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2025 June 13, At Sea.

June 14, 2025 / Captain Albert / 4 Comments

Today was our last sea day with the ship was sailing under the south coast of England. For the guests leaving in Rotterdam there is still the port of Dover with its hinterland to enjoy but we will be leaving in Dover. Collect our car from the hotel and then drive home. Depending on the vagaries of the British Roads (welcome to the United Kingdom of pot holes) we should be home in the early afternoon. But we still had this day to enjoy, although it was slightly marred by the fact that we had to pack. At home we had packed in stages and after each session put the 3 suitcases on top of each other, to press out the air (and to provide room for even more stuff) but now we have to do it in one afternoon so I am sitting on the suitcases while writing this blog to speed up the ‘de-airing” process somewhat.

The last sea day, even if it is not the last day of the cruise, is always reserved for tying up loose ends and saying goodbye to the guests. So the main highlight this morning was ” a look behind the scenes”. A multi vision presentation in the “World Stage” This is a presentation combining the old “Crew Farewell” and the old ships interviews with the Captain. Chief Engineer and Hotel Director. Now the visual presentation took all of those present through the ship, through the departments and gave quick explanations of the how and the what of the various shipboard operations. It ended with a number of ships crew marching onto the stage as a farewell. Standing ovation as usual. It was done very smoothly without taking up too much time from everybody.

One of the three Cake Stands in the Lido Market. This was at the moment when the Lido opened, the heights of the Cakes diminished quickly after as there was an abundance of interest. But the Cooks had a lot of “back up” in the coolers to make the cake-party last until closing time.

Then in the Lido it was Cake Day, Three corner stations of the Lido were giving over to Cakes. Think “Big” cakes and thus also big portions being handed out. The “traffic jam” started at 11.30 and lasted until closing time. Extra crew was in place for traffic control and extra cooks were behind the counter to serve all those who were eager for a slice of cake ( a Big slice of cake). One would think that after 12 days of food abundance, the interest in cakes would be somewhat muted but this was far from the case. I had not seen this before but this is a Bulls-eye shot of the companies evolving ideas of continuous upgrading of the product; although I wonder with the amount of cake going through (big cakes) if it will not severely endanger the yearly profit margins.

We decided to go to the “Hal History talk” by the Cruise Director another interactive multi media event called “Origins” about the history of the company. I was involved in the original conceptual plans and provided most of the photos. Although offered, the producers never let me review the final draft so in version 1 there were a number of mistakes. They got a nice report from me after the first showing and I then I could only hope for the best. They are now at iteration nbr 3. and I hoped that all had been updated. Well they had made the presentation a lot more slick than it was before but the mistakes were still there. Would the average guests have noticed it? No, and would they still have enjoyed it? Yes. Karlijn the Cruise Director did a very good narration but unfortunately the World Stage was not full. The presentation was at 14.00 hrs. while many guests were still in the Lido (eating cakes…….. big cakes)

Before “Origins” started we saw Miss X (from orange night party fame) in action on the stage with the presentation/ quiz show “Deal or No Deal” which was fun to watch. The Lady playing did not win the big price but hopefully somebody on the HAL ships will do so or might have done so already.

“Deal or no Deal” In the Main Stage. Again the 270o Led Screen makes it soo much better as you can see the presentation from three angles. Far superior than what I have seen on other ships.

For our final evening we decided on going back to Pizza- New York on Deck 10 above the Lido Pool. When working on the Pinnacle Class ships, I always avoided the place as it was extremely popular and under the HAL motto “the guest always comes first”, I stayed away. Expecting the Dining room to be extremely busy tonight (many guests want to be there to say farewell to their waiters) and thus the Pizza Place to be more quiet we went for our 2nd visit during this cruise. It was indeed very quiet.

For those of you who are not familiar with New York Pizza (in the mornings you can call it New York Bagel) for breakfast, this is the menu.

Tomorrow (14 June) we will be driving home with the expected temperature to be around 19oC or 67oF and partly cloudy skies. Once at home I will write the final blog of this series, with my final personal verdict and a comparison with the Queen Anne of Cunard the 4th. Pinnacle ship. As you can see from the two reviews on this website we have had some experience there, so it might be of interest to the readers to compare a American-Dutch- HAL product with an British-American-Cunard product on the same class of ship. All a personal opinion ofcourse.

2025 June 12: Cobh (for Cork), Republic of Ireland.

June 13, 2025 / Captain Albert / 6 Comments

This morning we arrived at Cobh, although the company calls it Cork in most of their publications and that needs some explaining. Cork (200,000 inhabitants) is a large Irish city located at the end of Cork bay; the 2nd. largest inland bay in the world after Sydney Harbour. But to get there is about 20 miles sailing into this bay with the bay getting more and more narrow. That reduces also the size of the ships that can go there. So in the grey mists of time, a sort of sea port developed about 11 miles inland. That was Queenstown from where about 2.5 million Irish emigrated to the new world for a better life. In 1920/21 Queenstown was renamed to Cobh (pronounced Cove as the bay is a sort of cove) when Ireland became independent from the United Kingdom. That dock made it a lot easier for the (larger) passenger ships to call at, still being in a sheltered harbor. Queenstown got a train connection with Cork and from there to the whole of Ireland and that made calling at Cork itself not necessary.

The shore tender service in the 1960s. The peculiar thing is that in the 50 years of collecting I have only been able to find 3 photos of these tenders coming to the ships at Cobh anchorage. (Here is one seen leaving the ss Nieuw Amsterdam (II). All 3 photos from the same day. Bow shot, Stern shot and Sailing away. Hence my interest in visiting the Cobh Maritime Museum.

For ships that made short stops, there was the sheltered anchorage at the entrance of the bay and shore tenders would come out to transfer passengers, mail, cars and a lot of other things that could be done while at anchor. (Think about 2 hrs. at anchor) A fun fact is that the people of Cork call themselves the “Guardians of Ireland”. Meaning they protect “the cork” because if it gets pulled out the island will sink……………… With other words, without Cork, Ireland does not come to much…………….

This was the view of the bow camera channel coming into the cabin at 09.00 hrs. The shore is less than 500 yards away from this camera. This was not rain but a misty drizzle coming down from the Irish shore.

So today we were in Cobh/Cork. We had a 20% chance of rain and we got the 20% as it drizzled and misted on and off all day long. Still about 90% of our guests made it ashore, either on tour or independently, by going into Cobh itself or by taking the train to Cork. My wife and I had a good look at the weather and decided to stay on board as we have been to Cobh and Cork many a time .

Cobh cruise terminal. This is a wonderful set-up. The town is only 5 minutes away, the train station is across from the dock and the Heritage (red brick building) is on the dock with the entrance just outside the Security Gate. (Note the Ambulance to the right, those who had a hobby of photographing those got a chance to see a different model in nearly every port)

My initial plan was to go to the Maritime Museum but the Curator advised that he would not be able to pull out the files that I was interested in so that will come next time and then I will give a bit more notice. But I appreciated the quick answer from the Curator as that is not always the case with other museums. The Maritime Museum (2nd street up) from port level is worthwhile to visit but the collection is much wider in scope than at the port itself with the Cobh Heritage Center on the pier. But I always hope that the guests do go through the heritage exhibition as it gives an excellent overview about emigrating in the old days. (Although it is about the Irish, you could easily think Polish, Jewish, Russian, German, as the way of transport did not vary that much in those days).

Service with a smile from the Dive Inn Team.

