Yesterday I mentioned that it would be windy on arrival Livorno and that it was a tight hole to go into. Well it was more than windy; it was stormy, with wind gusts up to 40 knots. Too much wind to sail into that tight hole safely.  The Captain had one good look at the local situation and the decision was simple. This is a no-go. If I do not feel safe, then the ship is not safe. Then the next thought is, what can we do now? Stay a day at sea, go sightseeing, or go to another port? Based on the weather forecast the captain had already been thinking about that of course and scrutinized the chart for options for another port nearby. The wind was from the South West so if there was a port which is sheltered from the South West than you can go there. Livorno is fully open the South West.

Elba is about 2 hours sailing south of Livorno.

Thus the plan was hatched to go to Elba. It is close by, has a natural harbor on the North East side and a mountain ridge to the south so it could be expected that it would be sheltered enough from the SW wind to make the visit there. A quick call to the local authorities and yes we were welcome. The only question that remained was: would the anchorage be sheltered enough from the swells (which can curve around the island into the bay) for a safe tender service? The main town of Portoferraio on the North side of the island only has ferry docks and even if the ferries would not be there the Rotterdam still had to anchor as it draws over 8 meters and the pilot cannot guarantee more than 7,6 meters at the maximum.

The ms Rotterdam has too much draft to anchor in the light blue area’s.

When the Rotterdam poked its nose into the Bay it was clear, a bit of waves but with making a good lee for the tenders when coming alongside the ship, it would be a safe operation. In the town itself, tucked away deep into the Bay, it was flat calm.

The town has city walls and a fort protecting the island from the outside world, but what can you do against an invasion of eager cruisers?

Thus by 10 am. the tender operation went into full swing and the “invasion” began. Because of the change in scheduling everything on board came to a grinding halt and that included the weekly fire drill which had been planned around my trainee’s. They would be fully involved with the drill and attack whatever fire might occur. Now there was a gap in the schedule and that allowed me to finish the class in the morning and let them go ashore in the afternoon. Somehow I have the impression that they did not mind missing the fire drill and go ashore instead. This is their last day of the 3 week course and 4 of them fly out to their assignments and the other four go home to wait for their first assignment to arrive.

The inner harbor of Portoferraio, Elba.

It also gave me the chance to go ashore. I had been here with the Prinsendam in 2010 and although the ship could dock it was not possible because of the ferries. So we had to anchor and thus I stayed on board. Resting on one hook on an open anchorage is something totally different than being securely tied up with lots of lines in the shelter of a port.

If I could afford to maintain it, this would be my yacht.

The tourist season is almost over here so it was quiet in the town and in the bars and restaurants around the fishing harbor (now mainly occupied by yachts); that was until the Rotterdam arrived. and we saw a split in behavior depending on nationality. While the Americans tried to shop and look inside every church and museum, the Dutch parked themselves en-masse on the terraces on the harbor front. I felt as if I was in Holland, Dutch yapping all around. Unfortunately most shops and Musea closed for a 2 to 3 hour siesta and they must have missed out on a lot of money. Two 2^nd hand bookshops were open and although I was impressed with their stock, there was nothing for me, as the two things on offer, where already in my collection and the 3^rd item (genuine ocean pill box) was a fake.

Plenty of Napoleon around, but he was also out for lunch…………….

This it is a very nice place with lots of things to do (between 0900 and 13.00 & 16.00 and 21.00) so hopefully Holland America will call here more often especially with the smaller ships.  Plenty of history, including the 300 day stay of Napoleon, beautiful beaches and beautiful nature. Coming Sunday it will be busy as they will the Moto GP (Motor Cycle Grand Prix) of Elba. A motor home camp had been set up in the port and I saw the teams registering at the local tourist office for the coming event.

Our last tender will be at 6 pm. and as soon as the last guests are back we will sail to the south east heading for Civitavecchia, which acts as the access port to Rome. There my trainees will fly either home or to their first ship and I will transfer to the Zuiderdam. The Zuiderdam arrives in Civitavecchia on the 21^st. so I will wait for the ship. It turned out to be easier than to fly and catch it in one of its small ports along the cruise during the weekend.

Thus my blog might cease for a few days unless I have something exciting to report. (Like meeting the Pope or something). I will use my time in the hotel to catch up with administration and I will also grab the chance to ride every Big Red Sightseeing bus there is in Rome.

The weather for tomorrow; a lot less wind, about 15 knots, partly cloudy and temperatures in the mid 60’s or just under 20oC.

