Holland America Blog
Safety Officer
Holland America Blog Has Just Posted the Following:
During the night the strong winds slowly abated and by day time the Ionian Sea had reduced itself from being a Tempestuous to just a wobbly sea. Wind force 7 – 8 down to 5 on the Beaufort scale. It still feels breezy around the ship as it also making some wind by itself. The route is taking us on a South Easterly course towards Ashdod our next port of call. *That means that around 5 pm we will be between Cyprus and Egypt, although closer to Egypt than to Crete. Then we will aim for a 0600 hrs. arrival at the pilot station for a 0700 docking. Our official arrival time is 0800 hrs. but the Captain has decided to arrive earlier to help out with the immigration procedures as the Israeli Authorities want to see everybody on board in person. Both Guests and Crew. Due to the local situation the pre arrival procedures are very extensive and the administration department has been very busy the last few days to get all the paper work faxed and pre-approved. A process which started after Barcelona and then kept going on with guests coming and going in the ports since then and the same for crew of course. Then there are always questions about what is being submitted and how it is submitted, European date writing against American, and it all kept the paper work people of the Pursers department happily occupied, although happily* might not be the right word.* Luckily once the initial immigration hurdle has been passed, the other port visits are normally a little bit easier. Thus Haifa, for the day after tomorrow, should have less checks and easier going on and off procedures. For Ashdod and Haifa we are really there for the various tours to the Biblical places. Shopping is not very high on the Agenda to put it gently. Apart from nearly all the guests going on tour (last year we only had 4 guests left on board during the Ashdod call) also as many crew as possible will get the chance to go to […]
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During the night the strong winds slowly abated and by day time the Ionian Sea had reduced itself from being a Tempestuous to just a wobbly sea. Wind force 7 – 8 down to 5 on the Beaufort scale. It still feels breezy around the ship as it also making some wind by itself. The route is taking us on a South Easterly course towards Ashdod our next port of call. *That means that around 5 pm we will be between Cyprus and Egypt, although closer to Egypt than to Crete. Then we will aim for a 0600 hrs. arrival at the pilot station for a 0700 docking. Our official arrival time is 0800 hrs. but the Captain has decided to arrive earlier to help out with the immigration procedures as the Israeli Authorities want to see everybody on board in person. Both Guests and Crew. Due to the local situation the pre arrival procedures are very extensive and the administration department has been very busy the last few days to get all the paper work faxed and pre-approved. A process which started after Barcelona and then kept going on with guests coming and going in the ports since then and the same for crew of course. Then there are always questions about what is being submitted and how it is submitted, European date writing against American, and it all kept the paper work people of the Pursers department happily occupied, although happily* might not be the right word.* Luckily once the initial immigration hurdle has been passed, the other port visits are normally a little bit easier. Thus Haifa, for the day after tomorrow, should have less checks and easier going on and off procedures. For Ashdod and Haifa we are really there for the various tours to the Biblical places. Shopping is not very high on the Agenda to put it gently. Apart from nearly all the guests going on tour (last year we only had 4 guests left on board during the Ashdod call) also as many crew as possible will get the chance to go to […]
Click here to view the article.