So we stayed on board and did our emails in the Crows nest where I had the surreal experience of overlooking misty Cobh while listening to Jewish Klezmer music over the speaker system. I love klezmer music but had sort of expected Irish fiddle to enhance the visible scenery. But such are the un-fathomable ways of the HAL entertainment policies. By lunch time we moved to the Dive Inn. During busy times, waiting times can be up to 20 minutes (you get a beeper) but with 90% of the guests ashore service was instant. And here I got my “smile” for the day.

A large American gentleman (cowboy hat included) complained to the staff serving at the counter, that what he got was not a real “American Hamburger”. It was not “the same as at home”. The answer from the staff was worth its weight in gold. “Sir there is no American Hamburger. There is the McDonalds Burger, The Burger King Burger, the Wendy Burger and every Diner in the USA has its own version”. Great puzzlement appeared on the face under the Cowboy hat and he disappeared into the Lido. The Dive Inn still produces the best burgers and hot dogs that I have ever tasted, so Kudo’s to the very cheery staff working there.

Fast forward to evening dinner. After yet another Classical Trio Recital, this time the focus was on pieces of music that featured sunrise or the sun. During the 45 minute set, more and more guests came in, finally realizing that it was not just highbrow but good fun as well. They ended with the Blue Danube and they got a well deserved standing ovation.

The “Rijsttafel” menu in the Tamarind. It is a set menu and you get everything listed, step by step in order from top to bottom. The portions are not big but by the end of the evening, you can feel your trouser band.

Evening dinner was in the Tamarind. Holland America advertised a “Rijsttafel” experience during the cruise, which means an evening with sampling Indonesian food. Every Dutch person grows up with it and will visit a restaurant on a regular basis as it is quite addictive. A good “Rijsttafel” takes all evening. It is something from the Dutch Colonial days when the Dutch stationed in the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) came across the Phenomenon that you could sit down, have a drink, and then every 20 minutes or so a new dish/nibble appeared out of the kitchen to keep the momentum going. So good food combined with good conversation would give a very sociable evening. It is difficult to do that with a regular restaurant setup but it can work even when condensing the time period somewhat. (Cost is US $ 41.30 a person including the 18% service charge and I found it very good value for money)

The Tamarind Restaurant with a photo taken during daytime. (Photo courtesy, unknown source on the Internet)

And the Tamarind delivered. It is a set menu and everything is delivered step by step at the pace that you are eating or conversing. Some guests managed to get through in an hour and that is up to them but we took 2 hours to enjoy it all. Looking at my observations about the Pinnacle -rush- service the other night, none of that over here. The occupancy rate was about 70%, the restaurant was fully staffed and the service was flowing nicely. The staff had time to explain each dish, time to come back to ask if everything was to satisfaction and even have time to stop at all the tables by for a little social chat. This was the way HAL set it up in 2016 with the arrival of the ms Koningsdam and here it was still the same.

It was a WONDERFULL evening with EXECELLENT food and EXECELLENT service. Thank you Mr. Hendra (Maitre in charge) and thank you Michelle (Sommelier behind the bar) and thank you Ann and her colleagues for the service. (and of course the chefs in the galley) Your performed admirably and as expected.

That took up most of the evening but Lesley managed to catch the last 30 minutes of the show the 2nd appearance of Russ Parsons an English Singer and Instrumentalist. He was very good during his first show and still good during his 2nd show, so hopefully Holland America can keep him on. Then there was the chocolate surprise after the show which consists of chocolate nibbles on trays by waiters trying to march forward through the Music Walk from the Atrium and see how far they get. It is not an elaborate affair but a cute thing to do and it did not take long before the Stewards could return to base with their plates now empty.

Tomorrow we have a sea day. During the night we will sail straight down from Cobh, go around the corner at Lands End and then then sail eastbound under the English Coast to Dover. We will have following seas (coming in from the West or South West Atlantic) and we should have an easy ride. Weather is expected to be overcast with again a 20% chance of showers. But now it will be the English 20% so it might only be the occasional drip.

2025 June 11: Irish Sea.

June 12, 2025 / Captain Albert / 5 Comments

Today we continued with the “warp speed” of 5 knots towards Cobh on the south coast of Ireland. The weather was overcast but with sunny periods and the temperature rose to a balmy 16oC/ 61oF. Hence the guests were out in force on the outside decks with a lively pickle ball competition going on on the top deck and several groups trying to study the finer details of shuffle board. With the latter it still amazes me that it is still around and attracts attention. Shuffleboard was first documented around the 1870’s on the P & O ships going to Australia but is still going strong. The weather turned back to its usual rainy self by early evening and we have been advised it will be real Irish Weather tomorrow. 20% chance of rain all day.

In the grey mists of time I once had a conversation with an Irishman during an excursion to Waterford, while visiting the local pub. He explained to me how an Irishman dealt with the wet weather apart from having a stiff drink at times. He said we just avoid the word “bad weather”. If it is raining, it is ” a GOOD DAY”, if it is not raining it is “GRAND DAY”. If it storms we do not talk about it. So today we had a grand day sailing along the Irish coast.

The Tuskar Rock Lighthouse. It was as clearly visible as seen here on this photo. Must be a wonderful place if you do not like to have neighbours. (Courtesy Wikipedia / Andrewmc)

Main navigational highlight of the day was passing Tuskar Rock with its lighthouse sticking out as a sore thumb from the sea. During to our 5 knots speed, nobody could miss it when looking out of the window as it took hours to get passed it. Turskar Rock is famous/ notorious for guarding 176 wrecks in the area. So the bridge of the Nieuw Statendam will have been keeping a close eye on the movement of the ship as there can be a considerable current running here and a 2 knot current relative to a 5 knot speed can have a considerable impact if not counter acted upon.

The cooking demonstration in the World Stage. Thanks to the wonderful LED surround screen, the A/V tech could zoom in on the dish being prepared and then project it all over the large screen.

The day on board was filled with all sorts of on board activities and we decided to attend the Cooking Demonstration in the World Stage. These demonstrations are always a bit of a hit and miss as it very much depends on the “outgoing” personality of the chefs. The Nieuw Statendam is currently lucky in this respect as the Exe. Chef and the Pinnacle Chef both have outgoing characters and apart from cooking up a nice salmon dish, where also good at providing a humoresque narration.

The Mariner Society presentation in the Queens Lounge (now BB King). As one can see it was not exactly busy with only the top end mariners being invited. About 4 medals were awarded.

The next thing was attending the Mariners Society meeting as my Lord and Master has 624 of her own and was thus invited. (I have 8,927 professional sailing days with Holland America but those do not count) Unfortunately also here things have been reduced in scope as only the top numbers were invited, no appetizers served, no speech from the Captain (he was only there to “assist” with handing out the medals according to the Cruise Director) and the whole happening lasted no longer than 15 minutes. But I got two glasses of wine out of it, so I can not complain.

The Shops Fashion show. Our shop ambassador very excited and “bubbly” about it all. But she had only joined this cruise in Rotterdam and therefore most likely had not yet figured out that you have to keep checking the HAL Navigator App., for last minute time changes. Thus she started 15 minutes too early. The lady to the right was a guest on board, and had been asked to join in to model a set of jewelry.

