bcscot

Yes, Conte, who were all those young people in the main lobby area?

Apart from visitors, I suppose that the eldest & most infirm are the people still onboard while in port, giving the impression that all the passengers are like that.

Graham.

That is what the 'new' Balmoral currently is, the Norwegian Crown. Look her up. She looks like a nice ship.

Doug. says he hopes to visit the Fred Olsen Line, Black Watch, this month. I wonder if that is to be in New York also. When Doug, when? Another old RVL ship Ruby. Interesting?

Graham.

Conte: That was an excellent account of your Saga Ruby tour, with super use of pictures. Thank you. I am still amazed though, that in this day & age, they allowed you to visit. Wonderful stuff.

Michael: I believe that the new Oceania ships will be about 60,000 grt, roughly the same as the HAL Rotterdam Class ships which, although not small, are still quite a nice size in my opinion.

That was great that you were allowed into the engine room on the 'riverboat'. Only one engineer! How big are those boats (the correct term I would think)?

Speaking of smaller ships, Doug referred earlier to Fred Olsen's new 'Balmoral' which is currently in NCL hands but was not built for them. She is a fairly new ship & is only about 30,000 grt. She looks like a really nice little ship & will be sailing from Miami for part of the year. Their North American brochure is already quoting some quite good prices.I must say that I think this sounds very interesting.

Graham.

Once upon a time I was upgraded to business class on Canadian International Airlines. Eventually I admitted to my neighbour that I had been upgraded. It turned out that he was a retired pilot & he was concerned that he may be bumped off at the next stop. When he set out on flights with his wife, she would always ask him if they were going to be flying business class that day, or 'pig pen'. Since I heard that story, 'economy class' has always been known to us as 'pig pen'! Can't you just see the 'stewardesses' passing out the slop buckets to all the rows of pigs in their little stalls? That is how I often feel in 'pig pen' anyway.

I should think that Donald does indeed feel like the 'Tasmaniac Devil' right now!!!:D

Graham.

D'ouch.

Welcome back Donald. I hope that you recover from your 'mal de mouth' quickly.

Graham.

Remember I have non-rev status with Delta and ya never know . . . if all you people would quit packing the planes to capacity, I could fly again for free. Ruby

Twas not me this time either Ruby. I have never flown Delta.

I had a university classmate who's sister worked for BA so he used to make us envious by flying all over the world for free during the holidays. Another work colleague was the son of a Cathay Pacific pilot & used to do likewise. I am familiar with this concept but what does 'non-rev status' stand for or mean?

I was watching a travel programme the other night about New Zealand. Not only did it feature the TSS Earnslaw, but the travel guide fellow was down in the engine room helping to shovel coal into the firebox. It was great to see a real coal burning steam powered ship still in operation in this day & age. It is amazing that she is 95 years old & still going strong.

Well, yesterday we booked our cabin on the old Queen Mary for next month. We have a first class cabin for a one night cruise into the past. We hope to dine onboard & go on some of the tours. I look forward to that as much as I do a week on the Oosterdam.

Donald: If you like that little traditional Indonesian/Malay farewell song that the waiters sing on the last night of HAL cruises, then here it is. It is called, Gelang Sipaku Gelang:

Graham.

Digression - did you know that the CCritic boards cannot identify nor apply a foreign accent mark? Ruby

No.

Graham.

Uh, where's that photo of Graham? He's been gigging the rest of us to post our pix but has anyone noticed the steady silence from bcscot? Ruby

Honest gov., twas not me. Twas that D'Maniac.

I do not know how to do that picture posting thingy, so I think that I will continue to lurk in the shadows, holding onto my anonymity!

I have visited the Royal Yacht at Leith & found it to be both a sad & fascinating experience. I look forward to seeing Conte's photos.

Is the said D'Maniac away at the moment? We received an e-mail from Celebrity today, with details of their new 'Solstice Class' ships. They look just like RCCL cruiseships. Funny that! Behemoths Ruby, behemoths!

Graham.

By the bye, did you sprain your wrist when you typed "piobaireachd?" Ruby

I thought that you would like that one Ruby!:D

Well, I really like the hat Ruby. Donald will be proud of you!:D

You look neither Spanish nor Scandanavian, Texan I would say.

Graham.

Ruby: I am quite certain that the 'aristos' have way more skeletons in their closets than the rest of us put together. So you are a Spanish senora Admiral Ma'am!

