So today was the big day. Although we could not do everything that was supposed to happen. A flag raising ceremony was planned with everybody being present on the Sea View deck aft, where you can see the Flag pole, but the deck had not been cleaned yet and work was still on going with the Glass Stairs. So it meant that the amount of “everybody” had to be reduced to the senior office people and the ships officers. That worked and the Italian flag came down and the Dutch flag went up. Hence it was hard for me to get some good photos but here is the flag hanging.

Here we are Holland Glory on top.

Thus what nobody saw wis the installation of the Builders plate with the shipyard name and the builder’s number of the ms Koningsdam. It is hanging on the Sb. side Lido deck a much more prominent place than is the case on some other ships.  Here at least the majority of our guests will be able to see the plate and see where the ship was built.

Fincantieri Buildiers Plate with our yard number 6241.

Soon as the flag was up work continued in a frenzy as there is still a lot of cleaning up to do. I have not posted any photos yet from the Crow’s nest and the Children’s playroom. Main reason is the fact of the furniture not having been delivered but which is taking place at the moment. Although Holland America does not tend to have that many children on board, except with Thanksgiving and Christmas but those who will sail with us will enjoy it. It is a large area split up in toddlers, teens and tweens and each as an outside deck area as well, screened off from the rest of the ship. The parents can be very happy. My experience is with Club Hal and the kids is for the first day; they are reluctant to go but as soon as they are there, you cannot get them out again. Much to the upset of the parents who want to take “little Johnny” to dinner in the evening and little Johnny much more prefers to eat pizza with the rest and create mayhem behind the Club HAL door. But it is the first step in creating a platform which will bring little Johnny back when he has become a Big John.

Kiddie Furniture arriving and being installed.

The ship is now really gearing up for the start of our cruising life but first we have to get through the all the formalities of being a new ship. Tomorrow around 4000 guests are  expected, invitee’s of the shipyard. I wonder if we will be able to cope with the amount of cookies as the Grand Dutch Café has now opened for business and there are a lot of nice cookies and pastries on display which can be had free of charge. They also have Dutch “drop” or liquorice which of course has to be paid for.

Another piece Art and this one really attracts me as I find it really clever what the artist did. Transforming piano keys into zebras

Today was also the last day of the pre sailing audits which the ship had to go through and the Captain is now a happy man as all the certificates, which will enable him to sail, are being issued now. A funny part of this inspection was that these Auditors were being audited themselves. Lloyds carries out all the ships inspections on behalf of the Dutch Government and the Flag State has to ensure Lloyds is carrying out the inspections according to the standards set by the Flag State.  The question now remains, who audits the auditors who audited the auditors??

Panorama Bar. Not a bad spot to watch a movie from in the evening on the big screen.

This is the first ship of the fleet where we have a double level Lido Deck. Lower level is around the pool and the up upper level is a sort of balcony overhang with white leather benches. This means we also have two Lido bars now and the upper level the Panorama Bar appeared today from behind all the protection. It is located on the starboard side deck 10 and the regular lido bar is on deck 09 port side.

If you still have a old sewing machine and an old record, then you can make your own art.

Not all that is going on is hard work. Tonight there will be a party for all the officers to thank them for their hard work and tomorrow there will be a similar one for all the crew and for that purpose the yard has hired a public area down the road from the yard and they will throw a party organized by Heineken.  Most crew has been working long and irregular hours in the last days to get the ship ready. Often irregular hours as they had to work around the activities of the yard. So a thank you is appropriate and no doubt a free drink will be appreciated.

The weather gods are really favoring us here in Marghera. Today we had another dry day with a little bit of sunshine which took the chill away but at the same time did not make it too warm. Perfect weather to finish a big cruise ship. And thus we did, at least we work towards it. The crews working in the public rooms have now started with training the proper serving in the restaurants and using themselves as the guests. So we could observe the rather strange situation of half the Pinnacle Ladies and Gents having High Tea while being served by the other half of the Team. Similar things were going on in other locations including the Bars. (Although here the bottles were not opened) Orders are now ship wide being taking by means of a tablet which forwards each order directly to the point of issue. It reduces the walking a lot and it should also speed up the service.

The piano players are sitting opposite between two grand pianos. In the far background the testing of the beer pumps is in progress.

On another level, but with the same objective, are the rehearsals of all the Entertainers who will work the Music Walk. Today the dueling pianos in the Billboard were in action and in five minutes time I learned that it is not so easy to have two pianists sing together and make a show out of it. Billy Joel sounded good to me but the Musical Director / Trainer was reviewing line by line the tune and so it took a long time before the song came to an end.  With all the yard people still milling around they were not short of an audience. In the same way the Bar Personnel could follow it as well. They were getting training from a specialist Dutch Trainer in how to draw a correct “kleine pils ” and a “grote pils”. If you decide to serve Dutch draft beer then it has to be right. Two fingers of foam and not more; also not less.

