Bocca di Ponente

For a minute there, it looked like we were going to lose Naples … as we did Kotor two days ago. But let me put your minds at ease. We made it. Here’s how our arrival story unfolded.

It was 7:45a. We were supposed to dock at 8:00a. That clearly wasn’t going to happen as Oosterdam was still outside the breakwaters for the Port of Naples. The sea was an angry cauldron of white caps. The wind was blowing strong and steady.

As we watched the shoreline, we noticed Oosterdam starting to turn. Oh oh! Were we leaving? Since no announcements are made over the P/A system before 8:00a, we’d have to wait a bit longer to find out.

We continued to watch from the veranda. Oosterdam continued to turn. Our view changed to show us Vesuvius … veiled by mist and cloaked by clouds. Then, slowly, Naples came back into view again as Oosterdam completed a 360° turn.

Just at that moment, the P/A came alive. It wasn’t Captain Rens, but Daniel, the Cruise & Travel Director. That was a good sign actually. After all, port cancelation announcements are in the purview of Captain Rens.

Daniel explained that we were making our final maneuvers to line up with the entrance to the port. The bad news, however, was that we’d be late docking.

No worries. It wasn’t like we were on a schedule today. We were just happy that we would not be losing Naples to the vagaries of Mother Nature.Read more