekeeper Deck and 10 sailors. This group is supervised by the Bo’sun and the 3^rd Officer in charge. The last two are standing on the mooring platform to supervise inside and outside the ship, the store keeper and one sailor AB operate the winches from a heightened platform and the 8 sailors are hopping around to guide the mooring ropes to where they have to go. On the aft mooring deck something similar is going on, but there are two Asst. Bo ‘suns instead of a Bo’sun and a store keeper who run the show. This evening we will disembark all the people from the shipyard and then tomorrow morning all the guests/ company people who participated in the shakedown cruise. Then we will start our real first cruise which is a seven day loop around the south of Italy and back again. In the meantime those who were with us, still have the chance to sample Rome and surrounding area by taking the tours of which the last one will return around midnight.

This piece of art showed up only recently outside the Green House Spa. I assume the box ended up somewhere in the store rooms with a lot of other boxes.

I am ending again with a piece of art, which was installed during the last few days in the forward staircase, the blue round ball, it is not a world globe and therefore I have no clue in what it symbolizes. Eventually when I can read the description I will find out.

There is no canal yet, nor any plan to dig a canal from East to West halfway up Italy, so we have to go all the way around it. With a speed of 16 knots it takes nearly two days. If we put the pedal to the metal we could probably reach Rome in the morning but this is a shakedown cruise and thus we take it easy and test what is there to test and let the guests enjoy the sunshine. And a beautiful day we did have to day, it was so nice that by mid morning the clouds descended all the way to the water and we needed to sound the Fog horn for a while to let the wider world know that it was a small world where the Koningsdam was located and that we were in the middle of it.

This is the view from Deck 15, Top deck. not accessible for guests as it is too close to the Radars.

But when it parted, we could see sunny skies, smooth seas and the Italian coast line to the East. The piece of land you can see to starboard is part of the Calabrian coast line, that they call the toe of the Italian boot. We are still heading South West here and around 15.00 hrs. we will make the turn to the north into the Strait of Messina.

One deck down on Sky Deck there is this little display with two dutch coins which were used for the “Stepping of the Mast” Ceremony.

The Guests were put through their paces again today with a second Passenger Emergency Drill. The first one went very well but we recognized areas were we could make time savings to reduce the various waiting and assembly times and thus we did a repeat of the Venice drill.  We were able to nibble some time away from each part of the evolution without compromising the standard of the drill and the reduction in time will benefit both the guests and the crew.

Finally the Sea View deck is used for which is was created. For Guests to relax, instead of being a building site for Yard Workers.

The ship is in full swing and the Cruise Director proudly announced for the evening’s program that 14 events were taking place at the same time and this outside the food and drink activities. One thing we do not have to complain about are the help of the guests for checking out the Food and Beverage locations as each venue is very well attended and thus tested. The companies’ new features with the Grand Dutch Café and the Sel de Mer restaurant are being received very well.  The GDC is very popular as a gathering venue and meeting place as it is directly located opposite the Front Desk and all the various sorts of Coffee, a sort of Starbucks but then the Dutch way, are eagerly bought. What is also on sale is Dutch liquorice, the real Dutch quality and with the number of Dutch on board also this sells well. Apart of course from the fact that the Dutch complain as it is double the price compared to a Dutch Super market. But getting it to the ship involves some costs.  But if a Dutchman or Dutchwoman does not complain then there is something wrong.  One of the reasons tourists find Holland so well organized, laid out, maintained and looked after, is because we complain to everybody and everything, including to the neighbors if something is not completely correct and then it is of course being solved.

The Atrium as seen from the Shore Excursion office. One Deck up is the Ocean Bar on this side and two decks up is the Grand Dutch Cafe on Deck 3.

I have been trying for days to get a good shot of the Atrium with its different lighting and the ceiling with the clouds coming by. I think it needs a professional photographer with a fish eye lens to do justice to it, but here is my little effort. As is already explained in HAL PR publications the stainless steel structure is an expression of a musical instrument which goes up from deck 1 to deck 3. By use of ambient lighting which changes through the day it reflects the mood of the ship and then if you look to the under decks of deck 4 you see a white ceiling with colored clouds drifting by.

The Neptune lounge looking aft. On display old military hats from the days of Napoleon.

