The beginning of the end for HAL's former Westerdam II

[Copper10-8]

HAL's former Westerdam II arrived off Aliaga, Turkey a couple of days ago, and was beached this morning to begin her scrapping process. The video shows her departing Eleusis, Greece under tow for her final journey to Aliaga 

 

 

The ship was built by Jos. L. Meyer GmbH shipyard, Papenburg, (then) West Germany and delivered in 1986 as ms Homeric for Italian-based Home Lines. Homeric was planned during the first half of the 1980s as a replacement for the aging ss Oceanic in the Home Lines' fleet. The ship was named in honor of the company's earlier ss Homeric, a popular ship for the line that had been destroyed by a fire in 1973. The new ship was launched on 28 September 1985, performed her sea trials between 26 and 30 December 1985, but was not delivered to Home Lines until 6 May 1986. She left Emden, West Germany on 12 May 1986 for her inaugural cruise to New York. Upon arrival there, and after her naming/christening ceremony, she departed on her maiden voyage from New York City to Hamilton, Bermuda on 31 May 1986. Home Lines used her on Bermuda cruises during the northern hemisphere summer season and to the Caribbean in the winter.

 

 

Homeric was built with a terraced forward and rear superstructure, with lifeboats placed fairly high. She had a relatively large funnel, with a large arch behind it to deflect some soot away from the rear decks. Unusually for a cruise ship of her time, Homeric was built with a somewhat ocean-liner-like layout, with her dining room in particular reflecting a liner-like design. She was also built with a sizeable promenade deck and a one-deck-high movie theater. She came out with two swimming pools, one to the rear of the ship and another mid-ships which was covered with a moveable roof, known as a magrodome. In her original Home Lines livery she had a white hull and superstructure, with a blue decorative riband separating them. Her funnel and radar mast, the structures immediately below them and the cranes on her forward deck were painted yellow. The ship's name was painted in tall letters on the side of the superstructure below the radar mast.

 

 

On 24 March 1988, Home Lines, including Homeric and Atlantic, was purchased by Holland America Line. Following their final seasons in Bermuda in October of that year, HAL chartered Atlantic to Premier Cruise Line for seven years (Premier outright purchased her in June 1990) and moved Homeric into a dry-dock and refit at the Norshipco yard in Norfolk, Va. Two lounges in the forward section of the ship were combined to create a large two-level main show lounge, while her original show lounge was converted into a movie theater. The ship received HAL's dark blue (known as Nieuw Amsterdam-blue) hull colors, with her funnel and radar mast painted white. Homeric was renamed Westerdam on 2 November 1988 by her HAL godmother, Clara van der Vorm, the spouse of then HAL president and CEO Nico van der Vorm. She departed Ft. Lauderdale, FL on her maiden cruise, a seven-day run to the Eastern Caribbean under the command of Captain Paul Kievit. Upon her return one week later, this was followed by a seven-day run to the Western Caribbean (George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Cozumel, Mexico). Westerdam's arrival expanded the HAL fleet to four ships and signaled the beginning of a new era of growth for Holland America that continues today. Her name translates to one of the four directions of the compass in the Dutch language; wester meaning, well, westerly.

 

She was the second ship in Holland America Line history to receive the name Westerdam. The first Westerdam sailed for Holland America Line from 1946 to 1965. While being constructed during World War II, Westerdam I was sunk three times: On 27 August 1942, she was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft while in the shipyard in Rotterdam. The German occupiers raised the ship in September 1944, but she was quickly sunk again, this time by Dutch resistance fighters. After being raised a second time, the resistance again sank her on 17 January 1945. After the Netherlands were liberated in May, 1945, Westerdam I was raised a third time and finally completed. On 28 June 1946, Westerdam I finally departed Rotterdam on her maiden voyage to New York City. She would go on to be a regular on the transatlantic run, making two eight-day crossings each month between Rotterdam and New York. The 12,149 gross registered ton twin-propeller ship and her sister, Noordam II, each took eight days to make the crossing. Westerdam I was a combined cargo and passenger ship. She had five cargo holds and carried 143 first-class passengers as well as 126 crew members. The ship continued regular transatlantic service for 18 years until she was sold for scrap to Spanish breakers on 4 February 1965.

