some 'scuttlebutt'

[Hlitner]

46 minutes ago, pvlover said:

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but if HAL has, in fact, an ongoing need for a "small" ship why replace The Prinsendam?  Fuel efficiency,  engine issues, sea worthiness, etc?  We did have a rather grim TA on her. 

So here is the story we heard from one of the senior Engineering Officers we met (at dinner) on our last Prinsendam voyage (which was about 3 years ago).  The ship has a lot of unique systems which require that many replacement parts must be custom made (machined).  Not only is this very expensive, but it creates a logistical nightmare.  A repair that would take hours or days on most newer vessels could take months on the Prinsendam because of the waiting time to get a part.  And then there were other issues related to the ship being "one of a kind."  A few years ago when they lost over a dozen large windows (as the result of heavy seas off Scotland that cracked numerous panes) it took several months to get a replacement for one window in the Crows Nest (we were on the ship months after that storm and they still had plywood replacing a large window).  Modern cruise ships are usually part of a "family" of ships that have some standardization when it comes to parts.  So a spare window for a Vista Class ship would fit numerous vessels whereas a spare window for the P'Dam would only fit that ship.  It also was not a very efficient vessel and required a very unfavorable (for the cruise line) passenger to crew ratio.  

 

In the interests of full disclosure, we spent exactly 200 days (as passengers) on the P'Dam and she was our favorite HAL vessel.   We do hope that HAL is somehow able to acquire a replacement small ship.  The talk about transferring one of the smaller (450 passenger) Seabourn vessels to HAL...sure has my interest :).  If this were to ever happen, my fear would be that HAL would quickly modify to the ship to add another 50+ cabins :(.  But we would still be excited about HAL having another small  "Pathfinder" ship.

 

Hank

[pvlover]

Thanks Hlitner.

[Copper10-8]

5 hours ago, pvlover said:

Apologies if this has been covered elsewhere but if HAL has, in fact, an ongoing need for a "small" ship why replace The Prinsendam?  Fuel efficiency,  engine issues, sea worthiness, etc?  We did have a rather grim TA on her. 

 

You're dealing with a ship that was built in 1988 

[Mtn2Sea]

A few days ago at the Q&A session on the World Cruise, Orlando Ashford indicated “we’re looking at” bringing on a smaller ship as a replacement for the P’Dam.  He stated, however, the ship would likely be in the 1000 to 1100 passenger range.

[Sir PMP]

3 hours ago, Mtn2Sea said:

A few days ago at the Q&A session on the World Cruise, Orlando Ashford indicated “we’re looking at” bringing on a smaller ship as a replacement for the P’Dam.  He stated, however, the ship would likely be in the 1000 to 1100 passenger range.

If that's true than it won't be the  Seabourn Ovation or Encore, unless they find a way to add 200 more rooms to the existing 300...

[tkwbear]

4 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

If that's true than it won't be the  Seabourn Ovation or Encore, unless they find a way to add 200 more rooms to the existing 300...

The old Ryndam isn't much bigger than that. P&O already got rid of the old Statendam, they would probably let HAL have that ship back. They could call it Oprahdam or Orlandodam.

[taxmantoo]

1 hour ago, tkwbear said:

The old Ryndam isn't much bigger than that. P&O already got rid of the old Statendam, they would probably let HAL have that ship back. They could call it Oprahdam or Orlandodam.

How about naming it the Orlandoprahdam ??? 

[Copper10-8]

ms 'Omygodtendollarforasecondentreedam'

[cruisue]

Thinking about taking a cruise on Carnival's Miracle.  What is the condition this ship is in--saw where it was built in 2004 and refurbished in 2015.  Does it look old and worn?

[Copper10-8]

11 minutes ago, cruisue said:

Thinking about taking a cruise on Carnival's Miracle.  What is the condition this ship is in--saw where it was built in 2004 and refurbished in 2015.  Does it look old and worn?

 

 

You might want to go to the Carnival forum to get that one answered; this is the HAL forum 

[1ANGELCAT]

13 minutes ago, cruisue said:

Thinking about taking a cruise on Carnival's Miracle.  What is the condition this ship is in--saw where it was built in 2004 and refurbished in 2015.  Does it look old and worn?

You’ve posted on the HollandAmerica forum in error.

[Dog Drool]

One of the rumors I heard while on the P-dam was that Viking might sell one of their unbuilt ships to Holland America.  Viking has contracted for more ships and might be wiling to let one go.  Might be wishful thinking but they are the right size.

 

[Copper10-8]

2 minutes ago, Dog Drool said:

One of the rumors I heard while on the P-dam was that Viking might sell one of their unbuilt ships to Holland America.  Viking has contracted for more ships and might be wiling to let one go.  Might be wishful thinking but they are the right size.

 

 

They're "only" building eleven (11) more Viking Star-class ships between 2021 and 2027 for a total fleet of seventeen, so you never know

[sammiedawg]

Why not just sail Viking which has a lovely product?   More expensive , yes, but more included features.  A load of laundry would not influence me one way or the other.

 

Edited April 29, 2019 by sammiedawg