Shops on Board. almost ready for opening.

The shops are also under full steam and the displays are being filled and display cases arranged. This is only partly done by our own shop staff. For the initial, perfect setup, expert widow display people have flown in who take care of arranging everything in such a way that everybody should be enticed to enter the shop instead of walking by. These people do not only do new ships, they also sail with the ships when they are changing cruise area. E.g. when we go from Alaska to the Caribbean and vice versa.

The Chef preparing a dish for the camera only.

Public Relations has also descended upon the ship; to document and announce what is happening with the ship as soon as it will be ours. Part of the activities form the filming of what happens in the various food outlets. Today they were busy in the Culinary Arts Center and documenting in close up how the CAC chef is making a dish. This is a long and drawn out process as what the chef does IS professional but if the shot is not correctly taken, then it does NOT necessary look professional on the T.V. and thus it is a long and drawn out process. A sort of cooking in slow motion so to speak.

All the equipment is there. All the Electrics in place. Now the all important moment of making the right connection.

Controlled chaos is still reigning in the Microsoft /Digital Workshop where the technicians have to make all the computers talk to the main one of the Instructor and also ensure that all of them have a good link with the internet. As computers mean basically unpacking boxes and plugging in the cables, the clutter created does not mean that much. The preparation until the monitors can be plugged in is what is taking the longest.

Here we are with the Dining Room Complete, ready and with all the tables set.

Today the dining room was setup completely and now the stewards are getting familiar with how to use the steward stations in the most economical way; how to walk the quickest from their station to the kitchen (especially if guests  have pushed the chairs back a bit more) and they are getting familiar with the menu’s. Apart from knowing the menu’s by heart they also have to know what is in each dish and whether it might provoke an allergy etc. Thus in short bursts of training the dining room managers go through all the entries and step by step everybody will come onto the same page.

In real life the eyes are looking at you in a different way than seen in the photo. Very strange.

I am ending again with a piece of art. A little bit of an unsettling one for me this time. To my amazement the eyes in the picture came out differently on the photo taken with the camera than when looking at directly. Very strange and I have to have another look at it in the coming days.  There must be something in the frame of the cover glass which is causing it.

Tomorrow is the big day. Between 12.00 hrs. and 13.00 hrs. the captain will get the keys of the ship and it will be ours.

Again it was a very small world this morning, dense fog, when the shipyard awoke. But the sun came out and it burned away later on.  Nice, sunny and dry is exactly what we needed as we had the official inspection of the crew drills today. 5 Representatives from Lloyds Register had arrived on board and were witnessing our Fire Drill, Emergency assembly of Guests (simulated) and Crew and the lowering of the boats. Every company has a different system to comply with the SOLAS regulations and thus the Inspectors are more concerned with the flow of the operation and the crew knowledge than looking into: how we exactly do it and achieve the required result.

The Back of the house – front office turned into a crisis handling centre. All phones are manned for reporting and coordinating. (This is only one 3rd of the whole area)

The major challenge is on a cruise ship is to get everybody accounted for.  Thus we have roll calls but also search parties to look for people who fail to show up at the roll call. Then we have to take into account that telephones and the public address system might fail (unlikely but………………) and thus we have messengers and back up groups. The accounting, the Mustering, of everybody is controlled by the Front Office under the leadership of the Hotel Director and the Guest Relations Manager. Assisting them is the full Front Office and Pursers department which is a group of over 20 people. They monitor the movement of everybody on board from the moment the Captain orders a General Mustering until everybody has embarked into the lifeboats and in the life rafts.

In the meantime we are only being 28 hours away from the handover. On 31 March 2016 at noon time, the ship will go from: Fincantieri New build 6241Nassau, to Koningsdam HAL, Rotterdam. Then we still have a few days to finish things off but by noon time on the 31^st. we will become responsible for the ship. For this purpose the big bosses (BoBo’s we call them in the Dutch language) are arriving. Apart from our top man Orlando Ashford and top – top man Stein Kruse also Mickey Arison is expected and any higher it does not go. So housekeeping is all over the place to make the ship as much shipshape as possible. It is still a frustrating struggle as one area has just been cleaned and then a Yard person shows up to complete another minor detail and makes a mess of it again. In the past few days the direct management of the HAL Group already arrived on board in the person of Keith Taylor the Sr.VP and with them several other V.P’s who are all part of the hand over process and the final review to see if everything has been delivered as expected.

Cleaning the Elevator deck display. The housekeeping uniforms have turned a shade darker than they were before.

