Request made to an upcoming Westerdam cruiser - any multiple copies of library book titles?

[OlsSalt]

Our Sept 1, 2024 -53 day Majestic Japan Westerdam roll call is now discussing forming a small book club. We have a lot of sea days on that cruise - a double trans-pacific RT from Seattle/Vancouver 

 

So I am asking  if anyone on an upcoming Westerdam cruise could please check to see if the library carries multiple copies of some titles.  In the recent past on other HAL ships, I have seen  maybe five or six copies of the same titles assuming they were intended for a book club to use.   Wonderful if anyone could check this out and report back. Thanks in advance.

 

Also anyone know how frequently they change the library inventories? 

[asebastian]

Yes, many books in the Westerdam library are multiple copies. Not many, I've seen up to 3-4 on certain titles, sometimes just 2. As the library operates on an honor system, you would never know if someone had borrowed or simply taken a book out and not returned. The book selection seems to be the same across the fleet, there was a title I was reading halfway during our Panama Canal cruise in April on the Nieuw Amsterdam that I managed to finish on the Westerdam!

 

FYI - we were on the Westerdam for 56 days from Oct to Dec last year, Asian cruises.

[REOVA]

As mentioned the HAL ships do have multiple copies but probably not enough depending on number of participants. Usually on the first day passengers are checking out copies so you won't know how many are available at any point. You may want to suggest in roll call that anyone interested in book club bring their digital book reader app to download books. Also many public libraries have ebooks that you can download (if you have library membership). Obviously wifi would be needed but it may reduce the number of books needed from the ship library. 

[POA1]

 

Not sure of the exact frequency of the library updates, but I read that the bookmobile shows up once a month for ships going out of Fort Lauderdale.

 

Unless you are planning a really exclusive club, your readers might want to purchase their own books. We were in the Nieuw Statendam library right after it opened, and I don't recall any title with more than a half dozen copies.

 

 

[OlsSalt]

Great answers folks,  and thanks so much for the photos POA1 - will send this info back to our Roll Call. 

[Toad]

I’m so happy the libraries are back.

[POA1]

3 hours ago, OlsSalt said:

Great answers folks,  and thanks so much for the photos POA1 - will send this info back to our Roll Call. 

You're welcome. The library on the NS was really nice as a reading room. Comfy club chairs and no background music whatsoever. Very quiet, but there were only a handful of chairs.

[asebastian]

9 minutes ago, POA1 said:

Very quiet

I wish the Westerdam was like that! In the last cruise, there was a lady sitting in there almost daily having a loud conversation on her phone...

[Haljo1935]

27 minutes ago, asebastian said:

I wish the Westerdam was like that! In the last cruise, there was a lady sitting in there almost daily having a loud conversation on her phone...

🙄😪 so inconsiderate.

[OlsSalt]

On past HAL surveys I asked to have QUIET signs posted in the old format large library spaces that had lots of chairs and leather sofa -at least at the far end of that space,  so one could just nod and point to the sign, without creating a confrontation.

 

I do believe, just like some German trains, there needs to be dedicated quiet public spaces on board ships.  Know ye, before entering here. And far away from the hissing espresso machines!

 

So instead  they got rid of the libraries themselves in response my prior suggestion. Ha. But glad to see libraries are now coming back. even if to a lesser extent. But looks like the request for a posted QUIET sign is still in order. 

[Blackduck59]

3 hours ago, asebastian said:

I wish the Westerdam was like that! In the last cruise, there was a lady sitting in there almost daily having a loud conversation on her phone...

I'm pretty sure I would mention it is a Library and she should tone it down. Sometimes the only way to deal with rude is to be rude.

[asebastian]

2 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

Sometimes the only way to deal with rude is to be rude

I generally avoid these types of people, just grab my book and go. One would never know how they would react, could be aggressive and abusive.

[albingirl]

12 hours ago, asebastian said:

I generally avoid these types of people, just grab my book and go. One would never know how they would react, could be aggressive and abusive.

Not to mention hard feelings. Gonna see these people again somewhere on the ship. Best to let it go. 

[kazu]

We had a book club on a recent roll call with a LOT of participants.  The books were chosen pre-cruise and people either borrowed them from the library, downloaded or bought them.  No way would the library have enough copies of any book for a group and no one expected it.

The book choices were very good and well worthy of reading 👍 

[OlsSalt]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

We had a book club on a recent roll call with a LOT of participants.  The books were chosen pre-cruise and people either borrowed them from the library, downloaded or bought them.  No way would the library have enough copies of any book for a group and no one expected it.

The book choices were very good and well worthy of reading 👍 

 

Please kazu, tell us more about how you organized this and where you held it - what times worked best - how often? This is just a budding idea right now on our Roll Call but we are not sure how to go about this.  

 

Sharing some titles right now for a start.  Was yours for general reading, or tied into where you would be visiting?  TIA.

[kazu]

1 minute ago, OlsSalt said:

 

Please kazu, tell us more about how you organized this and where you held it - what times worked best - how often? This is just a budding idea right now on our Roll Call but we are not sure how to go about this.  

 

Sharing some titles right now for a start.  Was yours for general reading, or tied into where you would be visiting?  TIA.

 

I did NOT organize the book club and I never said I did.  We had lots of great organizers and volunteers on our roll call.  Not one person had to do everything 😉 

But, FWIW Our book club met 3 times during our cruise IIRC at 2 PM in the Lido.  there was a very large group of people - probably larger than our Trivia group.

 

Different books were discussed on the roll call and one chosen well in advance.  Since we were embarking in Amsterdam and some were going to Haarlem to see the Ten Boom House and others had watched the movie, the first book chosen was the Hiding Place.  the other book club discussions were based on banned books.  Some were suggested but anyone could discuss any book that had been banned and discussions were around them.  

 

What I gathered from our roll call with it is it was key that ideas were asked for and then a consensus was obtained from those that were committed to the book club.  I did read the book but I was too busy  (or lazy) with other stuff I was doing  to make the book club 😂 😉 

 

 

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

We had a book club on a recent roll call with a LOT of participants.  The books were chosen pre-cruise and people either borrowed them from the library, downloaded or bought them.  No way would the library have enough copies of any book for a group and no one expected it.

The book choices were very good and well worthy of reading 👍 

K'dam library last month had a great selection. I finished one book and got about half way through another by the time the cruise ended. I rushed to get a copy so I could finish it once home.