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Any news from the Amsterdam?

mame42

By mame42,
in Holland America Line

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Himself

Himself

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, Rotterdam said:

ROTTERDAM  V was built as a ship of state as was the FRANCE, QE2, NORMANDIE, RAFFAELLO & MICHAELANGELO. & OCEANIC. Onthese boards when someone mentions an oceanliner these long gone  ships are what they are referring to.  NOT  the cookie cutter CRUISE SHIPS that are built with in the last couple of decades.

The old ships of state were built as proud representations of certain cultures w cutting edge technology of their time,  decor & amenities of priceless art, comfortable & chic furnishings & interior design to up the drama factor for passengers.

Even the Statendam of the 70's- 80's couldn't compare to Rotterdam V. When Home LINES BUILT the new Homeric it was a lovely cruise ship.

One big difference between the OCEAN LINERS & MODERN CRUISE SHIPS  is how they handle the ocean.  Being shallow draft allows ships to get into smaller harbors etc but once rough seas are encountered it's not fun.  Even the FRANCE & QE2 sailed differently...FRANCE was more of a roller in rough weather & QE2 would list a little & then cut through the worst of storms.

PRINSENDAM was built as a modern ocean going ship but certainly couldn't compare to ROTTERDAM V.

Today's ships are just cookie cutter w minor design changes w high density & reduced passenger service.  

Why would anyone design a ship without an aft pool or a rap around promenade???

Even the new ROTTERDAM Vll will be just another CARNIVORE CORP CRUISE SHIP/ floating mall.

It's too bad

I wish I had sailed the Rotterdam V. I have heard only good of this classic ship. I was once in line to get on the R Class Volendam and a man said to me that this was the last of the Holland ships.  He pointed the Zuiderdam at Pier 26 and described the Zuiderdam as the first of the Carnival ships for the Holland America Line..

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Horizon chaser 1957

Horizon chaser 1957

Posted
Posted
On 8/16/2020 at 9:14 AM, cruzingnut said:

We weren't allowed to dock in Darwin prior to that so other than Malaysia and Fremantle, she hadn't been docked since March 12th in Cairns.  One thing to keep in mind is that the crew who are still on the ship for the minimal manning haven't set foot on land since March 12th and that's if they even got off that day! 

 

Linda R.


And any crew that did go ashore in Cairns didn’t have much fun. Remember how awful the weather was that day, due to the tropical storm to the south? I saw more than one umbrella turned inside out and shredded on the run from the ship to the terminal building!

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cruzingnut

cruzingnut

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Horizon chaser 1957 said:


And any crew that did go ashore in Cairns didn’t have much fun. Remember how awful the weather was that day, due to the tropical storm to the south? I saw more than one umbrella turned inside out and shredded on the run from the ship to the terminal building!

 

It really was a miserable day.  So much so that we didn't even bother getting off the ship, especially since we were docked so far from the terminal. 

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SharonN

SharonN

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, cruzingnut said:

 

It really was a miserable day.  So much so that we didn't even bother getting off the ship, especially since we were docked so far from the terminal. 

You were lucky. We took the Great Barrier Reef Tour that was a total disaster of many hours on a boat that broke down and didn't get to see anything. And that was after the rainy day in Townesville where our tour got cancelled because of the rain. It really was a bad end to the port stops and obviously the rest of the trip was........ 

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Hygge!

Hygge!

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, SharonN said:

We took the Great Barrier Reef Tour that was a total disaster of many hours on a boat that broke down and didn't get to see anything. And that was after the rainy day in Townesville where our tour got cancelled because of the rain.

We heard about the horrible tour to the reef.  So glad folks got back safely! We had cancelled several days before based on the storm that was heading our way! I agree - rough ending! 

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cruzingnut

cruzingnut

Posted
Posted
13 minutes ago, SharonN said:

You were lucky. We took the Great Barrier Reef Tour that was a total disaster of many hours on a boat that broke down and didn't get to see anything. And that was after the rainy day in Townesville where our tour got cancelled because of the rain. It really was a bad end to the port stops and obviously the rest of the trip was........ 

 

We had friends on that trip.  I would have been furious but I think they got their money back.  Yes, Townsville was rainy too but we had cancelled a tour there figuring it would be miserable.  We just went downtown and went shopping.  Turns out we didn't need much of what we bought since we had to get off in Fremantle....

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SharonN

SharonN

Posted
Posted
34 minutes ago, cruzingnut said:

 

We had friends on that trip.  I would have been furious but I think they got their money back.  Yes, Townsville was rainy too but we had cancelled a tour there figuring it would be miserable.  We just went downtown and went shopping.  Turns out we didn't need much of what we bought since we had to get off in Fremantle....

Yes the tour company refunded the money immediately when the engine broke. But they never should have gone out that day. We were lucky our ship's escort was one of the engineer's wives and she was in contact with the Shore Excursion Office while on the trip. So when we got back they had the buses waiting for us  (I heard one of the other tours didn't have a bus and had to walk back) and many of the Shore Ex and Front desk people greeting us at the terminal including Henk. They also kept the Lido open late for lunch so we could get something to eat. Not a great day but we did have a great cruise up until that point so life goes on.

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Storylady

Storylady

Posted
Posted
6 hours ago, cruzingnut said:

 

It really was a miserable day.  So much so that we didn't even bother getting off the ship, especially since we were docked so far from the terminal. 

Glad we went to Karanda by train instead of staying in Cairns. We had a wonderful trip with our travel agency. We decided to go even though we had already been in 2012. A little rain in Karanda, but definitely not a downpour. Then we took the cable cars down. Our bus driver took our group to see a field full of Wallabies. Must have been almost five hundred or more. Was a great way to end our visit to Australia.

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