The Officers and Crew are edging more and more towards trying to get the shipboard routine going. Deck and Engine are starting up the regular watch system although they are not allowed to push any buttons until the 31^st, noon time and the Hotel Department has been issued their uniforms so now we can recognize who is doing what. The Koningsdam is the first ship where a complete new uniform –line is being rolled out. You will see that it is quite a break with the past but what has been designed goes very well with the new setup and coloring of the various Hotel Operations. I will post some more photos in the coming days, “when the dust has settled”.

Something is being rehearsed here involving a picnic bench. The rest will be revealed when the ship sails.

Now we are so close to sailing time, the preparation for the guests is becoming more and more important. To the shock of some people who were completely engrossed in the new building details, we happen to be a cruise ship and our purpose is to carry Guests. So slowly but steadily we now see entertainment coming to the foreground and intensifying their training and upping their readiness. What they are all going to do is still a surprise.

The Globe on deck 3 in the main staircase. The grey bucket is NOT part of the official setup.

The art people are relentlessly continuing to cover each and every blank space on the bulkheads of the ship and if you appreciate art then you now need a 14 day cruise to have sufficient time to look at each item  in a little bit of detail. So today two items, they just installed globe on deck 3 main staircase and Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The globe is the firm favorite of all the Italian contractors. If I would get a dollar for each selfie taking with the globe, then I could cruise all year for free. The Burtons were a bit difficult to recognize, I had to stand at a distance to take the photo. I have no idea though who the other two are. Any art specialists out there???

On the Sb side The Burtons. But who is the couple on the left ???

The drilling and training of the crew continues un-abated as we are nearing the moment for the Inspectors to come on board and who deem if the ship, and all of us are safe and are able to keep it safe. Every ship has a Passport which has to be issued by the Flag State. This passport is made up of a number of main certificates which cover a plethora of smaller certificates (Literally 1000’s of them) but a few of them are very important. The two most important ones are: The PSSC, or Passenger Ship Safety Certificate and the ISM or International Safety Management Certificate.

The Koningsdam by night on Easter Sunday Evening.

The first one is the cover certificate which states that we are in compliance with all the Solas regulations or Safety at Sea and the second one covers the way we comply with the rules. Under the ISM code the Inspectors have to be very focused on compliance with requirements under the MLC 2006 convention. These rules cover the way the crew work and live and how they are treated by the company. As not every shipping company is as focused on these aspects as they should be, the IMO (International Maritime Organization) places much emphasis on scrutinizing these aspects. Thus the crew cabins are built on board in accordance, or exceeding the MLC rules and similar regulations apply to the general wellbeing on board, food, health, basically everything which could affect the proper living circumstances of the sailor. We have nothing to worry about here of course as HAL looks extremely well after its crew but it has to inspected and checked.

What was cleared from under the plastic was the Barber salon in the Green house Spa. We men are now finally equal to the Ladies and have our own dedicated area.

The most important inspection is however the PSSC. Do all the safety systems work and does the crew know how to use them? The shipyard has to ensure that everything is working but we have to ensure that we know how to use the equipment in a professional and safe way. The most important thing is to get everybody safely off the ship and for that we need 1036 crew marching to the same tune and thus we drill.

With indoor mustering you report to an area in a public room that corresponds with your cabin number. There is crew in place to guide you all the way from your cabin to your assigned waiting area. Banners indicate the section you belong to.

The passenger mustering (Guest Safety Briefing) is completely different on this ship compared to the rest of the fleet as the Guests will now muster inside. So we have to retune the thinking of the crew completely to achieve this. It is not a matter of just marching from your cabin and then directly to you lifeboat. No from your cabin you go to your muster station, which is a public area, and then when your lifeboat is ready, you march from the Muster area to the lifeboat and walk straight into it. A sort of waiting comfortably for your taxi to arrive/be ready and when it is there, get up and hop in.

At the entrance of your mustering area there is a crew member who scans your cabin key card and then another crew member guides you to your seat.

Thus while the shipyard continues with finishing off the ship we run around with fire hoses and lifejackets. After each drill there is a debriefing which involves all the stake holders and which can take up to an hour to ensure we do not forget any small details which might turn out to be the virtual spanner in the wheel.

When you enter the dining room you will see this on both levels directly to starboard inside the entrance.

T.he remainder of the crew is busy with bringing more and more furnishings into the ship. Materials which were all stored away in Guests Cabins. What did also continue throughout the weekend, maybe because it was so quiet, was the installation of more art. Framed artwork is being hung in all the public spaces on the public room decks 2 and 3 but also larger items are being unveiled.  My “Art piece of the day” is a sculpture which rises through the deck from the lower level dining room up to the upper level. This piece is in the forward part of the dining room while the wine tower, which also rises through the two levels, is in the aft part of the dining room.  As all the labeling is still missing I cannot exactly explain what this is but it is quite fascinating.

