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Volendam dry dock Oct 18-Oct 31


tommy
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There simply isn't a good place for the TV's to go anywhere but where they are in the Oceanview and Interior rooms on the S&R Class.  Replacing current ones could allow for better picture/sound quality and allow for a slightly larger screen due to improvements in LCD technology.  Newer monitors have virtually no frame and larger screens for the same overall space usage than those currently on these ships.

 

The current monitors have a lot of wasted space at the sides that a newer monitor would not have, and you might be able to mount a newer monitor that was 1-2" wider overall which would yield a much larger screen than current.

 

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If you go corner to corner and make the entire outlined area screen you can see that they could get a much larger image TV in the rooms without moving them.

 

You could wall mount larger TV's across from the bed in the Vista Suites, but this would require extensive rewiring and I'm not sure HAL want to go that expense on the S&R class ships.  Better to replace the current monitors with slightly larger ones at the desk in their current location, which is certainly an option.

 

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Then again - NOTHING may happen at this point as HAL will most likely have to reschedule any drydocks scheduled for the next 12-15 months for Freeport to other locations, which will be a major disruption to schedules.  And even then HAL may have no intention of replacing TV's en-masse on these ships due to their age.

Edited by AtlantaCruiser72
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1 hour ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

You could wall mount larger TV's across from the bed in the Vista Suites, but this would require extensive rewiring and I'm not sure HAL want to go that expense on the S&R class ships. 

But then it would be very uncomfortable to try to sit and watch TV. I know my neck would get very sore from stretching and turning it to try to see the picture. 

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Glad to know the Crows Nest will not be changed on R and S ships. Our first HAL cruise was on the Volendam and we feel in love with the Crows nest for sea days and before dinner drinks.

 

The loss of the Freeport Dry Dock facility is going to be a major issue for both Carnival and Royal Caribbean owned lines for the next year or two.  Most dry dock facilities are booked way more than a year out and last minute replacements will be next to impossible.

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For Volendam they could wait and drydock in Victoria before her next AK cruise season, if it can be delayed by 8-9 months.  Not sure how much padding timewise HAL builds into their drydock schedules for required out of water inspections.  Zuiderdam could possibly have her work done in Spring in either Cadiz or Rotterdam prior to her European season.  Both would of course be subject to the yards having space/time and  require some changes to cruises which will be costly and disruptive for HAL and passengers alike.  Not sure there is any other option at this point unless a yard somewhere else in the Caribbean (Cuacao  perhaps?) can support the planned drydocks this fall.

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5 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

Just saw this on the other drydock thread: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/21511-grand-bahama-shipyard-open-for-business-2.html

 

Appears that Volendam and Zuiderdam work at Grand Bahama Shipyard may go on as planned ......

 

Excellent and welcome news!  I am 99% sure that HAL would have wanted the Volendam to have her drydock before she assumed the Grand South America/Antarctica itinerary of Prinsendam.  Sailing on Volendam's Christmas/New Year's Cruise just prior to the South American itinerary, I have been concerned if my cruise would need to be cancelled in order to accomplish the dry docking for Volendam.

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We are just off the Zaandam.  Jeff Warren was playing in the Piano Bar, and every night the place was packed, overflowing to the seating along the hallway and as many standees as could fit and still see.  If there had been more space, the crowd would have been larger.  And people were buying drinks.  It's hard to understand why HAL is persisting in eliminating such a popular entertainment.

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We are just off the Zaandam, and I had the opportunity to chat with one of the IT technicians.  (They are the ones with green stripes between their gold bars.)  He said that the S and R ships would not be upgraded to the new interactive TV system.  As noted above in this thread, it is because all the cabins would have to be rewired with 'internet' cables to replace the coax that feeds the old system.  Not impossible, just costing more than HAL wants to spend.  We did have newer flat-screen monitors up on the corner shelf with DVD's underneath, but just the same old lousy selection of channels.  (Actually worse, there is only one Music channel now.)

