Volendam to house Ukrainian refugees for 3 months

[AFNavigator]

12 hours ago, Torquer said:

I now have to wonder if HAL is going to be doing the same thing with another ship(s).  If it is, I suspect it would be to one of the ships not yet in service doing cruises (just like Volendam was).  As I understand it, that includes:  Zaandam, Noordam, Westerdam, and Oosterdam.  Zaandam is another older ship like the Volendam, so that might be the first choice.

 

This is pure speculation on my part.  But it certainly does make me think about what could happen to our upcoming cruise this summer on the Oosterdam.

It seems the Volendam logistically was an obvious choice because it was already planned to home port out of Rotterdam for most of its spring/summer itineraries.  IF a second HAL ship were to be used for temporary refugee housing, the Oosterdam probably would be the next option due to it also being based in Europe (the Med though) and not restarting until mid May.  That's a big "IF" though...haven't seen any press about any other cruise ships--from any lines--being used for refugee housing. 

[StLouisCruisers]

Was there any mention on how the refugees are getting to the ship in Rotterdam?  Just curious about the logistics.

[MAVIP]

2 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Was there any mention on how the refugees are getting to the ship in Rotterdam?  Just curious about the logistics.

From where do you mean? From EU borders they can and could travel free by train; just had to show their passports. In the Netherlands they will be received at the larger railway stations and told where they can be registered. This link will tell you (almost?) everything. Choose for the english flag/language: 

 https://www.rotterdam.nl/wonen-leven/vluchtelingen-oekraine/   

When you finish your reading you know more than I do 😉 .  You will find the m.s. Volendam at that page too.  

And the m.s. Volendam is very well situated at about 10 minutes walk tot the nearest public transport stop. 

Edited April 4, 2022 by MAVIP
forgot text about Volendam and public transport

[StLouisCruisers]

28 minutes ago, MAVIP said:

From where do you mean? From EU borders they can and could travel free by train; just had to show their passports. In the Netherlands they will be received at the larger railway stations and told where they can be registered. This link will tell you (almost?) everything. Choose for the english flag/language: 

 https://www.rotterdam.nl/wonen-leven/vluchtelingen-oekraine/   

When you finish your reading you know more than I do 😉 .  You will find the m.s. Volendam at that page too.  

And the m.s. Volendam is very well situated at about 10 minutes walk tot the nearest public transport stop. 

 

I think I was mostly wondering how it's determined which refugees are to proceed to Rotterdam to join the ship, and are they all on their own in figuring out which way is best to arrive?  In other words, Officials in perhaps Poland,  pick out 1000 or 1500 refugees, hand them train tickets and some cash and send them directly to the ship in Rotterdam?

[rafinmd]

I'm still curious about waste water.  I think it's easy for the ship to keep a generator running and bunkering water is easy but discharging gray water seems more difficult.  I wonder if they'll need to go to sea every week or 2 to take care of this.

 

Roy

[MAVIP]

41 minutes ago, StLouisCruisers said:

 

I think I was mostly wondering how it's determined which refugees are to proceed to Rotterdam to join the ship, and are they all on their own in figuring out which way is best to arrive?  In other words, Officials in perhaps Poland,  pick out 1000 or 1500 refugees, hand them train tickets and some cash and send them directly to the ship in Rotterdam?

I understand that Oekranians decide themselves to which country they wish to go. Quite a few have relatives or friend or business relations somewhere. They donot get traintickets to a certain town; as I indicated above: they can travel by just showing their Oekranian passports in the train in quite a few countries. Whether anybody in any of the eastern countries tell refugees to go to the ms Volendam directly: I doubt it.. All other information about how our Rotterdam neighbours handle it: please see the link. 

[shipgeeks]

There is some pertinent information in the other two Volendam posts, which I have bumped forward.

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, rafinmd said:

I'm still curious about waste water.  I think it's easy for the ship to keep a generator running and bunkering water is easy but discharging gray water seems more difficult.  I wonder if they'll need to go to sea every week or 2 to take care of this.

 

Roy

Very simple.  They run a hose from the ship's sewage discharge fitting to the closest municipal sewer.  Done all the time for long term berthing.

[kangforpres]

6 hours ago, StLouisCruisers said:

Was there any mention on how the refugees are getting to the ship in Rotterdam?  Just curious about the logistics.

 

Once the get to Poland or Romania they are put on trains and will eventually wind up in Rotterdam thank to Europe modern rail network.

 

[ontheweb]

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Very simple.  They run a hose from the ship's sewage discharge fitting to the closest municipal sewer.  Done all the time for long term berthing.

Nothing like having a simple solution. All problems to be solved should be so easy.

[cruisequeen4ever]

I second the person who thinks the Carnival ship that’s already being scrapped should have been chosen instead. Then no pax would be impacted. Another option would have been a ship not yet back in service. Obviously it’s a wonderfully helpful service HAL will be providing. It is just sad to impact thousands of pax, though, who may have non-refundable tickets booked for things, and at the very least, will be spending hours rebooking everything. 

[chengkp75]

3 hours ago, cruisequeen4ever said:

I second the person who thinks the Carnival ship that’s already being scrapped should have been chosen instead. Then no pax would be impacted. Another option would have been a ship not yet back in service. Obviously it’s a wonderfully helpful service HAL will be providing. It is just sad to impact thousands of pax, though, who may have non-refundable tickets booked for things, and at the very least, will be spending hours rebooking everything. 

For HAL, this is no different than if someone came along and chartered the ship for their group.  For Holland, this is a humanitarian work, and for the Ukrainians it is hope.  For the passengers who were cancelled, it is an inconvenience and a loss, but a first world problem.

 

As for the Carnival Sensation, even the poster you are seconding, made the disclaimer that the ship has been stripped of any salvageable equipment, furnishings, and supplies prior to and during the voyage to the scrapyard, and this decision would have had to been made weeks ago.  Secondly, the ship was contracted to be scrapped at a certain date, so that contract would have to have been renegotiated, perhaps at a different scrapping price, so its not just as easy as saying, "stop the ship and route it to Rotterdam".  Finally, there may be legal issues with the use of a non-EU flag ship providing temporary housing in an EU member nation, so the Dutch flag HAL ships were the only choice.

[cruisequeen4ever]

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

For HAL, this is no different than if someone came along and chartered the ship for their group.  For Holland, this is a humanitarian work, and for the Ukrainians it is hope.  For the passengers who were cancelled, it is an inconvenience and a loss, but a first world problem.

 

As for the Carnival Sensation, even the poster you are seconding, made the disclaimer that the ship has been stripped of any salvageable equipment, furnishings, and supplies prior to and during the voyage to the scrapyard, and this decision would have had to been made weeks ago.  Secondly, the ship was contracted to be scrapped at a certain date, so that contract would have to have been renegotiated, perhaps at a different scrapping price, so its not just as easy as saying, "stop the ship and route it to Rotterdam".  Finally, there may be legal issues with the use of a non-EU flag ship providing temporary housing in an EU member nation, so the Dutch flag HAL ships were the only choice.

Oh boy, I guess that wouldn’t have worked then! I stand corrected.