The trouble with Glacier Bay is that you never know what the weather will be like. It can be totally different at the entrance of the bay compared to what happens in the Upper Bay where the glaciers are. This is all courtesy of the extended ice cap that feeds the glaciers that we have… read more of “29 June 2014:…”
As mentioned yesterday we were going to dock at the Railroad dock, this is the largest dock in the port and can handle two 1000 ft. ships. For a ship’s captain it is also the best dock as it is sheltered from the Lynn Canal wind. This wind is a local phenomenon that regularly occurs… read more of “28 June 2014;…”
As was expected yesterday the weather in the Alaskan Inside Passage was glorious. Lots of sun and most of the wind was caused by the ship itself, so not annoying. The temperatures were fairly cool in the morning and that meant clear skies and thus excellent visibility. Summer has just started here and thus there… read more of “27 June 2014;…”
There are several routes a ship can take to go to Alaska and the one that is taken, mainly depends on time available and distance to travel. If the ship is going to Ketchikan from Vancouver and the Seymour Narrows tide is early, then a lot of sightseeing through the Inside Passage can be done… read more of “26 June 2014;…”
In the early morning I flew from Seattle to Vancouver to join the Volendam. My first plan had been to take either the train or the bus, as it saved the company money and secondary it is the more scenic route. I was advised against this, as both options are very busy with cruise guests… read more of “25 June 2014:…”
24 June 2014; Holland America Line, Head Office Seattle. This will be my last blog before I will venture out to the fleet. Tomorrow I will join the Volendam for 14 days (25 June to 09 July) followed by the Amsterdam for another 14 days. (10 July – 27 July) This is all to help… read more of “24 June 2014;…”
Today we continue our tour of the building and we are still on the 4th floor. Here we have Fleet Operations, Finance, Marketing and near to my office Logistics. The latter is the group that has to get items that the fleet orders to the ships. With normal items such as vegetables, meat and let’s say… read more of “20 June 2014:…”
17 June 2014; Seattle Holland America Line Head Office. Today a small intermezzo before we continue our tour of the office. I have been asked by one of the blog readers about the flag that a ship flies from the bow. It seems that every company does something different. And that is indeed true and… read more of “17 June 2014;…”