Today we had to anchor as the dock was occupied. The Marina from Oceana Cruises had been assigned the berth, and as there is only one dock we had to go to anchor, and the anchorages off Monte Carlo are not that good. The water is on average very deep and that means you need to put out a lot of chain to get a secure grip on the sea floor. There is only one anchorage that is preferable and that one is located about 3/10^th. of a mile to the North East of the harbor entrance with an average depth of about 40 meters. Thus every large ship wants to be there.

We had one more cruise ship on the arrival list and that was the Costa NeoRiviera which is a ship that belongs to Costa but is operated as a sort of sub cruise company providing a cheaper product. It ships have the prefix Neo in front of their name.  This ship would be gunning for that anchorage spot as well.  To beat them to it, the captain decided to arrive very early in the morning. Then we would have a fair chance to get there first.  By 2 am we had the hook down and we commenced our tender service at about the time the other ship came in before 7 am.  Being closer to the port entrance gave a less wobbly ride as there was a low swell running in from the South East.

Swell is unpleasant in Monte Carlo as it runs ashore and then bounces back into the open sea. Then in the afternoon when all the “boys with toys” come out and start racing around, that creates even more swell. While most of them have the money they do not necessarily have the skills to operate these large power boats in such a way that it does not affect our tenders at the platform. Swell and toys together can cause a very nice wobbly sea. So the nearer you can get to the port entrance the better it is. That proved more than true today, even the short distance the captain managed to arrange by anchoring early, still caused quite a wobbly ride.

The Costa NeoRiviera is quite as interesting ship. It was built for Festival Cruises, which was a company that came out of nowhere with 3 old ships. Then the management found investors and in a fairly rapid tempo several new ships were built and came into service. They were in business between 1992 and 2004 and first had The Azur, The Bolero and The Flamenco. Then a new building process started and the Mistral arrived in 1999 followed by two slightly larger sisters the European Vision and the European Star. In 2004 the company went bankrupt and the ships were sold off. Two went to MSC and one eventually ended up with Costa as the Costa NeoRiviera.

The angle of the sun was wrong so I could not get my own photo. Hence one pulled off the internet. Source unknown.

Costa now has nearly all new built ships and most of them are from the same sort of design and thus look similar. The older units which include the Riviera, the Costa NeoClassica and Costa NeoRomantica have been put under a sort of subsidiary called Neo. The company advises that these ships sail to “unique destinations” and visiting Monte Carlo is part of that. At the same time they still carry the Costa name, so how that works for marketing and to avoid confusion is something I do not know.

We will sail from here at 18.00 hrs. and then head for Livorno which is just on the other side of the Ligurian Sea.  We were there a few days ago, same as here in Monte Carlo, but as this is a new part of the long segmented cruise, we will call at Livorno for a 2^nd time. I do not think that will matter very much for the back to back guests as the Livorno hinter land is too much anyway to see during one call. If the guests caught a glimpse of Florence during last call, they can now get a glimpse of Pisa. I am using the word glimpse, as getting a good impression of Florence will at least take a week.

We are expecting a sunny day in Livorno tomorrow as the last rain clouds are supposed to be gone by 07.00 hrs. Sunny with temperatures around 63oF / 17oC. But it is also forecast to be windy and wind is not nice for Livorno as it is a very tight hole to get into.

It is getting later in the year and thus it becomes harder to arrive during day light. This morning it was just dawn, twilight, when the Rotterdam came at anchor in the Bay of Calvi.  For anchoring it is not much of a problem but the more light we have the better we can see, as you never know what floats around in the water. We were all by ourselves, the Costa ship never showed up, and that made life a lot easier.  Having the whole tender dock to ourselves and no wake or wash at the tender platform caused by passing tenders, very nice. The only unfortunate thing was the tender distance. The ship could have anchored closer, if this had been allowed. But the local authorities assign the anchorages and the local pilot ensured that the Rotterdam dropped the hook in the area clearly marked in the chart for anchoring.

The ms Rotterdam right in the middle of Calvi Anchorage.

The weather forecast had called for a sunny day but that took a while to materialize. On arrival it rained and it was not until late in the morning before the black clouds moved completely inland and into the mountains. Then we got wind back for it but at least it remained dry and sunny. Since yesterday the Mediterranean around Italy has landed in a bit of unstable weather, with our Nieuw Amsterdam reporting 90 knots of wind in certain areas in the more eastern part of the Med.  Everybody will be keeping their eyes closely on what the weather will be doing in the coming days as we are moving closer again to the Italian mainland. All the wind is supposed to blow away but then it was also not supposed to rain this morning. Unstable weather can bring surprises.

