Today April 6th we should be boarding the Rotterdam in Ft Lauderdale ( I know she is waiting for us there now !  ) and go across the Atlantic Ocean to Rotterdam in the Netherlands .

We had a lot of great tours lined up for this cruise . Once we hit the Azores we would be meeting Rui a wonderful person and our guide for the fourth time , we than would be going to Cobh , Ireland where our guide Denis would be waiting for us to go together with our friends Ann and Pat to see some historical places and look up some family history to where Patrick grew up . After Cobh and after visiting another Irish and an English port I was really looking forward to go on land in Le Havre , France and visit Monet's gardens and museum after which we would tour Richard the Lionhearts Chateau and Joan of Arc's city of Rouen .  After Le Havre it would have been very nice to revisit the gorgeous town of Brugge again and than enter the North Sea to steam up to Rotterdam .

After disembarkation we would walk past the New York Hotel the former headquarters of Holland - Amerika and board the SS Rotterdam where we would stay for a night and make a tour on this gorgeous ship with a lot of history. This has been on my bucketlist for a long ,long time ever since I was a teenager and witnessed  "our " queen Juliana in 1958 bless the SS Rotterdam and send her into the New Waterway between Rotterdam and Hook of Holland where she was built..............................

So yes this was to be another cruise where we were really looking forward to and besides the sights the nice days at sea meet up again with good friends and a fantastic crew on the Rotterdam she still is the "Flagship " of the fleet . 

Last and not least we were looking forward to hear the fantastic presentations that Captain Albert  gives who was scheduled to be with us to go to his and my native land.........................................

I will think about this for the next three weeks !!! 

Tony 

9 minutes ago, Max2003 said:

Zaandam showing 20.4 Kts.    That is pushing warp speed for her. Although she has the current with her.  Looks like about 200NM left to FLL.  They should be there a little after midnight.   That is a lot of extra fuel if they can't dock til Friday??  Or do they know something??  

 

Right now it showed Zaandam at 21.2  and Rotterdam at 21.8 Kts.  !!!!  

7 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

We think many are overthinking the issue and also exaggerating the problem.   A majority of the passengers are not symptomatic and likely not even carrying the virus.  Since a majority of those folks are from outside the USA, they will need access to a major airport and possibly a rescue flight to their country.  South FL offers both MIA and FLL.  Some  of the passengers and crew are symptomatic and will need a place to self-isolate until they recover.  This can easily be done in a hotel and there are plenty of empty rooms in South FL.  It would also be possible to care for those folks on their ship, but the Diamond Princess fiasco proved the wisdom of getting folks off ships.

 

  There are certainly a few passengers/crew that will need hospital care and South FL.has numerous excellent facilities.  We are not talking about the need for hundreds of rooms, as only a few of the sick will require a hospital.  At this point, what seems to be lacking is a plan!  We might assume that this is quietly being discussed by the cruise line, CDC and local authorities, but the NIMBY attitude works against a solution.  We continue to think that South Florida owes it to the cruise ships, passengers, and crew to work towards a good solution.  This is the part of the country that benefits the most, from the cruise industry and passengers.  Now, it is time for FL to open their arms and help those who routinely help FL.

 

Hank

 

 

Thank you Hank for this .  For instance for the 240 odd Canadians on board the Zaandam and Rotterdam after first being tested for signs they could be bussed to the airport right away where a couple of charter flichts set up by HAL could be at the ready and they can be taken to Toronto and Calgary and we can and will take care of them to get home and looked after from there .  

The same could be done for other nationals and also for Americans. 

From the numbers we have received over 90 % of the people on board these ships they have been in their cabins for 14 days or even longer. Don't leave all of these people on board ship isolated in there cabins any longer than necessary .

Hope I did not overly simplefy this ?! 

Where there is a will there is a way ! 

Tony 

44 minutes ago, Boatdrill said:

The new gates waiting to be installed  (April 2014).   

Thank you very much for this picture @Boatdrill  I was really looking at those "Doors " of the locks last night . Great to see them up close ! 

1 minute ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

Kinda like the Deltawerken/Delta Works 😉 

Been in the " Bouwput " when they were being built Copper John ! 

Good night all ,  and Best Wishes to all passengers  and crew on board the Zaandam and Rotterdam ! 

1 minute ago, Vict0riann said:

You should be in bed, Tony!😀

 

Zaandam is moving through the lock.