Here is an interesting little historical diversion. We have all heard of the 'Texas Rangers', but not so many have heard of the 'Georgia Rangers'. In the early days of the development of the American Colonies, about the late 17th & early 18th centuries, there was great concern about the threat from the Spanish in Florida. The terrain was very tough with swamps, jungle & humid heat, which most could not tolerate. The toughest men they could find were a bunch of Scottish Highland mercenaries (long a favoured Scottish profession). These Gaelic speaking men were brought out from their tough life in the Scottish Highlands & they lived in the swamps of Georgia & Florida, fighting the Spanish from horseback with broadsword & targe, clad in tartan plaid. They were Scottish Highland warriors transposed to the Wild West (or south east), they were the Georgia Rangers.

Michael, being a cousin of 'Coeur De Lion' who was essentially French & descended from 'Norman the Conk', must be our Norman, Viking, English, American hybrid.

As for uniforms, well, I am not too much in favour, but I suppose something with tartan used tastefully & maybe a Viking helmet & brooch may be acceptable. How about one of those MacCrimmons on the pipes?

Now back to ships. There is a pub & restaurant in Bristol which is furnished with the woodwork from the old Mauretania. Take a look:

www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/item/1491/

&

www.webshots.com/search?query=Mauretania+Restaurant+Bristol%2C+England

Graham.

MacCrimmon is the most famous name in piping. They were pipers to the chief of Clan Macleod at Dunvegan Castle on the Isle of Skye. They developed & elevated the art of the Highland bagpipe, becoming the leading teachers of piping in the 16th, 17th & 18th centuries. Infact they developed the advanced style of piping called 'piobaireachd'.

Originally from the island of Harris in the 12th & 13th centuries, they were driven out by those pesky vikings (they got everywhere) & threw in their lot with the Macleods. The founder of Clan Macleod was himself of viking stock & was the grandson of the King of Man (Isle of Man once again).

However I don't know much about the Macaronis. If you boil the different pastas in different coloured dyes & then mix them up, I am sure you will come up with an interesting pasta tartan!

When are we getting the next chapter in your saga Conte?

Michael: All we VIKINGS are long, lean & lanky, not to mention a bit mean.:D

Graham.

Hey, I don't remember how I got the moniker Donald d'Maniac ... I'd have to go back several posts to find it. However, I believe that it was you, Graham, who more or less came up with that name. Right? D'maniac the Dane.

Donald: Ruby added the Norman touch.

I don't know if anyone saw the drama, 'The Darling Buds of May', but I think it was set around Sidcup somewhere. At least Sidcup comes into the story somewhere. Anyone? Ross? Don't say you missed that one now!

Graham.

Having left Vancouver on Ryndam,in very poor weather & with a bad weather forcast, we were pleased to awake on the second day to reasonable weather. We also had a rather disturbed nights sleep on our second night but unlike Donald, this was not due to weather (more on that later). By the third day, we were sailing up Stephen's passage towards Juneau in sunshine, with broken cloudy views of the snow covered peaks around.

Standing right up at the bow, as we approached Gastineau Channel, we could see a thick fogbank right ahead. By the time that our view was blanketed by the fog, the ship's horns had started to sound. Inorder to replicate Donald's experience on the Veendam, I bounded up the stairs to the Sports deck so I could stand under those horns as they blew. After the QE2 & the Prinsendam, they were a little tame & definitely more tenor than baritone. It was, none the less, nice to listen to their musical tone as they sang out.

As the fog began to thin a little, we returned to our vantage point at the bow. We were sailing up the narrow Gastineau Channel south of Juneau with the view just starting to appear again, the sun shining thinly through the fog behind us. It was at this moment that we experienced three natural phenomena.

The first was a 'Brocken Spectre', which I have seen in the mountains but not on a ship. The sun shining through the mist from behind, cast our shadows onto the blanket of mist infront of the ship. Both of us could see the shadow of the bow, infront of the ship, with the ghostly apparition of our own shadow on top of it. This phenomenon was named after a mountain in Germany, called 'Brocken'. It used to scare people in the mountains as they thought that they were seeing a ghost.

Around the ghost like shadow was a rainbow coloured halo called the 'glory', caused by the refraction of sunlight through the mist, giving a divine look to the apparition. This was topped off by a 'fogbow', a white rainbow-like band of light which arced round from one side of the bow, out over the fog & around to the other side, like a giant 'lifting ring'.

