Volendam Stuck in the Mud

[Himself]

I an flad the ship is no longer aground but is now floating

[Copper10-8]

42 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Yeah, Miami Divers are the "go to" guys for most of the cruise lines.  We used a local outfit in Santarem for our grounding, but it is more the fact that the divers cannot determine the condition of the ship, even though they are the ones looking at it.  You need to have a class surveyor watching real time video from the divers, and the ability to ask questions, get answers from the divers that will determine the status of the hull.  And unless you are at Santarem, as I said in an earlier post, the divers wouldn't see their hands in front of their facemasks.

 

Yup, it is a "tad" on the muddy side on the Amazon 

 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, Himself said:

I an flad the ship is no longer aground but is now floating

Well, actually, about 95% of the ship was always floating!  

[rkacruiser]

I sailed on the original Royal Princess to Manaus and remained on deck when we crossed "the Bar" into the Amazon.  The difference in the color of the water from the Atlantic into the Amazon was amazing.  Don't know about the Volendam, but we on the Royal Princess were requested to reduce our water use because the water intakes were closed.   River water could not be imported into the ship's water system for processing. 

 

We also had a very short visit to Santarem.  But, that was due to bureaucrats at Macapa who were more interested in enjoying breakfast, lunch, and dinner--including their siesta--on Royal Princess before they cleared the vessel.

 

Our Captain issued an ultimatum when the Officials decided to go home before the ship was cleared:  you finish your job or we will pick up our anchor and forget our cruise to Manaus.  Finally, we sailed up-river.  

 

   

[Wehwalt]

We on the Volendam were similarly been asked to reduce our water usage. 

 

The Captain said we were going 11 knots when we hit the mudbank. He was quite good at keeping us informed. And so we wind up with a rather unusual 5 pm to 8 am call at Santerem. 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Wehwalt

[ski ww]

Makes for an interesting story telling in the bar over drinks. 

[puppycanducruise]

Wow.

Everybody has some great stories about their cruise.

Glad it worked out.

[HappyInVan]

I wonder if HAL regrets not replacing the Prinsendam?

[ComputerTravelGuy]

22 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Grounding in the Amazon is a fairly common occurrence.  Even the charts used by the pilots are completely out of date, and it is very much like the 1800's on the Mississippi river where the pilot's knowledge, gained over years of experience, will know where the channel has shifted to.  My last time up the Amazon, about 4 years ago, we ran aground, with two pilots onboard, and there were about 6 other ships aground at that time, one had been for nearly a month.  Our electronic chart was so out of date, we were shown as passing through an island that had shifted over time.

 

Ships will have depth sounders, not sonar, but that only tells you the depth directly under the ship, not what is up ahead.

 

Grounding in the Amazon rarely causes damage to the vessel, the most serious problem is sucking silt into, and blocking the sea water cooling strainers, causing the engines to overheat and shut down.

 

This is the start of the rainy season in the Amazon basin, so the river will be rising daily.  We were there in the summer (northern hemisphere), and the river was falling, and fell nearly 10 meters in 30 days.

I’m on the Volendam now and the emergency signal (two quick blasts and one long) happened at 4:11am with an announcement that we ran aground shortly thereafter. After several unsuccessful attempts to free the ship from the sandbar under the bow, the Captain sent out tenders early in the morning to determine depths surrounding the ship (to find where deep water was). The captain transferred & dumped fresh water in the forward tanks and swimming pool and then used stern azipods to pivot the ship 30 degrees back and forth. Then he used bow thrusters to help dig a channel up front (minimal damage since just mud). 

[richwmn]

Could someone on board please provide any schedule changes for the next few days? I would appreciate it, and so would many others.

 

[Sir PMP]

15 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

I sailed on the original Royal Princess to Manaus and remained on deck when we crossed "the Bar" into the Amazon.  The difference in the color of the water from the Atlantic into the Amazon was amazing.  Don't know about the Volendam, but we on the Royal Princess were requested to reduce our water use because the water intakes were closed.   River water could not be imported into the ship's water system for processing. 

 

We also had a very short visit to Santarem.  But, that was due to bureaucrats at Macapa who were more interested in enjoying breakfast, lunch, and dinner--including their siesta--on Royal Princess before they cleared the vessel.

 

Our Captain issued an ultimatum when the Officials decided to go home before the ship was cleared:  you finish your job or we will pick up our anchor and forget our cruise to Manaus.  Finally, we sailed up-river.  

 

   

There is no laundry service for the whole week.

[ComputerTravelGuy]

1 hour ago, richwmn said:

Could someone on board please provide any schedule changes for the next few days? I would appreciate it, and so would many others.

 

We missed Santarem daytime tours (just an overnight to replenish water and inspections) and missed the second port in Boca De Valeria due to the late arrival in Santarem. 
BTW - No laundry service while on the Amazon as the water is too muddy and too hot (as compared to ocean water temperatures) for the ship to make water.  Water onboard is conserved for drinking & bathing. Plan to have your laundry cleaned before entering the Amazon. 
The weather is hot 86*F or 30*C and humid but the rains haven’t started - very low river depths. But the rains are forecasted for next week. 

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, ComputerTravelGuy said:

I’m on the Volendam now and the emergency signal (two quick blasts and one long) happened at 4:11am with an announcement that we ran aground shortly thereafter. After several unsuccessful attempts to free the ship from the sandbar under the bow, the Captain sent out tenders early in the morning to determine depths surrounding the ship (to find where deep water was). The captain transferred & dumped fresh water in the forward tanks and swimming pool and then used stern azipods to pivot the ship 30 degrees back and forth. Then he used bow thrusters to help dig a channel up front (minimal damage since just mud). 

