Going to Sea

Hello everyone! I have created this blog at the request of many of you wanting to keep in touch with me while at sea in my new position as Chief Security Officer with Holland America. I have been assigned the Maasdam (pictured left) in the months of Nov/Dec to sail out of Ft. Lauderdale throughout the Southern Caribbean and May/June out of Boston, MA throughout the New England/Canadian tour.

My first mission is actually going to be on the Volendam (pictured right) sailing Alaska, both inner and outer passge (rotating). I will be training for the first 2 weeks (from July 29-August 10), then I will be taking over as the Chief of the Onboard Security Department. I will be returning September 24th to San Diego, and continuing to work at the Cruise Ship Terminal as the shoreside Assistant Director of Security.

For those of you who weren't sure what I have been up to since moving back from Washington DC in 2007, I have been a Security Manager, now Assistant Director of Security, at the Cruise Ship Terminal at the San Diego Embarcadero (Port of San Diego - pictured left). I have actually had a great time and will be returning to the position when not at sea until we find out where Judi's job takes us. I work for Bryce Forrester (Director of Security), who is a retired Deputy Chief of El Paso Police Department in Texas. We work well together, and I know this at sea job has added stress to our smooth running system, which he reminds me is a compliment :) I tell you, after my years of being a street cop I thought I had seen it all until I started working at the Cruise Ship Terminal. I swear, I need to write a daily journal and sell it to Fox Network and call it "Life at the Cruise Ship Terminal - The not so loveboat". Many of you have heard some of the stories ranging from the guards working (like The Office meets Reno 911) to the cruise staff (mini United Nations) to the passengers (can feel like being a kid at Disneyland or being the only guy wearing a Red Sox jersey in Yankee Stadium) all in the same 12 hour workday. Let me document this - I own the rights to this sitcom!!

Anyhow, the blog is set up, and I will try my best to keep up on it from the high seas. I will have a laptop and digital camera, but those of you who know me, know I suck at taking pictures. Good news for everyone - Holland America does have a family discount plan, and cruising is a blast. The big challenge will be, Can I avoid the Lido food buffet? I venture to guess I will either lose or gain 20 pounds by the end of the year. Place your bets, ha ha.