My activities were a mixed one today. Partly for the class, partly for the ship; although taking the class with me combined things.  In our emergency procedures, there is a large role for the Stairway Guides. A group of about 50 crew who stand in the staircases and direct the Guests to their Muster stations.  That does not sound very difficult and it is not as long as long as it is a drill. If it would be the real thing, the real emergency, then the situation changes. Everybody gets a bit more nervous, agitated and sometimes panicky if they have not paid attention during the Safety Briefing or because family members are somewhere else in the ship. Especially if those family members are children. As these Stairway guides are in the middle of the movement of the guests, they will be fully exposed to all the drama that might ensue. Guests on the way to the cabin to collect their lifejacket and Guests already going the other way.

Professionals estimate that about 30% of all guests on board will follow the orders over the P.A. system as soon as they are given.  50 to 60 % won’t do anything and will need a lot of prodding (especially during night or dining hours) and the remainder 5% is a question mark. They might panic, they might be apathic, and they might be consumed by fear. These people need a lot of attention from the crew and it can be difficult to handle them properly. A mother will turn into a roaring lion if “little Johnny” is missing and it needs some skill to calm such a person down again and convince them that little Johnny will be found. When the Stairway Guides (mostly Concessionaires and entertainers) come on board they have no knowledge or skills to deal with this. And thus the ship will give Crowd Control Classes to all involved to give them confidence to deal with problematic situations. Calling Security might not always work, as they might be busy already anyway.

Thus the training deals with giving them some behavioral skills to deal with this and convince them that it is ok to order guests around and if needed be  very strong and loud to get the message across. If I give these classes they might be able to accept that part of the training a bit more readily then when it comes from a 3^rd or 2^nd officer.

Calvi is a fortified town on a curved outcropping of rocks. Very strategic. They must have had a lot of problems with the “neighbours” in the past.

In the meantime the guests all went ashore, landing with the tender in the local port with the town towering over them. A pity we do not stay for the evening, there are some nice restaurants for an evening meal.  But the Rotterdam has to sail at 6 pm. to be on time in Monaco. I will explain why tomorrow.

The weather looks good. It is more stable on the French side and we should have nearly wind still weather with temperatures around 18oC or 65oF.

Today we are sailing slowly. Slowly, making about 11 knots, which will bring us to Calvi on Corsica by tomorrow morning at 07.00 hrs.  By 07.30 the hook should be down and our tender service in operation. So we are on our way from Spain to France. It seems that the islands here are nicely divided between the neighboring countries. Spain has the Balearic Islands, France has Corsica and Italy has Sardinia. On these two Mediterranean cruises we are not calling at any port in Sardinia although we have been there in the past. Very nice Island to visit.

With this port intensive cruise, it is hard to find sea days to enjoy the life on board and thus we have today whereby the ship sails slowly. Had we gone faster then we could have arrived early this evening at Calvi, but it would have been doubtful if many of our guests would have gone ashore?  Cruising is more than just visiting ports. One of the reasons why our cruises with many sea days are so popular.

With all the guests being busy on board and being kept busy, all ancillary activities of the crew go a bit on the back burner. The focus is and has to be purely on the guests.  So I had to keep my class in the class room and focus on theory and the deck department was either doing routine maintenance or preparing for the tender day tomorrow.

With a tender port that preparation consists of two parts. A. to get the big ship to the anchorage and B. to get the tenders from the big ship to and from the port. That is routine and both parts happen the day before we reach the port concerned. On the bridge in relation to navigating the big ship, there is normally at 10.15 a BRM meeting (Bridge Resource Management) during which the Bridge Team discusses how the call in the previous port went ( = lessons learned) and how it should go and is planned to go in the next port.  The lead is normally taken by the Navigation Officer who takes the team through the evolution and then everybody can have a say, look at details and ask questions. The role of the Captain is to support this meeting, make the final decisions and give everybody the benefit of having the most experience on board.

Captain Hans Mateboer explaining the finer points of a safe maneuver.

Today the departure maneuver from Mallorca was discussed and as there are more ways to come to the same result, it can be very worthwhile to discuss what would have been the optimum way of leaving port under the circumstances as they were. Then the approach to Calvi came next. This is fairly straight forward. It is an open bay and you can anchor fairly close to the harbor. So the focus here was on the safe tender operation. We will be in port with a Costa ship and thus have two flows of tenders going to and from the pier.