As it was a nice and sunny day yesterday and nearly windless we paid the price for it this morning. A white woolen blanket descended upon the shipyard. It was not until 11 am. before it slowly started to lift when the air warmed up a little bit. As can be expected close to the delivery of the ship, cleaning is becoming more and more a focus. Maybe because it is Easter which is an important Roman Holiday or maybe for other reasons but the number of Italian Cleaning Ladies has gone down and are now replaced by Polish and Romanian. Two languages I had not heard on the ship until today. We have contractors from everywhere, depending on where the specialized equipment was bought and thus we hear voices from Scandinavia, Germany, UK, Spain and a lot of other countries as well.  But East European I had not heard until today. With all the different nationalities of crew thrown in the mix, we have a nice international situation on our hands.

This is a shot from the upper level sb Queens Lounge looking aft.

Cleaning ladies mean the clearing up continues on a relentless pace and more and more becomes accessible and in more and more areas the final fittings and furniture are being put in place. With everything cleared away the beauty of most of the public rooms is now clearly visible. The Centre piece and universally liked by everybody is the Queens Lounge which design forms a nice bridge between the more traditional ships of our fleet and the modern Koningsdam. This lounge will be one of the focus points in the ship.

The Front Desk is very open and also with an open Back Office behind the pillars. Then there is a closed off administration part on the stern side of the Atrium.

The hotel department is slowly getting in its stride of really being a hotel department. The Front Desk is now open and all queries are being directed there now. It all helps with building up the necessary routines for when we have a full house. So I took the chance to do something all lot of guests do, I made a complaint. Not really for the ship but to be passed on to the shipyard. For some unknown reason they changed my bedside lamps and now the new one does not work. Thus I did what every crew member who lives in a Guest Cabin has to do, report it to the Front Desk.

The first Pasta ever served in the Lido Market. Penne Carbonara.

What also is happening now, the main dining room upper level has opened for service and is offering Breakfast Lunch and Dinner in addition to the Lido Market and the Crew and Officers Mess. Just runing the operation it is still the best way to find out if everything works, even if it is on a smaller scale with less people. More and more stations in the Lido are being opened as well and today I had the honor to order the first pasta ever being served in the Koningsdam Lido. Note the date 27 March 2016……………….. Maritime Historians will later on record this in their books as a very significant date in the delivery process of the Koningsdam………………….lol.

Where is that ‘darn’ box.

To supply all those restaurants the store rooms are now full to capacity apart from the Perishables and fresh vegetables and fruit which are stored depending on the number of people on board. So this morning we could observe a crew member trying to find a box somewhere hiding in all the pallets of 1000’s of boxes which have not all yet been placed in their normal location for easy retrieval.

The Koningsdam Officers Bar.

Quite quickly since we came on board the officers and crew went to their assigned cabins and the mess rooms came in operation. What was not finished yet and is now complete and waiting for delivery is the Officers Bar. On most ships this is in the style of an Irish Pub but here on the Koningsdam the design has been kept in tune with the overall lighter colors of the ships interior.

The Top of the Aft Boiler, which is a vertical one and rises through three decks. Here water is turned to steam for the various operations on board.

This morning I also made a little tour through the Engine Room where the supply cabling from the shipyard has been removed and only final delivery work is still going on. And that will take a while as each piece of equipment needs to be calibrated and mostly likely be recalibrated once it is fully operational. As a Deck officer I have the greatest respect for engineers for two reasons; A. I find it amazing that they can work somewhere where it is hot, noisy and there are no windows and B. They manage to keep all those pipes apart and can always find the right pump and closing valve.

Thus I am ending my blog today not with art but with a highly romantic picture of a section of one of the pump rooms, where the oily bilge water pumps and the fire pumps are located.

This is one of the pumps rooms on board. All the green round things are pumps and the ones with the red top are the Fire Pumps.

The sun was merrily shining today over Venice, making it a nice start for the Easter Weekend and a good thing for the ship as well, as today we started our practical drills; bringing into practice what had been learned during the individual training sessions.

For everybody there is a lot to learn and to practice, indeed for every department and every rank. The Koningsdam has been built with the most recent technology which takes time to master but also we are different from the rest of the fleet as we have indoor mustering for the guests. This requires a total rethink of how to deal with traffic flows and the crew involved; with counting guests, guiding guests towards to right location and locating guests who do not show up or who have strayed into the wrong territory. There are about 15 teams involved with this, apart from the regular lifeboat crews, they all have specific functions which have to fit into a large jigsaw puzzle where no piece can be missed.

The Ocean Spa equipment being tested. Never thought about the fact that those monitors above the equipment have to be fully tested as well ? Not a bad job for the Ocean Spa Ladies.

And these drills which involve all 1036 crew members will only intensify in the coming days. That is why it was so nice to have a sunny day today as it involved a lot of standing outside, just waiting, while in the ship the officers and trainers where checking if what they had taught was also correctly implemented by the crew. And as there is always one………………………………  You have to find that one and that takes time.