This was followed by a fashion presentation at 12.00 (according to the shops) or 12.15 (according to the daily program) and the poor lady from the shops had only just started when she got the un-expected support from the Captain with the Voice from the Bridge. By the time she was supposed to start (12.15) it was all over and at that moment the audience walked in following the time mentioned on the HAL Navigator App. But as there is hardly anything for sale in the shops anyway, (although yesterday suddenly some logo ware popped up on day 10 of the cruise) and quite expensive, nobody missed much. (The shops have a new concessionaire called EFFY). They are plugging jewelry sales very hard but not many people are going in as: a. for the prices but b. for the fact that the sales team is hovering in front of the doors of the jewelry shop, and if you walk in, they do not leave you alone to peruse the merchandise.

With the nice weather we increased our walks on the deck. A jogging track is available on deck 11 around the Dome but one can also walk on Deck 3. On the older ships this is the wide sweeping deck that HAL was renowned for, but here it has been reduced to just a walking path as the public room size has been optimized as much as possible. Understandable and not really a problem but it gives the peculiar situation (especially around the dining room at the stern) where the deck is single file wide, that it creates a real bottle neck for walkers. If Grand Dad with his rollator is just going around the corner, it all comes to a standstill at the stern of the ship. 3 laps around the deck is a mile and that gives the excuse that one must have lost some weight now and then can safely return to the Grand Dutch Cafe for “bitterballen” and a pint.

Entrance to the Pinnacle Restaurant. Excellent dinner on quiet days,

Cocktail Entertainment meant once again visiting the Classical Trio in the lounge and then there was the idea of going to the show (very talented singer and music player, 2nd show of the cruise) but we had received a complimentary dinner in the Pinnacle from Captain Timmers, who is currently on leave. I must commend and compliment the kitchen chefs for still being able to churn out a perfect dinner while the Pinnacle was heavily overbooked. In 2016 when I was part of the Koningsdam start up team, I was told by the Hotel shoreside team, that the specialty restaurants would operate on a 60% table fill capacity, so “gracious and relaxed” service could be delivered. Fast forward to 2025 and then occupancy rate was 90% and the service reduced to “delivering and putting food on the table” and not without constant mistakes. It seemed that a lot of guests were cashing in on their un-used on board credit and there is nothing the waiters can do about that. So we felt a pity for the serving staff, who could not deliver of what was the expected HAL standard and great admiration for the kitchen staff who still delivered. The waiting staff tried and this included running over to the Ocean Bar to get drinks for their tables as the wine steward & runner could not cope either.

Tomorrow we are in Cobh, formerly Queenstown. The Captain announced that he would swing on arrival, nose out, and we are the only cruise ship in port. We are looking at our 20% chance of Irish rain again and I am waiting for an answer from the Cobh Maritime Museum, whether they have anything from the Holland America Line calls in the 1960’s. on file.

2025 June 10: Douglas, Isle of Man. From a distance.

June 11, 2025 / Captain Albert / 8 Comments

The port of Douglas Isle of Man. The ship has to anchor fairly far out (red line is tender course), to stay out of the way of the local ferries, but then you arrive close to downtown with the tender. (Photo Courtesy: Isleofmann.com)

By 07.00 hrs. the good ship Nieuw Statendam had arrived at the anchorage of the capital of the Isle of Man, Douglas. Beautiful weather and so we thought we might have a real sunny day. Only for the Captain to come on the tannoy and to advise that there was too much swell running and that was no plan B. Hence we would have a day at sea. Because we would had a sea day tomorrow anyway, it meant that we would racing with the mind boggling speed of 5 knots towards Cobh on the South Coast of Ireland. Not a slow boat to China but a slow boat to Cobh. So I looked over the side to throw my “expert” eye over the swell and and yes it was not even remotely doable. Yesterday at Dun Laoghaire we had about a foot of swell running along the platform and that made for a “bumpy” step on- step off procedure. Now I estimated at least 3-4 feet on the lee side and 6 or more feet on the wind/swell side. So absolutely a no go.

The plan B that might have been possible, if the weather forecast would have been bad during our call at Dun Laoghaire, then there would have been the possibility to go to Liverpool. In the same way as the Captain decided to go to Invergordon the moment that he was advised that Kirkwall was closed. But that does not work with nice weather. As a Captain you have to go and assess the local (swell) situation as you cannot predict from a distance what the exact swell conditions will be before you are actually at your anchor position. Hence Captain Draper went, observed, and decided. Going then from Douglas to Liverpool would have meant an arrival in the early afternoon, with a very short time ashore for everybody. Going early to Cobh, with the option of an overnight, did not work either as the Bolette (ex ms Amsterdam) was alongside on the 11th. The pontoon dock can only take one ship alongside so no option there. And there is nothing else around in the Irish Sea that can take a Pinnacle Class size ship on short notice within sailing distance. Hence now we are on a “slow boat to Cobh”.

The dining room being setup for Dutch Dinner. Orange are the Dutch national colors, derived from the “last name” of the Dutch Royal House “Van Oranje- Nassau”. The “orange” bit comes from holdings that the Royal Family had at the town of Orange in the South of France, at the time of them ascending to the throne of the Netherlands.

The ship came up with an alternative program for the day including opening up the dining room for lunch time. (As this was not announced, it was not busy there so we took advantage and went for lunch in the dining room). By the time we left, they were setting up for the Orange Dinner. For the rest it was a peaceful day at sea. Some guests were disappointed but I got the impression that quite a few looked forward to a quiet day. I just hope that they realized that tomorrow will be another sea day.

I myself was disappointed as this was my second attempt to get ashore to see the island. First one was in 2010 when I was here with the Prinsendam and a wind force 11 was blowing straight into the port. So no go. Luckily at the other side there is a very small landing pier with space for one tender and with the small ship Prinsendam I could creep under the cliffs and still make the call for the 800 guests. But you can only do that with a small ship and a Captain who remains on board. Today it was not bad weather but we had this bad swell. Thus to avoid a 3rd cruise cancellation in the future, we will drive to the Isle of Man, sometime in the future and go with the ferry from Heysham (regular ferry) or from Liverpool (fast ferry). They only thing that can stop us then is either again wind force 11 or a ferry strike.

We went for cocktails again in the Queens Lounge with the Classical Trio and as usual it was very good. This time with Spanish music. Then we tried our luck at 19.00 in the dining room. As mentioned before, this is the busiest time for the staff there, as most guests try to get in around that time so they can be out again by 2100 hrs. for the show. There was slightly less pressure this evening and the Maitre was able to accommodate us. By 20.00 hrs. the pressure had eased so much that the supervisors and Exe. Chef had time to circulate and also stop at our table. None of them had forgotten their old Captain yet.

The assembled Hotel staff during the musical quiz/dance part, conducted by a Lady of the Cruise Staff calling herself Miss X .

The show was with a comedian but I wanted to go to the Dutch Party in the Queens Lounge. (Nowadays BB King Lounge) For that purpose I had brought my orange jacket (bought in a moment of weakness in the Dutch shop at Schiphol airport) and her Ladyship had an orange shawl. Last time I had seen the party was in 2018 when it was still held around the Lido pool. That did not exactly work due to the cultural differences between Americans (they sit) and Europeans (they stand). So everybody was spaced out too far, unless you got all 2,500 there but that does not work as at least 600 go to bed early and another 600 are in the show.

And the Cruise staff Lady really got the party going.

So it is now in the Queens Lounge and it worked very well. Wall to wall orange and ran with a musical quiz performance with the ships (hotel) staff helping by showing off their Disco moves and supporting guests who been divided in an sb. side and a ps. team. Then there was line dancing and a congo to Dutch songs. For most non-Dutch probably the first time they were introduced to Dutch party songs. The Cruise Staff lady who was announcing and compering it all, was VERY GOOD. An asset to the company and should be commended for what she did to hype up the crowd into party-mood.

