Nostalgia – RMS Queen Mary 2

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2606

We met her a bit upriver

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004IMG_2615akl

Passed her and saw her ginourmous wake without having real speed for the first time. Notice the slightly plump backside

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2619aakl

Turned around and passed her again

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Sailed in Front of her

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2629akl

Sailed in Front and let her come closer

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2627aakl

Watched al the spectators lined up in Front of the Radio Port Rotterdam building in Hook of Holland. The first 3 rows would get wet feet from the wake when she passed.

Queen Mary 2

Watched her passing one of the two “Mushrooms” at the mouth of the Nieuwe Waterweg

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2654a_1KL

Saw the Pilot Tender Enterprise approach alongside to pick up the Pilot

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2659aakl

Made a close up just after the Pilot boarded the Pilot Tender

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2673akl

Escorted her a bit further before we turned around and headed for Scheveningen

Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004 IMG_2674aaaKL

And said “Goodbye” when she literally sailed into the sunset.

Nostalgia – Meeting Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 in Rotterdam, 2004

In 2004 we still had our hotel Haagsche Suites and our boat Haagsch Schuim and even sometimes some money to to fill the tank of the gasoline guzzling 500 HP of the boat and some time to have adventures.

With hindsight one of the best trips was that of July 21 2004. We departed from Scheveningen in the afternoon and sailed to the Nieuwe Waterweg, which is the name of the water connection between Rotterdam and the North Sea. It took us only 3 quarters of an hour. We would encounter the Cunard cruise liner Queen Mary 2, which was inauguratede in Spring 2004 as the largest cruise liner of that year. It was its first visit to Rotterdam for just one day and thousands and thousands spectators were looking on, both in the city where she was berthed in front of the old head office of the Holland America Line and a new cruise terminal, and alongside the Nieuwe Waterweg. Estimates were around 200,000 visitors.

We met it a bit upriver and consorted it to the North Sea together with various other boats, part private and part in function like Pilot tenders, Dutch Police Patrol Boats and Rotterdam Port Authority Patrol vessels.

When QM2 entered service in 2004 on the Southampton to New York route, British Royal Mail granted it the RMS (Royal Mail Ship) designation (prefix) as a gesture to Cunard’s history.

Seabourn Odyssey in Venice

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Recently I’ve been in Venice for the 2015 Biennial. But also I have taken various photo’s of Cruise ships and find it interesting to do some research on the ships and the cruise companies and share it with my readers. Venice is one of the top Cruise destination. As far as I can tell it can have up to 10 large cruise ships moored. Usually they do Venice in one day and sail on. They dwarf the old city when they are heading to the Adriatic.

I’m not a cruising type myself, as I become claustrophobic with too many people on a ship. Especially embarking and debarking when they are anchored in stead of moored would make me crazy. I don’t like the passive way of traveling with huge ships. I’m rather my own captain on a smaller boat. My best cruises thus far were 2 tours with 10 friends on a sailing cruise from Bodrum, Turkey.

However I do like ships and I do like to take photo’s of them. The Cruise market is huge and booming again and a lot is happening. There are a couple of good blogs and sites about cruising and of course one of my interests is the design of such large ships and off course the operation which is basically a lot the same as a hotel operation, albeit in most instances in less space.

Seascanner says:

The Odyssey

On a length of 198 meters a crew of 330 persons takes care of up to 450 guests’ needs – an outstanding crew-guest-ratio! The Odyssey was completed in the summer of 2009 and features a built-in marina at the ship’s stern.

Staterooms

All staterooms on board the Odyssey are suites, starting with spacious 28m². 90% of all staterooms have private balconies with at least 6m². Every suite is equipped with a comfortable living area with writing desk, a personal refrigerator and bar stocked daily with your preferred spirits and sodas, sofa, entertainment center and wireless internet access.

Atmosphere on Board

Travellers on Seabourn ships enjoy perfect luxury combined with modern casualty. A smoking or dark suite with tie is not required, but formal nights are optionally offered for those who enjoy festive evenings. Nevertheless a pair of jeans is not welcome in the main restaurants. A good command of the English language is strongly recommended due to the international guests and English being official onboard language.

About Seabourn Cruise Line

Seabourn has been founded in Norway in 1986 with the “Seabourn Pride” entering service in 1988. Today, the cruise line is part of the Carnival Corporation and is – without a doubt – their most luxurious and prestigous brand. Seabourn stands for absolute perfection in service, great individuality due to the very small ships and modern, casual luxury.