Finally also a photo for the posh cruisers among us. This is the Neptune Lounge. Limited with access to those who book the top class suites.  Finally we had the furniture installed and thus I can show it the way it looks.

This evening we will pass close by the Stromboli volcano and we are keeping our fingers crossed to see if we get some action out of the cone. It cannot be predicted but maybe we are lucky. Then for the remainder of the night we continue Northwards along the west coast of Italy and this course will bring us to the pilot station of Civitavecchia around 1.30 pm for a 3 pm. arrival. We have tours going to Rome and to Etruscan land and thus we hope the nice weather will hold.

Another piece of art. Staying in tune with the musical theme of the ship, this is a display case in the entrance to Club HAL.

Little Guitars and a sort of tribute to Bob Dylan.

After a less than sunny departure from the dock in Venice, we came into the open waters of the Adriatic and the weather improved steadily. So this morning we arrived with flat-calm seas and sunny skies at Dubrovnik for our ships call between 10.0hrs.  and 18.00 hrs.  We always call this Dubrovnik but only ships who anchor near the entrance to the old port are really in Dubrovnik. The dock is located about 15 minutes down the road at the other side of the hills in a place called Gruz.

And that brings the question: what is better? Anchor near down town and use the tender service or dock and take the (free) shuttle bus into town?  There are pro and cons for both. Where you go, depends on what you asked for and what is assigned to you.  For down town the pro is, with a regular tender service, you are in and out of Dubrovnik in 10 minutes and you have a beautiful scenic ride. The con is, the anchorage is not a very happy one, especially if you are a large ship. If the wind picks up, the ship veers behind its anchor and suddenly the rocks are very close by. Then you have to raise anchor, go further out and hopefully you will be able to get your guests back. Otherwise you have to sail around to Gruz and pick them up over there.

Downtown Dubrovnik. Although it looks quite wide, there is not much anchor space on either side of the green islands. Just look at the size of the speed boat leaving the port.

Gruz has a very long dock which can handle two large ships and one small one, if you look at the maximum sizes. Then there are three anchorages on top of that which are sometimes in use if it is high season. I have been to Dubrovnik with 7 cruise ships on call at the same time. Luckily we are today all by ourselves.  When docked in Gruz you use the shuttle bus to get into town which adds 15 to 20 minutes to the Journey.  Gruz has one major challenge and that is the Bora Winds. A few times a year in the early morning, if the weather circumstances are perfect further inland, a wind picks up which is called the Bora. It funnels down the mountain and through the river gorge which ends at the docks of Gruz. Not just a little bit of wind, but hurricane force winds, the vortex in that narrow funnel made by the river. If you are docked there is no problem, but if still in the process of arriving you cannot sail, as suddenly 65 knots of wind will catch your ship. Then suddenly the other side of Gruz comes closer very quickly.

This is the dock in the port of Gruz. It must have been designed by a sailor as it near perfect for docking there.

The pilots are alert to that, most of the time, and warn if the Bora is blowing. If so, you wait until about 11 am. and normally the wind will then die down. I have been caught in that situation once myself and the only thing I could do was to remain drifting with the nose in the wind until things went back to normal. We docked 3 hours late but we made it and because we were docked we could get everybody ashore very quickly. The ships in the downtown anchorage had to leave as well, although the Bora is a lot less strong there, and had to abort their tender service. And that is much more of an inconvenience to the guests. Holland America Line Captains prefer to dock in Gruz, simply because the anchorage can be very un-reliable and very tight if you go there with a larger ship.

Therefore we docked today in Gruz and we did not anchor. As it was a beautiful day the free shuttle bus ride was not so bad either as it gives a free tour through the Suburbs of Dubrovnik, something you otherwise would never see. Life on board goes on as well and we are now trying  to get the ships operation down to routine as quick as we can and thus my focus went to the safe working practices. In the past period I have been busy with a lot of security related matters and that is confidential, hence I have been rather quiet about what I was exactly doing.

When the crew starts working with the equipment on a new ship, such as the winches, the water tight doors, the lifeboats, or even the more complicated coffee machines, there is apprehension. They have been trained, they know exactly what to do, but now they have to push the button on a new toy. Remember when you bought a new car, you know what sort of a car it is, you know how to drive it but the first few times you are apprehensive about all the buttons and what to push until you grow more familiar with everything and get a bit of routine.  With ship people it is the same and then a wise an old man to give a little bit of support is always appreciated.