And then when everybody was getting really into the mood, BB King returned with their set of music. REALLY??? Dutch night with BB King Jazz, soul and Rythm and Blues? And that was for me an absolute downer.

We did our best to blend in.

This might make sense in the Caribbean when 90% of the guests are American but now we have over a 1000 Dutch guests on board, who where looking forward to a DUTCH ORANGE party and they get BB King Blues. It cannot be that difficult for the Movers and Shakers in Seattle to adapt the program a little bit for Europe and a different crowd composition. Or give the ship the free hand to do so. I am convinced that Karlijn our Cruise Director and Hotel Director Gul are more then capable of doing that.

If they would/could have kept the Dutch party going the “Dutch Way” then it could have turned into a wild evening, with a lot more drinks sold than was now the case. BB King attracts many guests as well so a lot of orange (Dutch and non Dutch) remained and danced but that was the crowd that was normally there anyway; but it was not a Dutch party any longer. We vacated at once as the average noise level that is produced by BB King is well over the 86 decibels and we both have very good ears, hearing that we like to keep, while growing older.

So we went to the Crowsnest, for a quiet drink, just to only scrape in as at 21.30 it was last call, as it closes at 22.00 hrs. There were still about a 50 people up there, those I had seen at BB King as well so we might not have been the only ones who escaped the sound level.

Tomorrow we are at sea again. The weather looks good, it should be overcast but with very little wind, if I interpretate the weather maps right.

2025 June 09: Dun Laoghaire, Dublin, Republic of Ireland.

June 10, 2025 / Captain Albert / 6 Comments

By 07.00 hrs. we were at anchor of the port of Dun Laoghaire (pronounced Dun Leery) for our visit to Dublin. We were the only cruise ship at anchor but were kept company by a car carrier and a cargo ferry (think containers on truck wheels) The Irish Navy came out to see if the invasion by 2.500 HAL guests was friendly and then trundled off to the East.

Welcome to Dun Laoghaire or Dun Leery.

We were anchored quite far out and hence the tender ride was a good 15 minutes. (For more details about the anchorage, see my Silver Spirit review elsewhere on this website) Each of our tenders was accompanied by a speed boat to keep them going in the right direction. Most likely to prevent them from straying from the right track and of course very handy in dense rain or fog.

The port of Dun Laoghaire. A tender (white dot) following the shore speed boat (black dot) can just be seen. It was a grey dull day with the occasional sprinkle. (The Scotts call a sprinkle “sprat” and the Irish do not even think that that is rain)

We have been to Dublin many a time but never to Dun Laoghaire itself and thus decided to walk into town. According to the Dublin tour guides of the past, the town was very small with not much there but this turned out not to be the case. Many guests were on tour and a good number of the Dutch took the train independently to Dublin as the train station is right off the dock where the tender arrives. The tour buses use part of the ferry dock platform which was in use until 2014. Then the ferry service was consolidated in Dublin so now it is a pure tourist port. It leaves me a bit puzzled why they do not make it more cruise friendly so that at least the smaller cruise ships can go alongside. Who knows maybe in the future?

An ornate Water fountain on the promenade in Dun Loaghaire. There were several of them near the sea front but this was the most ornate one I could find. I wonder why the water fountain is under cover? Maybe the Irish do not mind STANDING in the rain but do mind DRINKING in the rain.? Who knows?

At 11.00 hrs. open tenders were announced and we hopped ashore. The main street is just behind the railway station and about a 5 minute walk from the terminal. And then we found out that it is not such a small place at all. The main shopping street runs for a mile with lots of small shops on either side and all seemed to be doing good business. The two biggest structures in the street were the local hospital and a large Tesco Supermarket, which we had to visit to pick up Irish Tea (Barry’s Gold) for a Dutch friend of ours. As this tea is nearly impossible to get anywhere else but in Ireland. (Of course there is the internet but since Brexit the import costs are ridiculous)

The town also hosts the National Maritime Museum of Ireland which is located in the Mariners Church built 180 years ago. I was well aware of this very nice museum but it focusses mainly on local and coastal issues and hence of less interest to me who is mainly interested in Ocean Liner History. I overheard an American guest later on saying that his visit was marred by a wedding shoot and a fussy photographer.

Around 13.00 hrs. we returned to the ship and decided on the Lido as they had Oriental Corner today in the “Distant Land” section. That gave us time in the afternoon to walk around the (very quiet) ship, to see what had changed since 2018 when I was part of the startup team. (see the blog section of this website). Apart from the addition of the library not very much.

This whole center section is a waste of space, if none of the equipment is working and calls for a decent seating area (with a little bandstand with a guitar player) where a poor bloke can have a nice pint.

A disappointment was the Crows nest. The HAL President between 2015 – 2020 had this vision of an immersive shore excursions station and installed an elaborate set of equipment in the space to make it possible for the guests to study their tour and then book it at the shore – excursion office in the sb. aft corner. Two of the big screen tables had been removed already and card and puzzle tables installed. The Navigation stand (2 large monitors) was out of order and also the wall panel with shore excursion options was not working. Leaving the whole center of the space as a vast and empty expanse.

The portside sort of works with the Crows nest Bar (reduced in size as it also has the coffee stand in it) and the portside aft captains corner has been turned into an Arts and Crafts center, which works very well. I just hope that somebody will have the leadership to turn the center of the Crows nest back into the nice cocktail lounge that the Crows nest originally was designed for back in 1983. (With the arrival of the Nieuw Amsterdam (III)). The Commodore Club on the Queen Anne is a sheer delight compared to this. As we now see with so many Dutch on board, the Ocean Bar is far too small for cocktail time and music in the other venues starts later and have less of a “cocktail atmosphere”. Room for improvement here , room for more revenue options.

The Queens Lounge, now called B.B King. In my opinion the most beautiful show lounge on the high seas. And an excellent venue for Classical. It was not very busy but then most guests had come back from shore as late as possible and were still recycling themselves.

For cocktails we went to the classical music concert in the Queens Lounge (now named BB King ) where a very talented Classical Trio played the First Piano Trio (for violin, piano and cello) Opus 70 by Beethoven, called the “Ghost Trio”. This name is due to the second movement being a bit eerie and with some phantasy and eyes closed one can imagine scary ghosts floating down the stone stairs of a haunted Castle. The Queens Lounge is one of the most beautiful Lounges afloat in my opinion (and I have seen a few by now also with the competition) and a sheer delight to be in.

From there it was dinner in Rudy’s Sell de Mer Restaurant. Rudy Sodamin has left HAL some time ago he went cooking for Princess Cruises but his name lingers on. This is supposed to be the top specialty restaurant on board (cover charge $ 55,– and with an extra $ 15,– supplement for Dover Sole) so we were intrigued how much better the service would be. I already knew the kitchen would be good as it is a separate kitchen from the regular main dining room, so much more attention can be paid to each personalized dish). This turned out to be the case as my butterfly tender loin came out perfectly.

The Sel de Mer Restaurant. Our table, to the left, under a painting of Magnus Sodamin. I do not know if it was any relation of Rudi although both are Norwegian.

