This so strange, my original post seems to have ‘thrown a wobbly’, some of the writing, photos and videos have disappeared, this hasn’t happened before, so here I am, trying to edit and rewrite……..
I was surprised that by putting a latitude and longitude into Google maps I can give you a ‘visual’ of where we are. We are making just over 14 knots, (15.4 mph, 24 kph), almost halfway across the Indian Ocean and 2,700 miles, (4,320 kms) until we reach Durban.
The Pacific Princess leaves, 5 hours before us.
The shortest route from Fremantle to Durban is a ‘Great Circle’ track however this would take us south, into the ‘Roaring Forties’, the weather-machine of the southern hemisphere, with storms rolling around the globe. Having been there before, on a bulk-carrier, I had no wish to go there again and so we take a ‘Rhumb Line’ track, which keeps us north of the worst of it. Nevertheless, we still catch the northern periphery of those storms.
Our weather programme and the first of our ‘blows’
We are keeping busy, managing to do some maintenance which would, have we had guests on board, been impossible. We are also trying to keep everyone motivated during this ‘quiet’ time, organising crew activities such as quizzes, games and activities. It surprised me that many crew members can’t swim, so swimming classes included 🙂
We are of course doing our best to reduce expenditure, fuel=$, so every cent saved counts. We have emergency lighting on in most areas, some areas , none at all. Air-conditioning is only where needed, all of us eat communaly in the Lido, there are 550 of us, so much of the kitchens are shut down,………..the list is endless. It is surreal when one walks around this beautiful ship and to give you an idea, i took the GoPro on a stroll around the ship that many of you know well.
I wrote earlier about my time on the bulk carrier. We took iron-ore, (100,000 tonnes) from the ore fields of western Australia to Japan. here it was discharged and back we went again for another load. We were to do the same again for my last voyage of my contract, however the cargo was sold and we had to proceed to Rotterdam to discharge, just my luck. Here’s where the Great Circle route came into play; we went south, into the “Roaring Forties” and spent many days with our deck partly submerged and rolling our guts out, (no stabilisers). Hence my reservations for doing so again.
We intend to arrive in Durban on 5th April, stopping for a few hours to take bunkers, (fuel), stores and provisions.
Thank you for your comments and good to see that you are back home. Zaandam has her challenges and if you want to let the crew of Zaandam (and Rotterdam who is assisting her), know that you are thinking of them, the easiest way to do this quickly is on social media – on Facebook and Instagram. A few words of encouragement would do a power of good. You can tag it #HALstrong
Stay well.
Jonathan
Wanted to express my heartfelt appreciation for all you did to make the difficult ever-changing circumstances of the last few weeks of the cruise as good as it was!! You kept us informed, the entertainment continued (even though the plans were disrupted by no entertainers coming and going) , the food was wonderful despite days of no new provisions, the assistance you and your staff gave to sometime disgruntled angry passengers was amazing and won my heartfelt admiration! The crew were wonderful in their service despite knowing their future was more unknown than ours. HAL’s offer to go above and beyond to arrange flights home for those passengers to whom you had no commitment was wonderful, and though frustrating to some at times, a wonderful bail out for them. The compensation package offered to us by HAL was generous, as well. We couldn’t be more pleased with the way this situation was handled, and wanted you to know that!!
Safe travels! Happy retirement!
Best to you and all the officers and crew!
Christi and Richard Eisenberg
Love reading your blog. Thanks for posting the video of the ship. Very eerie! So nice to see the crew enjoying the pool, hot tub and lounge chairs. Stay safe
Dear Captain Jonathan,
An amazing Sunday morning (in the USA) message from you. The greatness of your leadership and the one-of-a-kind Amsterdam will be forever emblazoned on the hearts of all of us who knew and loved her. Your ongoing blog and especially today’s walk through video was so emotional. Wonderful to know the hardworking, well deserving crew are getting games, swimming instruction, gym time and dining in the Lido. A great captain, as you are, would do exactly that. Thank you so much for keeping those of us who are keenly interested in you and the ongoing journey in the loop on this, your last Grand Voyage. One that will never ever be forgotten by so many, many of those that know you and our magnificent Amsterdam.
Dear Captain –
You do know that there is a book in this, don’t you?
Hadn’t thought about your being a guest lecturer. Should think you would rather be on the bridge if you sailed as a guest.
Save as you must be for now from the virus,, you still have the vast ocean to contend with. When you have a calm sea, I wondered if you could report on if you are seeing flotsam in the Indian Ocean? So much of Japan’s disaster on its east coast apparently is in one big blob, pieces of which arrive on the Oregon coast and finally circle around to Eastern Hawaii
I am sending on your blog to 5 others who cannot seem to get themselves on line. So I speak for all of us to let you know that we are following your voyage and wishing you a safe return. So glad to have received this as it had been awhile
PS if you do go to Sitka – let me know cause we will flyfish there instead of Florida Keys for bone fish!
Thank you for posting, Captain.
Wishing you all safe travels and return to your countries.
Hi Captain and Karen and greetings to staff and crew!
