Today the good ship Koningsdam brought us to the port of Naples sitting under the looming Vesuvius just outside. Everybody wonders why you would want to live on top of a Volcano but then the good people of San Francisco live right on top of an earthquake zone and they do not seem to be bothered either. Half of the Netherlands put their trust in a few big dykes as they happily live under sea level. So the Neapolitans have being happily living with their volcano, but looming over the port it does.  I find coming to Naples always fascinating. First of all they manage to pack a lot of ships in a rather small port and because it has always been a transatlantic departure port with passenger ships sailing to the new world and because of my hobby I can see the history behind it all. Especially the terminal.

The first thing you see when approaching the Cruise terminal is a rampant horse on the top of the roof.

Italy had quite a few passenger ship companies in the past and most of them came into being after Garibaldi united Italy. With many Italians emigrating to North and South America, Italian shipping company’s offered regular services there. Not always with great success and when Mussolini came to power he re–organized & merged some of those shipping companies. The 2^nd thing he did was order proper Ocean Liner Terminals to be built and one of those was in Naples and that is where we docked today.   Through the years the terminal has been upgraded but some old bits and pieces are still there. I checked this morning and yes the 3^rd class waiting room brass signs are still there. The space is now occupied by Customs Officers but they left the brass plaques.  Up inside the terminal there are supposed to be some more original rooms featuring Art Deco ceilings but I never managed to get there, not even with the Ships Agent promoting me to the Commodore of the company. But I will try again next time.

A busy day in Napoli. Currently the area between the Castle and the Terminal is under reconstruction for the Metro.

As you can see from the overview photo Naples is a big port on a small scale. In the rest of the world the docking space would only be assigned two ships, here in Naples they will go for four ships and have two of them only have part of the dock available, just enough to get the gangway in. The bow is kept in place by dropping the two bow anchors. Then the other piers play host to a plethora of small and large ferries, with a lot of them also docking with only a part of the ship alongside the dock.

You are hereby inducted in the hallowed ranks of the First Officers of Holland America. Staff Captain Kevin Beinart hands out the new 3 stripe epaulets to now ex-2nd officer Willem van de Noll.

Today a few more things from behind the scenes.  Officers join the company if we can wriggle it, from the starting rank of cadet and after finishing school they return as 3^rd officer. After going through my school class they are then assigned to a ship. Experience comes and we then promote from within.  Today we had such a promotion. 2^nd officer Training (he runs the 4 -8 watch but is responsible for the safety trainings on board) went up to First Officer, which is two steps away from being Captain. A good reason to be happy and the deck team made a little ceremony out of it. As our new First Officer is a tall Dutch guy and the Staff Captain a rather shorter Belgian, he had to go on his knees to get his new stripes installed. The team had also arranged for a chocolate cake and before it was devoured it gave me the chance to take a group photo. The Captain is missing as he was stuck in a training class about environmental compliance.

The Deck Team of the Koningsdam. With the arrival of the KODM the officers now wear greyish colored work uniforms instead of the yellow Kahki’s from before.

What I have not shown to the world yet is the crew mess room on this ship. It has been built to the latest HAL insights and crew flows during breakfast, lunch and dinner time. You cannot have 900 crew descending on this space at the same time and thus there are different times for the various groups on board especially for the Cabin Stewards and Dining Room stewards are there are more than a 100 in each group.  As you can see there is a rather prominent Coca Cola machine there on request of the crew.  Juices, coffee and tea are free of charge and available 24/7 but the crew wanted large bottles of soda and so a dispensing machine has been installed.

The aft part of the Crew Messroom. Leading to the self service buffet.

Tomorrow we are back in Civitavecchia we our cruise will end. We will be nose to nose with the ms Amsterdam which is on the last leg of her world cruise. Arrangements have been made to have the Amsterdam guests come over to inspect the new Koningsdam. It will be interesting as the Amsterdam belongs to the R class and two evolutions away from the Vista and Signature class.  They will be able to walk over the dock under sunny skies and a temperature of 66oF or 20oC.

