What can we expect on an inaugural cruise?

[General Max]

We have booked the inaugural sailing of the Noordam out of New York City on February 22, 2006. Does HAL do any special celebrations?

 

Will the City of New York put on anything at the Port?

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[Krazy Kruizers]

It all depends if a big party has been planned by HAL.

 

99% of the time you usually do get an escort out with the fire boats when it is an inaugural cruise. But then again that may happen as the ship is first arriving in New York like they did for the QM 2.

 

There might be a couple of extra parties since you are on a cruise longer than 7 days.

 

You should get the inaugural plates as a repeat passenger.

You may even get a book on the history of ships named "Noordam".

[General Max]

Thank you. Those sound like some nice perks particularily the book on ships named "Noordam".

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[Vic The Parrot]

That's a good question.

 

I'm sure HAL will have something planned, being it's a 'maiden run' of the Noordam. But I doubt if the PA will be doing anything special. If they do, it won't be of the same caliber of the tandem crossings of QE2 and QM2 in April 2004.

 

It'll be a little nippy for fireworks that time of year.

:rolleyes:

 

Who knows. I could be wrong. HAL and NY could have something up thier sleeves. And it'll be part of the surprise as you lucky folks sail down the Hudson.

 

Whatever it'll be, I'll be there!

(On land, of course.... plenty of nice viewing spots in Battery Park .... )

[PRINSENDAM]

We have booked the inaugural sailing of the Noordam out of New York City on February 22, 2006. Does HAL do any special celebrations?

 

Will the City of New York put on anything at the Port?

 

Cheers

 

General Max

 

 

 

My last Inaugural sailing out of New York was on PRINSENDAM and to honour the ship the Mayor named the day PRINSENDAM DAY!

 

Going by past maiden voyages, STATENDAM, MAASDAM, RYNDAM, VEENDAM and PRINSENDAM, the official chrstening usually takes place a couple of hours before sailing. Sailway with tugs, fireboats etc. The only possible 'downer' with NOORDAM's maiden departure from New York is that it is in the middle of winter and it might be cold and nasty out on deck and if the departure is around 5pm then it will be almost dark!

 

Re the old NOORDAMs... I have two of the paintings on the go at the moment. One shows the old 1938 NOORDAM on trials in the North sea on 15th September 1938. The other painting shows the new NOORDAM at anchor at Half Moon Cay... as she might appear next February on the maiden voyage!!!! The last painting in the series, NOORDAM IV... still to do. Thee are three other paintings... but you will have to wait until February to see them! ;)

 

Stephen

[General Max]

I guess we would like to be surprised by whatever takes place that day or even during the cruise.

 

I also read on another thread that the ship will be arriving in New York without any passengers. That would downplay any arriving ceremonies.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[RevNeal]

Who knows. I could be wrong. HAL and NY could have something up thier sleeves. And it'll be part of the surprise as you lucky folks sail down the Hudson.

 

Whatever it'll be, I'll be there!

(On land, of course.... plenty of nice viewing spots in Battery Park .... )

 

You WILL be taking pictures and e-mailing them to me ... won't you??? Eh, Vic old pal? I'd rather you be able to be aboard with us, but I know the reasons why not ... bummer.

[RevNeal]

Capt. Stephen,

 

I LOVE your work. I have a print of one of your paintings of the current Statendam which is dated to her inaugural year; my parents gave it to me. Is any of your work available in Lithographic form for purchase? Please feel free to respond via e-mail if you're uncomfortable (or not allowed) to do so in public.

 

revneal@aol.com

[General Max]

Reverend Neal, how many HAL cruises have you been on? It seems that Vic has been on a lot but he will miss the Noordam cruise.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[RevNeal]

General,

 

I have been on 11 HAL cruises, of which 3 have been chaplain-service cruises.

 

Nieuw Amsterdam - 1994

Rotterdam V - 1995

Rotterdam V - 1996

Maasdam - 1999

Maasdam - 2000

Volendam - 2002

Statendam - 2002

Volendam - 2003

Volendam - 2003

Zaandam - 2004

Oosterdam - 2005

 

I will be just one cruise-day shy of 100 days on the Noordam next year. I was trying to get 100 so I could celebrate it on the Noordam's Maiden voyage, but I just can't find the time to do that (I'd need one more cruise than I've got plotted, and that simply isn't going to happen). As it is, I'll make 100 come my 2006 Cruise in Europe on the Rotterdam VI ... assuming I can convince Christopher to make that one with me. If not, I'll pass 100 days on the Zaandam cruise to Hawaii.

[Classynfun1]

RevNeal...which Europe cruise are you looking at taking on the Rotterdam next year? As a fellow Texas who just spent 22 days doing just that, I'd be more than happy to share pics and try and talk Christopher into it for you. DEFINITELY worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat! :D

[General Max]

Reverend Neal, Mrs Max and I would have enjoyed seeing you get your 100 Day pin on the Noordam. We have a total of 7 days on HAL to date. A long way to 100.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[ekerr19]

We had a nice "send off" for the Maiden US voyage of Noordam III in 1984.

 

I will be excited to see what surprises they have in store for the inaugural voyage of new Noordam.

[General Max]

I am sure there will be several threads to discuss the "Happenings" on the inaugural cruise when it is over. I assume this ship is the Noordam IV then.

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[Vic The Parrot]

You WILL be taking pictures and e-mailing them to me ... won't you??? Eh, Vic old pal? I'd rather you be able to be aboard with us, but I know the reasons why not ... bummer.

 

 

Of course I'll do that!

 

But you have to take shots from your perspective as well.