The service again lacked of attention to detail, although the waiter thought he was wonderful. But one should not find a seized up salt shaker on the table, empty glasses and cans should not be left on the table when used, until pointed out. Plus the waiter had also no idea what a Leffe Beer was and so was not intimately aware /trained of what was on the menu/wine list (The are several Belgium beers on the mainly French menu) etc. etc. To my shock the cheese trolley was gone and replaced with a cheese plate. (And served with no explanation of what sort of cheeses it were) So in my personal opinion, the “Sel de Mer” is not worth the current price, even if you have on board credit.

Then to the show. This evening only 4 singers, the two men and one lady from the regular cast show and the one ladie from the Rock Lounge and as usual they were very good. Tomorrow we are in Douglas, Isle of Man, which is an anchor port again. The harbor is only small and mainly used by ferries. The weather looks sunny (with the 20% rain factor) but I am a bit worried about the wind direction as the anchorage is fully exposed and during the night I felt the swell bumping under the stern and that is never a good omen.

2025 June 08, Glasgow / Greenock, Scotland.

June 10, 2025 / Captain Albert / 3 Comments

Some people think that Glasgow is a sea port but it is not. It is a river port. It is located inland on the river Clyde. This is an estuary river (think the shape of a wedge, wide at open sea side and narrow at Glasgow side) and thus it has a large tidal range. The one foot height difference at the sea end of the river becomes up to 12 feet once the water is pushed all the way up the ever smaller river. So for shipping that can reach Glasgow, there is a King George dock that shields ships visiting from having the go up and down too much. Hence container ships and larger cruise ships have to dock at Greenock. Around the Greenock were once the old shipyards and steel works that churned out the cargo, passenger ships and navy ships that served the British Empire. Famous ships such as the Queen Mary (I), Queen Elizabeth (I&II), Lusitania, etc. etc. came from here. That is all gone and the shipyards have been replaced with housing and parks. The grass and other vegetation is now covering centuries of industry (and also the pollution that came with it). Glasgow now makes its money from the Service Industry and related.

Overview of the area (thank you google) The red line is the route in and out of the River Clyde and the green line is the river Clyde up to Glasgow. During WWII Greenock was the place were the convoys came in from America, as it was a sheltered area that could handle big fleets. Falkirk is slightly to the South East of Stirling Castle.

We had decided for today to take the day tour to the town of Stirling for free time and the Falkirk wheel which is a sort of lift that raises narrow boats between one canal and another canal that are 135 feet apart in elevation. It is the only one in the world and thus attracted my interest. It started with an hour long scenic coach drive down to the town of Stirling. Although better said, a drive up, as Stirling is located an hours drive North of Glasgow. Although most of it was on the motor way, via the Glasgow ring road, it was still very scenic with extensive meadows on either side of the road and lots of old & new houses and cottages zooming by.

Scenic view of Stirling with the Castle (courtesy Visit Scotland)

The town of Stirling itself was “on your own” with 3 hours free time to walk around, go to the castle, visit a museum or just enjoy a Sunday morning in Scotland (which for shopping starts around noon time). It only drizzled a little bit. I have now figured out with the weather that in my home town (East side of England) that when it gives 20% chance of rain that you have indeed 80% chance that is is dry. But here on the west coast of Scotland and the island of Ireland, when the prediction is 20% of rain, then you will get that 20%. So a small wind-defying umbrella is now standard equipment for going out.

The public toilets waiting in the local shopping center

What was so special about Stirling? It was only granted city rights in 2002 but was the nations capital in the 12th. century. Hence the presence of Stirling Castle, which housed among others Mary Queen of Scots. The company has a separate tours going there but some of our bus passengers also hiked up the hill to have a look. I have seen too many Castles in my life already (although I love them) so I was not that bothered. Plus we have Norwich Castle on our doorstep and that is hard to beat anyway. No, what made the biggest impression ? The public toilets. I have never seen them so clean and with a waiting area with nice chairs. No impatient blokes hanging around waiting for their better half to come out, no, some nice seats to contemplate life while her ladyship is going about her business.

Overview of the Falkirk wheel. To the lower left the entrance to the Fife & Clyde Canal. Left the visitor center and then the boat lift with the exit going towards the tunnel and from there to the connection with the Union Canal.

And so after walking through the very nice streets, visiting all the Charity Shops (I am always on the hunt for un-expected nautical book finds) and eating scones, we went back on the bus and drove for 30 minutes to Falkirk. This was the main reason for me to be interested in doing the tour. Falkirk has been serviced since the 19th. century by two canals, The Union Canal on the higher level coming from England and the Forth & Clyde canal 135 feet down on the lower level. To connect the two there was an extensive lock system that took about 6 hours for a barge to get through. When the railways took over, the canals fell in disrepair but after the 1970’s there was a resurgence in interests and in the next 30 years (and it is still going on) many of the canals were repaired and brought life to the areas by means of canal trips in narrow boats. It has brought a new lease of life to some deprived areas.

The Falkirk Wheel taken from the sightseeing boat while going in and the other basin with water at the top.

Fast forward to the late 1990s a gentleman called Tony Kettle (it was a team effort of a lot of disciplines, but he had the “lightbulb moment”) came up with the idea to design a new contraption to make this 135 feet drop easier and faster for narrow boats to navigate. The basic idea was to use the weight of water in two boxes and on the Archimedes principle that the weight in each box would always remains the same, regardless of what was put in it. So if the box is just full of water and nothing else in, the weight remains the same if a boat comes in, as the boat displaces the same weight of water as the volume of the boat. That means that only a little push is enough for the top box to go down and the down box to come up.

So we all got a ticket for the 14.20 departure and with a full house, approx. 200 people in the barge, the wheel slowly tipped at the top and started coming down with the top box and we in the lower box went up. The lady skipper gave a sort narration and once at the top we sailed through an 180 meter long tunnel to a turning basin and then came back for the downwards part. At the moment the turning basin is the end of the top bit as it should connect to the Union Canal but that has been drained, so the locks and canal walls can be restored. By end 2026 everything should be fully connected again.

Once down we could see the turning basin that is used for the sightseeing barges to line for loading and unloading, but there are also the locks to connect the turning basin to the Forth & Clyde Canal. The whole drive behind the idea was to create also a lasting monument to Queen Elizabeth’s II sixty years on the throne in 2002. They managed to get it ready and indeed Her Majesty came to take care of the opening. A complete little tourist attraction has since sprung up around the Wheel with a very nice Visitors center (with very expensive souvenirs) and some other activities for children and adults alike. Quite peculiar was the number of German visitors, I have not seen such a large concentration in other locations. But I agree with them it is worth the visit.

One of the two sightseeing boats or barges. Capacity about 200 people and full all day.

Then it was back with the coach, with the initial promise made that we would drive past the Kelpies. The horses out of Scottish Mythology, immortalized in 2014 in stainless steel horse heads. When they were constructed there was a lot of “doom saying” about throwing away money urgently needed somewhere else. But was with the Falkirk Wheel, it turned out to be a real boost for the local economy. However the bus company had forgotten that today was the final day of “Lloyds cycling Tour of Britain Women” which included 5 rounds in the city and for that purpose part of the ring road was closed off. That realization obviously dawned at the last minute and the bus driver had to take the “high road” instead if the “low road”, while we were already in “Kelpie mood”.

The world famous Kelpies, not this time, maybe next time.