In October 1989, Westerdam II was sent back to her place of birth, Jos. L. Meyer GmbH, Papenburg, West Germany for a U.S. $65 million lengthening by having a 130-foot mid section inserted into the ship, emerging in March 1990 with a new grt of 53,872 (originally 42,092), an overall length of 798 feet (originally 668 feet) and a new passenger capacity of 1,476 souls (originally 1,132). The lengthening altered her exterior appearance somewhat. The windows of the added section are larger than those forward and aft. She immediately became the largest Holland America cruise ship ever and subsequently crossed the Atlantic and arrived in New York City to a welcome by spraying fireboats and tugs, resuming Caribbean cruises on 25 March 1990. In HAL service, Westerdam was primarily home-ported at Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, initially sailing 5 and 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruises (San Juan, Puerto Rico; Road Town, Tortola, BVI, Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, BVI; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI and Nassau, The Bahamas) in the winter and at Vancouver, BC for Alaska cruising in the summer months. During her HAL career, she also operated on Canada/New England cruises.

 

Westerdam’s passenger accommodation consisted of 495 cabins with outside views and 252 inside rooms for a total of 747. After the lengthening in Papenburg, Westerdam II came out with a new two-deck high, 680-seat Admirals main show lounge, a remodeled and expanded casual Lido Restaurant, the addition of a second Lido-type restaurant called the Verandah Restaurant, adjacent to the Verandah Pool on Sun Deck, and a completely renewed shopping area. The Amsterdam dining room was enlarged from 520 to 875 seats, extra acoustical material was installed in the ceiling to reduce noise, and had a raised central dome. The newly inserted section contained an Explorers Lounge, Ocean Bar and the Bookchest library, as well as new meeting rooms. A new sports as well as a sunbathing area were created on the topmost deck, above the Verandah Pool. Five self-service laundry rooms were also added, as were two extra elevators. Westerdam did not have any large suites or private verandahs.

In HAL service, Westerdam had a Sports Bar with ESPN programming, the Pear Tree Club disco/night club, the Stuyvesant Lounge (named for Pieter Stuyvesant, the last governor of New Netherland from 1647 until 1664), by day, an informal restaurant offering breakfast and luncheons, a quiet lounge for afternoon tea, after-dinner brandy and good conversation, the Piano Bar/Saloon, the Big Apple meeting room (also used by Club HAL),the Hudson Lounge, the Card room, the 237-seat (movie) Theater (also used for lectures, meetings and religious services), the Photo Shop, the Casino (offering blackjack, roulette, blackjack, craps and slot machines),The Square (including the onboard Shopping Arcade, the Main Lobby, Main staircase, elevators plus offices of the Hotel Manager, Purser and Cruise Director),the Barber Shop and the Beauty Parlor, the Ocean Spa (with massage room and dual steam saunas) and Gymnasium (with treadmills, rowing machines, stationary bikes, isometric pulleys and free weights),two outdoor swimming pools, one the Verandah pool on Sun Deck which could be covered with a magrodome roof, and the other on Upper Promenade Deck, one practice tennis and one volleyball court, as well as a 40 by 40 foot jogging area.

The tradition of exhibiting art objects on board the passenger ships of the Holland America Line began in 1938, during the golden era of leisurely ocean cruising. The company’s first grand collection was displayed on the second Nieuw Amsterdam. Westerdam II had a Dutch worldwide exploration theme and pays tribute to the Dutch East India Company or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Dutch, of the 17th and 18th centuries, with a collection of U.S. $2 million worth of art and artifacts displayed throughout the ship.