 

I know but as a former  " Dutch " Civil Engineer , Roads , bridges , waterways and locks , I had to see the new locks of the Panama Canal 

7 minutes ago, Vict0riann said:

 

It’s past my bedtime.  But Pat and I are glued to the screen!

It's almost 2.30 here Ann and Pat ! 

If you are interested of what is happening on the ships and what is happening with most of the crew who is still on board  have a look at Captain Albert's blog on the HAL website who is on the Rotterdam still in Puerto Vallarta .

He has written now for  a couple of days when the ship has been without any guests which is very interesting  Remember the crew is under contract for a certain number of months and are being paid their basic wages .

The company itself mentioned in a message on FB that the Zaandam is going to San Antonio for a service call , take on fuel and other provisions and that the Seattle headquarters and the ship are working with several governments and embassies on options of where to disembark the guests. 

To be continued it kind of feels like when we were on the Westerdam last month .

I heard , second hand , that the Zaandam is not allowed to disembark in Punta Arenas and is now on her way to San Antonio  

34 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Even if they sit at a cruise terminal, since there are no ships calling, they would get a reduced rate (which is better for the port than nothing at all).  Commercial docks, where they could dock are relatively cheap, and long term berthing gets a discount (its guaranteed income).  The ships can be inside the port limits, if the anchorage is inside the port, but they would not use their tenders, as they won't grant (or receive most likely) general shore leave for the crew.  Anchoring is most likely scenario, as it costs nothing.

@chengkp75  Like many others on CC  I always enjoy reading all of your posts , we appreciate you sharing your vast knowledge of the technical details and all aspects that are connected with cruising and life at sea in general .  Love to meet you one day on one of our future cruises  !  THANK YOU ! 

Tony , sailingdutchy 

When we were on the Westerdam in Jan / Feb , Yes ! on the what the BBC called the "Pariah Ship "  when we were half way the first portion of our cruise they cancelled the second portion because no country wanted us . 

After we finally made land in Cambodia a few days testing and logistics and after a long flight  we saw when we arrived home that we already had received the refunds on our credit card and also a 100 % FCC for half of our first leg and a 50 % FCC for the cancelled second leg .

There were no phone calls necessary to Holland America !  Just a little patience ! 

Besides the 3 cruises mentioned by HAL I do not believe that on top of a Refund you will get a 100% FCC , I  am hoping for  50 % .

( BTW this is the first time in my life that the Credit card company owes me money and maybe for 2 or 3 months in a row , wonder how much interest they will be paying me ??? ) 

Holland America Line Announces a Voluntary and Temporary Pause of its Global Ship Operations for 30 Days 

33 minutes ago, cruisegirl said:

It’s disgusted how those of us who have cruises less than a month away are being strung along. If HAL is going to follow suit with Princess and cancel all cruises Or require a doctor’s statement I wish they’d go ahead and do something. I don’t want to cancel and won’t unless I’m forced to but I worry about the drop dead cancellation date. 

I wonder who is really stringing you along . The situation is moving so extremely fast , look at the numbers of Coronavirus cases around the world and our governments are reacting so very slow  , than we are all reading things third hand and opinions given from many here on the boards about doctors statements and many other things that we are all becoming very confused .

Best thing is wait until official statements are given and than react . We are also suppose to cruise 3 weeks from now and we are keeping an eye on things and than make up our mind before the deadline .

On 2/23/2020 at 10:43 AM, SilvertoGold said:

 

Captain Vincent Smit - wonderful.  I am not in the slightest surprised this team pulled it off so well. 

Captain Vincent Smit went through a lot this last month he had to make lots of decisions for the best of all of us  he made over a dozen very important announcements of what was happening . Together with Seattle they were constantly negotiating and trying to find a solution for all of us to get home .

The captain also kept our spirits up and the spirits of the whole crew which is not easy . Almost half of the crew , the Philippinos  ,had been looking forward to see their family in Manilla and some of their family had made a long road trip to see their husband or wife who had been away from home so long , than at the last minute the doors were closed and we were not allowed to go to Manilla while we were already in their waters .

Also the crew had to put up with all of the guests being on board ship day in day out from Feb 1st ( Hong Kong ) to when we were able to leave the ship for home between Feb 14th and the last people leaving I believe on the 21st . In between those days  some of us went of the ship in Kaoshiung before that port was closed for the second day we were there . Their service was fantastic , very few complaints were heard .

The Guest Services desk was busy all day people asking questions and asking for help changing flights which we had to do about 4 times . Sometimes it became quite intense around there but the desk was helpless because we and they did not know when or where we would be able to land .

