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Have 'Blue World Voyages' purchased a HAL Ship?

London-Calling

By London-Calling,
in Holland America Line

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rkacruiser

rkacruiser

Posted
Posted

Lovely slide show; if reality, it will be out of my price range for a cruise.  I can determine that just by the photos.  It has been previously noted in the reduction of the number of lifeboats.  Fewer lifeboats=fewer guests (if the ship is in fact the former Maasdam or Veendam);  fewer guests=higher per day prices.  

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

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58 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

Yes, Maasdam.

 

Plus Veendam, although still not official, and her (Veendam's) recent renaming of 'Aegean Majesty' makes it all 'very interesting' as Sergeant Hans Schultz liked to utter 

 

John Banner in 1965.jpg

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Stateroom_Sailor

Stateroom_Sailor

Posted
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Any cruise line entering the market, will have the strategic advantage of cheap ships, low debt. 

 

If the pandemic weren't hurting the rest of the travel industry, I wouldn't be surprised to see Universal at Sea, Delta Seamiles, and Hilton River Cruises.

 

Any new players have a lot of explaining to do, regarding their chair hog and emotional support pet policies!

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KirkNC

KirkNC

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31 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

And quite the time for a roll out.  One bedroom for $2.4mm for 25 years or just under $100k per year.  That’s actually not a bad price on an annual basis.

I need to amend my comment as I have now seen there is an annual maintenance fee which appears to be quite high.

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npcl

npcl

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3 hours ago, KirkNC said:

I need to amend my comment as I have now seen there is an annual maintenance fee which appears to be quite high.

If you put it in the rental program for half of the year (the amount of time forecast to pay for annual maintenance costs) it would only cost you about $4,000 per week for the time you would get to use it (ignoring interest and opportunity costs for the initial payment).

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KirkNC

KirkNC

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2 minutes ago, npcl said:

If you put it in the rental program for half of the year (the amount of time forecast to pay for annual maintenance costs) it would only cost you about $4,000 per week for the time you would get to use it (ignoring interest and opportunity costs for the initial payment).

It’s a little hard to get accurate info from the website but first it says to expect rental income to be $3,500 per week per person.  Assuming most rentals are for two, that would be $7,000/week.  It further says if you rent your unit for  23 weeks you cover the maintenance costs.  They charge a 15% rental commission so you will net $136, 850 for 23 weeks (23 x $7,000 x .85%).  So that makes the maintenance costs to be $136,850 per year which is a lot to me (that’s after putting $2,4000,000 down to purchase the unit).

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drowelf

drowelf

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53 minutes ago, npcl said:

If you put it in the rental program for half of the year (the amount of time forecast to pay for annual maintenance costs) it would only cost you about $4,000 per week for the time you would get to use it (ignoring interest and opportunity costs for the initial payment).

But wouldn't you actually have someone rent your unit for pieces of the 6 months in order to re-coup that money? While I have not dug into the details on the site that it appears that KirkNC has, I'll bet there is a caveat somewhere that states that rentals are not guaranteed. 

 

46 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

It’s a little hard to get accurate info from the website but first it says to expect rental income to be $3,500 per week per person.  Assuming most rentals are for two, that would be $7,000/week.  It further says if you rent your unit for  23 weeks you cover the maintenance costs.  They charge a 15% rental commission so you will net $136, 850 for 23 weeks (23 x $7,000 x .85%).  So that makes the maintenance costs to be $136,850 per year which is a lot to me (that’s after putting $2,4000,000 down to purchase the unit).

This all seems way too pricey, at least for me, as the maintenance fees alone are a bit more that our current yearly income  (or expect to have available in retirement) for just this one expense. 

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KirkNC

KirkNC

Posted
Posted (edited)
54 minutes ago, DuffyMcfluffy said:

The World also has a food and beverage charge. Several years ago it was $40,000 per year and has probably gone up. Use it or lose it.

The website for Blue World says you meals are included.  House beer and wine are also included with meals (excluding breakfast 😳).

Edited by KirkNC
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KirkNC

KirkNC

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41 minutes ago, drowelf said:

But wouldn't you actually have someone rent your unit for pieces of the 6 months in order to re-coup that money? While I have not dug into the details on the site that it appears that KirkNC has, I'll bet there is a caveat somewhere that states that rentals are not guaranteed. 

 

You HAVE to rent it through Blue World, no other option.  You can give it to family members or friends for free but otherwise all rentals must go through BW.  And yes, you have to hope they can rent it.  As Sir PMP said, it’s like a floating timeshare.

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cruiserhal

cruiserhal

Posted
Posted

Let's see.  So, I give them $2.4 + million plus monthly maintenance fees.  It looks nice bit I think I am missing a few things.  First, I didn't see anything about daily cleaning service.  Then, it appears there is a communal laundry. Does that mean they don't have laundry service?   For a couple of million I have to do my own laundry. Interesting.  Butler service is extra, I wonder how much.  Anyway, I don't think Visa will will put that much on my card.  🙂  

 

This reminds me of timeshare visits I did 20 years ago.  Looks good but not for me.  

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frankc98376

frankc98376

Posted
Posted
On 8/17/2020 at 2:20 PM, Copper10-8 said:

 

Plus Veendam, although still not official, and her (Veendam's) recent renaming of 'Aegean Majesty' makes it all 'very interesting' as Sergeant Hans Schultz liked to utter 

 

John Banner in 1965.jpg

 

Saw a picture of Aegean Majesty- looked like name was quickly stensiled over Veendam.  Wondering if the name is temporary 

 

Maasdam moved to Piraeus and supposedly is being handed over to new owners (still unknown).

 

Makes me wonder if venture capital bought the ships on spec.

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Copper10-8 "Live from...." Rare

Copper10-8

Posted
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1 minute ago, frankc98376 said:

 

Saw a picture of Aegean Majesty- looked like name was quickly stensiled over Veendam.  Wondering if the name is temporary 

 

Maasdam moved to Piraeus and supposedly is being handed over to new owners (still unknown).

 

Makes me wonder if venture capital bought the ships on spec.

 

Maasdam's handover is supposedly in three days on 25 Aug

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frankc98376

frankc98376

Posted
Posted (edited)
4 minutes ago, frankc98376 said:

 

Saw a picture of Aegean Majesty- looked like name was quickly stensiled over Veendam.  Wondering if the name is temporary 

 

Maasdam moved to Piraeus and supposedly is being handed over to new owners (still unknown).

 

Makes me wonder if venture capital bought the ships on spec.

 

Could it be that the Van der Vorm family bought them to start a new line? The do still own the HAL name on their businesses. They made billions selling their eyewear company to Luxoticca. 🙂

Edited by frankc98376
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