Still with you – the video of the Amsterdam was a bit Twilight Zone like but I do so love seeing her – looks beautiful even in the dim light and many changes with the interior since our WC sailing in 2015! Oh my. I have been keeping up with cruise friends I called it my watch list for their return home. Bill & MaryAnn are safely home. All the best and thanks for the posting – your writing style is very good. Best, Rosie
Thinking of you and all the crew! I’m sure you are making the best of a bad situation and staying entertained and busy! Stay safe!
Dear Captain Jonathan,
We were on the Amsterdam in early September for the two week Alaskan cruise, which was spectacular. I have been following your blogs for about a year and really have enjoyed them all. This last one with the walk through the darkened, empty ship was a bit sad. It brought back a lot of happier memories. I wish you and all of your crew a safe passage back to the USA. I hope you stay safe and that no one you know contracts the virus. Thank you for many hours of armchair travels.
Captain,
Thank you for this and all of your updates. Did you share the same video twice here? We’d love to see the inside of the ship when you have a chance to post that video.
Stay safe, Captain, and thank you for all you and HAL did and are doing for the crew and passengers.
Ms M
Captain Jonathan –
Thanks for the update! Glad you and your crew are making your way west. Hope the sailing is smooth from here on. The lights-out video did not make it to your blog — I am showing the same Fremantle departure scene as near the beginning of this post. When you get time, it would be great to see what our old home away from home looks like empty and dark!
Captain,
We want to thank you and your crew for helping getting us home safe and sound. Now to get your crew home safe and sound. to end your last tour of duty and retire.
And we will hope to see most of the crew in our next two booked world cruises if the world returns to normal by next year.
We had a 52 hour trek from our Amsterdam ship home to Florida Oceanview home, taking 4 planes and 5 airports, 1 hotel and one limo ride.
Travel in US on airlines and at airports is at the lowest I had seen in my 75 years.
I was Chief Scientist in the FAA for GPS and Navigation, and I worked on the Moon Landings at NASA.
We are on day 5 of our 14 day required isolation.
We have home delivery of food and we have used it a few times. They put the bags by the door, ring the bell and depart, we delay for a while before retrieving the goods. Treating them as possibly contaminated and not bringing any of it into the kitchen.
Our Florida Surgeon General has said that all seniors should stay home.
I do feel sorry for the crew that has interior cabins as painting and varnishing near the ventilation vents creates noxious fumes in the closed cabins. Hopefully, you will get some fresh air to those below. We had noxious fumes one day before we departed. We were able to prop open a deck door and our cabin doors to get fresh air.
Tracking the Amsterdam on our Marine Traffic App shows your position 5 days ago.
Stay well you and your crew.
George and Anamaria
Florida
Great to hear from you again Captain! All the best to you and the crew and watch out for those Indian Ocean pirate dudes 😉
A pirate walks into a bar and the bartender says, “Hey, I haven’t seen you in a while. What happened, you look terrible!”
“Arrh – Not at ‘tall.” the pirate replies, “I be fine.” The bartender says, “But what about that wooden leg? You didn’t have that before.”
“Arrh!,” says the pirate, “We were in a battle at sea and a cannon ball hit me leg. But the surgeon fixed me up, and I be fine, really.”
“Yeah,” says the bartender, “But what about that hook? Last time I saw you, you had both hands.”
“Aye,” says the pirate, “We were in another battle and we boarded the enemy ship. I was in a sword fight and me hand was cut off. But the surgeon fixed me up with this hook, and I be feeling great, really.”
“Oh,” says the bartender, “What about that eye patch? Last time you were in here you had both eyes.”
“Arrh,” says the pirate, “One day when I was swabbing me deck, some gulls were flying over the ship. I looked up, and one of them–arrgh, he, pooped–in me eye.”
“So?” replied the bartender, “what happened? You couldn’t have lost an eye just from that!”
“Well,” says the pirate, “‘Twas me first day with me hook.”
Hello Captain
Thanks to you and all on ms Amsterdam for making the best of a bad situation . We really appreciate the challenges that you and they were facing and the manner in which it was handled.
Back home in the UK safely after making it through Singapore by the skin of our teeth before they closed the ability to transit from one flight to another.
PS I know time flies when you are enjoying yourself(!) but I thought it was 29th March even where you are! or did you post it early
Oops wishing another day had passed 😂
Wonderful to hear from you Captain.
I just check your position on my app am tracking you across those wide & open spaces.
Do hope the ports receive you well and you will probably follow the QM2 procedure of now being a merchant ship.
Hope they are serving some great Adobo Chicken & Nasi Goring on board .
I wish I could send you some of my hot chilies but the drone is out of range!
Keep safe & healthy all of you & look fwd to the next instalment .
We just may meet in a ship when you are a guest speaker… now that would be the furthest thing from your mind right now.
We will try to get some well wishes to the crew…
Thanks Noel
Captain,
Thank you and your crew for everything. You and your crew were wonderful. I hope you have a happy and productive retirement and stay healthy.
Take Care and visit us in Sitka sometime.
Rich McClear
Sitka.