Tonight we sail at 18.00 hrs. and then we go around the south of Italy heading for Civitavecchia. The distance calls for a steady speed of 16 knots and based on that average we will be passing through the Straits of Messina late tomorrow afternoon. Stromboli should be around dusk and hopefully she will be a little bit active and we can see fire coming out of the cone.

Weather for tomorrow: partly cloudy 71oF or 22oC. Perfect cruising weather.

A sort of mixture and compilation of Chinese and Delft blue.

For those who are hooked on the Koningsdam art by now: Some more broken Crockery. This display is located on Main Deck in the Aft Guest Staircase.

Right after arrival yesterday, the first guests boarded and a steady trickle continued until noon time today. Then at 13.00 hrs. it was time for the Guest Safety Briefing inaugurating our new system of indoor mustering. As I am living in a Guest Cabin, I followed the flow from my Cabin to find my Muster location. It is quite simple:  your cabin is assigned to an area and that area is split up in several sections.  In my case area D2 and section M. Both letters are indicated on the cabin key and on the safety notice on the back of the cabin door. 

As our public rooms run over two decks; Deck 2 Plaza Deck and Deck 3 Promenade Deck, the muster stations are also on both decks.  If you have to go to D3 you will find it on Deck 3 and if you have to go to D2 you will find it on Deck 2. The sections on each deck have different letters; A is in the World Stage and E in the dining room. As this a shakedown cruise, we are not sailing full and thus there was ample space and time to do a good check and see if everything worked. We even had one section C3 in the upper Queens Lounge do the crocodile line to the boat station and line up there.  In a real emergency, there would be no line up; everybody would walk directly into the boat.

When you leave your cabin, there are crew members in the corridors, in the staircases and at the entrance to the Muster Area, as here in the World Stage.

Guests are being scanned when they arrive at their muster station. Here they wait and they are rescanned again when they step into the lifeboat. For this purpose we have two crew members per life boat who have PDA’s and simply scan the bar code on your cabin key/ID card. The information scanned in, goes directly to Muster Control (Front Office) and they can see on a screen how quickly each Muster location is filling. They can also see which cabins are not showing up and then Evacuation Teams are being sent to check the outstanding Guest Cabins. Other Evacuation Teams sweep the public rooms to ensure no guests are left behind there either.  While you go to your Muster station there are plenty of crew around to show you the way, both in the staircases and in the Mustering Area. A lot more than I have seen with other companies who follow the same system. If you would have to go into the lifeboat, the Commander is coming to your location to collect you and guide you to his/her boat.

The ss Ryndam of 1951. She later became the cruise ship Atlas and ended her days as the casino ship Copa Casino.

Yesterday I posted the Maritime Paintings of Stephen Card. In the Captains corner there is one more nautical artifact, a very nice and detailed model of the ss Ryndam of 1951. Together with its sister ship the Maasdam (III) it caused a revolution in the shipping world as they were the first ships where the best location for everything was handed over to Tourist Class while the First Class only had a small area around the bridge. Quite shocking but it made sense as you can make more money from Tourist Class per square foot than from First Class.  These hugely popular ships which went on to cruising and survived long after the Trans-Atlantic sailings had been terminated.

Shore Excursions on Deck 1, Main Deck, in the centre staircase. Nice and spacious with multiple desk-stations for handling guests.

On this shakedown cruise we are doing only one port, Dubrovnik which is a late morning and afternoon call. From there it is straight to Civitavecchia/Rome where we will arrive in the late afternoon of the 7^th. Once there we will disembark all the Contractors and Service people we still have on board to ensure that by the next morning we are completely ready for our regular changeover of guests. This does not mean we are not running this cruise as a real cruise. Contrary we have to check if everything works and thus Shore Excursion is running tours both in Dubrovnik and in Civitavecchia. The Shore excursion office on the Koningsdam is really the best we have in the fleet, with ample space and back offices on either side for the Staff.  As mentioned in a previous blog the desks could also be used for check ‘ins on board and for other purposes.

Today we sail at 14.00 hrs. a nice prime time for a scenic sail away from Venice. It is over cast and a bit greyish but that should be an advantage for taking photos as the sun is not in the way and there will be no glare. It will take about an hour to get to open sea and then for the remainder of the day and night we sail south east towards Dubrovnik. It will be the first real work out for the Main Engines and the engineers are quite excited to find out how much speed they will give under normal operating conditions.