 

Some of the examples of art that was found onboard Westerdam II: In the ship’s Ocean Bar could be found a 17th century dolphin carved in white marble, an 18th century Dutch fountain, also made out of marble, and the famous Ming Dog of Fo that offered protection to all who entered the lounge. In the Explorers Lounge, were two Arita lacquer vases that depicted scenes of Chinese life and landscapes. Just outside the Explorers Lounge, was a huge bronze cannon, weighing over two tons, called “Old Rye” that once graced Dutch Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter’s warship in 1634. It lay at the bottom of the sea off France for 300 years until caught in the nets of a Dutch fisherman. Throughout the ship were several hand-colored 17th century maps of America, Africa and Asia, once commonplace tools used by Dutch sea captains to chart their courses. In addition, Oriental scrolls, screens and porcelains as well as an antique rosewood love seat could be found. Some of her former crew members are/were convinced that she was haunted. In 1997, the romantic comedy "Out to Sea" starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon, Gloria DeHaven and Brent Spiner, was partially filmed onboard Westerdam II.

 

In March 2002, After 643 cruises spanning over 13 years with Holland America, she was internally transferred within the Carnival Group to Italy-based Costa Crociere/Costa Cruise Lines who sent her to dry-dock in Genoa, Italy for refitting. During that dry-dock, the ship was refurbished, with some of her interior decorations changed to a brighter and more Southern European style. Her original theater (changed to a movie theater in HAL service) was converted into six balcony suites, and a new ballroom with a hardwood dance floor replaced the earlier lounge. Despite the refit, most of the ship's decorations were retained from her HAL days, resulting in Costa Europa having somewhat different interior decorations from her "Italian-style" fleet-mates. On 27 April 2002, she was christened Costa Europa and commenced cruising for the Italian company out of Genoa that same afternoon. With Costa, she operated mainly Mediterranean cruises on Greek Island itineraries, including visits to Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Crete.

 

On 26 February 2010 at 4:45 am, Costa Europa carrying 1,473 passengers, collided with a pier at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Sharm al-Sheikh, after attempting to dock in bad weather, including fierce winds. The collision tragically resulted in the death of three crew members and injured four other individuals, three of them passengers. The incident tore a four-foot wide hole in her hull and forced Costa to cancel the remainder of the vessel’s voyage, which was an 18-night cruise from Dubai to Savona, Italy. Costa Europa’s passengers were accommodated at local hotels in Sharm el-Sheik and then flown home.

 

In July 2009, Carnival Corporation announced that Costa Europa would join British tour operator Thomson Cruises under a 10-year bareboat charter beginning in April 2010. Under the agreement, Thomson has an option to purchase the ship after five years. In Thomson’ service, the ship was renamed Thomson Dream with a capacity for 1,506 passengers. At 54,000 gross registered tons, she was Thomson’s biggest and most luxurious ship. Thomson Dream operated out of Palma de Mallorca, one of Spain’s Balearic islands, where she joined Thomson Destiny during the summer months. She sailed 3 and 7-night itineraries with port calls at Civitavecchia (Rome) and Florence, Italy as well as at Barcelona, Spain and La Goulette in Tunisia.

 

 

On 9 October 2017, owners TUI Group announced that Thomson Cruises would be rebranded in late October 2017 as Marella Cruises, with all of the existing Thomson fleet adopting the name change either from Thomson or TUI to Marella including Thomson Dream which was renamed Marella Dream. She operated for Marella Cruises for another three years. On 1 October 2020 Marella announced that Marella Dream would be retired from the Marella fleet and all of her summer sailings were transferred to Marella Discovery.  On 15 June 2022, after 1.5 years in layup, the ship, under her final name of "Ella", left Eleusis Bay towed by the Christos XLII. Out of the bay, the Christos LXI LXI took over and towed the ship for her final journey to the break yard in Aliaga, Turkey.

