Hello Holland America fans,
My Lord and Master and I had decided some time ago to go on a Holland America Line cruise as retired as we are. It sounds like a REAL bus-mans holiday going back to HAL but we thought we had a good excuse. Holland America has decided to really push for the English market and now has come up with the idea of offering cruises from the UK as part of the same cruises departing from Rotterdam.
The way it works is as follows. The official cruise runs from Rotterdam to Rotterdam but for cruises going around the UK, the British (and maybe also Americans) have the option to join in Dover UK and end the cruise in Dover. The rest of the guests, American & Dutch then end the cruise in Rotterdam. Way back in the grey mists of time (1996) Holland America tried the same with cruises to the Far East, starting in Rotterdam with the Rotterdam VI and then calling at Southampton to pick up 400 British. That was not an universal success as the British like a few small things to make them feel at home (such as a tea kettle in the cabin) and Seattle Management did not really comprehend that. So maybe that will go better now.
I had a few discussions with the Vice President Sales in Europe and he dropped the penny in Seattle. So now we want to see if it works better this time. I really hope os as Holland America could be a wonderful program for the British who might find Cunard too snobbish and “stuck in the mud”, Fred Olsen too sedate and P &O too mainstream. Celebrity and MSC are around as well and are doing very well.
Once we had decided on the cruise, something else popped up. Next year, 2026, the old Head Office in Rotterdam, now hotel New York, will exist for 125 years so a company called Angle TV wanted to make a documentary about it for the Dutch market. Somehow they found out that I know a few things about the history of the company and I was contacted with the request to be part of it. The initial idea was for me to come to Rotterdam and share my “pearls of wisdom”. Instead of doing that I proposed the idea how about doing it on the day the Nieuw Statendam is in Rotterdam ? Holland America graciously consented to have the film team on board to document the arrival in Rotterdam and then we can spend the day doing the interviews and shooting the sights. That will be coming Sunday,
As My Lord and Master bought a “have it all package” which includes WIFI,, I will have the option to upload my observations each day and hence this preliminary post to set “the scene” as movie people call it.
Driving from Cromer England to Dover is about 150 miles but it does not go as fast as on the wide ranging roads of the USA. Our motorways are constantly under repair and thus slow downs and holds up when you are on them are frequent. And around London the capacity of the roads is not enough and the alternatives (railways) are not a real option. Then from Cromer to get to a motorway means first 2 hours of small roads, where the presence of “Farmer John” on the roads means that the average speed is not that fast and the frequent round-a-bouts take care of the rest. Another challenge is the River Thames crossing at Dartford. London has a ring road called the M 25 and if you want to go from the North of England to the South follows the east coast side, you have to cross at Dartford. Southbound it means going over the bridge, and northbound it means going through a tunnel. Both were designed without thinking about “future needs” and thus the capacity is not enough anymore. The bridge alone sees 160,000 vehicles a day. We were lucky today, it was very busy but the traffic flowed slowly but steadily. This is a toll crossing and they note your license plate when crossing. You can pay in advance, or within 24 hrs. afterwards. We have opened up an account long time ago and keep some money in it, so we will never be caught out, if we suddenly have to take that route. The other option is to go all the way around London, on the Heathrow airport side, but that takes an extra 90 minutes. (if there are no traffic jams or collisions)
This is the Queen Elizabeth II bridge. Looking at the traffic, it seems that the photo was taken on a quiet day sometime in the past. The pipes sticking up under the bridge top are part of the ventilation system of the tunnel for traffic going the other way.
In the end the 150 miles took us 4 hours to cover. To do that on the day of sailing is taking a gamble with the traffic and hence we go the day before and book a hotel with the option to leave the car behind there for 14 days. Tomorrow we will have a short taxi ride to Dover port where the Nieuw Statendam should be waiting with behind her the Seabourn Ovation. As we all know Seabourn is a subsidiary of HAL and thus it will be a company day. Weather forecast: 25oC inland, 21oC at the coast, and no rain. So all is well in the world.
