During last night the swells slowly abated although it did not go as fast as the weather chart indicated. But today the swell got back on schedule again and went down to about 6 to 8 feet. Which is similar to the regular swells you find in the Caribbean Sea. Thus we are back to…   read more of “31 Oct.2015; Ponta…”

And in accordance with the weather forecast the ship slowly started to become livelier after10 am. in the morning and by 10 am. the bow started to go up and down on a regular basis. It is not often that the weather operates in line with the forecast but today it did. We had the…   read more of “30 Oct. 2015; At…”

Cadiz is sheltered under the Portuguese coast and because of that we did not feel any movement at all during the first few hours. Then late last night, the gentle movement of the ship started caused by the motion of the ocean. Finally we were really back at sea again and so it stayed for…   read more of “29 Oct. 2015; At…”

Today we were in Cadiz Spain, which is just on the other side of the Straits of Gibraltar when looking west from Malaga. Cadiz is a very popular port to call at as it is located right on the edge of the North Atlantic Ocean. It is a regular port for ships which are coming…   read more of “28 Oct. 2015;…”

We were not the only one in today. When we sailed into the port the MSC Davina was already docked and also the Allure of the Seas who was furthermost in but due to its size still stuck out quite a bit. This evening she will have to go astern all the way through the…   read more of “27 Oct. 2015;…”

Alicante is typical of the south Spanish ports. A large breakwater / pier which runs parallel along the coast. The inner side of this breakwater was normally used for ships making short stops and with the increase in the cruise Industry that is where the cruise ships are docking as they normally stay for shorter…   read more of “26 Oct. 2015;…”

As most ships do when going towards the south, the Zuiderdam sailed and kept the Balearic Islands on its port side and then came around the south west side of the island and approached the pilot station from there. With “another day in Paradise” on the cards, the ship docked at one of the cruise…   read more of “25 Oct.2015 Palma…”

At 07.00 this morning the Zuiderdam sailed into the port of Barcelona over a flat calm sea towards the berth at the Barcelona Cruise Terminal. Not a bad way to start the day. Today there were three ships in, the Marina (Oceana Cruises), the Costa Fascinosa (Costa Cruises) and us. The Marina had a full…   read more of “24 Oct.2015;…”