Say it isnt so! Rotterdam

[Krazy Kruizers]

AHHH! I just got cut off again and couldn't finish.

Silly question - but does anyone ever use those padded bench seats at the front of the gym? On most ships the tread mills are right up withe them and you can't really sit down on them.

I noticed on the diagram that they are still there.

[Landlubber54]

...the way that the Rotterdam gym extension cuts through the parapet above the bridge just doesn't look right. I have never sailed on the Rotterdam, but I can commiserate with those who have with the way it has eliminated a prime observation point and ruined sight lines toward the bow for those in the Crow's Nest. Will they let you take a drink into the gym?:D

[sail7seas]

We have sailed on the Rotterdam, Ryndam, and Amsterdam - and a bunch of other "dam" ships and know the layout of the gryms very well. From the diagram shown in this thread, the emphasis seems to be more on the thermal suites, Greenhouse spa and salon and a separate aerobics area. The actual gym area itself doesn't seem to be very large.

 

Does anyone know how many tread mills there are?

 

This is important to DH. He also looked at the diagram.

 

Been on Rotterdam, Amsterdam, Volendam, Zaandam, Zuiderdam and all of the "S" class many, many times.

 

I don't think they make that much money off of the gym. Sure there are a few classes for charge but IMO they did this atrocious rebuild (SOE upgrade? ) in order to get more Spa income. There is no other reason to do it but to increase revenue.

 

Maybe they intend to start charging to use treadmills.

 

Stupid me.........there I go giving the bean counters ideas [as if they haven't already thought of it.]

[jhannah]

Well, it's all water under the bridge (or is it "box over the bridge"???) now. While I'm not an expert on nautical lines, I must say it looks a tad out of character for the beautiful ms Rotterdam.

 

Hee. I can't help but think of Goldie Hawn in the movie where her plastic surgery went bad. :D

[bruceh4]

I finally got the picture resized I hope this works.

[bruceh4]

Ok, here is a closeup and my last effort in posting this picture.

[bcc99]

Yikes. It doesn't look like they even tried to incorporate the new structure into the existing ship design. That ranks right up there with SS Norway's "camper-top" balcony cabins. It reminds me of looking at a small child who's lost his two front baby-teeth...just not quite right somehow.

[bruceh4]

Personally the only way that would look good to me was if it was the picture windows to my cabin!!!:D

[Landlubber54]

...who approved this design? When the designer was in the conference room presenting the renderings that showed how the ship would look post "SOE", who said,

 

"Hey, that looks good!"

 

From the outside, it looks as though they took a patio enclosure and planted it on top of the bridge. What's sad is that somebody got paid a lot of money to think this through.

[PRINSENDAM]

Now Captain Card will have to add a pair of glasses to the Rotterdam. dam, I said ... Rotterdam and double dam!

 

Oh Captain my Captain ... could you call up Kruse and tell him that this addition SUCKS the big one?

 

 

You don't like it? I think it makes the ship look like she has a new wheelhouse with open bridge wings.

 

But I wish it were not there!

 

The only thing I can say in its defence is that the extension looks worse on the Ryndam!

 

Stephen

[PRINSENDAM]

Hey! She still looks better than Queen mary 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Stephen

[RevNeal]

You don't like it? I think it makes the ship look like she has a new wheelhouse with open bridge wings.

 

It does remind me a little bit of the Wheel House in one of your lovely paintings of an older Noordam. Still, on the Rotterdam it looks SO out of place. It DOES look like a patio enclosure! Sloppy. Afterthought (which it is). A VIOLATION of her sleek design.

 

The only thing I can say in its defence is that the extension looks worse on the Ryndam!

 

Frankly, I think the Rotterdam looks worse than the Ryndam. At least on the Ryndam it doesn't come all the way forward and end in a vertical set of windows flush with the bridge below.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We pulled out a couple of brochures. And you can definitely see on the diagrams that the Observation Deck is much smaller now that the Soe programs are being put into place on the "R" and "S" class ships.

[Landlubber54]

Frankly, I think the Rotterdam looks worse than the Ryndam. At least on the Ryndam it doesn't come all the way forward and end in a vertical set of windows flush with the bridge below.

 

Because the addition to the Ryndam does not project all the way forward, it is not as obvious a change (to ME) as is the modification to the Rotterdam. Tastes are subjective and there may be many, like Mr. P, who prefer the post-Ro to the post-Ry.

[BJane]

We saw the Ryndam in port in Alaska last month and noticed one change that I really did not like. The letters spelling out RYNDAM on the sides of the ship now have little lights around them. Are they going to do that with all the ships as they go through SOE? I always thought that the large letters proudly proclaming the name of the ship looked really classy. With the addition of the lights I thought it looked rather tacky.