Part B. is the tender briefing with everybody who is involved in the actual tender process. Thus at 1 pm. there was a meeting in the crew mess. All the quartermasters and sailors A.B. who operate the tenders; Security, who mans the shore side and the Navigation officers who oversee the whole process from the bridge. Where to dock, which course to sail from the ship. How to deal with the Costa Tenders, Which speed to drive with, Local sailing boats and six pack navigators that  might get in the way:  Etc. Etc. Calvi is a simple Tender port and thus the major concern is how to deal with the tenders of the other ship as they will dock at the same pier. There are some complicated tender ports which require an officer on each tender but tomorrow the focus is on having 10 tenders (we expect that the Costa ship has six of them) safely ferry everybody from the ship to the shore and back.

The way it is supposed to look tomorrow.

The weather should be very nice,  little wind sunshine and temperatures in the mid 2o0C or low 70’s. Calvi is a nice place and the tenders park right on the promenade, so it should be good.

Mallorca is one of the two large Balearic Islands, the other one is Menorca, which are located just of the Spanish coast. They are just south of Barcelona and most ferry traffic to the islands comes from this port. As they are just to the south we almost had to sail backwards during the night in order not to arrive too early. The Navigator had figured out that going between the coast and Mallorca (West side) was 3 miles shorter than sailing down via the East side and thus we went west.  3 miles is not much (except when you have to swim it) but if you can nibble 3 miles of every distance you do, it soon adds up. And as they say “every cent is a step towards a million” so also each mile helps to reduce fuel consumption and that makes the bean keepers very happy.

Mallorca has two locations for cruise ships, the one we were assigned to, where they can take 4 cruise ships and two piers in down town where they can take four more. We were at the berth further out together with a Costa Cruise ship. Downtown was empty but I believe the coach area at this cruise terminal is larger and has a better setup, hence no downtown. I was quite happy with the arrangement as the ship was docked perpendicular on the wind and that meant that the other side of the ship, the lee side, had indeed a very good lee. That was important as it was boat drill day today. For half the crew of the ship but also for my trainee class, who after much theory and test performances were going to give their first trainings independently.

SOLAS, the code of law which regulates Safety Of Lives At Sea requires that all crew attend a full ships complement drill each month. In between they have to be trained and drilled individually with their own lifeboat or life raft. So on every ship in the world it is lifeboat day on a regular basis. On a cruise ship even more so as we have so many crew. With a port intensive cruise as this one, we can pick and choose the most favorable port. You might say you should be able to do these trainings in all sorts of ports and that is correct, but there is one issue. SOLAS only requires the lifeboats to get safely away from the ship with everybody on board. But we want our boats and rafts back so we can sail to the next port.

Lifeboat drill in the old days. This is the ss Statendam (I) around the turn of the century.

We could hold a crew drill in appalling weather and we would get the boats and rafts away as required but getting them hooked back in again and hoisted up would be very dangerous. Thus we select ports were there is no swell and if the ship is shielding us from the wind then that is even better. In our case it meant that we had to shift the crews for the lifeboats and life rafts who were having training to the starboard side because that is where the water was but those things happen as the captain does not always park where the Officer Lifesaving would like it. It leaves the guests bewildered sometimes. Had they just managed to get themselves out of everybody’ way and go to an open deck side that was not roped off and full of lifejackets; and then suddenly there is a stampede by the crew coming to that quiet side where you just escaped to.

When the boats go down, there is often a tender on standby with an officer inside, in case help is needed with coming back.

The way we train is by going through all the topics in a cycle. As a result each month all the crew gets an instruction in a topic and a full drill when the month is complete. Then in three months’ time all items pertaining to lifesaving will have been touched on.

7 Trainees were given their own life raft to train and the 8^th one had to replace the cruise director on the bridge and make all the announcements. Today’s topics were hypothermia, Man over Board and a detailed focus on the Lifejackets. As we have been extensively trainings all the tricks of the trade since they came on board, things went well. The regular officers were impressed and maybe even a little disappointed. They had to just learn it on the job and these trainee’s get 3 weeks with a facilitator to try everything out and do a number of dry runs. Well such is life, this program has only been up and running since December and we can only catch the officers who are joining the company now.