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10 hours ago, JennysUncle said:

We are just off the Zaandam, and I had the opportunity to chat with one of the IT technicians.  (They are the ones with green stripes between their gold bars.)  He said that the S and R ships would not be upgraded to the new interactive TV system.  As noted above in this thread, it is because all the cabins would have to be rewired with 'internet' cables to replace the coax that feeds the old system.  Not impossible, just costing more than HAL wants to spend.  We did have newer flat-screen monitors up on the corner shelf with DVD's underneath, but just the same old lousy selection of channels.  (Actually worse, there is only one Music channel now.)

 

Thanks for your information!  The flat-screen monitors on the corner shelf with the DVD's underneath?  That's going to be interesting to see how those monitors fit!  I can live with the channels, but only one music channel?  What's that going to be?  

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The TV was a ViewSonic LCD with a bigger screen than the old units, but not that large.  The edge stuck out just a bit beyond the cabinet.  However, the picture quality did not seem any better than on the old CRTs.  I think that could be because the actual signal sent over the coax is still at the resolution of old antenna TVs.

 

The one music channel is titled "Music 3", and the content is pretty modern.  Music 1 and 2 have been replaced by movies, I think - we just skipped over them to get to the BBC.  The channel that used to have American Songbook and Jazz has disappeared.

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37 minutes ago, JennysUncle said:

The channel that used to have American Songbook and Jazz has disappeared.

Sadly, that station disappeared on all the ships quite a while back. 
At least, if it is still available on any ship, I sure haven't found it. 

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43 minutes ago, RuthC said:

Sadly, that station disappeared on all the ships quite a while back. 
At least, if it is still available on any ship, I sure haven't found it. 

Don't tell anyone Ruth but on occasion I reprogram the tv with the remote and have picked up additional channels

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11 minutes ago, rucrazy said:

Don't tell anyone Ruth but on occasion I reprogram the tv with the remote and have picked up additional channels

How??? I swear, I won't tell a soul. I'll even reset it back when I leave, so no one will ever know. Promise! 

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  • 2 weeks later...

HAL could install the larger flat screen TV's on the wall in the S & R class ships.   But the problem is the cables for the DVD player, still mounted at the desk.   The RG-6 coax cable for the TV would be easy to snake through the wall to the TV, but the yellow, red & white RCA cables for the DVD player would be a problem.   And the resolution would not be any better, even with bigger TV's because the coaxial delivered system is still analog.   

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2 hours ago, TAD2005 said:

HAL could install the larger flat screen TV's on the wall in the S & R class ships.   But the problem is the cables for the DVD player, still mounted at the desk.   The RG-6 coax cable for the TV would be easy to snake through the wall to the TV, but the yellow, red & white RCA cables for the DVD player would be a problem.   And the resolution would not be any better, even with bigger TV's because the coaxial delivered system is still analog.   

 

The ships that have the wall mounted TVs no longer have the DVD players - those are as antiquated as the VCR these days - everything is digital content nowadays!

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20 hours ago, AtlantaCruiser72 said:

 

The ships that have the wall mounted TVs no longer have the DVD players - those are as antiquated as the VCR these days - everything is digital content nowadays!

CC members were asking if the R & S class ships had the wall-mounted flat screen TV's.   Some comments said that some of the R & S class ships had the larger wall-mounted TV's, but it was still the old style analog service, fed by coaxial cable, not the ethernet cable.   If they place the larger TV's on the wall, but do not offer the digital interactive service, then you have no movies.   And the front desk will still have the DVD lending library.   My point is that it would be difficult to still use a desk mounted DVD player into a TV mounted on the wall.  Cable issues.   Yes, all optical media is going away, and most content is digitally delivered.   But you can;t deliver digital content on the old, analog RG-6 coax.    So, no matter where they would hang a large flat screen,  to provide access to movies, it is either digitally delivered (which is not going to happen on the R & S class ships), or it will be optical media using an old style DVD player and a DVD lending library.

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39 minutes ago, TAD2005 said:

So, no matter where they would hang a large flat screen,  to provide access to movies, it is either digitally delivered (which is not going to happen on the R & S class ships), or it will be optical media using an old style DVD player and a DVD lending library.

Are wall-mounted TVs with a DVD slot in the side still made? That's what we had on Oceania. 

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