The Retreat behind the Crowsnest. All Cabanas are lined up in a U shape around the outside deck railing.

While the ship’s crew was taken through its paces the shipyard is continuing with it’s clearing up. Area’s which were already more or less complete but had thus far not been  visible as the deck area was used as a sort of storage and work area for various locations. One of those areas is the private Cabana deck, officially called “The Retreat”, on deck 12, right behind the Crows nest. As this deck has a large open space, it was very convenient to park the garbage skips here and thus you could not see a single Cabana anymore.

The Lido Deck, almost clear of all the workmen’s clutter.

Similar for the Lido Deck. This location is really a ship outfitters dream. Large and spacey and inside when it rains (close the Magrodome) and open when the sun shines (open the dome again). So it was not easy to get everybody out and it was not until todaythat is was sufficiently cleared to get a better impression of the layout and space. For me personally this is the most impressive space on board, two decks centered around a nice pool and two Jacuzzi’s, surrounded by the food outlets and 2 bar’s (upper and lower) and the various sitting areas. It really has a wow factor when you walk in.

Inside the ship, the yard has sent in a whole army of cleaning ladies. The crew who had been helping out is now fully immersed in trainings, drills and getting their work areas ready and thus the yard now has to rely more and more on their own lady-power. Today I counted 18 of them in the Queens Lounge, hovering, scraping (always those glue rests), cleaning and polishing. Polishing is another thing; while our other ships have a lot of brass in the public areas, the Koningsdam has nearly nothing. It is either wood or it is shiny stainless steel where normally brass would have been. The only brass I have found thus far is the melted shoe, the art in the main staircase, which I showed a picture of in one of the previous blogs.

Tamarind View towards the sb bar area.

As predicted the Tamarind Restaurant has now been completed and the service staff here are busy with bringing in all the linen, utensils, crockery and cutlery. They have been working already on dry runs on how to run the restaurant in the most efficient way and now the tools are brought in to make it more life like.

The first customers in the Lido. As usual everybody tried to get in right at opening time but because of the food station lay-out there were no long lines.

In a similar way the Lido has come to life. For the first time it opened today for lunch so the chefs could do the test runs to see if it all works. The lido restaurant on the Koningsdam is officially called the Lido Market and the cooks will now work at specialized stations each with a themed item. The next step will be to run this new setup under pressure, e.g. with a lot of customers and thus the earlier they open, the better it is. It will certainly reduce the lines in the Lido as you can now go straight to the section of your interest and are no longer held up by somebody dilly-dallying over a piece of bread which you do not want.

Happy faces. Finally they can do what they came for: Cooking.

With the Lido cleared I could now also get a clear view of the Canaletto Restaurant which is located in a corner of the Lido and will offer Italian food in the evening. It is not as large as on some of the other ships but with more Restaurants available there is no need for it. There is plenty else to choose from if one restaurant would be full.

The Canaletto Restaurant located on deck 9 starboard forward in the Lido Market.

Tonight we are going an hour forward and everybody is quite interested to see if all the ships clocks are marching according to the command from the Master clock on the bridge. In the last few days the installers have been adjusting and aligning all the clocks in the ship and tonight they can do a real time test.

I am ending again with a piece of art. Now all the work is out of the way, the larger pieces of art are being brought in and today this piece was revealed opposite the Explorer’s Bar on deck 2. I have no idea yet what it means but its light texture forms a nice contrast to the darker tones of the wall paneling of the remainder of the public area.

The official un-wrapping of a piece of art in the Music Walk.

Today is the 25^th. and we have just a week to go until the delivery of the ship on the 31^st. of March. Then  3 days later we should be ready to commence our first cruise. Which will be a 4 day shakedown cruise from Venice to Rome.

The Hydro pool in the Ocean Spa with all the coverings removed.

Today it is a grey and dull day outside and they are working inside deck 2 and 3 where the preponderance of the public rooms are located. Today it is a major delivery day and section by section the protective covering is removed for final inspection. This final inspection is not done by the Officers of Holland America but by the Design & Building Team of Carnival Corporation. They ordered the ship, approved the drawings and the building specs and they have been directly responsible for its progress and delivery. We represent the future owner and operator and our job is to get the ship operationally ready.  When things are not working or not correct as it should be “Remarks” are made and these “Remarks” are then sent back to the yard. After follow up and correction, they are returned to check and double check again. I say “we” but it is really the officers who are doing this, each his or her (we have two lady officers in the team) assigned specialty which they will also be responsible for once the ship sails.

The Medical Department surrounded by crew collecting their papers.

Part of all this work is focusing on changing all crew members from a 1000 loose persons into a highly cohesive group called the Koningsdam crew. What is the same for everybody, regardless of function and rank is the safety aspect and that is governed by the safety function. Third Officer Administration assigns each crew member based on his/her skills and normal function on board, a Safety Function. A lot of safety functions are connected to the job and are thus the same over the fleet. Thus the Captain’s function will always be Overall Command, the Exe Chef a boat commander as he has leadership skills and a Cast Member Communicator in the Lifeboat as he/she has empathy and communication skills.

