Another gloomy, cold and watery day. Luckily everything that is coming on board is in boxes or protected in another way, otherwise we would have a lot of wet stores and supplies in the ship. Our crew count now stands 1010 and the Human Resources Manager is expecting 9 more. No doubt he will find some more to expect tomorrow as they keep coming. And those 1010 do not include the supplemental staff and thus I gather we have well over 1200 people on board who report to Holland America and not to the shipyard.
Now all the protective covering is gone you can see the Casino Staircase, going down to the Music Walk, in its full glory. Here there are falling leaves. Branches of gold colored leaves above the staircase and the carpet pattern has woven gold leaves/spots in it.
Apart from the safety training, the ships entertainers have arrived and the World Stage is now every evening in use for rehearsals and sound checks. As the equipment is still being fine-tuned, I hear on occasion somebody going through the sound barrier, although not intended. The dual pianos in the Bill Board on Board are already in place and I expect that it won’t be long before the music equipment will appear in the Rock Lounge and the BB King Jazz Club. As far as I understand, all the groups who will occupy these venues have been rehearsing before they came to the ship so the only thing they need is to have things setup and to be ready to go.
More whimsical art. The Fab four popping chewing gum in the staircase.
Housekeeping is also progressing and we are coming closer and closer to the “Perfect Cabin Set-Up”. This is the Holland America Line standard of how every cabin should look like and be maintained. And it should never vary unless they run out of supplies. So we are inching closer and today I had turn down service for the first time, including an animal on the bed, which looked like a Dover Sole. The Housekeeping Crew is still in coveralls but tomorrow we are all moving to regular uniforms as the ship is now clean enough to do so. I am now also the proud owner of two Beach Towels which are of course extremely useful for the current Venetian weather. What is still missing is a paper trash basket and as I am working in the cabin in between drills, it is something I really miss. But there is one in the bathroom and no doubt the Perfect Cabin Set-Up” will be achieved way before we sail from the yard.
This is a very interesting one. It is a translucent painting on glass which gives a backlit effect. so when you move towards it its perspective changes. Very Clever.
The yard is clearing away at full speed, deck and bulkhead coverings, railing and stair protectors and once gone they are followed by a team of HAL crew cleaning things up so we go from “dust free delivery” to Holland America “Spotlessly clean”. The latter will take some time to achieve. My cabin steward is waging a battle against iron fillings in the carpet. With all the fussing over my balcony window and earlier adjustments during the initial installation, aluminum fillings have been walked into the carpet and every time the carpet is vacuumed more comes out. It will take at least another few days before he has it all out.
While the finish touches are going on at full speed, the planning for the ship is already way past delivery date. The routes from Marghera to Venice and from Venice to Civitavecchia have been programmed into the Radars and all the Port Authorities have received the necessary paperwork so that they can issue the appropriate permits to allow the ship to sail into port.
Question of the day: Who is this famous early 19th century General and what does he have to do with the Music theme of the ship.
And a colleague, but definitely not in the same army.
This is not as easy as it used to be. For those who follow the cruise news, there are quite a few ports that are trying to reduce the number and size of cruise ships coming in Venice. Dubrovnik and Barcelona have been added lately on the European side and there have also been some rumblings in the Caribbean. We are going to visit Venice and there the sizes of the vessels are a concern because they have to sail through Venice itself to get to the cruise terminal. There is talk of widening a channel on the west side but this has not happened yet. So the Harbor Master of Venice needs to know exactly the dimensions of each cruise ship; A. To determine the volume of the ship and to see if it is allowed in and B. How many tugboats will be required to protect Venice if something would go wrong. B.Is not so difficult to figure out but …….. A is, as there are quite a few ways to calculate the volume of a ship. Although Cruise ships are coming closer and closer to being boxes they still have angles and the decks are recessed and that can make it a bit complicated. But we have all the permits and in 8 days, we will sail into Venice.
Weather for tomorrow, overcast, chilly with a chance of showers in the afternoon.
November 22, 2018 at 3:05 pm
The 19th century General, looks like Bob Dylan.
November 22, 2018 at 5:34 pm
Captain, on the last pictures you got one of my favourites. On the right site you see the too early died great Frank Zappa. The other one is of course Bob Dylan. Both definitely no army guys. I even think they were against everything that had to do with the war.
November 22, 2018 at 7:26 pm
General Ben Stiller?
November 22, 2018 at 8:05 pm
Captain Albert – who gets to sail on the upcoming “shakedown” cruise. Is it strictly HAL staff, family and friends, or some other criteria? Just curious who gets to be the ‘guinea pigs’. And thank you again for these daily posts, it’s been really educational. And fun to read. Cheers.
November 23, 2018 at 9:42 am
thank you for reading my blog.
They are office and sea going crew on leave. Cruise is free, flights for own expense.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
November 22, 2018 at 10:19 pm
The General looks like Bob Dylan, that is why he is part of the music theme!
November 23, 2018 at 12:28 am
Captain Albert,
I’ve enjoyed reading your blog entries about the readying of the Nieuw Statendam.
We will be sailing on her in early January, our first HAL sailing, and very much look forward boarding such a beautiful ship.
As for the paintings, both are musicians, Bob Dylan (left) and Frank Zappa (right)
November 23, 2018 at 5:00 am
We think Bob Dylan and Frank Zappa
November 23, 2018 at 10:27 am
FYI. Karen flew over the ship this morning and sent me a picture, which I would send to you if I knew how to do it, as she sent it via a text.
See it’s cloudy, overcast & raining.
Diane
November 23, 2018 at 11:26 am
thank you
please forward the text to Lesley.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
November 23, 2018 at 7:31 pm
Who will be the Godmother of the ship
November 24, 2018 at 6:07 am
Hallo Diane,
it will be Oprah Winfrey with a dedication scheduled for 09 Feb. 2019 in Fort Lauderdale.
Best regards
Capt. Albert
November 24, 2018 at 11:33 pm
I am curious if the casino will be smoke-free. Seems to me the odor would migrate to the floor below via the staircase.