- Captain Albert's Website and Blog -

Ocean Liner History and Stories from the Sea, Past and Present. With an In Depth focus on Holland America Line

Of Days Gone By

Under this sub directory you will find a number of articles that I wrote for a cruise magazine, called the Avid Cruiser, where I started my blog in 2007.

18 Comments

  1. Via cruise-critics werd ik op Uw weblog attent gemaakt. Heel leuk en erg interessant om te lezen en zo een beetje mee te varen.
    Wij hebben met veel plezier een paar cruises gemaakt (w.o. HAL).
    Goede vaart,
    Ine

  2. Hello Captain Albert Schoonderbeek,

    I am very impressed by your daily newsletters. I know the time you have to spent on, due to update my own website. Nice to learn how it works on a cruiseship.
    Behouden vaart!!

    Harm Brink

  3. Thank you, Captain, for sharing your blog and these historical notes.
    It is the best, most interesting of its kind I have read.

    I look forward to following your future progress and adventures.
    I’m delighted you enjoyed the Atlantic crossing recently — I had exactly your reaction to the experience!

    Larry

  4. Hallo Captain Albert.

    Ja ik wil even reageren,ik heb een paar reizen met u
    gemaakt op de oude Noordam u was toen eerste Stuurman.
    Ik ben leo de Zwart oud Store Keeper Van de lijn.
    Ik vind het een leuke blog ik kijk er veel naar,ik ben laats
    nog op de Eurodam geweest pracht schip,nu captain
    ik hoop dat u stukjes blijft schrijven
    Vele groeten Leo

  5. 1974 Statendam would like to know the Doctors name?? We have a name but very hard to read. I would like to contact his family if at all possible he was very instrumental in helping us.
    Also we are very excited to see the Statendam come back we will be there in 2018. Right now we were planning a trip to Holland but called a halt to it because we wanted to invite the Doctor and his family on a cruise with us. We know its been a long time but somewhere there should be a full name you could give us. We all love HAL. we were going to put his photo in the paper but try this first. Thanks for all you can do we are just old people wanting to reunite From Maine New York California Boston here we come.

    • Good morning and thank you for reading my blog.

      I have had a look in my archive to see if I had any crew list from the 1974 period which might have given a name, but unfortunately not. however if you could send me a high quality scan then I will try to decipher the name. email: Captalbert1.@aol.com If so then step two would be to contact the old HAL crew society to see if there is anybody who would know the whereabouts of the family.

      Best regards

      Capt. Albert

      • Marilyn Crawford

        May 3, 2021 at 2:09 pm

        Dear Captain Albert
        I discovered your excellent blog only yesterday. In August 1945 my sister and I, aged 9 and 7, sailed with our mother from Southhampton to New York on M.S. Delftdyke. It was to be her last crossing before ship and crew went home to be decommisssioned after serving throughout WW2. I wrote of a few incidents in our crossing, but I would be so happy to hear any more you know about this lovely ship; that she got home safely and the crew were reunited with their long unseen, much missed families.
        I would be truly grateful if you can add anything to treasured memories of the Delftdyk,

        Marilyn

  6. Dear Captain Albert

    I am a collector of 1960s cruise ship menus. I wondered, given your experience, whether you can point me to a website where I can research what specific cruises were being sailed by certain ships on a particular day. For example, where was the Ryndam sailing from/to on 11 June 1964?

    Thank you in advance for any assistance you might be able to provide.

    Sincerely
    Anne Peters

    • Good morning,

      thank you for reading my blog.

      That is not an easy question to answer, For holland america data you can just contact me, the easy way is to use my email Captalbert1@aol.com. To answer your Ryndam question on 11 june 1964 the ship was between Le Havre and Rotterdam where it arrived on 12 jun (voyage 159). For other company’s it is a lot more difficult. Two good sites are http://www.theshipslist.com and http://www.gjenvick.com. For the rest there is lots of material uploaded in various places on the world wide web, but there is nothing really concentrated per company. But for Holland America questions please contact me and I will do my best.

      Best regards

      Capt. Albert

  7. I heard your session a couple of days ago on the Koningsdam about the history of HAL. Very interesting. Thank you for pursuit of knowledge in this area. I was happy to see a slide of the Grote Beer. My parents immigrated to Canada in the fall of 1954 when I was 3 years old on this ship. Do have more info on the Grote Beer or links that might be informative,

    Thanks
    John Vos
    Sarasota, FL

  8. Brigitte Schloss

    February 5, 2020 at 11:23 am

    Bonjour,
    J’ai récemment commencé mon arbre généalogique et en faisant des recherches, j’ai appris que mon arrière cousin Albert Schloss et son épouse ont échapper aux nazis grâce à l’obtention d’un billet sur votre bateau pour partir vivre aux Etats Unis. C’était le voyage du 13 mars 1940. Sans l’obtention de ce billet, Albert Schloss serait probablement mort dans le camp de Reuven (ou autre camp). Je tenais à vous faire part de cette anecdote. Bien cordialement.

  9. Hallo kapitein Albert
    Ik zie u blog niet meer verschijnen klopt dat is dit ivm problemen Ms Zaandam
    H.Rosmolen.

  10. I am writing a book about a trip, partially on the SS Rijsdam, in 1912, and for the sake of accuracy I am wondering about the various uses of Holland-America and Holland AMerica. The former seems to apply to the period of which I am writing but I may making an unwarranted assumption. I know in the original Dutch name there was a hyphen and would appreciate being as accurate as possible. Many thanks

    • Captain Albert

      April 16, 2020 at 7:31 pm

      thank you for reading my blog.

      But I do not know how I can help you as I do not understand your question. So please let me know what you need and I will try to be of assistance. By the way, it is ss Rijndam with a N not with a S.

      Best regards

      Capt. Albert

  11. I am looking for information on the ship Zaandam from 1930’s. We have a suitcase (we think from 1939) that has passenger stamp from the Zaandam that we found in my husband’s godmothers attic. I am looking for more information on the ship.

  12. john de ruijter

    June 3, 2020 at 8:52 pm

    Hoi, ik ben via via de naam William van Zuylen tegengekomen, heeft iets te maken gehad met de Nieuw Amsterdam II in WW 2, hij was getrouwd met een zus van mijn grootmoeder, weet u iets meer van die persoon??
    Bij voorbaat dank.

    • Captain Albert

      June 3, 2020 at 9:21 pm

      thank you for visiting my website.

      With the world and the City archives in lock down I can not check his name on the crew lists at the moment. Maybe in the autumn if things go well. Question is the spelling William correct or should it be Willem and is van Zuylen correct or should it be Van Zuilen.?

      Best regards

      Capt. Albert

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