[PRINSENDAM]

[quote name='revneal']It does remind me a little bit of the Wheel House in one of your lovely paintings of an older Noordam. Still, on the Rotterdam it looks SO out of place. It DOES look like a patio enclosure! Sloppy. Afterthought (which it is). A VIOLATION of her sleek design.



Frankly, I think the Rotterdam looks worse than the Ryndam. At least on the Ryndam it doesn't come all the way forward and end in a vertical set of windows flush with the bridge below.[/QUOTE]


I was trying to say that the glass is half full instead of half empty:confused:

But you are right Rev Neal... the glass is EMPTY!

Stephen

[PRINSENDAM]

[quote name='singerbj']We saw the Ryndam in port in Alaska last month and noticed one change that I really did not like. The letters spelling out RYNDAM on the sides of the ship now have little lights around them. Are they going to do that with all the ships as they go through SOE? I always thought that the large letters proudly proclaming the name of the ship looked really classy. With the addition of the lights I thought it looked rather tacky.[/QUOTE]



Singerbg...

The lights have always been there. All the ships have them... right back to Statendam. They may look tacky but there were not cheap. I remember Stephen Payne telling me that the lighting system for the nameboards cost a small fortune.

In April 93 we were in San Juan on the STATENDAM inaugural Caribbean cruise. Accross the dock from us during dinner sat one of the Carnival ships... with those binking lights all around her upper decks and funnel. Hotel manager Dirk Zeller stopped by at the table to chat and he watched the Carnival ship I asked, "when are we going to get lights like that?" Dirk started sputtering and muttering I thought he was going to have a fit!

Stephen

[sail7seas]

[quote name='PRINSENDAM']Hey! She still looks better than Queen mary 2!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Stephen[/QUOTE]


[b]You are definitely a positive thinker. :) To always be able to find a plus. Mr. Card......ANYTHING LOOKS BETTER THAN QUEEN MARY 2 ....IMHO[/b]

[b]I think that ship is really atrocious looking. Holds no appeal for DH and me.[/b]

[shipcafe]

[quote name='singerbj']We saw the Ryndam in port in Alaska last month and noticed one change that I really did not like. The letters spelling out RYNDAM on the sides of the ship now have little lights around them. Are they going to do that with all the ships as they go through SOE? I always thought that the large letters proudly proclaming the name of the ship looked really classy. With the addition of the lights I thought it looked rather tacky.[/QUOTE]

[font=Book Antiqua][color=blue]The "S" Class ships have always been inconsistent with the rest of the fleet regarding the capital letters. All other ships have one capital letter and then lower case. The change brings the "S" Class to be consistent with the rest of the ships. The lighting "pre SOE" was always either very dim or burned out. I think that it was a beautiful improvement as the ships now boldly, proudly stating their name.[/color][/font]

[bcc99]

[quote name='PRINSENDAM']I remember Stephen Payne telling me that the lighting system for the nameboards cost a small fortune.[/QUOTE]

So you gentlemen must have "agreed to disagree" regarding [i]QM2[/i], then? I'd guess that Mr. Payne is quite partial to her. :D

[RevNeal]

[QUOTE]I was trying to say that the glass is half full instead of half empty[/QUOTE]

I appreciate the positive attitude, Captain. I truly do. Especially since there's nothing we can do about it. :) Thanks for being positive. I suppose this new look will eventually grow on me.

[PRINSENDAM]

[quote name='bcc99']So you gentlemen must have "agreed to disagree" regarding [i]QM2[/i], then? I'd guess that Mr. Payne is quite partial to her. :D[/QUOTE]


Don't forget that Stephen Payne's favourite ship is the old ROTTERDAM!!!! :)


I do feel that had he designed her, from scratch... with VFD Interiors, as a HAL ship she would be much better than she is as a Cunarder. You know what they say. Cunard went for the biggest ship. They must have been trying to compensate for something!!!!;)

Stephen

[PSR]

We used to love the forward 'secret' decks on the HAL ships. Why does the new "improvement" cover 3 decks? the gym is only on 1 deck. It does look bad, but alot of the other cruise lines have that front. But that's why we choose HAL instead. We love to look at the sea. If you want an indoor gym you can stay home. May have to look at cruise lines that still want to have ships....but it seems that that choice is getting smaller and costlier. May just have to stay nearer to home and do a land vacation. Wish they would ask their long time passengers what they would prefer. We started in 1987 when we could first afford it, but don't like the direction the cruise lines are going. it used to be unique, but now everything is a land vacation at sea. We used to go to Vancouver BC 2 times a year before we started cruising. We may go back.

Penny :(

[tjcox9]

Just disembarked the Rotterdam yesterday - first timer on this ship and loved it. Since I was unaware of how she looked before, I couldn't find a thing to dislike about her and look forward to sailing on her again soon!!

[Druke I]

I agree - not the prettiest job - and it does look like an old-fashioned bridge (conning station).

Not nearly as bad as the aft addition to the Monterey, done several years ago when she was to sail as Betsy Ross.