By 1700 we were back at the ship, just in time for cocktails and dinner. We decided to go back to the Canaletto. Again the food was nice, the service friendly but spotty. Tomorrow we are in D’un Laoghaire, which is pronounce Dun-Leery. This is the anchor port for Dublin if there is no dock available in Dublin itself. They have a dedicated cruise dock there but it is too small for the Nieuw Statendam and the cargo port gives preference to ferries and cargo ships. Weather for tomorrow: 16oC/61oF (at the most) and a 20% chance of rain.

2025 June 07; Belfast, Northern Ireland, Great Britain,

June 9, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

The ms Nieuw Statendam in Belfast . Great dock and nice terminal but far out of town, so you need transport

During the night we sailed south wards along the west coast of Scotland and then entered the Loch of Belfast at 08.00 hrs. and picked up the pilot at 09.00 hrs. From there is was another hour to get to the dock as the port of Belfast is located deep into the Lough. By swinging around on arrival (always a wise move incase there is a lot of wind later on ). The good ship Nieuw Statendam was docked just before 11.00 hrs. being the official arrival time. By 11.10 hrs. shoreside had installed two gangways and those who wished could go ashore. A long line of shuttle buses were waiting ($ 18,— for the day) and also two Hop-on-hop-off busses arrived as HAL is now selling tickets for those as well. They pick those with prepaid tickets up from the ship but do not return them so you have to come back with the shuttle bus (included). We had booked an afternoon tour going to the outside of Belfast.

A very popular tour is the Titanic museum and we have been there twice, the last time last year, so not much reason to go again. Still for those who might visit Belfast in the future, it is really worth to do this tour as recently they added this cable car circuit which takes you through the process of constructing the Titanic. And its done in a very good way. (For more information see the write up under the Silver Spirit review elsewhere on this website) We also have done the city tour and thus we decided upon a Panoramic ride into the country side.

The tour departure times on the big LED screen in the World Stage. The shore excursion lady was more busy with traffic control (keeping those out of the Emergency Exists, who wanted to run or rollate to the gangway first) than having to focus on group control.

As we had bought the “Have it All” package, it included two tours and today we took the first one. A scenic drive to a Peninsula with a visit at a pub (for a free Irish Coffee) and a destroyed monastery (free rain included). Meeting at 11.30 am which is a decent time for a boy who after 40 years of getting up early likes to take it easy. So we all trundled, at the announced time, to the “World Stage” for assembly and stickering. It gave me a chance to see how much tour dispatch had improved since Covid. Gone were the paper tickets. It is now a bar code on your phone (Holland America App) and the tours are on the big screen with departure times like in an Air Port.

The map of our tour. The light blue is land, the dark blue is water. Belfast, scenic via Bangor to Donaghadee and then on the the Greybears.

So this scenic tour took us from Belfast first to Donaghadee for an Irish Coffee in an authentic Irish Pub. (Not very authentic but then a real one would not have been able to take a 50 strong busload. It gave me the chance to taste a local beer as I do not drink coffee. (Not even with alcohol). Then to the Grey Abbey in the town of Grey Abbey. Called the grey from the tunics of the monks.

Here volunteers took all of us around the ruins of the monastery and explained the high and low deeds of those involved in the Abbey and when the Abbey became a Christian church under the ownership of the Montgomery family. One of them was involved in the American Independence (on the American side) and the town of Montgomery in Alabama was named after him. The family still owns the church/ ruin and although they are now buried somewhere else, they still install plaques of remembrance in the grounds.

Grey Abbey from the parking area. It was much bigger than you see here. (https://greyabbey.com/)

Once back on board we had to get a move on as we had reservations for the Pinnacle Restaurant. This was the first “Specialty” restaurant installed on board the HAL ships in 2008. It was to focus on North West Pacific Fusion Cuisine, featuring Alaska products, such as Salmon related dishes. Adding the world “Fusion” made it possible to add beef dishes and Thai chicken soup. I did/do not understand this bit about fusion at all but the food was great, especially that chicken soup in those days.

So it was interesting to go back and see what they had done with the menu in the recent years. The word fusion had been dropped a long time ago but the designers were still at it and had now added Norwegian dishes to the menu. Service was friendly as expected but not faultless. Most of the waiters had sailed with me in the grey mists of time and thus when the rest of the guests were gone, it was a trip down memory lane.

Tomorrow we are in Glasgow any my Lord & Master has booked a trip to the town of Stirling and the Falkirk Wheel, so we have to be in the show lounge by 08.30. Weather is as usual 4 seasons in one day so the umbrella has to go with us, Expected temperature around 14oC / 58oF which is acceptable for Glasgow.

Our visit to the pub in Donaghadee, also known as Port Devine in the movie world. Some people do live the good life.

2025 June 06, Stornoway, Western Isles, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

June 7, 2025 / Captain Albert / 5 Comments

Today it was Stornoway and recently they have constructed a large dock here, big enough to receive the largest cruise ships. The surface had only just been finished and they are still working on developing the larger dock area which I assume will eventually be used for containers and maybe storing windmills as the latter is the up and coming industry in the area. Weather was supposed to be sunny, wind still and 12oC / 54oF but by 11 am. it clouded over and then it dripped water for the rest of the day. Like drizzle but in big drops. The wind went up from none to about 12 knots just adding enough wind chill to feel right Scottish.

The new dock when it completely finished. This is a design photo from the local authorities with a ship that vaguely resembles either a large P&O ship or one from MSC. The grey dock are has not been filled in yet and also the sheds were not there yet. (Photo courtesy Port of Stornoway)

In the good days I came here with the ms Prinsendam, and if there was no wind (seldom) I could float in the inner harbour and run a short tender service into the port. If the wind popped up I had to move to the area where they have now built this new dock. It is called the Deepwater Terminal. Once during such an anchorage, the anchor got fouled and when it came up some thick steel cables were stuck around the flukes of the anchor. It took well over an hour for the 2nd engineer to cut through the three inch thick wires. It turned out that in the 2nd World War, Stornoway outer anchorage was a place for the American air craft carriers to anchor. They were attached with wires to large anchoring stones and when they left, the wires were just left on the sea bottom. Just waiting for the Prinsendam to fish them up again. When I complained to the pilot later on, the answer was, I thought you would have known that. Obviously being convinced that I was intimately aware of Stornoway’s more recent history. While he was the one in the first place who indicated the corect anchoring spot to me. I assume now that when they filled in the whole area for this dock, all the 2nd world war hardware was left and is now buried under thick layers of rock.

This is downtown Stornoway as seen from the ship. Note the dark clouds. This is sunshine in North Scotland.

Instead of a short tender shuttle it is a now a 2 mile hike (they have laid out a very nice nature pad from the ship to the town) or bus trip into town. The town had laid on a shuttle service and they must be used to the larger ships by now as they had set up a “Disney swivel” in both waiting area’s to avoid mayhem in trying to get on the bus. They used double decker buses so each load was close to a 100 people. It worked well but they could not really schedule against the fact that everybody went ashore at the same time (11.00 after lunch) and coming back at the same time(12.30 for lunch).

Stornoway inner harbor. This were the shuttle bus stopped and also the ships tenders when a ship does not dock. The blue orange boat is the local RNLI lifeboat. Nearly every port in this area has one as this is a very dangerous coast.

Stornoway is for the area a large town but not that touristy so the number of special -tourist- shops was rather limited for cruise guests hunting souvenirs but the jewelry outlets did rather well. The locally made jewelry is all based on Celtic folklore and there are some well-known names such as Shetland Jewelry, Sheila Fleet, Ogham etc. etc. The designs are quite intricate an although I am not an expert (My Lord and Master is) I still think those are the best souvenirs to buy as it is something that lasts and can be admired for a long, long time.

