16 Nov. 2018; Nieuw Statendam Building, 14 days to go.

The Nieuw Statendam by night. Please note the blue box on the side of the ship. This is the staircase which curves on the outside of the ship from deck 10 Tamarind down to deck 09 Lido. At night the shape and form is accentuated in various colors. when I came by it was blue but I have also seen pink.

According to the announcement this morning by our Human Resources Manager we now have 932 of our core crew on board and 11 more coming. The rest that makes us go to and over the 1000 are extras who do specialized things or offer support, and will eventually fade away when it comes closer to sailing time or after the shakedown cruise. We are now entering the stage of “worrying”. Not that the ship will not be finished but, worry if all the materials will arrive on time. All those materials, stores and supplies which can only be loaded at the last minute. Everything has been organized but we know how pallets get delayed, customs has a weekend off, or we lose a complete truck. I have experienced it a few times in the past that a truck went to a different port or arrived the day after the ship had sailed; it can all happen. Ashore the building will still be there if there is a delay but……………a ship it sails………………….

The Hot Galley side of the Galley on Deck 2.

Before it was only the Crew kitchen in use for producing our warm food, now the kitchen brigade has started to test all the galley equipment. With it comes the training process of how to ensure a smooth operation between cooking, dishing up and delivering. To the untrained eye, a kitchen during main course serving looks a place of mayhem with all the running and the shouting. But it is all carefully choreographed. We have a core of 400 Koningsdam crew on board but the rest has to get into the groove and that also means the Galley Team. A fully operational galley is a sort of complicated dance which ensures that 700 meals go out on short notice; with all the correct ingredients and …………….. on a clean serving plate. Thus all the section cooks have to be coordinated to bring each item to the hot counter but also the blue boys who wash the dishes and continuously supply clean crockery and cutlery to make it all possible. Hence, training, training and more training.

The Pinnacle Team getting instruction.

But finally the ship is starting to look like a Holland America Line ship as the Florists have arrived with the flowers, trees and shrubs. My wife and I make regular cruises with the competition and apart from differences in the product there is always one big thing that we notice: No flowers or plants. You walk through the ship and you think there is something missing and then it finally hits you: NO flowers. Holland America really stands out with having this focus on real greenery and color in the ship and hopefully we will continue to do this for a long, long, time. It makes such a difference. So sacks of potting ground and large plants were all loaded onto the Lido Deck (another good thing about having dry weather) and the first bits and pieces are being distributed over the ship. And that can now be done as more and more areas are complete or so near completion that a big pot with plants is not in the way of the work.

Holland America has a contract with a Dutch Company which supplies or oversees the supply and delivery of flowers and greenery to the ships. They also train the florists we have on board our ships.

Thus today they were ready to set the table in the Pinnacle restaurant as tonight the first test will take place to see how everything works and to get the routine going. The guinea pigs will be the officers from various departments with most tables occupied. Although it will be food only; the yard does not allow alcohol onboard the ship. So no toast to the good ship Nieuw Statendam while enjoying the first specialty dinner on board. But then sacrifices have to be made for the good cause. Eventually all the restaurants will be tested in this way, to ensure all is working before the ship comes into operation.

The Pinnacle Restaurant ready to roll.

The next restaurant will probably be the Sel de Mer next to the Pinnacle.  The Tamarind is not yet finished as they are now busy with the outside part. The idea is that there will also be an open air section, a sort of restaurant terrace. How it exactly will work still needs to be revealed but on each side of the horseshoe legs behind the Tamarind a section has been closed in and in/out doors to the Tamarind have been constructed. So we will have “Sate al Fresco” coming to the ship.

The Tamarind Outside door site being constructed. This is the starboard wing. The cables protruding from the deck are for the light fixtures.

In the meantime the installing of the art continues with more and more bare walls and open spaces being filled in. Today a mystery piece of art. Installed in the elevator landing on deck 9 outside the Green House Spa. What is inside will be revealed in the near future.

Tomorrow is another day, and it will be another dry day, chilly and windy, but as the sun is scheduled to shine all day it should not be too bad.

It is a statue. But what sort of statue will be find behind the wrapping? A conventional one as often found near Spa’s or something more quirky ?