Today we have a relaxing day while sailing from Katakolon to Naples via the Strait of Messina. It is chillier outside than was expected but in the sun and out of the wind it is very pleasant. This being the first real cruise, means we are now having all the standard HAL activities which go with a HAL cruise. Thus we hosted the first Mariner Luncheon on board and the attendance took up most of the lower dining room. There was the Walk on Deck for the Cause and so it went on and on with all the other regular activities we are used to. On top of that there are the items which none of the rest of the fleet ships has, such as the Wine Experience and the extended Culinary Arts Center which goes way beyond what can be offered on the other ships.

The Mariners luncheon in full swing in the lower diningroom.

In the mean time I have been trying to get my head around the Music Walk concept. As it is something new it takes a little bit of getting used to but it works really well.  The World Stage (Main show room) has 3 performances each evening at 19.00 hrs. 20.30 hrs. and 22.00 hrs.  This is the anchor of the whole operation. The Lincoln Stage Centre plays at 18.00 hrs. and 20.00 hrs.  so everybody who goes to the show can also hear both the classical music programs. (Tonight there is Brahms and Edith Piaf). When the classical music stops, Billboard on Board, the dueling pianos kick off with two sets at 21.00 hrs. and 22.30 hrs. and then a late night one at 23.45 hrs. Again you can catch one or more of the performances. For those who consider 23.45 hrs. too late; tonight we have an hour back to return to middle European time and thus the real time is only 22.45 hrs. In between you can then run over to BB King in the Queens Lounge with performances at 21.00 hrs. 22.00 hrs. and 23.00 hrs.  Everything is staggered and does not interfere with each other. BB King does not do either as it is the Queens Lounge and their music does not carry over into the BillBoard area.

The Billboard on Board. the place was really packed and I was lucky to get this shot as the centre table was had just vacated.

For those who like less noise and a more tranquil surrounding, there is a pre- cocktail piano player who plays from 17.00 hrs. to 20.00 hrs. in the Ocean Bar.  More culture is being offered in the Two Deck Lido area with Movies under the Stars at 19.30 and 22.00 hrs.

With my Lord and Master being on board I have been fully occupied in the evenings of checking each venue out and doing so in conjunction with testing all the food outlets as well. Everybody knows the Canaletto and the Pinnacle by now and the standard on the Koningsdam is as good if not better than on any of the other ships. What is new to the fleet is the Sel de Mer Restaurant and this is considerably different from the rest. Here the emphasis is on Sea food but as in a regular French restaurant you can also get a Steak with French Fries or a Coq au Vin. There is no cover charge but the menu is a La Carte and you pay for each course as in a shore side restaurant. The place has been booming from day one and the quality is superb. It does not have to be expensive, as my wife and I with friends had dinner there, and we paid each 16 dollars for a Mussels and Fries. There is an extensive wine list and yes you can buy a Chateau Petrus for $ 1400 but I was quite happy with a Belgian Triple beer for $ 5.75.

The one restaurant I am not able to comment on is the Culinary Arts Restaurant for the simple reason that we could not get a reservation for any time which suited us, having to juggle the other restaurants, the shows and the music venues.  Tomorrow evening is the last evening of the cruise and then we are planning to do an in depth investigation of all the outlets in the Lido Deck area. (Dive Inn, Gelati’s, New York Deli, and the two bars including the self-service beer pumps)

As you can see it is a hard life but somebody has to do it. This does not mean I have not been working, on the contrary I have been quite busy with writing training manuals for all the safety trainings which need to be held on a regular basis now the ship is settling down to routine. These little manuals will enable the various Heads of Departments to give training themselves and they will not entirely have to rely on the presence of a deck officer anymore.  And you can only write those once the ship is in service and you know where each piece of equipment is really located and button has found its final location. Some installers and contractors can be a bit creative with their interpretation of a construction drawing and thus a button is not always going where it was assigned to go.

Not really exciting for a blog but every cook should know how to operate the CO2 hood panel in case of a kitchen fire. So I make little training manuals for them.

Tomorrow we are in Naples and the weather calls for sunny skies and temperatures of around 72oF or 20 oC. If the authorities let us, I will be messing around with boats, training lifeboat commanders.