It also gets high ratings from Cruise Critic

For an In Depth review go to Avid Cruiser

SS Oceanic – Dutch Design (66)

SS Oceanic

SS Oceanic

Becoming a member of PicFair inspires me to go through old photo’s to see if they are still of any interest.

At wikipedia I found out the ship was built in Italy in 1965

But at SS Maritime I found out something really interesting: It seems the design was of Dutch origin..by a designer of Maatschappij de Schelde. A huge yard at Vlissingen.

Question – “Who Really Designed The Oceanic”?

By William Vandersteel – Alpine, NJ – USA

Little known history behind the identity of the original designers of the SS Oceanic, steadfastly denied by the Italian shipbuilder and the CEO of Home Lines, is the true story of how it came into being. It goes back to a meeting between Aristotle Onassis, John W. Hupkus, Managing Director of the Dutch shipyard, Kon. Mij de Schelde and the writer, William Vandersteel, USA representative for de Schelde. The meeting took place in Monaco in 1957.

Ari Onassis had asked for the meeting to discuss his proposal for the De Schelde Shipyard to develop a design for two ships, specifically designed as cruise ships, and with trans Atlantic capability, to operate in the Mediterranean during the winter and the Caribbean during the summer. Onassis and Hupkes were friends and, except for specifying cruise speed and passenger capacity, Onassis left all design details to de Schelde.

In 1953, de Schelde had completed the Kungsholm II for the Swedish American Line and, during the maiden voyage to New York, which I attended, I mentioned to Hupkes that the new Kungsholm was a nice design in the traditional sense and observed that I could suggest some “improvements” to bring the design and styling into the modern age. After discussing my ideas, Hupkes was intrigued and suggested I meet with his naval architect during my next visit to Holland. In 1955, I met with de Schelde’s naval architect, Mr. Pieterse to discuss my ideas. Pieterse was a young chap and, initially, less than enthusiastic with my ideas. Unfortunately, he died prematurely from cancer at age 36, shortly after completing the design for the Onassis cruise ships.

As for my background, I am an aeronautical engineer with a lot of experience as a youngster, sailing all over the globe with my family, giving me an abiding interest in ships. I also gained some styling design experience with my first job, after graduating from MIT, with the General Motors Styling Section for car design. The job lasted only 8 months when World War II broke out and I volunteered to join the US Army Air Corps to be trained as a fighter test pilot.

De Schelde’s Naval Architect, Mr. Pieterse and I sat down in 1955 to discuss my ideas, briefly outlined as follows;

Change the conventional curved sheer line to a straight line, parallel with the water line. Eliminate camber to make flat decks, like floors in any building ashore. Neither sheer nor camber serve any purpose on a large ship, or any ship for that matter, and they only add to cost. At first, Pieterse was horrified at the thought of a ship without a graceful sheer line as he had designed for the Kungsholm. Pieterse tried to defend camber on structural ground but eventually conceded that the same structural integrity could be achieved without camber. To achieve proper styling, all decks must be flat and parallel with the waterline.

Next, I insisted that all promenade decks be fully glass enclosed. I knew from experience that the first thing an experienced ocean traveller does after boarding, is to run for the deck steward and reserve a deck chair on the limited space of the fantail (stern), the only place where you don’t get blown away. Also, I insisted that the only promenade deck be at the very top level, also fully glassed in, with an unobstructed view of the ocean.

I also insisted that the lifeboats be stowed on a lower deck and not on the top deck so they would not detract from ship’s styling. My attempt to substitute life rafts for life boats was apparently not allowed by Lloyds’ rules, though they are obviously a safer and better solution. Naval ships only use life rafts even in the face of much larger risk.

Then, as a main feature of the ship, I envisaged an open space near the ship’s center, with a transparent sliding roof and a swimming pool as the central attraction. The beam sides to be fully glassed in with all seating (deck chairs) facing inwards, overlooking the swimming pool. The presumption is that passengers would rather stare at Bikinis than look at the ocean which they can see from their cabins or top deck. The sliding roof would close during inclement weather. I named this the Lido deck though I do not know if this name was original at that time.

After Pieterse completed the design, he had become an enthusiastic supporter of the new configuration and conceded that eliminating sheer and amber might reduce the total construction cost by as much as 10%. I was given a ten page copy of the completed design and I was satisfied that Pieterse had faithfully followed all my suggestions.

De Schelde’s proposal and drawings were presented by John Hupkes to Ari Onassis in a Paris meeting sometime late 1955. I was not present and do not know what transpired. Hupkes did indicate to me that Onassis was not ready to proceed with his plans. Though I have no first hand knowledge, I surmise that Onassis conveyed the drawings to his friend Eugen Eugenides, owner of the Home Lines. The Home Lines eventually contracted with the Italian shipbuilder Cantieri Reuniti del Adriatico of Monfalcone, Italy to build the Oceanic and it was delivered in 1963.