I call this the Broken Spilled Milk Jug.

I am ending again with a piece of art. On deck 1 in Forward and Aft Guest staircases there are corner displays in the same way as on the Vista and Signature ships. On those ships they have antiques, here we have art. The 4 display cases have been given over to an artist who specializes in using broken crockery to create something new.  I have to remember this, next time I am home and I break something I can just glue it back together in anyway I want and then it is worth more than before.

And this the Broken Butterfly Teapot.

Today everything was about the transfer from Marghera to Venice. There is an indoor route but we went first to open sea for a helicopter photo shoot and entered Venice via the regular Lido Entrance to the sail past San Marco Square. We were blessed with sunny, and more important, nearly wind still weather. The latter enabled the captain to get slowly used to the ship as it was the first time he touched the handles since the Trial Trip some months ago.

The exit channel is twice the width of the Koningsdam but with occasional obstructions which make it even smaller.

The challenge for this transfer was the departure from the building dock as the channel is quite tight. Not as tight as sailing into the Panama Canal locks but it felt the same as nobody was familiar yet with how the ship would be behave. And she behaved very well. Every thing worked as it should and by 10.30am we were in open waters to slowly sail toward Venice, giving the helicopter pilot the chance to choose the right angles and shoot some photos. This was repeated while were inside the Laguna, taking the traditional shots of a Fincantieri new build against the backdrop of ancient Venice.

Passing the San Marco area with a tug in the front.

For this first transfer we had tugboats and apart from wanting to have a safety net for the first time, the local regulations also require us to have tugs in case the steering would fail while traversing trough Venice. It would not do if Holland America suddenly had a Hotel-Koningsdam parked with the nose embedded in San Marco square.  Hence a safety tugboat to steer from the bow and a safety tugboat to break at the stern.

Down town Venice as seen from the ship. Everything which is not white or water are people milling around.

Entry on the other side was at noon time and with a bit of hazy Sunday afternoon we sailed through Venice. It is Sunday today and this most likely counted for San Marco’s place already being choc-a-bloc with people. I thought it would not be the case yet as the tourist season has not yet begun. Thus we had a good welcome with thousands of cell-phones clicking away and a lot of selfies being taken from the vaparetto’s which were criss crossing from island to island.

And this is a shot from the other side. The Koningsdam passing by. (Photo courtesy Mr. Michael Smith VP for Hotel Operations)

We were not the only ship in port; the Costa Deliziosa was docked at the same dock as us. We were behind the Costa and we also had to dock stern in thus a good training exercise to start the career of the ship. Docking stern in had to be done to be able to have two gangways out and to have room for storing the ship tomorrow. We have two gangways as there is one for the crew and one for the guests.

This is what a sail through looks like on the sea chart. A nice sharp bend right in front of St.Marcs Square.

And those guests started to board as soon as the ship was cleared by the local authorities. The latter seems a bit strange as we were coming from the same town so to speak but we went outside into open waters and thus we had to be cleared-in again. In this case it was a formality but the law has to be observed and complied with. As mentioned before, now coming is a four day shakedown cruise with guests on board made up by company employees and related. I think it is a good idea to run a pre- cruise like this because there are always bugs to be ironed out and it is better that we as employee’s “suffer” from an inconvenience than our guests.

The glass bottom of the portside stairs leading up to Panorama Deck.

One of my readers enquired about the glass staircase which connects the Lido Deck with the Panorama Deck.  Last night the covering was removed and now you can see what it exactly is. When you stand in the middle of the stairs, you are outside the ship and look straight down into the sea. Not a good spot for people with vertigo. But you can imagine that you are on the bridge of the Koningsdam as there we have the same thing, a glass bridge wing floor, which helps with docking the ship.

The Aft bulkhead of the Captains corner in the ps. Crowsnest. Two Stephen Cards paintings on the wall and to the left (not visible) a very nice model of the Ryndam II from 1951.

As usual I will end with a bit of art. Thus far I have been showing all sorts of art; art which has nothing to do with ships, the sea or Holland America. But the tradition still continues with two Stephen Card paintings in the Captains Corner of the Crows nest. One is of course an artist impression of the Koningsdam and the other shows the arrival of the ss Rotterdam V, in Rotterdam as seen from under the bow of the Statendam IV.