 

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[MISTER 67]

19 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

HAL's former Westerdam II arrived off Aliaga, Turkey a couple of days ago, and was beached this morning to begin her scrapping process. The video shows her departing Eleusis, Greece under tow for her final journey to Aliaga 

 

 

The ship was built by Jos. L. Meyer GmbH shipyard, Papenburg, (then) West Germany and delivered in 1986 as ms Homeric for Italian-based Home Lines. Homeric was planned during the first half of the 1980s as a replacement for the aging ss Oceanic in the Home Lines' fleet. The ship was named in honor of the company's earlier ss Homeric, a popular ship for the line that had been destroyed by a fire in 1973. The new ship was launched on 28 September 1985, performed her sea trials between 26 and 30 December 1985, but was not delivered to Home Lines until 6 May 1986. She left Emden, West Germany on 12 May 1986 for her inaugural cruise to New York. Upon arrival there, and after her naming/christening ceremony, she departed on her maiden voyage from New York City to Hamilton, Bermuda on 31 May 1986. Home Lines used her on Bermuda cruises during the northern hemisphere summer season and to the Caribbean in the winter.

 

 

Homeric was built with a terraced forward and rear superstructure, with lifeboats placed fairly high. She had a relatively large funnel, with a large arch behind it to deflect some soot away from the rear decks. Unusually for a cruise ship of her time, Homeric was built with a somewhat ocean-liner-like layout, with her dining room in particular reflecting a liner-like design. She was also built with a sizeable promenade deck and a one-deck-high movie theater. She came out with two swimming pools, one to the rear of the ship and another mid-ships which was covered with a moveable roof, known as a magrodome. In her original Home Lines livery she had a white hull and superstructure, with a blue decorative riband separating them. Her funnel and radar mast, the structures immediately below them and the cranes on her forward deck were painted yellow. The ship's name was painted in tall letters on the side of the superstructure below the radar mast.

 

 

On 24 March 1988, Home Lines, including Homeric and Atlantic, was purchased by Holland America Line. Following their final seasons in Bermuda in October of that year, HAL chartered Atlantic to Premier Cruise Line for seven years (Premier outright purchased her in June 1990) and moved Homeric into a dry-dock and refit at the Norshipco yard in Norfolk, Va. Two lounges in the forward section of the ship were combined to create a large two-level main show lounge, while her original show lounge was converted into a movie theater. The ship received HAL's dark blue (known as Nieuw Amsterdam-blue) hull colors, with her funnel and radar mast painted white. Homeric was renamed Westerdam on 2 November 1988 by her HAL godmother, Clara van der Vorm, the spouse of then HAL president and CEO Nico van der Vorm. She departed Ft. Lauderdale, FL on her maiden cruise, a seven-day run to the Eastern Caribbean under the command of Captain Paul Kievit. Upon her return one week later, this was followed by a seven-day run to the Western Caribbean (George Town, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands; Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Cozumel, Mexico). Westerdam's arrival expanded the HAL fleet to four ships and signaled the beginning of a new era of growth for Holland America that continues today. Her name translates to one of the four directions of the compass in the Dutch language; wester meaning, well, westerly.

 

She was the second ship in Holland America Line history to receive the name Westerdam. The first Westerdam sailed for Holland America Line from 1946 to 1965. While being constructed during World War II, Westerdam I was sunk three times: On 27 August 1942, she was bombed and sunk by Allied aircraft while in the shipyard in Rotterdam. The German occupiers raised the ship in September 1944, but she was quickly sunk again, this time by Dutch resistance fighters. After being raised a second time, the resistance again sank her on 17 January 1945. After the Netherlands were liberated in May, 1945, Westerdam I was raised a third time and finally completed. On 28 June 1946, Westerdam I finally departed Rotterdam on her maiden voyage to New York City. She would go on to be a regular on the transatlantic run, making two eight-day crossings each month between Rotterdam and New York. The 12,149 gross registered ton twin-propeller ship and her sister, Noordam II, each took eight days to make the crossing. Westerdam I was a combined cargo and passenger ship. She had five cargo holds and carried 143 first-class passengers as well as 126 crew members. The ship continued regular transatlantic service for 18 years until she was sold for scrap to Spanish breakers on 4 February 1965.

