Happy Canada Day to all Canadian readers as it is the first of July today. As the Canadians are normally the second largest group of guests on board, their National day is recognized by us in one way or the other. This cruise we have 99 of Canadians on board and the Cruise Director Chris Butcher, who is a Canadian as well, threw a “Canadian Sail Away Party for the group on departure Juneau. It sounds a bit strange to do a Canadian Sail-away party from an American port, but with the ships program so full activities you have to think outside the box to get everything done that you want to do. 90 Canadians showed up, so the country was well presented on its birthday here on board.
As I mentioned the number 99 for Canadians, it might be of interest to note what other nationalities there are on board among the guests. Their citizenship does not necessary denote that they are still living there but it gives in general an idea where they are all coming from:
Australians: 28, Austrians: 3, Belgians: 2, Canadian: 99, Chinese: 3, Danish: 2, French: 2, Germans: 3, Hungarians: 1, Irish: 2, Israeli’s: 7, Japanese: 1, Koreans: 2, Malayans: 1, Mexicans: 3, Dutch: 3, New Zealanders: 9, Pakistani: 5, Singapore’s: 1, Spanish: 2. Swiss: 5, Turkish: 1, Great Britanians: 17, Americans: 1113.
Holland America has always focused on the Canadian and American market and thus carries those two nationalities in the highest numbers. However with the current fleet expansion, the company is looking further abroad and we see the number of non-north Americans slowly but steadily increasing.
Writing about fleet expansion; today was also the day that the companies newest ship the ms Eurodam was dedicated by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. This took place in Rotterdam during very nice weather. The Eurodam is the first ship of the Signature Class with a second ship on order for delivery in 2010 and a 3rd ship supposedly in the pipeline according to the company gossip. (Which might be stating a fact waiting to occur or just given to be a groundless rumor, as nothing has been said yet by Stein Kruse our CEO and President)
By ringing the ships bell, Her Majesty gave the signal for the champagne bottle to be released and to be mashed against the bow of the Veen Eurodam. Fotos via Captain Leo van Lanschot Hubrecht
The Eurodam is a further developed Vista Class ship with an additional deck and a lot of new features on board. The ship will sail in Europe for the summer and then relocate to the Caribbean for the winter. Its interior is a mix of the well liked Hal style as can be found on the S and R class and several more contemporary hints and themes. The first reports by travel agents and those who consider themselves cruise ships experts have been very positive in general. Not every room and design will be to the taste of everybody’s liking but the general result has met universal approval thus far. I feel quite honored by the fact that part of my photo collection is gracing the corridors of the ship. I believe one full deck has been decorated just with my collected photos. As I have not seen the ship yet, I do not know what the result is but as the photo’s had to be “decorative”, sometimes only a part of the photo will have been used and then this part will have been blown up to fit the frame. This according to the philosophy that not everybody just likes to look at ships but that it has to exude some sort of message or expression. VDF designers looked after this whole process in the same way as they did on the existing ships during the last SOE face lifts.
Not much to report about Juneau day itself. The weather was better than predicted, we were the first ship in and we left on time. Sail away was great, especially when we neared Point Retreat with the sun painting the Fairweather Mountain range, looming over Glacier Bay, in a golden hue. You do not see snow covered mountain tops looking more gold than white every day.
Tomorrow we are in Sitka and the weathercast talks about clouds. If the pattern continues as it is, with the weather being consistently better than forecasted, it should mean a sunny day.
July 3, 2008 at 7:18 am
Captain Albert:
Greetings from another proud Canadian and one who sailed with you on the ms Veendam last summer from Venice to Copenhagen. We always enjoyed your daily comments and attended your informative HAL lectures on board. Of course we have a formal picture of you in our album from this trip. Now we follow your Alaska cruising out of our home city of Vancouver, B.C.
Just out of interest, there is another hidden significance of the number of Canadians on board (99) on your current Alaska sailing. Most National Hockey League aficionados and “true blue” Canadians will recognize that number as the playing number on the back of the jersey of one of the greatest hockey players of all time and honoured Canadian, Wayne Gretzky! Could this may be an omen on Canada Day in Alaska?
It is also interesting to see that you discussed the recent HAL fleet expansion with the dedication of the ms Eurodam. My wife and I are pencilled in to sail on a relocation cruise on Aug 2009 onboard the Eurodam sailing from Copenhagen to New York!
Keep up the informative Weblog. We enjoy all the stories behind the scenes.
July 3, 2008 at 10:29 am
I am sure that you will be asked to be the captain of the second newbuild ship so you can whitness the champagne bottle breaking on your ship’s bow paint job. Writing “Veendam” under the photo will not go unnoticed by the CEO… Nice hint.
Good sailing,
July 3, 2008 at 3:11 pm
Oops! “out of the heart’s abundance . . . the fingers type” ! Couldn’t pass this up, Captain 🙂