Captain Bas van Dreumel, Master of the ms Rotterdam (VI)
And here we are on board the ms Rotterdam (VI) of the company docked in Tampa, Florida. The ship is starting a final seven day cruise to Key West, Roatan, Santo Tomas de Castillo, and Costa Maya and back to Tampa. Then she will commence a transatlantic crossing and if we have smooth seas and following winds we should arrive in Rotterdam on the 30th. of April. I will start today my 127th. cruise from Tampa today and so I can rightfully say about this port, been here, seen it and have bought the T-shirt. I will be here on board until 30 April for training, reviews, inspections and audit on behalf of the captain and anything else that might be useful for the ship and its operation.
The Master of the vessel is Captain Bas van Dreumel who I last met on the Maasdam last year and who took command of the ms Rotterdam today taking over from Captain Eric van der Wal. Captain van Dreumel is a homegrown captain which means he started his career with the company as a cadet some 20 years ago. His biography can be found on the blog site here under Captains and their current schedules.
The ms Rotterdam (VI)) was the first of the R-class ships and entered service in 1997 shortly after we retired the Rotterdam (V). And as she had the name Rotterdam and was at that time the largest ship in the fleet she automatically became the flagship of the company. Then it became a bit more complicated as Holland America created the Flagship Class with the arrival of the ms Amsterdam (III) in 2000. Now the meaning of Flagship is hardly a statement anymore; as a flagship, is the ship that flies the flag of the Fleet Commodore and Holland America retired that rank in 1968 when the end came of the Trans-Atlantic Era. The Commodore always used to be the most senior captain who sailed on the largest ship in the fleet and brought each new ship into service. Most company’s now, including Holland America, work on a team focus instead of rotation and it is possible that a very senior captain is on one of the smaller ships and a relatively young captain is on one of the very big ones. Plus we have the situation that some of the most senior captains are now Instructors on the simulator or looking after our schools in the Far East, or like me rotate over the fleet. Times have changed and the fleet changes with it.
A scenic view of the ms Rotterdam at anchor at the island of Gozo, nr Malta during an overnight stay.
But I still like the title Flagship and it has always been a Rotterdam that was the flagship, except between 1938 and 1959 when there was no Rotterdam in the fleet and the commodore sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam. No doubt when in the far future the company decides to retire this Rotterdam (VI) it will not be very long before there will be a new Rotterdam (VII) joining the fleet as we like to keep re-using the traditional names. We are not unique in that as our sister company Princess is doing the same with having now a 2nd Regal Princess in service and some others as well.
Today we had 3 ships in port, belonging to NCL, RCI and HAL. The Norwegian Dawn is having her last departure today and the Rotterdam will do so next Sunday. When happens then is that the Carnival Miracle, which is now a Saturday ship, will move to Sunday departures. With other cruise ships it will be fairly quiet in Tampa during the summer until the winter season starts again in October. For years Holland America was the only company sailing from Tampa (with the little Vera Cruz sailing from Manatee), then came Royal Caribbean with one ship and then Carnival and then NCL showed up. And that will stay the same as the catchment area for locals is growing and growing. My Taxi driver told me this morning that Tampa was the fastest growing city in the USA at the moment and that can only be good for business.
This evening the Rotterdam will sail for 3 hrs. down Tampa Bay and once past the sea buoy go south towards the Straits of Florida. The weather tomorrow for Key West, a warm and sunny day: 83oF or o 28C.
April 8, 2018 at 10:49 pm
My wife and I celebrated 30 years of marriage cruising 28 days on the Rotterdam. She remains our favorite ship. This was in 2011. We renewed our vows with the then captain. The team arranged for the classical music quartet (It was still a quartet) to be a part of the ceremony and a lovely cake was presented to us, which we shared with everyone. We departed from Rotterdam, went into the Med and the Black Sea (thank god we could still go there then), ending in Athens. We’ve cruised HA since, but that experience is one that we’ll always cherish as our best.
Tom