We watched this spectacle for some time before it finally melted away as the fog lifted to reveal Juneau up ahead (& Volendam with Mr Ouzo). We were having more fun at the bow of Ryndam than Leonardo Di Caprio at the bow of Titanic!

After a walk around Juneau, the weather was nice enough that my wife & I decided to go up the cablecar on Mount Roberts. We were able to hike from the top of the cablecar quite a way up Mount Roberts & were treated to wonderful views of mountain & sea all around. On the way back down, we had a lovely view of Volendam making her way down Gastineau Channel, way way down below us.

All in all, it was our best visit to Juneau so far, & not a bit of fudge passed our lips!

Graham.

On second thoughts Donald, D' before a name, such as d'Maniac, was a style used by the Normans. Maybe you are a Norman from Sidcup, like William the Conqueror or even "Stormin' Norman"!! How about "Stormin' Donald D'Maniac the Conqueror, from Sidcup"?

Graham.

OK, OK, so enough of this!

Ruby: Please do not mix up your Greek & English history.

Donald: I was alluding to your Scandanavian looks, thinking that you maybe had more Danish rather than Norman or Saxon blood in you. However, the Normans were also Vikings who settled in France & mixed with the locals. They all came to England & pushed the Celts out after the Romans left (even that is controversial now). So it is all very confusing.

Michael & his wife also seem to have English & Scandanavian blood in them. The vikings settled around the coastal areas of Scotland too, so we have a large Scandanavian gene pool also. I look a bit like Donald. Infact, my wife & I look so Danish that last year in Copenhagen, even when we were in groups of foreign tourists, people would talk to us in Danish & were surprised to find out that we were not.

If the truth be told, it seems that I am a viking too. We are all VIKINGS!!!:eek:

Graham.

This is not the first time that I've been told that I look Scandinavian. Others have asked if I am from Denmark. But, nope, I'm a fourth-generation Canadian from southern England stock.

D'maniac.

Ah, so you are an Angle (from south of Denmark) or a Jute from Jutland, rather than a Saxon or a Norman, (they are a mixed up bunch these English!!!).:D

Graham.

Ruby, here's a look at the hats worn by passengers at Holland-America's Master Chef's Dinner. I'm the one between the two ladies, one of whom sent me that photograph. I had that hat on for all of 120 seconds. D'maniac.

It looks like they made you work for your dinner Donald. You have a very Scandanavian looking face. Are you a VIKING?:eek:

Graham.

Thank you for the photo and you do look marvelous but you are correct, sir! I am obviously no longer qualified to be a HAL passenger. Mr. Ouzo and chef hats - when does the conga line start? Harumph.Ruby

Stuff the hats Admiral Ma'am, but please do not mock Mr Ouzo. He is a very fine little fellow. He also displays a bridge crew with a good sense of humour!

PS- I would not rule out HAL on the strength of the silly hats. They are the exception rather than the rule.:)

Graham.

Yes, those keypad safes are the ones that HAL have on their newer ships. I am surprised that Donald had one of the old safes on Oosterdam last year. I seem to remember that we had one of the new ones. Maybe she has a mixture of old & new.

Graham.

I am quite red in the eyes after reading about the QE2's 40th anniversary UK cruise & seeing the pictures on the Cunard board. It sounded like an amazing experience & very emotional (especially for a Scotsman). I hope the final UK cruise next year is as good.

It is incredible how much emotion a ship can arouse. Although ships are but things of steel, I think that it is the way in which they touch so many lives & impact people in so many ways over so many years that gives them life.

Graham.

If you check my thread on the HAL board, someone put in some great photos of Mr Ouzo on the Volendam.

Graham.

While sailing into Juneau the other week, on the Ryndam, we met Volendam already at the dock. Through binoculars, we could clearly see Mr Ouzo the bridge mascot, with his friend, at their post. It was good to know that they were still in the employ of Holland America.

We also noticed that Ryndam has a pair of bridge mascots. I have updated my thread on the HAL board.

Has anyone else ever come across bridge mascots on a ship?

Graham.

Will this work?

Graham.

Why is it that when I type CNN in capitals for the heading, it prints it as Cnn?

Graham.

I remember when we were on the Big Island of Hawaii, reading on the CNN tickertape that the Kilauea volcano on the Big Island had just erupted. We had just been there. It has been flowing with lava for many years & was no different from usual. If there is no news to report then why not just make it up?

Graham.