In October 1989, Westerdam II was sent back to her place of birth, Jos. L. Meyer GmbH, Papenburg, West Germany for a U.S. $65 million lengthening by having a 130-foot mid section inserted into the ship, emerging in March 1990 with a new grt of 53,872 (originally 42,092), an overall length of 798 feet (originally 668 feet) and a new passenger capacity of 1,476 souls (originally 1,132). The lengthening altered her exterior appearance somewhat. The windows of the added section are larger than those forward and aft. She immediately became the largest Holland America cruise ship ever and subsequently crossed the Atlantic and arrived in New York City to a welcome by spraying fireboats and tugs, resuming Caribbean cruises on 25 March 1990. In HAL service, Westerdam was primarily home-ported at Ft. Lauderdale, Fl, initially sailing 5 and 8-day Eastern Caribbean cruises (San Juan, Puerto Rico; Road Town, Tortola, BVI, Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda, BVI; Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas, USVI and Nassau, The Bahamas) in the winter and at Vancouver, BC for Alaska cruising in the summer months. During her HAL career, she also operated on Canada/New England cruises.

 

Westerdam’s passenger accommodation consisted of 495 cabins with outside views and 252 inside rooms for a total of 747. After the lengthening in Papenburg, Westerdam II came out with a new two-deck high, 680-seat Admirals main show lounge, a remodeled and expanded casual Lido Restaurant, the addition of a second Lido-type restaurant called the Verandah Restaurant, adjacent to the Verandah Pool on Sun Deck, and a completely renewed shopping area. The Amsterdam dining room was enlarged from 520 to 875 seats, extra acoustical material was installed in the ceiling to reduce noise, and had a raised central dome. The newly inserted section contained an Explorers Lounge, Ocean Bar and the Bookchest library, as well as new meeting rooms. A new sports as well as a sunbathing area were created on the topmost deck, above the Verandah Pool. Five self-service laundry rooms were also added, as were two extra elevators. Westerdam did not have any large suites or private verandahs.

In HAL service, Westerdam had a Sports Bar with ESPN programming, the Pear Tree Club disco/night club, the Stuyvesant Lounge (named for Pieter Stuyvesant, the last governor of New Netherland from 1647 until 1664), by day, an informal restaurant offering breakfast and luncheons, a quiet lounge for afternoon tea, after-dinner brandy and good conversation, the Piano Bar/Saloon, the Big Apple meeting room (also used by Club HAL),the Hudson Lounge, the Card room, the 237-seat (movie) Theater (also used for lectures, meetings and religious services), the Photo Shop, the Casino (offering blackjack, roulette, blackjack, craps and slot machines),The Square (including the onboard Shopping Arcade, the Main Lobby, Main staircase, elevators plus offices of the Hotel Manager, Purser and Cruise Director),the Barber Shop and the Beauty Parlor, the Ocean Spa (with massage room and dual steam saunas) and Gymnasium (with treadmills, rowing machines, stationary bikes, isometric pulleys and free weights),two outdoor swimming pools, one the Verandah pool on Sun Deck which could be covered with a magrodome roof, and the other on Upper Promenade Deck, one practice tennis and one volleyball court, as well as a 40 by 40 foot jogging area.

The tradition of exhibiting art objects on board the passenger ships of the Holland America Line began in 1938, during the golden era of leisurely ocean cruising. The company’s first grand collection was displayed on the second Nieuw Amsterdam. Westerdam II had a Dutch worldwide exploration theme and pays tribute to the Dutch East India Company or Verenigde Oostindische Compagnie (VOC) in Dutch, of the 17th and 18th centuries, with a collection of U.S. $2 million worth of art and artifacts displayed throughout the ship.

