JennysUncle

Vesselfinder shows Amsterdam has two tenders in the water.

Amsterdam seems to be taking the long way around to Jakarta.

According to Captain Albert's blog, the current captain is Werner Timmers

Is the ship being positioned just by the thrusters ? Tug is not doing anything. Where does that line off the bow go ?

Do those speeds include the effect of currents ? i.e. the equivalent of groundspeed versus airspeed.

The ship behind the Z and R is the Insignia, showing destination Tampa. (according to VesselFinder)

VesselFinder.com is another free tracking site. Also CruiseMapper.com

And heading south of San Andres Island. Not a usual track for going around Cuba to Florida.

VesselFinder shows that Rotterdam and Zaandam have slowed. An unlabeled satellite ship, maybe Zaandam, is heading towards an Ecuador port.

The ship's registry is relevant to the regulations that apply to its sailing. Carnival is a US corporation registered in Florida.

It has been posted elsewhere that Taiwan and S Korea have closed their ports to cruise ships. Maybe true, maybe not. But if it is (or happens after a flareup), what is HAL planning for the 2/29 cruise stop at Keelung and the 3/14 cruise stop at Busan ? My understanding is that Japan has a rule for round-trip cruises that the ship must make at least one foreign stop. (Like the US rule) The 3/28 cruise hits Taiwan again, but the 4/11 cruise goes to Vladivostok.

At 4:45 EST the Westerdam was off Cam Ranh Bay according to VesselTracker.com doing 15 knots. The track looks more like they plan to turn west and then north to go up to Bangkok rather than bending more to the south to Singapore. Yesterday Mein Schiff 6 and and Sapphire Princess docked there at Laem Chabang. Sapphire is still there, and Silver Spirit had been lurking offshore and is now approaching the port. So it looks like Thailand is accepting ships. Crystal Symphony is near Westerdam off Vietnam, but is heading more south, and it's AIS reports Singapore as the destination. Norwegian Jade is approaching Sihanoukville.

As of 32 min ago, the Westerdam's AIS tracker has appeared on VesselFinder.com. Yesterday it had been loafing up from Ishigaki towards Okinawa, but now it is east of the southern end of Taiwan, heading southeast. That's a course consistent with heading for Hong Kong.

MarineTraffic shows the Nieuw Amsterdam underway just leaving for Port Everglades.

"Was Francois Barrata the Hotel Director on your Zaandam cruises? I think he is terrific" No, our HD was Bart Groeneveld