A large number of tours leave from here, most of them focusing on the rugged landscape and ruins, left over from the Neolithic days (standing stones etc.) and churches. Of the latter there are lot, with downtown Stornoway already counting 7 of them. That was for use too many to choose from so we decided to go back on board and enjoy a Lido lunch. The Lido market was fairly quiet by 13.00 hrs. and thus I could get at the Italian station which is extremely popular but as all is cooked while waiting (one cook, one hot plate) it takes some time and thus I normally avoid it, as even now being retired, I still feel that guests go first. (I do not think that you can ever beat that out of a Holland America Employee)

At the shuttle waiting area in the town there was this fishing boat bridge standing, with the option for children to climb in and imagine they were a real ships captain. The Lady next to it was having a hard time getting her son out if it, so I think Stornoway has found itself another fisherman. Fishing is a very important industry for the area and it gives the ship the option to get fresh fish on board on most days,

We managed this evening to get a seat in the Ocean Bar (with the number of Dutch on board the ship does not have enough cocktail capacity) as a couple left and we squeezed straight in. A guitar /piano player from Tennessee was playing from 18.45 to 19.30. It was the second “dressy” night and the variation in dress code was even more apparent. We sat in a corner with an ex-hal employee couple ( from the 1970’s) and a group of Finnish all dressed to the hilt with two tables down a group of what I would describe as “summer labourers” in a nice way. Nobody took very much notice of the other but it dumbed down the glamour of the rest somewhat.

Dinner was “As You Wish” again and now we walked in at 19.30 which seems to be for the 2nd sitting flow the busiest time. Not much you can do about it as with the 2nd show starting at 21.00 hrs. there is not option to come in later. If they would start the show at 21.30 then I think it would take some pressure away from the Dining room as more guests would have another cocktail to avoid an over crowded dining room.

For us the good thing was that with so many tables taken, we were almost in the center of the dining room and thus it was far less noisy, than during the first night, as all the noise could disperse upwards towards the 2nd level ceiling. So if you decide on “As You Wish” dining (deck 2) try to wiggle a seat more in the center not near the windows. Service was friendly and fast but again not all the dishes or drinks were served as requested and there was not much attention to detail.

Then it was time to go to the Show. The 2nd cast show of the cruise and it was very good again. Now the 2 singers and 6 dancers had teamed up with the band of the Rock Lounge and thus there was a live orchestra. They just fell short of a standing ovation but they did run to the exit doors of the World Stage and received a lot of complements. Unfortunately I cannot show photos as any form of recording is prohibited although I saw some guests ignoring this.

If I had been able to do so, I could have showed you the “side show” during the show, performed by by two ladies on scooters who came in around 21.30 and rolled into the front area near the stage. Then they leisurely started parking themselves and then hoist themselves out of the scooters into the chairs. This caused some guests to have to re-locate as now the crutches, stuck in holders on the scooters, were marring the view. This was irritating but also quite surreal to watch. Again had the show started at 21.30 they would have probably rolled in on time and avoided hampering those sitting now behind them from enjoying the show.

Note: for those who read the “lemoncello” remark some days ago. We got to the bottom of it all. There was a bottle on board but it was stored in one bar as there were not enough bottles for the whole ship. (Full supply is supposed to come next call in Rotterdam) Somebody forgot to advise those in the other outlets were the bottle was.

In red at the top of Scotland, the Island of Lewis and Harris on which Stornoway is located.

Tomorrow we are in Belfast Northern Ireland. That means we will cross from the North West top of Scotland (Western Isles) down to the Green Isle. Then the day after we are in Glasgow which means we cross the Irish Sea back to Scotland. Then the day after we cross back again, now to Dun Loiaghaire for Dublin. Then we cross partly back again to visit the Isle of Man in the middle of the Irish Sea before we head southward and cross again to get to Cobh at the southside of Ireland, Why all this crisscrossing, well it is the easiest way to get a night at sea with the ship, so all the amenities can stay open. I expect that between Belfast and Glasgow the Casino will remain closed as you have to be 12 nautical miles off shore to comply with British gambling rules. The Irish sea near Belfast is only 20 miles wide so you cannot get 12 miles at either side,

2025 June 05; Lerwick, Shetlands, Scotland.

June 5, 2025 / Captain Albert / 0 Comments

Downtown Lerwick as seen from the TV / by bow camera in the cabin. We were anchored nicely close.

Yesterday afternoon it did not look really good for Lerwick but it would all depend how much lee there would be at the anchorage. And it turned out that the wind was from the South South West and Lerwick has a nice hill in that direction to provide good shelter. And it turned out to be the case. The captain anchored the Nieuw Statendam nicely close to the shore and with wind was at sea level about 16 knots, making for happy tender drivers. It was also only a 5 minute tender drive from shore and that helped as well.

Marine Forecast for Lerwick. As soon as windspeeds in red are popping up, a captain starts to worry about tender service.

Lerwick is blessed with one of the best tender docks on the British Coast and can handle 3 tenders at the same time. Two ashore, two at the ship and in between and the tender service was perfect. The port was dominated by the ms S.H Diana alongside. Which is only a small ship of 12,000 tons and 125 guests but as she is only 125 meters long, she fitted alongside the pier with the bow lines tied up to a mooring buoy. S.H stands for Swan Hellenic and Diana comes from Crown Princess Diana of the UK. This is an upscale expedition ship with very high quality lecturers and while most cruise ships will do a show in the evening, S.H will do another lecture. So they have a very dedicated following with a high repeater rate.

The tender dock in Lerwick. Even considering that the S.H Diana is only very small cruise ship it still loomed over the marina. Two tenders could easily be accommodated here, resulting in very short waiting times.

We made it ashore by 11.00 and were greeted by a long line of returning guests who had already done the walk up and done the High Street and were now dreaming about hot coffee and cakes. We were on a mission again has Her Ladyship now needed a scrubbing sponge for her shower. Lerwick has both a Boots and a Super Drugs so a price comparison needed to be carried out and in the end Super Drug won the contest beating Boots. In the mean time I was drawn to Harry’s Department Store, 3 floors high, 2 shop fronts wide and 30 meters deep, full of general merchandise. I collect in my non shipping movement Britains Farm models (size 1.32) which is the highest quality farm models out there and they had a lot of them and quite a few for sale. But Alas………… no more room left in the suitcases, so I had to let it go by.

Lerwick Main Street. It was raining off and on till about 13.00 hrs, when the sun came out.

Lerwick was founded long, long time ago by Norse people normally described as Vikings, but that is not the full truth of their history. But still they feel more Scandinavian than Scottish but definitely more Scottish than British /English. It has a shop with kilts and other Scottish souvenir stuff but everywhere traces of a Norse heritage come peaking around the corner.

It is 229 miles from Lerwick to Bergen in Norway and 768 miles from Lerwick to London, so it gives you an idea about where the focus lays. We have been to Lerwick many a times, so we have visited the local Fort (built by King Charles II) against the Dutch. They held the Dutch off during their first attack (2nd Anglo-Dutch war) but they burnt the place down the next time (3rd Anglo-Saxon war). That was in 1673 and since then it has been silent here. So I wonder what the locals thought of today’s Dutch invasion as more than 50% of our guests on board are Dutch. For the rest of the area you have to use tours and many of our guests did. Most of the tours are half day, so at 12.15 many buses deposited their contents at the dockside, but with two tenders being able to do at the same time, the waiting times were very short.