The significant fact is that every cruise liner, without exception as far as I know, built since the completion of the Oceanic has followed every feature and configuration which led to the Oceanic’s original design. That neither the Italian builder or the Home Lines, as far as I know, has ever claimed credit for introducing a wholly new design concept for cruise ships, probably stems from their concern that such a claim could lead to the revelation that the original design was made by Mr. Pieterse, Naval Architect for the Kon. Mij. De Schelde of Vlissingen, Holland.

William Vandersteel.

A bit of old skool piracy huh?

SS_Oceanic_in_Helsinki

After cruising for Pullmantur Cruises the Oceanic was chartered or owned by Peace Boat for a couple of years.

2000—2009: Career with Pullmantur Cruises

On 30 December 2000, the Big Red Boat I was acquired by the newly founded, Spain-based Pullmantur Cruises. She reverted to the name Oceanic and sailed to Cadiz, Spain for refurbishment. Following completion of her refurbishment, the ship entered service on cruises from Barcelona in May 2001. During her career with Pullmantur, Oceanic was gradually rebuilt by removing flammable materials so that the ship would be better in keeping with the new SOLAS regulations coming into effect in 2010.

Oceanic was reportedly due to be withdrawn from service with Pullmantur in September 2009. In March 2009, the ship was sold to the Japan-based Peace Boat, with delivery date already in April 2009.

2009 onwards: Career with Peace Boat

Oceanic entered service with Peace Boat on 23 April 2009, departing Yokohama on an around-the-world cruise that was due to conclude in Yokohama on 6 August 2009. Oceanic ’​s circumnavigation was Peace Boat’s 66th “Global Voyage for Peace”, and the first to feature extensive visits to various ports in Scandinavia, with a goal of learning about the northern European welfare and education systems.

Sometime during the week between 3 and 9 May 2010, the Oceanic came under attack by pirates while off the coast of Yemen. The ship was attacked by grenades, but managed to avoid being boarded by adopting zig-zag manoeuvres and blasting the pirates with high-pressure water hoses. Reportedly the pirates were subsequently apprehended by NATO forces.

Thereafter it seems having been scrapped in China in 2012.

Young Queen Mary 2

Young Queen Mary 2
Queen Mary 2 IMG_2606

Young Queen Mary 2

The Cruise Ship Queen Mary 2 celebrated its 10th anniversary this year. Back in 2004 I took this photo of it when it visited Rotterdam for the first time. I had a very fast little boat and had a bit of spare time to make a trip to see this giant of the seas. Not because I like cruising on huge cruise ships. I don’t. I like to view ships. That’s all.

I was able to bring the second photo to the front page of Picfair.

To conclude: A short Cunard clip where their 3 Queens meet in Southampton in celebration of QM 2’s 10th anniversary.

Travel (or Cruise) to Knit

I admit I’m a bit influenced by my Dear Quilting Wife, but I keep repeating my only prediction for 2009 and beyond: The Future is: Back to Knitting.

Now I can connect knitting with travel, since I found the Blog Textile Travel: They advocate Travel to Knit!

First I thought “How on earth can textile be an excuse for traveling?” Stupid thought, I concluded, when I remembered that DW used to organize bus tours to various Quilt Exhibitions across Europe successfully for a couple of years, and that I even traveled with her to one in Barcelona, which was actually my first and only visit of Barcelona.

Via Textile Travel I found out in August 2009 there is a cruise scheduled in the Mediterranean by the Holland America Line (Yes originally a Dutch firm, presently with its seat in the Dutch Antilles) for yarn aficionados like knitters and crocheters. Here is the Travel plan and Registration From. So they also Cruise to Knit!

From there to the site of one of the Cruise Guides Knot Just Knitting by Prudence Mapstone who has an amazing creativity and who Travels by Knitting if you look at her Workshops and Tours for 2009….

But you can also reverse the caption in Knit to travel. If you consider how much the tiny pieces of textile they call a bikini cost you as opposed when you knit or crochet it yourself:-)

Prudence could also inspire you to knit and to travel and leave your knitting as an enrichment of the landscape:

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Photo by Christl Rijkeboer

Another fiber artist, but now a Dutch lady who is intrigued by Human Hair, Christl Rijkeboer, could inspire you to keep yourself warm when traveling with this bivouac.

Hah and in between I found a Down Under Guerrilla Knittin Lady Blog: Grrl + Dog Lol.