A big help was that HAL opened up the wifi channels to everyone and they also gave us telephone time to contact family or our travel agents .

In one word the captain and crew were just FANTASTIC !   HAL also made some very good decisions ! 

Tony and Martha Feenstra , sailingdutchy 

57 minutes ago, AllureOfVacation said:

Hey,

 

you are the puzzle master from Crows Nest, I recognize you on the profile picture

 

We are the two Germans that were frequently up there supporting your puzzle process 😉

Good to hear that you are at home now , thank you for your nice comments  . Despite everything we had a good time , didn't we plus we have some stories to tell !  Greetings !

10 hours ago, AllureOfVacation said:

We arrived home yesterday from our first HAL cruise.

 

we are glad we are home. Our flight was the one that stopped in Pakistan. We were on the plane for about 20h in total, so this was no fun, but we all made it.

 

The 18 days of our 14 days of the cruise were really an experience, and we enjoyed it. We talked to so many passengers who also enjoyed it.

 

We were one of those among the last 240 on the ship. So it was empty. On the last evening we were invited to the Pinnacle Grill, there were two seatings.

 

In our opinion HAL handled the situation very well. Some things were not so good for 100% of every individual (flights...), but quick solutions were needed.

 

we are proud to say that we were part of the cruise!

 

The crew was amazing! Outstanding! Their personal situation must have been very difficult (majority from the Philipines: denied entry to Manila).

 

It was nice to have some conversations with Orlando Ashford to let him know about the outstanding service of the crew.

We agree fully with your comments about our crew on the Westerdam and how HAL has handled the whole situation they did not put us into danger . Some of these developments while on board changed so fast and solutions had to be found  trying to get all of the guests home safely ! 

Thank you very much to the whole crew and all of the support staff .

44 minutes ago, 1fishaholic said:

You may be interested in the latest from USA CDC ... this article is from USA TODAY website....

Check out this article from USA TODAY:

CDC: Westerdam passenger 'never had coronavirus to our knowledge' after cruise ship chaos

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2020/02/21/coronavirus-holland-america-ms-westerdam-cruise-passenger-cleared/4834124002/

We all had our doubts that there was just this one person  who had tested positive . Our ship had been tested multiple times and we had no problems until this one case turned up in Kuala Lumpur , was this political between Malaysia and Cambodia . Had Cambodia received too much praise from the world .........................

14 minutes ago, rjbean4 said:

I have been following this thread but have not posted anything. But I did just check Marine Traffic and it is showing that the Westerdam has sailed. Now the question is to where.

Yes I noticed that also that a little while ago the Westerdam left the port of Sihanoukville  and Marine traffis shows that it is going to Kos , Greece  ?????? 

9 hours ago, hal2008 said:

 

Very interesting.

It is not that they are removing "required", they are now removing even the "recommended" part.

That means they are putting lot more weight (and trust) in 1400+ tests done by Combodia vs few tests done on single pax by Malaysia.

Given that CDC also agrees with them, WD pax must seen as little risk.

We were just told the same tonight by the Ontario Health Ministry  after earlier today they said it was a good idea to self impose another 14 days , the same peson called me back tonight .

Also there was an article in USA Today that the lady in Kuala Lumpur has not had the virus as far as they can see the last few days . It makes 100% sense that she was a false positive . She is still in hospital for different issues ! 

11 minutes ago, HELENPSL said:

Wishing you both a fabulous cruise and wishing that we were going with you!!  

Helen and Angelo in Florida

Thank you @HELENPSL for you good wishes . Best wishes also to Angelo and you ! 

Tony 

9 hours ago, pictonite said:

Thank you!  This promises to be an exciting trip.  Just hoping for fair weather as we fly out of Toronto!

Annette

 

When are you flying Annette , Monday morning by chance ? 

Thank you very much for your good wishes Jacqui  @kazu, and all others ! We are looking forward to boarding the Westerdam  (first time for us ) who is in dry dock at the moment getting all ready for us .

Also a belated Happy , Healthy and Prosperous New Year to you and Jose and hopefully some good cruising in 2020 ! 

Martha and Tony 

We will be getting on board when she gets out of dry dock in Singapore on Jan 16th so we can see what is new besides carpets and fresh paint .After all of our cruises with HAL this will be our first time on the Westerdam and she will be taking us after 44 days to Shanghai , looking forward to it ! 

Tony