We will now stay overnight in Venice and then sail tomorrow early afternoon for our first port of call Dubrovnik. I am leaving you with a little secret: Who was our pilot for the sail to Venice: Mickey Arison. He has now been on so many of his new ships sailing into Venice that he was by far the most experienced man on the bridge………….. l.o.l

Chairman of Carnival Corp. Mr. Mickey Arison in the Navigators chair surrounded by the Bridge Team.

Today we had another overcast day but no rain and that made everybody happy. We are now letting it rain ourselves as with the shipyard people out of the way, the sailors are showing the world how to really rinse & hose down a ship. They had to be carefully instructed this morning of where to work as today we have over 4000 visitors on board, courtesy of the shipyard and related.  A big white Marquee was erected in front of the ship and a lot of security milling around. Attending today was the Minister for Transport and that would link in with the security.  We also have a lot of extra fire brigade around, many more than normal, but if that is in relation to a visit of Italian Politicians I do not know.  But the Fire brigade soon found the Lido Restaurant and where enjoying our versions of Italian Pasta.

A big marquee for welcoming the guests for today.

Tomorrow we will make the transfer from the yard to the Venice cruise terminal which will be a slow process as we have to sail through quite a narrow channel and then we have to have some photo opportunities with the ship and Venice as the backdrop.  Once we are docked, embarkation will start and will continue into the evening. The relocation of the ship from Venice to Rome/ Civitavecchia will take four days and is a shakedown cruise. A cruise where we will see if everything is working up to our standards. Thus we do not have regular guests on board but company employees and related and we can “shake” those as much as we want; and we most likely will. Everything will be tested and if not up to expectation we test again. And for some of those tests we need guinea pigs and now we have them.

The Safety Table and screen. It shows all the alarms, ships lay out, checklists, where all the safety teams are and we can call up any camera feed in the ship.

I have blogged in the past few days about all the trainings and drills we have been conducting to get the ship ready. We train for eventualities which will hopefully never happen but if they do then we want to be ready. If something happens, then everything will be coordinated from the Safety Centre behind the Navigation Bridge. The safety procedures are in the hands of the Staff Captain while the Captain keeps oversight and a very close eye on the Navigation. By means of regular updates he will stay abreast of the situation while keeping track of the safe navigation at the same time. So there is a connecting door and he can step in and out when needed. The staff Captain directs everything from a large Safety Table and what he does comes directly on the big screen. In front of him are monitors for stability, environment and safety assist and during a crises the safety center is also manned with a First Officer, a 3^rd Officer and the S.E.H Officer (In case there are Environmental issues) As there are many camera’s in the ship, they can be called up onto the big screen as well.

“Notes” with all the Whisky variations on display.

Most of the public rooms have now been completely furnished and the rest will go in as soon as the 4000 have left the ship. Thus today we could see for the first time what it meant to have over 200 different whiskies for sale. Varying from the regular Glenfiddich’s to a very obscure whisky which will go for $200 a shot as only 40 bottles were ever made.

I do not think a starry sky was the intention of the designer as the ship has a musical them, but it just came out that way.

Although every crewmember has his or her own favorite of what is the nicest space on board, my top favorite is the double level Lido deck, followed by the Queens Lounge. Apart from the color scheme, I am really impressed with the ceiling of the lounge which looks like stars and constellations when lit in the evening for dancing.

The forward part of the Ocean Bar. From the aft part the Piano and stage is just visible.

The Ocean Bar is a complete departure from what we had in the past. The Bar is on the side and then the area is split up in two parts. One part has a piano player for regular cocktail entertainment and the other part can double up as a waiting area for those who have a reservation in the Sel de Mer or the Pinnacle Grill Restaurants.

This is the aft section of the Pinnacle Grill.

A final new gadget for the ship is face recognition in the Photo Gallery. The plan is to have the machines working in such a way that they recognize your face and then search for the photos that were taken of you. I am really looking forward to find out how that works.  I cannot take any photos of this process but the Photo Gallery is a concessionaire and if we stay with concessions and stay with my routine of posting art; here is a photo of our Art Gallery, manned by Park West People from Miami.

Our Art Gallery. Just located forward of the Queens Lounge.