Walking into the Dining Room you will see these sculptures located behind the entrance desk. They represent “Mediterannean Sea Lady and Gentleman”. They were made by an artist called Choi Sung Chul, who specializes in painting with car spray.

Today everybody received their “lifejacket card”. All lifejackets have a pouch which takes this card. The card has a safety number which relates to the Emergency Plan of the ship and this number then correlates with the function to be executed during an emergency.  Thus today there was a steady throng of crew descending on the Dining room and picking up their Lifejacket card and receiving back their medical passport after it had been verified by the Medical Staff to ensure that all shots and checks were still valid. We are now all part of the same safety machine. My function is “As Directed” as there cannot be two captains on the ship and thus I can be used for anything needed.

The Ocean Bar has two sitting areas. One which serves as a waiting / cocktail area for those going to the Sel de Mer or the Pinnacle straight across and the other one for regular cocktails with a piano player in attendance.

Thus today the focus was on the delivery of deck 2, where we have the Culinary Arts Centre, The Sel de Mer, the Pinnacle, the Ocean Bar & sitting area, the Lower part of the Queens Lounge and the Music Walk.  As a sort of ripple the clearing up moved from the stern to the bow, stopping at the Queens Lounge and the rest of the Music Walk. Today the chairs and everything loose was installed and then that area is complete, apart from the tinkering with small items which will continue until the ship is finished and maybe even into the Shake Down cruise.

Finally we can see all the way aft over the Plaza Deck, Deck 2. To the far left is the Ocean Bar.

That is why we are doing a shakedown cruise from Venice to Rome. I have now been involved with several new-buildings, re-buildings and major refits and it is amazing what pops up as soon as the ship is really taken through it spaces. (Or when everybody flushes the toilet at the same time……..) Thus there will be a riding crew to catch what was not caught during the delivery process. By the 8^th. when the official first cruise starts everything should be 100%.

The displays on the hall ways have been switched on advising what is going on.

In the meantime, as all the final wires, buttons and handles are installed, more and more is coming to life. Last night we had a total water stop for 12 hours to see if all the machinery in the ER worked and today, the lights go out and on, section by section of the ship to see if the safety trips are working under load.

The main thing the crew now worries about is if everything they need is there and if not, will it get on board in time from the warehouse. There was great relief today in the Dining Room when the napkins were found for the specialty restaurants, hidden under a pile of other boxes ……………. and thus life goes on.

What also came on and is currently being tested is the ambient lighting of the Atrium. During the day the colors reflected by the central sculpture will slowly change reflecting the mood of the day. As I am not a professional photographer, the lights came out much more blue than in reality. It really looks very subtle.

Things are heating up; we have the USCG on board for three days. Because the ship will be calling at USA ports it has to be inspected by the USCG before they can issue a certificate of acceptance. You can do this in the USA itself and then the ship will be docked in the first port of call for an inspection lasting three days. The challenge is if they want a modification or a change then you do not always have labor and parts available while there, as most ships are European built. So for most new cruise ships who will be calling at the USA it is done at the shipyard. The USCG has an office in Europe which also deals with these sorts of things. Thus the yard people are currently going around with the Officers to check and inspect each safety item on board.  Once this all is done the ship will receive a certificate which will remain valid until a regular inspection is carried out in an USA port. That inspection will then be similar to what each cruise ship goes through every six months.

Two Chinese hard at work on the ladder and at least five Italians carefully supervising what they are doing to their ship.

It all happens in between all the yard people running around and finishing up all sorts of items left right and centre. Today the large Atrium sculpture was permanently secured to its supports as the work around it is finished. As the whole installation was made by a Chinese company its own fitters came today to finish the work.

Today this appeared, a 3 D painting. Hard to photograph but when you walk by several items suddenly push themselves forward.

As mentioned before at the moment mainly smaller things are taking place. But a lot of it as we still have a 100 yard people on board. Carpet suddenly appears, a chest of drawers pops up in an empty space, wall and floor coverings are being removed showing yet another sort of carpet.

All the Ocean Spa Ladies (and Gents) sitting in the window. listening to a shore side company instructor.

Training and instruction is going on at full speed. Not only the Safety Training but also work specific. One of the areas of the ship which is considerably different than anything we had we before is the Greenhouse Spa. There are more treatment rooms and they are over two decks with an internal spiral staircase connecting them.  More treatments mean more Spa Ladies and today they had corporate training about the new setup. They are all waiting to be able to finish off installing their inventory but most of the rooms are still awaiting final delivery.