 

Thanks for the recap however, Volendam does not have azi-pods; she has the good old propeller and ruder system  

 

 

 

[ComputerTravelGuy]

13 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Thanks for the recap however, Volendam does not have azi-pods; she has the good old propeller and ruder system  

 

 

 

I stand corrected, the Captain used stern thrusters to pivot the ship back & forth 30 degrees to break the bow free from the mud. Used bow thrusters to plow a channel through the mud before finally breaking free. I have videos showing thrusters being used but currently lack the bandwidth onboard to upload. 😞 

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, ComputerTravelGuy said:

We missed Santarem daytime tours (just an overnight to replenish water and inspections) and missed the second port in Boca De Valeria due to the late arrival in Santarem. 
BTW - No laundry service while on the Amazon as the water is too muddy and too hot (as compared to ocean water temperatures) for the ship to make water.  Water onboard is conserved for drinking & bathing. Plan to have your laundry cleaned before entering the Amazon. 
The weather is hot 86*F or 30*C and humid but the rains haven’t started - very low river depths. But the rains are forecasted for next week. 

It's not that the water is too hot or muddy, it is against regulations to make water when within 12 miles of land.  Surprised there is no laundry service, as many ships use the condensate collected from the AC system as the source for laundry water, and this can run into a couple of hundred tons a day in humid weather.

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, ComputerTravelGuy said:

I’m on the Volendam now and the emergency signal (two quick blasts and one long) happened at 4:11am with an announcement that we ran aground shortly thereafter. After several unsuccessful attempts to free the ship from the sandbar under the bow, the Captain sent out tenders early in the morning to determine depths surrounding the ship (to find where deep water was). The captain transferred & dumped fresh water in the forward tanks and swimming pool and then used stern azipods to pivot the ship 30 degrees back and forth. Then he used bow thrusters to help dig a channel up front (minimal damage since just mud). 

Bit surprised he used the bow thrusters.  Even in just mud, there is granular particulates that will get into the shaft seal and wear it out, resulting in oil leakage to sea.

[3rdGenCunarder]

3 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

It's not that the water is too hot or muddy, it is against regulations to make water when within 12 miles of land.  Surprised there is no laundry service, as many ships use the condensate collected from the AC system as the source for laundry water, and this can run into a couple of hundred tons a day in humid weather.

 

When we did a full canal transit on QE2, we had a stop on the Pacific side (Fuerte Amador, maybe?) but left at 5:00 to sail around at night so that the ship could make water before we entered the canal. 

 

[ComputerTravelGuy]

19 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

It's not that the water is too hot or muddy, it is against regulations to make water when within 12 miles of land.  Surprised there is no laundry service, as many ships use the condensate collected from the AC system as the source for laundry water, and this can run into a couple of hundred tons a day in humid weather.

Can you provide the international regulation that doesn’t permit making water within 12 miles of land? Not familiar with this reg. 
Also, I wasn’t too surprised that bow thrusters were used - the Captain was using all means to get off the sandbar (but agree that future issues might result to the bow thruster years down the road). A full inspection of the hull, thrusters, etc is planned in Manaus. But our ship was exposed in the channel and there is heavy shipping traffic on the Amazon River. Possibly using bow thrusters to help free us from the sandbar was the lesser of two evils. 

Edited November 30, 2019 by ComputerTravelGuy

[Wehwalt]

Changes to the schedule as follows:

November 29-- Santarem, arrive 5pm

November 30--Santarem, all aboard 8 am (actual departure was somewhat later, around 10)

Boca de Valeria, skipped.

 

I did not hear the noon announcement very clearly but I am told the captain has said we may not make Manaus until 11:30 am tomorrow. That's going to tick off a lot of people with private tours.

 

Re laundry: A letter was sent to my cabin urging conservation. It didn't say anything about suspending laundry, but I'm in a Neptune Suite so we may be exempt from a flat prohibition. I sent out my laundry a couple of nights ago, and it came back the next afternoon.  I am reusing towels, minimizing water use in the bathroom, etc as was suggested. We did take on fresh water in Santerem.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Wehwalt

[chengkp75]

1 hour ago, ComputerTravelGuy said:

Can you provide the international regulation that doesn’t permit making water within 12 miles of land? Not familiar with this reg. 

The USPH VSP, the EU's ShipSan programs, for cruise ships, and the IMO's MLC 2006 all have standards for water production, as does the WHO.

[Copper10-8]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

When we did a full canal transit on QE2, we had a stop on the Pacific side (Fuerte Amador, maybe?) but left at 5:00 to sail around at night so that the ship could make water before we entered the canal. 

 

 

Fuerte Amador, Panama is indeed the Pacific coast stop on some, not all, HAL east/northbound Panama Canal transits. It's a tender port

 

 

Edited November 30, 2019 by Copper10-8

[Floridiana]

I am very interested in this thread. In March, we will be on an expedition ship that goes up the Amazon beyond Manaus to Iquitos. The ship is much smaller and March is in the rainy season. The river will be much higher.

[Vict0riann]

We went up the Amazon this year in February on Prinsendam, and had no problems.  We were asked to conserve water, and get our laundry done before we entered the river.

 

PS We only went as far as Manaus.

Edited November 30, 2019 by Vict0riann

[lizinvan]

Couple on board now have had to cancel tour for Alter Do Chao for Wed Dec 4. Sounds quite comprehensive and fair price if anyone on board  looking for activity that day.  We are already booked or would take it. Believe it was arranged by Jake (Darrell? And Charlotte 2632). 
we are Cam and Liz 6150 and looking for others who have school supplies to donate to Boca da Valeria school children

Edited November 30, 2019 by lizinvan
Typos:)

[SilvertoGold]

We were also asked to conserve water.  The Captain reported that about a third of pax did so.  Not sure what went into this accounting for how many complied, but he seemed happy with the number.