Tomorrow we are at sea, crossing part of the Mediterranean Sea to come to Calvi on Corsica. With 370 miles to cover, we can either race across and  arrive late in the morning or take it slow and arrive nice and early in the morning of the next day. We are too big to dock there, so it will be our first tender port for a long time.

Weather: little change but a bit warmer than today.

Well it looks like Miami over here. It is weekend of course and thus there are cruise ships coming in for change over day. But I was not expecting soo many. The whole place is chock-a-block with ships. Yesterday we had the Explorer of the Seas, the Costa Fascinosa, the Costa Fantastica, the Mein Schiff 2, the Aida Aura, the Thomson Dream (our old Westerdam) and the Ocean Dream (ex Tropicale). The last one is a bit of strange duck among the chickens as she is supposed to be a ship on a mission. It sails in charter for a Japanese company called Peace Boat. They had already several ships in charter in the past (always old ones) and now they have the ex Tropicale which was built in 1983/84. If I understand it all correctly, the idea of taking a cruise on this ship is to further peace, brotherhood and understanding between the various nations. As the ship is full with Japanese I assume it is between them and the countries they are visiting. They do tend to stay longer in each port than other cruise ships and they also run more unusual shore excursions. In how far this contributes to World peace and understanding I do not know but the concept seems to work for the Japanese market.

Green blocks are the cruise ships, blue cargo ships and ferries. The WTC is all the way to the right. Courtesy drawing: Cruise ship “forecast ” page of Barcelona Ports.

Barcelona Port has two areas where cruise ships dock. Around the World Trade Centre which is in the inner port and which can take 3 cruise ships as long as they are not too big and the rest at the Moll Adossat which is the inner side of the breakwater of the outer port. We were at 1D for the overnight and thus we could see the other cruise ships coming and going.  Most of the names of yesterday had left but were replaced by other and today we had in port, Mein Schiff 2 (also doing an overnight) Costa Fascinosa (until noon) and her place was taken by the Costa Fortuna, Then there was the Star Flyer , the Sea Dream II, the Sovereign and the ms MSC Divina. I will spare you the total number of guests being part of the change overs on all these ships but it was interesting to see that we had a complete traffic jam of black and yellow cabs leaving for the airport. One can only wonder about the mayhem at the airport with all these cabs discharging at the same time.

We also had change over; 1100 guests going off and 1100 coming on and then a few hundred being in transit as they are stringing one or more of these segmented cruises together. Barcelona is getting very popular as a cruise destination and is for Costa one of the major change over ports in their network. So much that Carnival Corp. has built a special terminal for the Costa Ships, (which of course can also be used for non Costa ships if they are not there). Demand is such that now a 2^nd terminal has been approved and should be there by next year.  Room is there sufficiently at the Breakwater side as the Moll Adossat was extended a few years ago and not all the space has been filled up yet with new docks.

I personally prefer to dock at the World Trade center (WTD), where today the Star Flyer and the Sea Dream II were docked but as these ships already show, the berths are shorter. The Rotterdam fits in there but it makes it quite tight to swing around in the inner basin for leaving again. For a change over it is also better to be at the larger terminals.  More room for luggage, taxi’s and coaches. At the WTC you do not need a port shuttle to get into town you can just cross the street. But the shuttle only costs 5 euro’s so it is not too shocking to go to town from the larger terminals.

We sailed just before 17.30 after making sure we had everybody on board and now we are on the way to Palma de Mallorca which is only 110 miles away including curving around the Southside of the island to get to the port. We are supposed to be at the pilot station at 0700. Hrs. and start docking about 5 minutes later as the berth is right behind the breakwater.

Again the weather is holding; a bit more wind during the night than before but the predictions are that the port will be in the lee of these winds and we are looking forward to a sunny and nearly wind still day.  A good thing as I am supposed to go down in the water with the trainee’s to look at the finer points of how to maneuver a lifeboat.

From Monaco to Barcelona is quite a distance and because of that we did not arrive until 16.00 hrs. today. When sailing from Monaco you follow a Southwesterly course and have to cross the Golf of Lion. This is the area of water in the curve of the land between Spain and France. This is an area where the weather can be very bad. Even in the summer. If a depression is sitting under a right angle in relation to the land.

On our voyage down to Barcelona we just skirted the Gulf. But if you go to Marseilles you have to sail through it.