When the ship eventually goes to Alaska you can be nice and warm inside while it is freezing cold outside. Currently there is only a rather boring look at the warehouses of the shipyard.

One of the more intriguing rooms in the Spa are the saunas on the portside. They are not internal and they have a large window. So while you are sweating off last night’s dinner, you can overlook the ocean and any scenery that might come by.

Nice purple is never a bad color. The others are hidden behind the movie screen.

Same is going on with the area around the two story Lido Deck area. Still lots of completions going on. The movies screen is working and now the protection has been removed from around the back of the screen and as you can see they have installed a number of shower cubicles behind it. As the screen blocks any view from this area this dark corner has been chosen for having the showers. To make it a bit more lively the shower cubicles have been painted in the vibrant colors of Purple, Green,and Orange. Very vibrant but as they are obscured by the Movie screen it does not look out of place and livens it all up.

The Cafe serves Draft and Bottled Beer, Fresh Coffee and other refreshments for which there is a charge. Nibbles and Dutch food such as the famous “Bitter Ballen” are free of charge.

Today they finished the Grand Dutch Café and I am a happy camper today as they will have my favorite Beer on tap, Hertog Jan from Belgium. This is hard to get where I live in England, so now I have a plan B for the occasional pint when I am not in Holland. A nice detail is what they have done to the high tables in the Grand Café.

A Dutch Street in miniature under glass in the table. They are reflected on each side by mirrors.

There is a groove in the tables which is covered by glass. In the groove are miniature Dutch houses which are real copies of what can be found in Zaandam and other Dutch heritage villages.

A square rigged ship is being installed.  ……………

With all the Art being installed, very nice and sometimes unusual art, I was getting worried about nothing being nautical. But today installation was in progress with a fusion between nautical and music. A sailing ship in the form of a musical instrument.  It is being placed in the lobby of the forward staircase on deck 9.

………………..Until you look at the side and you see it is a square rigged Violin or Cello.

With the ship being in the delivering process it is very hard to walk around. Everywhere areas are being closed off with Fire Screen doors, caution tape and cardboard. This makes it a puzzle to get from A to B and even more difficult to take some nice photos. Tomorrow should be better.

Another dry day to enjoy but it was overcast so it felt as a very chilly day in March. Last night we had another shipyard initiated Black Out with further tests to conduct by simulating an emergency. Once again we were booted off the ship as they did not want to have anybody walking through the ship while the closing of the fire screen doors was in progress.

Then today they locked off the outside decks as they wanted to sand down these decks and square everything away. Not that it mattered much to us as everybody was bogged down in training or in paper work for completing the ship. When not so occupied it was back to cleaning and delivering materials to the various locations again. Today many of the chairs came on board, thus far stored in the warehouse ashore.

Entrance to the Ships Recycling Centre.

Apart from “Above Decks” (Main deck and higher) below decks everything is progressing as well and today enough cabling had been removed for me to walk around without a Safety Helmet. One of the areas which has been delivered is the Recycling Centre or as we normally call it: the garbage room. It goes in as garbage and what comes out are recyclables.  In this area we can find, two incinerators for burning food waste and non-recyclable carton. Two shredders (to break up glass), densifiers (to squeeze plastic into small bales), compactors (to turn tin cans in to small aluminum bricks) and compactors (to reduce the volume of any item which cannot be processed in any other way). Dry carton is folded and flattened and then put on pallets for off loading. Glass is shredded into small pieces and collected in large canvas bags (4 x 4 x 4 ft.) and also given ashore.  What can be burned goes into incinerators and then we give ashore the ash for further processing. I do not know what they exactly do with this ash but there is a usage for it.   For all the recyclables we receive money and that money goes into the crew fund for activities.

Wet food rests and carton go into a drying tank = see the silver top = and is then later incinerated.

I finally managed to get into the Tamarind Restaurant which was not cluttered today with boxes or with technical inspections going on. Contrary to the Signature Class, the Tamarind on the Koningsdam is located looking aft over the Sea View Deck instead of over the Dome /Lido Deck.  Also a few changes have been made to the interior.

Sb. side Tamarind. In the background the Sushi Bar.

The separate bar, The Den, has been removed and merged into the Tamarind. On the Signature Class this bar was really under used and has now been reborn into a smaller bar in the Sb. Aft corner.  Opposite is a Sushi Bar for those guests who do not want the full Tamarind Menu but just Sushi. The centre of the area is then the Tamarind, surrounded by black lattice so it gives a private dining feeling.

When you enter the Tamarind you will be greeted by two Asian Lions. Who at the moment fully in accordance with the safety rules of the yard, wear a safety helmet.

In the Crows nest on Deck 12, Observation Deck, they have now removed the carpet coverings and are placing the furniture. The area is still setup in the same way as on the other ships. Captains Corner on the portside, the Crowsnest itself and bar in the centre and the Library and Internet Café on the starboard side.