 

Some of the examples of art that was found onboard Westerdam II: In the ship’s Ocean Bar could be found a 17th century dolphin carved in white marble, an 18th century Dutch fountain, also made out of marble, and the famous Ming Dog of Fo that offered protection to all who entered the lounge. In the Explorers Lounge, were two Arita lacquer vases that depicted scenes of Chinese life and landscapes. Just outside the Explorers Lounge, was a huge bronze cannon, weighing over two tons, called “Old Rye” that once graced Dutch Admiral Michiel Adriaenszoon de Ruyter’s warship in 1634. It lay at the bottom of the sea off France for 300 years until caught in the nets of a Dutch fisherman. Throughout the ship were several hand-colored 17th century maps of America, Africa and Asia, once commonplace tools used by Dutch sea captains to chart their courses. In addition, Oriental scrolls, screens and porcelains as well as an antique rosewood love seat could be found. Some of her former crew members are/were convinced that she was haunted. In 1997, the romantic comedy "Out to Sea" starring Walter Matthau, Jack Lemmon, Rue McClanahan, Dyan Cannon, Gloria DeHaven and Brent Spiner, was partially filmed onboard Westerdam II.

 

In March 2002, After 643 cruises spanning over 13 years with Holland America, she was internally transferred within the Carnival Group to Italy-based Costa Crociere/Costa Cruise Lines who sent her to dry-dock in Genoa, Italy for refitting. During that dry-dock, the ship was refurbished, with some of her interior decorations changed to a brighter and more Southern European style. Her original theater (changed to a movie theater in HAL service) was converted into six balcony suites, and a new ballroom with a hardwood dance floor replaced the earlier lounge. Despite the refit, most of the ship's decorations were retained from her HAL days, resulting in Costa Europa having somewhat different interior decorations from her "Italian-style" fleet-mates. On 27 April 2002, she was christened Costa Europa and commenced cruising for the Italian company out of Genoa that same afternoon. With Costa, she operated mainly Mediterranean cruises on Greek Island itineraries, including visits to Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, and Crete.

 

On 26 February 2010 at 4:45 am, Costa Europa carrying 1,473 passengers, collided with a pier at the Egyptian Red Sea port of Sharm al-Sheikh, after attempting to dock in bad weather, including fierce winds. The collision tragically resulted in the death of three crew members and injured four other individuals, three of them passengers. The incident tore a four-foot wide hole in her hull and forced Costa to cancel the remainder of the vessel’s voyage, which was an 18-night cruise from Dubai to Savona, Italy. Costa Europa’s passengers were accommodated at local hotels in Sharm el-Sheik and then flown home.

 

In July 2009, Carnival Corporation announced that Costa Europa would join British tour operator Thomson Cruises under a 10-year bareboat charter beginning in April 2010. Under the agreement, Thomson has an option to purchase the ship after five years. In Thomson’ service, the ship was renamed Thomson Dream with a capacity for 1,506 passengers. At 54,000 gross registered tons, she was Thomson’s biggest and most luxurious ship. Thomson Dream operated out of Palma de Mallorca, one of Spain’s Balearic islands, where she joined Thomson Destiny during the summer months. She sailed 3 and 7-night itineraries with port calls at Civitavecchia (Rome) and Florence, Italy as well as at Barcelona, Spain and La Goulette in Tunisia.

 

 

On 9 October 2017, owners TUI Group announced that Thomson Cruises would be rebranded in late October 2017 as Marella Cruises, with all of the existing Thomson fleet adopting the name change either from Thomson or TUI to Marella including Thomson Dream which was renamed Marella Dream. She operated for Marella Cruises for another three years. On 1 October 2020 Marella announced that Marella Dream would be retired from the Marella fleet and all of her summer sailings were transferred to Marella Discovery.  On 15 June 2022, after 1.5 years in layup, the ship, under her final name of "Ella", left Eleusis Bay towed by the Christos XLII. Out of the bay, the Christos LXI LXI took over and towed the ship for her final journey to the break yard in Aliaga, Turkey.