The name is a bit strange but it comes from the mists of time, 13^th. Century, and seems to be derived from comparing this area to a roaring lion because it can be so bad. On occasion the Tramontane or the Mistral comes roaring down from the mainland valleys and then whips up the sea in a matter of minutes into a cauldron of “excitement”.  Similar to the Tehuantepeccer which can be found on the west coast of Mexico near Huatalco. I have extensively blogged about that one as well in the past.

Because it is a valley wind, a weather front only has to move a little bit, to get the right angle onto the valley and the wind starts blowing. As it is a funnel wind it keeps increasing in strength while goes down the valley and then suddenly that enormous wind push arrives on open water. Very nasty.  Normally the weather forecasters are good in advising this phenomenon but sometimes the weather system does not follow the forecast and many sailing ships and fishermen have been very unpleasantly surprised. Even for large ships it can be an issue and freak waves can built up on occasion. One hit a cruise ship a number of years ago with considerable damage and injuries.

This morning we had less of an issue, but still there was a strong wind blowing. While Monaco and the Barcelona area were wind still; the Gull of Lion was still generate a good wind force 5 to 6. That amount of wind does not really affect the ship and with sunny skies it was still good cruise weather. Most cruise guests did not pay much attention today as they were getting ready to go home and had to go to the Mariners Society Party. On these cruises nearly everybody is a Mariner and thus the party was well attended.

If you do not want to get wet, plug the hole with wedges.

I had the crew also in full swing as today was a practical damage control drill which I normally organize on each ship that I visit. Damage Control means patching up holes in the ship’s hull after a collision or grounding, or shoring up bulkheads and things after an explosion or fire.  As I am not allowed to create a real explosion or a fire, I have to contend myself with ingress of water, lots of it if possible, which we can safely do on a ship by building a mockup ship’s hull with a few holes in it. It is quite amazing to see how much water can come in through a hole of 1 foot by 4 inches as long as it is deep enough under water. If you have a hole that size and it is 7 meters under water (the normal draft of a cruise ship is about 8 meters) then in one hour 200 tons of water can enter the ship. That is 4 swimming pools full.

So I built my wall from wood, rigged up fire hoses behind the holes and let everybody have a bit of fun while at the same time they had to figure out what the best way to plug or patch the holes.

Navigation Class on the Bridge. What they learn here is way beyond and above what is being taught at school.

Once that was over, the training class attended a Navigation Class given by one of our Fleet Captains Darin Bowland who happened to come on board for a quality assurance visit. (A Fleet Captain does on the bridge, what I do off the bridge that is why my function is called Travelling Master to keep the two disciplines apart) After that they had a session with the Security Officer and they got shown the equipment which we have to keep suspicious boats away from us.

We are now 14 days into the class and I am putting more and more practical items in. Tomorrow they have to start preparing for giving training to the crew on board, without help from anybody as that is what they will have to do a month or so from now, when they go out into the fleet. Only now they still have the benefit of my presence for coaching and providing the tricks of the trade.

We are staying overnight in Barcelona and tomorrow is change over day for a lot of the guests. Weather should be nice, sunny and little change from today.

Today we were in Monte Carlo and we docked, which made us the biggest yacht in the port. I do not know if I can say also the most luxurious, but I wonder: How many of these mega yachts would have a soft ice cream machine on board?  That is for me a very important luxury item.  Right under our bow we had several yachts anchored/docked in rows. The two which I instantly recognized;  the Lady Moira and the Christina Onassis. The Lady Moira is normally the largest yacht in port but this time she was not docked at the inner corner of the port but next to Christina O. near the exit. Either getting ready for deployment or having moved to a cheaper location?

Lady Moira to the right, The Christina O with the sleek long bow in the center, unknown yacht to the left.

The Christina O. is still a yacht with more traditional lines and thus looks more like a ship than a floating gin place or cocktail bar. There was a lot of work going on, with railings being sanded and varnished and white paint applied everywhere. Not done by the regular crew but by contractors so I assume there was some sort of refit going on.

Although both cruise ships and private yachts are luxurious and cater for guests, there is a distinct difference, at least for the officers. We on the cruise ships battle with the danger of fatigue and carefully monitor our hours so we get enough rest; while on the yachts there is often the battle with boredom. Some yachts go out for charter but some are just waiting for their owner, who might never come or just once or twice a year. When that is, is often unknown and so they wait, and wait and wait. You can keep cleaning the yacht and touching up but there is a certain moment when there is nothing to do any more. The yacht world has recognized this issue and tries to offer solutions for it.

