Westerdam - A Hollywood Star?!

[Ali]

I read on another board that the Westerdam was the cruise ship used in the movie "Out To Sea", a sequel to the "Grumpy Old Men" series starring Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon. Is this true? Does anyone know any details? Was it used strictly for the movie or were there "normal" passengers aboard during filming? How long was it used for the filming? The movie came out in 1997; but I thought the Westerdam was newer than that.

 

Can anyone clear up my confusion?

 

Ali

[sdfolsom]

Parts of the movie were filmed on the former Westerdam which is no longer part of the HAL fleet. Many parts of the movie were not on the actual ship. I don't know if any scenes were filmed during a normal cruise.

[tomc]

My understanding is that the exterior shots were actually the Westerdam, but all interior shots were done on a soundstage.

[bruceh4]

Parts of the movie were filmed on the former Westerdam which is no longer part of the HAL fleet. Many parts of the movie were not on the actual ship. I don't know if any scenes were filmed during a normal cruise.

The filming took place during a regular cruise. You are correct that only the exterior shots were on the ship. Again do not confuse the new Westerdam with the old Westerdam which was used in the film. An interesting fact about the old Westerdam was that when HAL acquired the ship which was not new, they cut it in half and inserted a section 110 ft in length to give them more cabins. I sailed through a Hurricane on the old Westerdam in 1999 and during the night I had thoughts running thru my head about the welds holding!!!!!!:eek: I keep saying old and new but acutally they were really the Westerdam II and Westerdam III. The Westerdam II was part of the fleet from 1988 to 2002. The Westerdam III joined the fleet in 2004. Ok in case you are wondering the Westerdam I was in the fleet from 1946 to 1964.

[Ziggy7]

The filming took place during a regular cruise. You are correct that only the exterior shots were on the ship. Again do not confuse the new Westerdam with the old Westerdam which was used in the film. An interesting fact about the old Westerdam was that when HAL acquired the ship which was not new, they cut it in half and inserted a section 110 ft in length to give them more cabins. I sailed through a Hurricane on the old Westerdam in 1999 and during the night I had thoughts running thru my head about the welds holding!!!!!!:eek: I keep saying old and new but acutally they were really the Westerdam II and Westerdam III. The Westerdam II was part of the fleet from 1988 to 2002. The Westerdam III joined the fleet in 2004. Ok in case you are wondering the Westerdam I was in the fleet from 1946 to 1964.

Wow thanks for the info ! :)

[Esme]

The filming took place during a regular cruise. You are correct that only the exterior shots were on the ship. Again do not confuse the new Westerdam with the old Westerdam which was used in the film. An interesting fact about the old Westerdam was that when HAL acquired the ship which was not new, they cut it in half and inserted a section 110 ft in length to give them more cabins. I sailed through a Hurricane on the old Westerdam in 1999 and during the night I had thoughts running thru my head about the welds holding!!!!!!:eek:

 

Bruce - did you ever hear how they check to make sure all the wires were completely cut when they extended the ship? The used piano wire! :)

 

We were on the old Westerdam in '88, '89 (trans-atlantic to Germany for stretch) & '90. On the '89 trip, the CD and Chief Engineer held a seminar one day in the Queen's Lounge (or whatever it was called) where they showed us the blueprints of the "new" ship and told us exactly how they cut it in half. Our trip in '89 was the 2nd sailing after stretch and they had a video showing the new construction and how it was done. Very, very interesting.

 

In the move "Out To Sea", there was a shot of Captain Keivit on the Bridge and I did recognize a couple of the bar stewards on the Lido deck. Those were about the only 2 shots of the ship, other than exterior ones, that I saw. The inside shots were done in a film studio......sure didn't look like the Westerdam I had been on. :)

 

This was the first HAL ship to have a dome over the mid-ship pool - thanks to Home Lines. :) After the ship was stretched the new mid-ship Lido was our favourite spot for breakfast and lunch. It was the first & only ship to have 2 Lido restaurants that I know of.

[Druke I]

The former Westerdam was a lovely ship. We had the pleasure of taking her on a Fall Foliage trip, Montreal to NYC, 9-97. Somewhat bumpy trip, as we hit tail end of a Florida hurricane spinning itself out off of Nova Scotia. It was an interesting trip - with a helicopter evacuation of an ill passenger, conducted by the Canadian Coast Guard.

 

We saw her last month, as Costa Europa (?) in Stockholm, where we boarded Oceania's Regatta for a Baltic cruise.

[Ali]

How interesting!!!! I would have liked to have seen the blueprints and watched the video concerning the "stretch". Thanks, everyone for your responses. I knew someone out there had the real scoop!