 

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We sailed on her twice, in fact our first HAL cruise was on her back in 1997, beautiful ship and one of my favorites. 

[rover16]

Sad! Our first cruise was on her in 1997.

[Jolokia]

This was the first HAL ship we sailed, it was in December of 1998.

[KAKcruiser]

We sailed on this ship 4 or 5 times in the early 2000s in the Caribbean.  They called them "oldies" cruises and had some of the original bands and musicians from the 50s & 60s.  So much fun.  They also had a movie theater on one of the top decks that was great.  

[rkacruiser]

Thanks Copper 10-8 for such a detail history of this ship.  Having sailed on Oceanic and being a visitor before sailing on the old Homeric, I but this new Homeric on my bucket list of cruise ships to sail.  Didn't happen.  When an opportunity to cruise occurred again, I chose another ship, another line.  After HAL acquired her, her itineraries/schedule never matched with my vacation time or interests.  I regret not having sailed on Homeric aka Westerdam II.

[john2003]

Sad to see her demise. She was a beautifully built ship which we really enjoyed.

[foodsvcmgr]

A victim of age and lack of veranda cabins, the last link to the great Home Lines.

[WriterOnDeck]

She also was my first cruise ship, on any line, in 1993 and again in 1997. Then in 2002 I sailed on her last cruise under the Holland America banner. She was quite the outlier -- no Crow's Nest and a different look and feel. The history was interesting.

[ski ww]

Thanks for posting, makes for interesting reading. 

[Caribbean Chris]

Interesting history, thank you so much.
 

Brought back memories of touring the new Homeric at the pier in New York in early autumn 1986 with a group of travel agents. I was a sales rep with Royal Viking Line based in Washington, DC, and was along to lead the same group afterward for a tour and lunch on a Royal Viking Line ship that day before embarkation began.

[MISTER 67]

10 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

Thanks Copper 10-8 for such a detail history of this ship.  Having sailed on Oceanic and being a visitor before sailing on the old Homeric, I but this new Homeric on my bucket list of cruise ships to sail.  Didn't happen.  When an opportunity to cruise occurred again, I chose another ship, another line.  After HAL acquired her, her itineraries/schedule never matched with my vacation time or interests.  I regret not having sailed on Homeric aka Westerdam II.

I always wanted to sail on the old Home Lines Oceanic, she was another beauty but things never worked out.

[4966and556]

Thank you for this  information John. 

[NJ Cruise Kids]

Great historical article! My wife and I sailed her when she was the MV Homeric out of NYC in 1986 on her second voyage to Bermuda. It was our first of many, many years of cruising. The entertainment one night was singer Andrea McCardle of Broadway and Annie fame. It was a rough crossing home and I recall that she, like the dancers that night had trouble keeping their footing.

[kazu]

Thanks John.

 

Memories.  My first cruise was on Home Line

[Skorpora]

Thanks for posting this great historical account. This was the first ship we cruised on. Many good memories. I remember the ice sculptures in the MDR every night. And the food! Oh so wonderful. We were young and didn’t realize our inside cabin had 2 single beds, about 4 feet apart, and bolted to the floor lol. 

[J&Dhighdesert]

Our first sailing was on July 4, 1992 to Alaska.  I always thought she had character.  I still have the menus from that sailing.  Our love for HAL and Alaska still remains thanks to our first cruise.

[Suzy Bell]

Thank you for this interesting history. 

My family's first ever cruise was a 7 day Alaska inside passage in 2000 and we loved it. Have fond memories of this ship and the wonderful time we had.

[Susanmaz]

She was our first HAL cruise, to Alaska, in 2000. We still have our formal portrait and a picture taken with the head chef from our galley tour.  We had an obstructed ocean view cabin. They sure were different times.

[DesertRat46]

Like others, she was the ship for my very first cruise...Alaska in 1997, Great memories!

[MISTER 67]

Classic design, when ships were ships.