We can dock here in Monte Carlo as they built a Pier some years ago. Before that time all the ships had to anchor. There is a funny story attached to this. When the dock was completed, the port authorities put a limit of 40,000 tons on it. This because it is not a dock that sits on the ground but it is a floating construction attached to anchors running into the bay. Monte Carlo is built on a cliff and that cliff goes straight down to about 150 feet and more and that makes it hard to build a foundation, so it floats. Thus 40,000 tons was going to be the limit to ensure that there was not too much strain on these anchors.

Docking always beats tender service for comfort. Even if the tender is a scenic ride into Monte Carlo.

When our Noordam asked in 2007 for permission to dock, it was granted. The port authorities were expecting our old Noordam III of 34,000 tons to come in and where quite shocked when the Noordam IV of 90,000 tons popped up. But promised was promised and so the much larger Noordam was allowed to dock. The authorities reviewed the situation, found that there was really no issue with these anchors taking a bigger strain and now all the large ships are allowed to dock.  But 300 meters is about the limit as the dock is not much longer.

The Tour buses can come to the gangway and those not on tour can walk into town by going around the port. For those who do not like the Casino, there is the Museum of the Sea; there is a Car museum and a museum of Napoleon.

Although Napoleons interest was way beyond focussing on a little princedom on the south coast of France, Prince Rainier was an avid collector of Napoleontica and he amassed a very impressive collection.  I once met a collector in Holland who had a special coin or medal which was linked to Napoleon and there were only a few of them in existence. So he got what he called “Rainier’s yearly begging letter”. As Prince Rainier wanted that item for his collection. The letter came year after year, until his daughter started to beg for a car, so dad gave in but had to find the money, to please her.

I sent my school class ashore this afternoon, to follow the footsteps of the rich and famous and hopefully they are able to keep their spending under control. Monaco is very expensive, even the local supermarket.

We will have a sea morning tomorrow, and then arrive in Barcelona at 4 pm. in the afternoon. We will be staying overnight here as the 2^nd day is a changeover day.  As mentioned before, the ship is doing an 88 days cruise but it is cobbled together from several segments.  The first segment Rotterdam – Barcelona, 14 days, will thus finish in Barcelona.

Weather Forecast:  Mostly sunny 71oF / 21oC.  We remain lucky with the weather. The rain and nastiness which were forecast for Livorno never occurred. So we keep on having mild summer weather although it is October. The people who are leaving in Barcelona have had a very nice cruise.

Livorno (or Leghorn in some languages) is one of the most challenging ports to go into. Even on the nicest day of the year with no wind or any other distraction one has to really focus to make sure that all goes well.

All ships have to enter from the south then swerve around the breakwater to a northerly course. If the big dock is not available you have to go in the smaller Y  (on its side) shaped area below.

Main reason is the small entrance in the breakwater and the sharp turn just behind it before you can sail into the port proper. The breakwater has been there for a long time and must have been the best thing since sliced bread in times gone by. But with the ships getting bigger, the breakwater and the space behind it remained the same.  The second problem is the North Entrance which is not usable at all. It has completely silted in and all traffic has to go through the South Entrance. Why the authorities do not want to dredge out this north part, I do not know, as it would make the arrival and departure from Livorno a lot easier and safer. Two entrances mean you have a plan B but now there is only a plan A and not much else.

Today we were at least lucky that we were the only ship in. Then you automatically get the easiest docked allocated.  When there are more ships, the largest one goes to the easiest dock and the smaller ones are relegated to the old inner harbor. There is enough room there but going in is through a small opening.  You back in (go astern) to make sailing out easier but on a windy day going astern into the hole is not so pleasant. If the North entrance was still available then you could at least sail in, review the situation on the spot and if you did not like it, sail out again through the North Entrance.  Maybe that is the reason for not dredging, it stops you from leaving. You have to commit, you have to go in.

Livorno is quite a large port and cargo ships sometimes have to sail deep into the industrial port to find a berth. They try to keep cruise ships near the front, so it is easier for them to keep their schedule taking the arrival and departure times into account. and it is also easier for the coaches to get in and out of the harbor. All the ferries (most of them those famous MOBY boats with the cartoons on the side) also dock in this little area that is called the old harbor.