I'm sure there will be a party on land ..

 

;)

[RevNeal]

...which Europe cruise are you looking at taking on the Rotterdam next year? As a fellow Texas who just spent 22 days doing just that, I'd be more than happy to share pics and try and talk Christopher into it for you. DEFINITELY worth it and I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

 

It looks like we've settled on the July 4th departure of the Rotterdam for 12 days in the Baltic. We'll probably fly early and spend 2 or 3 days in Paris, then ride the train to Rotterdam to board the Rotterdam. :)

[General Max]

How many cruises are you working on at one time Reverend?

 

Cheers

 

General Max

[RevNeal]

How many cruises are you working on at one time Reverend?

 

:)

 

Right now I have 2 cruises booked for 2006, and 1 in the final stage of approval for booking: Rotterdam. If that ends up being a "go," it will make 3 on the books for next year. And, of course, this Fall I'll be on the Westerdam. :)

 

That's 4 cruises in the works, which is a bit unusual for me. I normally only have two on the board at any one time. I DO usually plan quite a ways in advance, however ... I have to in order to arrange my schedule relative to the church's schedule to enable myself to be away. Oh, I CAN get away on short notice if I must, but I prefer to have things planned well in advance. It saves giving church members the "fits" when it turns out that I'm going to be unexpectedly gone for a Sunday or two.

 

In any given year I'm due a minimum of 5 Sundays off for vacation. If I want/need more, I can negotiate it without any trouble with the Pastor-Parish Relations Committee. There have been times when I've been scolded by my Bishop for not taking all of my alloted vacation time; for instance, in 2002 I only took 4 of my 5 weeks, and again in 2003 I only took 3 of my 5 weeks. As a result, a letter of reprimand was placed in my file for "not taking sufficient care of myself." Last year I took all 5 weeks of my alloted time. This year it's going to take a compromise: I've taken 1 of my weeks off thus far, and I've got 3 Sundays and two weeks off planned for this Fall. In negotiation with the PPR and my Bishop, I've asked permission to shift one of my 2005 vacation weeks to 2006 to help with next year's planned cruise schedule. They had no problem with that. They are willing to be flexible, but at the same time they're on the look-out for clergy workaholics. Too many of my fellow pastors have hit burn-out due to not taking off sufficient time for rest and relaxation.

[WISCruiser]

I was on the U.S. portion Inaugural Cruise out of FFL on the Oosterdam in Dec. '03, and the only thing I saw for the 1st cruise out of the U.S.( she had done several cruises in Europe before comming over here in the late Fall) was 1... only 1 stinkin' fire boat shooting water into the air ( and it was kinda lame at that, water pressure was dissapointing) as we pulled out of the channel in FFL.:o

 

Was really disapointed as I thought there would be more going on than just that lame excuse for a send-off. The Sail-away party was just your "typical" sail-away as like a Regular cruise. That's why I had gone on that cruise, to see what HAL does for Inaugural Cruises. Not much 1st inaugural cruise what-not was going on during the cruise either.

 

So thats why I'm hoping this "true" maiden voyage inaugural cuise is given more pomp; and maybe leaving from NYC, they'll "do it" up right.

 

Does anyone have an idea what time they'll start letting Pax go on board for this special cruise?

 

I hope those first two days when we head down to the Turks is not to wicked as far as Sea states.

[bepsf]

Alan -

 

I love the graphic in your signature for the Noordam Inaugural - Did you create that?

[lknick]

Having been on 3 maiden voyages [Princendam I, Carnival Legend, and QM2] here is what I’ve experienced. Fireboats at every port entered. A crew so new they can’t find a thing. Confused management. Have also received memorability.

[sail7seas]

We had a nice "send off" for the Maiden US voyage of Noordam III in 1984.

 

I will be excited to see what surprises they have in store for the inaugural voyage of new Noordam.

 

Laura.....Was Dirk Verhey van Wijk the Hotel Manager on your final Noordam cruise?

[PRINSENDAM]

Laura.....Was Dirk Verhey van Wijk the Hotel Manager on your final Noordam cruise?

 

 

 

 

Dirk was indeed Hotel Manager on the NOORDAM for her final series of HAL cruises. Great fellow. We were fortunate to have dinner with him on a few evenings.

 

It is my understanding that he was going to retire and go back to Ghana, but I don't know if he meant then or sometime in the future.

 

Stepehen

[Vic The Parrot]

Was really disapointed as I thought there would be more going on than just that lame excuse for a send-off. The Sail-away party was just your "typical" sail-away as like a Regular cruise. That's why I had gone on that cruise, to see what HAL does for Inaugural Cruises. Not much 1st inaugural cruise what-not was going on during the cruise either.

 

So thats why I'm hoping this "true" maiden voyage inaugural cuise is given more pomp; and maybe leaving from NYC, they'll "do it" up right.

 

 

 

It's possible she'll get a fireboat greeting on arrival that morning. (Whichever day that might be......)

 

And a few plumes on our departure ... oops, 'YOUR' departure...

provided the water from those nozzles doesn't freeze. :D

 

But we can expect an escort out of the harbor. That's been happening since 9/11, and it don't look like that will be ending soon.

[General Max]

:)

 

Too many of my fellow pastors have hit burn-out due to not taking off sufficient time for rest and relaxation.

 

Reverend Neil, burnout happens in my profession (Engineering) also. That is why I am taking the first week of July off and going to Wisconsin. I am also taking a month off in October and November for a tour of Italy and the Westerdam Transatlantic. Finally, I am retiring January 31, 2006 just before the Noordam cruise.

 

Cheers

 

General Max