Do you consider the volendam could go???

[TiogaCruiser]

5 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

Not so funny to me, but sad.  It's becoming increasingly difficult on all modern ships to find an area when one can view the night sky without ambient life, but such souls are missing one of the things I enjoy:  viewing God's creation in the night sky.

Some 9 years ago I had the opportunity to sail on the Tallship Californian. All who went on the trip agreed to take part as crew. After appropriate training, and under guidance. I had second watch, and one of my favorite memories is seeing the Big Dipper through the sails. 
 

How many people alive today have seen the dipper through square rigged sails?

 

 

Edited July 4, 2020 by TiogaCruiser

[crusinbanjo]

23 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I agree there is a segment. But not enough for a whole fleet of S-class ships, which is what I think was suggested.

 

Keeping in mind that even the S-class carry about 1.5 times the number of passengers on Prinsendam, I don't think HAL could do it.  Yes Prinsendam often (but not always) sailed full....but there was also some fire-sale last minute pricing to get up the numbers on some cruises (my parents took advantage of a few of those after they retired.)

 

I don't know much about Viking's financing structure, but I continue to be amazed that they can churn out so many new ships, one after another for ocean cruising and still command the prices they do (and payment so far ahead).  I wonder how they will weather this pandemic?  Will they end up being victims of it -- like Renaissance after the Gulf War and 9/11?

I don’t disagree with this, I don’t know how they do it either.  I do fully expect that with current conditions they cannot sustain the growth and will likely have to consolidate.  
 

I also think HAL will re-emerge as a smaller line, (as will they all),  and I think if CCL is looking around, bargains on existing newer ships will exist. My thinking is to market HAL in direct competition to Oceania. 
 

[DFD1]

14 minutes ago, crusinbanjo said:

I don’t disagree with this, I don’t know how they do it either.  I do fully expect that with current conditions they cannot sustain the growth and will likely have to consolidate.  
 

I also think HAL will re-emerge as a smaller line, (as will they all),  and I think if CCL is looking around, bargains on existing newer ships will exist. My thinking is to market HAL in direct competition to Oceania. 
 

 

As I understand it, Viking is owned essentially by one man who has very deep pockets and does not need to ask shareholders or a board for permission...

 

Others may have better or more correct information...

[rkacruiser]

7 hours ago, DFD1 said:

 

As I understand it, Viking is owned essentially by one man who has very deep pockets and does not need to ask shareholders or a board for permission...

 

Others may have better or more correct information...

 

I think it is a private company just as MSC is.  "How deep the pockets" may be, I have no idea for either.  But, I do think "they are deep".

Edited July 4, 2020 by rkacruiser

[AtlantaCruiser72]

On 7/1/2020 at 7:51 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I was going to post the same response to the poster who caused yours.  I have sailed on an Amsterdam 14 day cruise and it was an excellent itinerary when I sailed it.  I think the most recent rendition of such an itinerary dropped Kodiak.  Another mistake, as far as I am concerned.  Kodiak provided another "different" view of Alaska that the 7 itineraries offer.  

 

Even if the S-and R-Class ships become history, there isn't any reason that I know that a larger HAL vessel might not be able to assume this itinerary.  However, one possible issue could be the tidal fluctuation at the Port Of Anchorage.    

 

I agree with you on the dropping of Kodiak from the 2020/21 Maasdam itineraries.  I found Kodiak far more interesting than Homer.  If they had to eliminate one of the two I'd much sooner see Homer be dropped.

[AtlantaCruiser72]

 

On 7/4/2020 at 9:48 AM, DFD1 said:

 

As I understand it, Viking is owned essentially by one man who has very deep pockets and does not need to ask shareholders or a board for permission...

 

Others may have better or more correct information...

 

21 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

I think it is a private company just as MSC is.  "How deep the pockets" may be, I have no idea for either.  But, I do think "they are deep".

  

Viking was founded/owned/run by Torstein Hagen (and his family) who is a Norwegian Billionaire.  He was previously involved with HAL in the 1970's and both Kloster Cruises (former parent company of NCL) and Royal Viking Line in the 1980's. He also has been involved in several shipping interests in the Netherlands and Russia as well as the Russian equity markets.

 

I know Wikipedia is not always 100% accurate but here is some basic information on him and Viking: 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Torstein_Hagen

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Cruises

 

And here is an interesting 2013 artice from Travel Weekly that reveals a lot about the man behing Viking, his attitudes and vision: https://www.travelweekly.com/River-Cruising/Rolling-on-the-rivers  Whether you agree with his mindset/philosophy or not it does show why the Viking product has evolved the way it has.

[iancal]

Bottom line...any of those older ships could go.  Who knows how much money has to be spent on drydocks and refurb over the next five years.  Then there is the question of demand.

 

It is really anyone's guess.  I would not be optimistic.

[lyndarra]

On 7/2/2020 at 1:12 AM, Copper10-8 said:

 

A small correction, if I may 😉 Celebrity's Century was actually built at Meyer Werft in Papenburg, Germany, between Jan 1994 and Nov 1995. Although not built by Fincantieri, the yard(s) (Monfalcone and Marghera) where all current HAL ships were/are being built, Century did spent five weeks at Fincantieri's Palermo yard as part of an extensive refurbishment in 2006.

 

After leaving Celebrity, she became SkySea Golden Era for start-up Chinese brand SkySea Cruises, a joint venture between China's Ctrip and Royal Caribbean Cruises, in May 2015. SkySea ended operations/is no longer with us in Sep 2018 and SkySea Golden Era subsequently wound up in Jan 2019 with UK's Marella Cruises, the former Thomson Cruises, where she is currently sailing European cruises as Marella Explorer 2, an "adults only" ship 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for clearing that up for me.

[JeffElizabeth]

On 6/30/2020 at 6:35 PM, kazu said:

 

I agree with this.  When I was on the Prinsendam I was joined by an officer on the Lido “secret evil” area and he told me that the ship was built far better than the others.

He pointed to the beams and told me how they would be built now versus the quality that was in that ship.

 

He talked at length of the quality on the ship and the difference in the new builds.  

 

this was a friendly conversation, not something I started or asked and I was enthralled.

 

I learned a lot and learned to look at certain things and he was right 😉 

Just wish HAL had spent the money on her instead of selling her to Phoenix Riessen who was willing to spend something like 40 million euros to refurbish her.  

The Amsterdam and Rotterdam are OK shapes but we still really miss the Prinsendam.  Bigger rooms, sea views in the Pinnacle Grill. My uncle who had given up on HAL came back for her final voyage.  Won't see her like again.