While the guests went ashore to see the sights, the ship was busy as well. We had divers today for propeller cleaning. This happens about twice a year. Divers go under the hull and scrub and clean the propellers and often parts of the hull as well, to remove the marine growth. Although we have polymer paint on the hull which should avoid marine growth attaching itself to the hull, this never works completely and thus we get a regular clean by divers. That is not cheap as it is highly specialized work but it pays itself back very quickly with a reduction in fuel.   So bridge officers and engineers kept a close on the proceedings to make sure that the divers were safe and supported in the best way possible while they were doing their work.

Hotel was not without work either as it was heavy loading today. Heavy means that the major storage and provisioning took place today. In ports along the cruise we can then stock up with smaller quantities and that we call light loading. Today 58 tons of supplies were taken on board and that will last for at least 14 days. We use Livorno as it can be reached quickly from the Netherlands where Holland America has a depot where a lot of the provisions come together to be packed into containers. Livorno is North of Rome and that is not an easy town to get around for the trucks so Livorno works a lot better.

We will leave from here at 19.00 hrs. to cruise westwards to reach Monaco tomorrow morning.  We will dock there and that will make it very easy to get ashore. Next week, when we are back we will have to anchor and that is a lot more complicated.

Weather for tomorrow in Monaco, Sunny with temperatures around 67oF or 21oC. and little wind.

We never saw the rain except high up in the mountains and that made everybody happy. Those rain clouds did bring some cooler air and that brought perfect sightseeing weather to the port. Sunny but with temperatures around 24oC. And with a little bit of a chill in the air it never felt too warm while walking around and about.  In all words, a perfect day which started at 10 am. when the Rotterdam approached Ajaccio for an 11.00 gangway out.

I think the port of Ajaccio holds the record for the fastest arrivals and dockings. We were on dock nbr 1. and that meant straight in and hard a port to turn 90o to the north and put the brakes on.  Dock nbr.1 is right inside the breakwater and thus there was no sailing in. The pilot could barely make it to the bridge before the ship was sticking its nose inside the pier. A captain can only wish for more of these ports. If one just thinks about Tampa which has a 3.5 hour sail in & out, then this is heaven.

A much more simpler port for an approach is not there.

The only drawback is that the port is fully open to the elements from the SW, south and SE side. One big open bay and no protection from the elements what so ever. So when it blows then you just have the hope for the best. At least when you get close to the port you know that it blows as hard at the pilot station as it will at the dock and that helps making up your mind about going in or not, a little bit easier. What you see is what you get and no interpretation by the pilot is needed.

Today we did not have that issue. There was a gentle breeze blowing which just lifted the flags (Beaufort force 2 to 3) from hanging completely limp. It did not affect the sailing and it kept the outside temperature very nice.

Ocean liner row Corsican way. The ferries are docked stern in for the car deck ramps.

Ajaccio is a fairly simple port in the way the docks have been laid out. It looks a bit as Ocean Liner Row in the New York in the old days with all the docks nicely in a rows and all perpendicular on the shore and the city. And it looked a little bit like Ocean Liner Row today as well, or maybe better called Cruise & Ferry row. With us in port were two ferry’s, One based in Marseille and sailing for the French side and one based in Ajaccio and sailing for the Corsica side. The fact that Corsica is part of France does not matter very much as a lot of Corsicans believe that France belongs to Corsica and not the other way around. They gave Napoleon to France and the mainland should be forever grateful for that.

Around 12.30 the Horizon of Croisieres de France came in. This ship was built in 1990 in Papenburg as the first of the new builds for the revitalized Celebrity Cruise Lines, which was based on the traditions and experience of the Greek Chandris Shipping Company. When the ship became too old she was pushed on to new markets and now it serves the French Cruise Market. The French are a little bit more reluctant to cruise than the Germans; hence there are a lot less cruise ships dedicated to the French Market than to the German market.

You cannot park much closer to the city than this.

Ajaccio is walk-able, the town/city is built up against the mountain ridge which provides the boundary of the harbor and the view from the ship is one layer after layer of apartment buildings. All nicely painted and giving the impression of a contented Mediterranean life.

The good ship Rotterdam had to get all its contented guests back on board by 6 pm. as we then started to  make the hop to Livorno about 180 miles away. We will be arriving there before 0700 hrs. in the morning as the full day tours for Florence and Pisa have to leave on time.  We have a lot of guests who want to see the leaning Tower of Pisa, as you never know whether it will topple over the next day or not.

Weather forecast for tomorrow: The expected rain has been moving north quicker than anticipated and now we are expecting a dry day, at least after 8 am. with temperatures of around 20oC / 68oF.  Good weather for looking at leaning towers.