Ship building & Catholic Mass on Alaska cruise

[TN Cruise Traveler]

I have been reading about fewer activities on Holland's Alaska cruises. Will there still be the ship building contest?

 

Also, do they have Mass everyday like they did on the Caribbean cruise?

 

Is the Zeendam one of the ships offering an open time for eating?

[Old As Dirt Mom]

I have been reading about fewer activities on Holland's Alaska cruises. Will there still be the ship building contest?

 

Also, do they have Mass everyday like they did on the Caribbean cruise?

 

Is the Zeendam one of the ships offering an open time for eating?

 

Hi, TN Cruise Traveler:

 

When I was on the Noordam to Alaska just a couple of weeks ago (seems like eons of time ago:( ), they did indeed have Shipbuilding Sea Trials.

 

The Zaandam does not yet offer an open time for eating (it's called As You Wish Dining). According to HAL, the Zaandam will have As You Wish Dining in February of 08.

 

Yes, there is daily Catholic Mass on every HAL ship, on every itinerary.

 

Bon Voyage:)

 

Karin

[RuthC]

Also, do they have Mass everyday like they did on the Caribbean cruise?

As Karin said there's daily Mass on every HAL sailing.

Twice I've been aboard when the scheduled priest didn't make the sailing. Both times there was a vacationing priest on board who stepped up and took over the duties.

[Cruisinetta]

When I was on the Westerdam in February, DJ Mike said they might do away with the shipbuilding contest because no one enters. I do every time. I just love this activity. Talk it up and maybe more folks will enter. As of my last cruise in April, they will still offering the shipbuilding contest. I hope it continues.

[jtl513]

Is the Zeendam one of the ships offering an open time for eating?

I see middle-aged-mom/Karin took your reference to Zeendam to mean Zaandam. If you meant Veendam, that ship gets As You Wish early Apr '08.

[pilotdane]

Wifey and I had a lot of fun winning the ship building competition on Maasdam. I hope they don't do away with it. Without anything constructive to do on sea days I'll probably be sneaking below to look at the engine room...

[Radcliffe]

What is the ship building contest ? I will be aboard Amsterdam in two weeks and this sounds appealing to me. Rad

[Old As Dirt Mom]

What is the ship building contest ? I will be aboard Amsterdam in two weeks and this sounds appealing to me. Rad

 

Radcliffe:

 

Here are the rules for the shipbuilding contest, which I kept from our Zaandam Alaska cruise last summer.

 

 

"1. Collect materials from around the ship to use in building your ship! Use water bottles, napkins, boxes from the shops on board, aluminum cans, casino buckets, etc. Feel free to buy anything on shore, but please do not use ship's property (i.e. life jackets, sheets, TVs, cushions, mattresses, etc.). Please do not paint your ship. Feel free to name it and write on it using pen.

 

2. We like big ships! The bigger, the better! Dimensions are at the discretion of the team building the vessel, but hopefully your ship will fit in the Jacuzzis.

 

3. You may NOT float your ship in any form of water before Sea Trials!

 

4. The Sea Trials will take place at the indoor Jacuzzi. Ships will be judged on appearance, special features, sea worthiness, and cargo carrying capacity (1-12 cans of soda).

 

5. No help from the crew of the ship! Be creative and resourceful! This is your creation.

 

6. Have fun, and if you have any questions, please see the cruise staff!"

My husband and teen daughter had a lot of fun creating their masterpiece, the MS Bloemendam (Dutch word meaning "flowerdam". They used a lei made of artificial flowers as a garland for the masts of their ship).

[Solstice]

This is the first I've heard of this activity. It sounds like fun to me and I suspect my family might get into this one. I hope they are still doing it on our cruise.

[MrsMuir]

Now there's a good name for a new Damship: Bloemendam! I like it!

[Krazy Kruizers]

We rarely had the ship building on our Alaskan cruises -(1) not enough signed up for it -- (2) port intensive and couldn't get it into the schedule.