The Noordam: The Ship and Our Stateroom
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From the Ship's Log:   Friday, May 18, 2012 Civitavecchia, Italy 4:15pm      Passenger Boat Drill 5:13pm      Vessel undocked and underway 5:28pm      Disembarked Pilot

This afternoon, our second cruise in a row begins; either our second or third cruise on Holland-America, depending on how you count these back-to-back events. This time, there wasn't even a learning curve for the ship, since we've been on it for over two weeks already.

At the Dock in Civitavecchia  

We've been here at the dock in Civitavecchia all day- from about five-thirty this morning. The day has been spent unloading passengers and all their baggage, cleaning the ship, and embarking a new set of passengers. About two hundred of us have remained on board, taking the two cruises back-to-back. Fred and I spent the day wandering around the ship taking pictures, having breakfast and lunch, using the gym and relaxing. At one point we got off the ship for a short while just to wander through the passenger terminal, watching the activities going on. By three o'clock in the afternoon, the new passengers were pretty much all on board, and Fred, Greg and I were getting ready for our second boat drill.

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After the boat drill was over, Fred and I went up on deck so we could watch as we steamed out of the harbor. We were on the bow, at this point, so we had a good view all around. Our bow was pointed out of the harbor (generally northwest), and the first thing I did was to make a movie looking all around this industrial harbor. You can watch that movie with the player at left.

Below are clickable thumbnails for some harbor views:

Right about five o'clock, a tug that had been waiting off the port bow came close to the ship and picked up a line fed out to it by crewmen below. Then it slowly backed off and began tugging the Noordam away from the dock.

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I made a movie of this interesting process, and you can watch it with the player at right.

The tug did pull our bow away from the dock, and soon the bow was pointed directly towards the harbor opening. At that point, the tug released its line and the Noordam began to move slowly forward. I thought the MOBY ferry on the other side of the harbor was interesting and colorful, so I stitched a couple of individual pictures of it together:

So, the Noordam began to nose its way out of the harbor. The Noordam came out of the harbor and began its turn around to the south, giving us a view of the Civitavecchia harbor and the other ships docked there. Our second cruise had begun.

This Evening's Towel Animal  

Looks Like a Swan to Me

This evening's "towel animal" reminded me of a swan, but as with many of our steward's creations, we weren't absolutely sure.

You can use the links below to continue to another photo album page.

	The Noordam: The Ship and Our Stateroom
	Return to the Index for Our Mediterranean Cruise