Captain’s corner is receiving its furniture.

What is different: there is a staircase which goes from in the inside of the Crowsnest starboard sitting area to Deck 14, the sky deck.  It looks a bit quirky but they have hidden this staircase inside a Silver Egg. Rather different than what we are used to but it does forms a sort of focus to the area while at the same time hiding an ugly series of steps.

This Elephant can be found while walking up the staircase to the Tamarind.

The installing of the Art carries on day and night as the ship will be full of paintings and pictures and now they have also started with installing little sculptures. These will grace the centres of the Elevators Lobbies on the various decks and will break up the space in a nice way.  Again the name plates have not been installed yet and until that time it will be guessing what the artist was really meaning but that does not make it less fascinating to look at.

Small sculptures adorn the Elevator Lobbies.

Another day in our Venetian Paradise with sunny skies and not too warm weather. The ship is now so far with cleaning up that we now have the requirement from the shipyard to wear shoe covering when walking around. Security at the gangway is handing out shoe sleeves with the aim to keep the ship as clean as possible.  Thus we now wear a helmet to protect ourselves and sleeves to protect the ship.

This will be the Coffee Bar in the Crowsnest, opposite the Library. Two front panels had been removed as they were busy with connecting the coffee machines.

Everywhere in the ship there are now huddles of crew sitting together receiving instruction and training from their supervisor about the work in their future area. There are a lot of background things which have to happen before you will get your drink served in a professional way at your table. Thus we have Training, Training and more Training.  Safety Training, Orientation Training and Service Training.

Housekeeping is still busy with supplying materials for the cabins. Yesterday I received my Lifejacket and today I became the proud owner of an ice bucket, a fruit bowl, and a vanity cover for over the bed and the luggage protection cover.  Also the Elemis soap dispensers where installed. I am now waiting for somebody to fill up my fridge and then I can start the cruise.

A French Street scene adorns the wall of the Sel de Mer Restaurant.

With the wall protective covers coming off, more and more is revealed about the interior of the various venues.  The Sel de Mer has a distinct French Theme and the menu is A La Carte (priced per item) and the courses are similar to what you will find in a French Brasserie. The food,  especially the fish, will be sourced fresh daily from local markets and thus we will see one of the chef’s go ashore every morning to see what is available in a specific port for the evenings fare. The venue is not so big and thus it will bring the intimate sphere of a French restaurant.

The wall mural in the Pinnacle Restaurant.

Yesterday I blogged about wine today a few words about coffee. No we are not going to have Starbucks on board but we have Beukenhorst. Special coffee imported from Holland for the various venues. We have regular coffee service in the Dining Room and Lido but for the Crow’s nest and for the venues of the Music Walk special coffees are available. I do not drink coffee so I have no idea but as the Dutch know everything about coffee (at least they claim so, until you speak to the Danish, they claim they know it even better) an animated discussion ensued about Starbuck versus Beukenhorst.  When I left a consensus had not been reached yet and it probably never will. The Java Café we have on the other ships is on board the Koningsdam combined with the bar in the corner of the Billboard.

A few Italian Contractors testing out the Bar stools of the Grand Dutch Cafe.

As the Dutch are big coffee drinkers, the Grand Dutch Café serves coffee as well, apart from Dutch Beer and the company expects this to be a very popular coffee-quaffing-gathering place. Today the contractors were already testing the bar. As a little it-bit of information, the colors of the Café are blue and white. Why? because the Holland America flag is blue and white. The walls have the forms of Dutch Houses to get as close to the motherland as possible.

The painters touching up the ships hull. Perfect weather at the moment to do so.

As we are coming close to the delivery, the ship is sailing in only 9 days; the outside of the ship is now being spruced up. If you look at the stern of the ship you see it is not straight but has a sort of “balcony” below the Dining Room. This is called a Duck Tail and its purpose is to reduce fuel consumption and it also helps with stability. When the ship makes speed, the stern goes down, drawn down by the Azipods. This is called Squat and then this ducktail sits on the water. Then it acts as a sort of spoiler you also see on race cars where they use it to keep the car more glued to the tarmac. They say it can add about 5 to 6% to the speed and thus reducing fuel consumption and over a whole year of sailing 5% has a considerable impact on the total fuel bill.

I call this Smoke in a Subway station but the real title will only be revealed when the ship sails and the signs are on.

I am ending again with two pieces of art.  Apart from the large pieces in the staircases, all the smaller frames have been installed now.  The art is from a great variety ranging from classical to surrealistic. Whatever you are going to think about it all, one thing is sure, the various pieces will result in a lively discussion among our guests. And that is exactly what the company tries to achieve with the Koningsdam; Guests interacting with the ship in as many ways as possible.

Today I had to explain what this was to one of our youngest crew members. She had even heard about Cassette Tapes.