Although Lerwick is quite a large village, tourists, unless on tours, normally do not stray from the Highstreet where the more touristy shops are located. But it also has three national banks for normal life. Outside the village there is a shopping center as well.

We had done all our sightseeing tours in the past, and settled for a cup of coffee in a local coffeeshop as all the returning tours arrived on the pier at that time, must have been a few hundred guests. But thanks to the excellent tender pier, two tenders could be loaded at the same time and the line was gone very quickly.

Back on board we had made a booking for the Tamarind at 19.00 hrs. and thus went for early cocktails. On the daily program it said the Classical Trio would be playing in the Ocean Bar, but only the violin lady was there (The full trio only showed up for the 2nd set) As the only venue with live music at that time, it was way too small, but half the people having pre dinner drinks and the other half sitting there waiting for the Sel de Mer to open. So we went to the Billboard and waited until the Duelling Pianos had their first session an hour later. Good excuse to have 2 cocktails. As usual the Tamarind was very good. The menu is varied enough to have 4 nights there, so we might book another one, if our “As You Wish” tomorrow night turns out to be not that good again. A dinner in the Tamarind takes about 2+ hours so you have to forget about a show or anything else. But is worth it. The Indonesian Waitresses have been replaced by Philipina Ladies but the smiles are the same.

Tomorrow we are in Stornoway on the island of Lewis and Harris in the Western Island also called the Outer Hebrides. Weather is supposed to be windstill and sunny….. And that for Scotland ?????..

A nice view of the ms Nieuw Statendam at anchor. Please note the Viking Longboat to the left in the picture. On occasion the locals still like to go back to their roots.

2025 June 04: Invergordon, Scotland.

June 5, 2025 / Captain Albert / 2 Comments

So goodbye Kirkwall and welcome to Invergordon a much more sheltered port. By 07.00 we had sailed into the Cromarty Firth (fjord) where deep in the fjord Invergordon is located so it is quite sheltered from the mayhem currently blowing in the Northern part of the North Sea and hence it was do-able. There was still a wind force 5-6 blowing but it was in line with the dock so for docking the wind was on the stern and that does not bother a ship very much. During the day wind went up and down combined with rain showers and an occasional wind force 8 blowing from the West. Not a happy day but at least we were somewhere.

Invergordon is a town and port in the area of Easter Ross in the county of Ross & Cromarty in Scotland. Then the town itself is part of the parish of Rosskeen. I have been here a few times during the past with the last time being in 2019. It did not look very appetizing then and today it looked even more forelorn. The weather is not too great here for most of the year although with global warming, Scotland is now also experiencing heat waves and very unstable weather. Apart from looking forlorn in the dismal weather, more shops had closed since last time. Invergordon blossomed during the North Sea oil boom and that is tapering off now. Around 2010 the Firth was full of Oilrigs and related ships waiting for repairs and overhaul. Now it was down to 2 rigs under repair at the docks and several that looked that they were in lay-up.

My Lord and Master decreed that that regardless the weather we were going ashore as the cruise could not continue without a new make-up brush. The port had laid on a shuttle service as we were docked at a cargo pier, where you were not allowed to walk on. The main pier, normally in use by the cruise ships was taken up by a cargo ship and something else I could not clearly see. But they had lots of buses available for the 5 minute transfer into town.

Tinvergordon High Street, This is the main shopping street.

And then the locals had the opportunity to see a 1000+ tourists marching up the High Street and then down the High Street. The General Store (and yes they sold everything except food and groceries) was doing a roaring trade and also the Charity Shops were full of people. And then it was quickly back on the bus again going home. One cafe/cake place was open and full of guests trying scones and other Scottish pastries and hopefully they were expecting us, otherwise they would have run out of food and drink for the rest of the week.

We saw several murals on the walls. This one for the local Highland Games. Sort of similar to Belfast. I wonder if this is a sort of Celtic tradition, regardless of the meaning of the mural. Please note the orange Holland America Line umbrella to the right.

I might need to explain the phenomenon of an British “charity shop”. It is basically a shop that resells goods and are operated by a local or national Charity. There are about 16,000 charities in England alone and they sponsor everything from animal welfare to research into human diseases. They range from Nationwide such as the British Heart Foundation or the Salvation Army, to serving very local needs. They are Business Tax exempt and mainly manned by volunteers. In many towns where the “mom and pop” shops have given way to supermarkets and other chains, they are often the only small shops left. In my home town with 5,000 people there are 7 of them. In Invergordon with 3,900 inhabitants there were 3. Our crew love them so in each British port you see them making a bee line for them as often you can have great finds.

Before going ashore, there was suddenly an announcement in the cabin by a very Dutch voice from a Bridge Officer advising us that there was a full crew emergency drill. Then it was a sort of trip down memory lane, listening to the texts that I had co-written in 2016, as Fleet Master, when the first Pinnacle Class ship came into service. That took up a good hour of the crew’s time as it was a full drill as the rules say that once a month a crew member will participate in a full drill. Even of this means just standing around as not all crew has a function on board but are “as directed”. Then the new crew and a part of the crew already on board for some time had to go through a SOLAS refresher which entails watching ” movies” about lowering lifeboats etc. in the Main Show Lounge. The drill was not announced in the daily program so I think that the captain grabbed the chance to do the drill now in fairly sheltered waters instead of hoping for good weather in a future port. (A port that might be cancelled with the current uncertain weather)

So after an exciting hour of marching up and down the Main Street and visiting Boots the Pharmacy, for the necessary purchase of a makeup brush we were back on board again and visited the Lido. I can only say the choice is very good. Cunard who has the 4th. Pinnacle Class ship (Queen Anne) does not even come close here. Nearest most likely the Apex Class of Celebrity but they tend to close sections down, even during rush hour, and that does not help a hungry chap. On the last day I will post a comparison between Cunard and HAL now they both operate Pinnacle Class ships.

This evening we had an invite to a Mariner Society party in the Lido Pool area, for 3,4 & 5 star mariners and Presidents Club. I estimated there were about 300 people there and I had the privilege of meeting several of my blog readers and some members of the HAL Retired Association “De Lijn”. I even bumped into another old HAL captain (Captain Groothuis) albeit one who only sailed for a shorter period with HAL, as he was one of three who was asked to come in sideways (after retirement from the pilots) as we were short of promotable Staff Captains with enough experience. Also the party has changed through the years as there were no nibbles served, no announcements and as it was right in the middle of departure also no Deck and Engine Deck Officers. Hotel Department was out in full force with a meet and greet line-up on both sides of the Lido.

Based on our previous “As you Wish” dining experience we opted for testing the Pizza New York outlet on Deck 10, above the Lido pool area. Pizza on the portside and the Panorama Bar on the starboard side. The pizza freshly hand made was very, very good. They also do other food during the day, and comfort food in the evening for watching a movie on the big screen. Tonight there was a soccer game between Germany and Portugal for the European Championships and there were about 60 to 70 people watching, most of them happily stretched out on the sun loungers.

Tomorrow we are in Lerwick, part of the Shetland islands. In the morning there is still supposed to be a lot of wind blowing, but Lerwick is located in a bay sheltered by surrounding islands on most sides, so it might be sheltered enough for a good call. The SH (Swan Hellenic) Diana will be in and with a length of 125 meters docking, we will be anchoring and using our tender service. Expected weather, Four seasons in one day with an average temperature of 12oC / 50oF.