The dry weather is holding and thus the yard is in full swing with what has to be painted or has to repainted. We normally wear hard hats in the shipyard to avoid being hit by “foreign objects descending from a greater height” but today the hat is handy to catch paint drips. We also had our first introductory training in operating the lifeboat davits and lowering a lifeboat. As the technique keeps developing our lifeboat systems change with each class of ship we build and thus we have to be re-trained as well.
Not much Officer glamour & spivvy uniforms to see but here we have the deck officers gathered for Lifeboat Instruction.
Apart from painting outside, there is painting going on inside as well, with a lot of touch up in progress. Most of the inside of the ship was spray painted when the ship was only a steel hull and without most of the machinery installed. With those machines being installed and with over 2000 yard people milling around it is not all as pristine as it was in the beginning. Thus suddenly corridors are blocked with plastic and a message in Italian exhorting everybody not to go through. Occasionally one of the shipyard firemen realizes this too late and his/her once fine red helmet has suddenly taken on another color. Another good reason to wear a helmet. First stick the helmet through a door before anything else.
This is the Grand Staircase between the Ocean Bar and the Casino.
More and more protective covering is disappearing and rooms are ready for the final installation of equipment and furniture. Today the Casino, Photo gallery, Ocean Bar and Queens Lounge took another big jump. The Ocean Bar is getting its furniture installed and the photo shop is nearly finished. It is only missing all the paraphernalia the photographers install themselves. On this ship they have a dedicated Black Label studio an improvement on the “tents” on the older ships where it was a retro fit. The B & W studio remains the most popular part of all photography on board and hence a dedicated studio.
The Photo Gallery. Only the protective covering still needs to be removed.
For most of the public rooms it is now waiting for the final furnishings to arrive. Most of it is already in the shipyard but will only be brought on board once it is safe to install. And as most of this installing is plug_and_play, it will not take much time.
The Koningsdam is the first HAL ship with a bridge – cockpit – design. 2 Navigators in the front and Captain and Staff Captain on the 2nd row. The chair to right is for a pilot, if needed.
The bridge is now being completed as well. It has been operational since the Trial trips in January but then most of the safety systems for the ship were jerry rigged. Now the official panels and monitors are being installed. This is done by an Italian company called Martec who are now trying to get their software to speak to the various hardware in the ship. Last night they were testing the closing of the Fire screen Doors from the bridge and although announcements were made, it caught the occasional Italian un-aware and the person in question let the whole wide world very loudly know that he was not amused. Learned another few words which were not in my Italian Dictionary. With the complexity of the safety systems increasing there is now a complete separate Safety Centre behind the bridge. E.G. completely separated from the Navigation Bridge. In case the Captain needs to overview an emergency and oversee navigation at the same time, he will have to stand with one foot in the safety center and one in the wheelhouse. But it is better that way as it will not disturb the concentration of the navigators.
Most of the art still has to be installed but the flatter art work has already been put on the bulkheads in the corridors. The Koningsdam has a musical theme and some of the decks are named after famous composers. We have Beethoven, Gershwin, Mozart and Schubert and the corridor art reflects this. On navigation deck the art is related (surprise) to navigation and the captain will eventually see a man high Lighthouse painting when he walks from his cabin into the Guest staircase. I do not know who pulls the protective covering off and I also do not know who puts it back on but when walking around you get different glimpses everyday of what is mostly still hidden behind carton and wall paper.
What is also Art: but on a Grand Scale is the company’s logo on the funnel. The Koningsdam is the first ship that has switched from the old to the new.
Tomorrow is supposed to be another dry day, so the painting will mostly continue full speed as well. I had better keep my helmet on for another few days.
March 11, 2016 at 3:09 pm
Nice to see the new logo on a ship. I wonder when all the other ships will change their logos?
March 11, 2016 at 5:55 pm
Goedemorgen Captain Albert,
Your blogs are simply addictive. They show the true complexity of introducing and safely operating what we, passengers, too often take for granted.
As a former Navigation Officer and current Airline pilot, I am very interested in the new Bridge-Cockpit philosophy. Where can I find more information regarding this?
Groeten,
Capt. Tino Coddé
Capt. B747-400
Ex. Student Hogere Zeevaartschool Antwerpen
March 12, 2016 at 7:44 am
Thank you for reading my blog.
there is a lot of material out there and most of it easily available if you google on -ergonomic ship bridges- Also our Similulator training school in Holland has a lot on their website. It is called C-Smart Almere. A quick google should bring up the website.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 12, 2016 at 12:27 am
The 2 Navigator in front/2 officers in back layout reminds me of the Enterprise-D layout. I wonder who will make the first Star Trek joke about the bridge layout? 😉 It will not be me because I just finished a long day of work…..(and I am also catching up on your blog posts.)
I am now curious about the color of your helmet. Or maybe you have been wise and lucky enough to avoid paint drops 🙂
March 12, 2016 at 7:46 am
thank you for your continued interest.
My helmet is still white as I only walk through open doors that seem safe.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 12, 2016 at 10:02 am
Dear Captain Albert, could you please explain why the HAL has chosen smaller and more life boats. Is there less deckspace, i.e. walkingspace on the Koningsdam’s promenade deck in comparance to the Vista-class ships?
Thanks for answering. Kind regards, Elbert L.J.
March 12, 2016 at 10:28 am
Good morning,
There is less room on the outside decks as the interior of the public space has been increased as the ship went to inboard mustering anyway. The lifeboats look smaller but they are not. They still carry 150 persons but they have a bit more of a square design. I really like them as they are much easier to embark into than some of the other designs.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 12, 2016 at 3:01 pm
Capt. Albert,
She is a beauty for sure. Will you be the one bringing her into the Caribbean this year? And since the outside decks were scaled back, are the verandahs smaller also?
March 13, 2016 at 3:09 am
Thank you for reading my blog.
Yes the Koningsdam will come to the Caribbean for the winter season but I do not think I will be on board. As travelling master I am currently scheduled to attend the Oosterdam and Nieuw Amsterdam in November.
I have not seen much difference in the Balcony sizes to be honest. The outside – walk around – deck is less wide as more space has been given over to the public rooms, but this does not affect the lay out of the cabins and balconies.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
March 14, 2016 at 7:24 pm
A real nice surprise-innovative design of the Koningsdam bridge, Captain. Somehow, I even think that you had a hand in the idea … Thinking back to the time you chased a “hair salon” chair idea around. And eventually, put your dear wife Lesley to letting her fingers doing the running over the keyboard on a chair hunt. Am I right a little here, Captain?