After departing Corfu we sailed for Sarande last night and we were all very concerned about the weather. It was blowing about 16 knots in the port of Corfu, sometimes gusting to 20 knots.  In the cruise business we all know, as a rule of thumb, 20 knots in Corfu means 40 knots in Sarande as the anchorage there is fully open to the elements. Then you have to rely on the wind being from the North or North East to have a chance to make the call. And it was blowing from the North West with high waves rolling in. Then there are two options, either you sail away or you hope that the wind will die down fast after sunset. Most winds in Greece are generated by the sun burning on the land during the day, the Etesian Winds, and they normally die down as soon as the sun goes away; but not always.

With these waves you can not tender safely. So we had to wait off shore for things to improve. Which happened after sunset.

Thus the captain decided to wait for it and to have a shorter call but still make the call. Our official arrival time was 19.00 hrs. but close to 20.00 hrs. the wind was nearly gone and the swell followed shortly after. By extending the stay ashore time to 22.30 hrs. we could still squeeze a short stop out of it. Luckily by staying on the engines you can float fairly close to the shore and with 3 tenders a good tender service could be maintained. We did not need the remainder of the tenders as they were on the swell side of the ship and having them lowered would have meant turning the ship around and make a lee. That would have reduced the port time even more. Not that many guests went ashore as the difficult decision had to be made about enjoying what the Koningsdam had to offer or what Sarande might have had to offer. So many stayed on board but for those who could not resist: we made the call safely.

Sarande is a new port and thus the charts are not that advanced yet as in other areas of the world. Thus we had to work from a sketch made by the local Navy. But the soundings were good and thus we could creep all the way into and drift close to the dock (dark black bit)

From there it is a nice ride along the Greek coast southbound to get to Katakolon in Greece. This town has changed from a sleepy little fisherman’s town to a large cruise ship port since they have put four docks in. Katakolon is the Gate way to Olympia which is 33 kilometers away from the port. Today we had a full port day, with three ships inside: The Koningsdam, the Aida Bella and the Costa Mediterranea. The anchorage can handle two more ships and they tender to the fourth dock which is shallower. However today we had three ships and it was more than enough.

Check out at the duty free store.

The focus of the crew was not so much on the port today as on the Duty Free Store just outside the ship. I never knew you could buy duty free water but you can. The ship was stacking up for the various crew bars on board but the crew itself bought up a storm as well.  The duty free prices for perfume and Liquor were not that great as Greece is in the European Common Market and the ships are cruising to other Common Market Ports; and thus duty free was not on par with duty free if you fly Intercontinental. Still a good bargain could be had.

I was proud to see that Holland had exported a recent invention to Greece, the Beer Bike. It is a sort of rolling Dutch Pub. You sit at a bar and with 12 others and you peddle with your feet while drinking beer. The Publican steers the Beer Bike and you see the sights while at the same time enjoying a good glass of beer. I will provide a firsthand report next cruise when we visit Katakolon again.

We will stay here until 20.00 hrs. and then sail back to where we came from, passing through the Straits of Messina tomorrow afternoon around 18.00 hrs. Then the next day we are in Naples which is the final port of this 7 day cruise that terminates in Civitavecchia on the 15^th of April.

The Koningsdam basking in the mediterranean sun. Being the biggest ship in town we had to dock at the breakwater but there was a shuttle bus to take you to town if needed.

Today we had perfect weather, sunny and not too warm as there was a cool breeze blowing and the weather for tomorrow should be about the same. Around 72oC /21o C. at least in the open sea. In Messina itself the temperatures might just touch the 80oF /26oF. At noon time.

Note and Credit: on 25 November 2014, while we sailed around Africa with the Rotterdam, I googled a little map from the internet to illustrate our courses away from the African coast due to Ebola. As I just pulled the map off google I had no idea from which website it came and I could not read the watermark. The creator of the map, Mr. Daniel Feher very happily lets me use his creation but requests a credit to be added to the blog. Which I gladly do with a belayed thank you for have the right to use this chartlet.  http://www.hollandamerica.com/blog/2014/11/25/24-nov-2014-luanda-angola/

Mr. Feher makes a lot of maps and charts and for those interested, his work can be found here: http://www.freeworldmaps.net/africa/ …………………

Daniel Feher www.freeworldmaps.net

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.