Another day in the shipyard and one that was not windy but still chilly even with the sun coming through. The finishing-off of all the areas continues and we are talking now about the finishing touches. Signs are appearing, the shop crew is starting to install their merchandise in the shops and everybody is running around with checklists to see what is still missing or what still needs attention. You cannot make a turn around the corner without you are run over by yet another trolley stacked with goodies, all bound now for a final destination. There is really the feeling in the air that the ship is progressing according plan and that things are looking well.

And there it is…………………….. official. Our new venue The Rolling Stone Rock Room.

In the meantime the drills continue as the 1000 crew we have on board now all have to learn to march to the same tune. In the same way as a brass band. Everybody can play an instrument but with no drilling and rehearsing they will not play in tune. And so it is with us as well. Every crew member is individually trained and certified but now they have put in practice what they know in a structured system and as a team……………. A rather big team.

The full dining room team ready and waiting for the invasion.

Who are also rehearsing are the restaurants and to the delight of all the crew, everybody was invited to dine in the dining room last night. And that is for a regular crew member a very big thing. Special food and on top of that ……………being served. A 1000 do not fit at the same time so it had to be staggered but at 1700 hrs. last night when the doors opened there were already a lot of very eager campers waiting outside. Scheduled and not scheduled. And a very good time was had by all. It is I suppose a very good way to test the flow from dining room to galley for pick up and a quick return with hot food. You can train the whole flow several times but you can only see if it works well when running under pressure.

The dining room stewards ready to escort all the crew to the appointed tables. But that did not work, everybody made a bee line for the large tables as this experience was to be shared with as many friends as possible.

With the introduction of the new ship, the company has also taken the chance to renew the menus and the Tamarind, our Far Eastern Fusion restaurant, has some exciting items on the menu. Also they are testing the systems. Last night yours truly acted as a willing tester with about 30 others and then night after night that number will slowly increase until a full rotation is achieved.

A menu is nice but quite a few groups were deeply considering to order the whole menu. Please note the glasses and the plates also a new design.

With all the cabins delivered, the Beverage Department has started with filling the mini bars in the ship. On the smaller ships not every cabin has a fridge/mini bar but here we have and thus every cabin has to get the standard supply of Sodas, Water and Alcohol. The alcohol / beer and mini bottles will come later as Italian Customs is quite hot on this and thus we received a little note. Not to touch anything as customs will verify. Alcohol is not allowed in the shipyard and everybody wants to avoid the situation of suddenly having a lot of very happy Yard workers in the ship. Plus our alcohol is duty free and that is another thing that a dedicated Customs Officer does not like.

The end of the music walk along the Club Orange. Once the protective plastic is gone it is complete and a nice place to see the world go by.

Apart from the mini bar, my the soap dispensers in the shower have now been filled up, I am the proud owner of a Holland America shower cap, which I really need with my hairdo and my balcony furniture has been enriched with a small round table. But still more to come. Today no development in regards to my balcony window so either they are thinking or the opposing parties have come to an agreement.

This is also art. A skillfully made up dish in the Tamarind. This is called Pan Nang and is a chicken curry dish but then curry done the Malay way. Served with sticky rice and a very good Jasmin tea.

More art is being installed, in the corridors and in the staircases but I am still waiting for the final last big pieces in the public rooms and lobby’s. This should happen in the next few days but as everybody is now walking around with furniture it is indeed wise to wait. All the furniture in the Grand Dutch Café has arrived. The easy chairs in the Music Walk outside the Club Orange are in position and the smaller chairs for the crows nest. With nine days to go, things are looking good.

Tomorrow should a similar day as today, chilly, with some sunshine, but most of all dry.

During the night we had a cold front coming over with a shower and this morning we woke up to a real late autumn day. Overcast, gloomy and windy. But we have only 10 days to go so we will survive. Then the ship will move from the yard to the Venice cruise terminal and the next day our first cruise will start. Everybody is really looking forward to it. As with every (dry) dock, the crew likes it for a few days but then all the little chores are done and they want to go back to their real jobs: giving the guests a wonderful cruise. Although we are up to full crew complement already, still more crew members are arriving to help out with the initial startup and all the extra activities that this will bring. The total now stands at 973 crew + guest entertainers + not counted Hal-subcontractors and we are still expecting 30 more crew. So we will go well over the 1000 today if they are show up.

The Rolling Stones Rock room. It does not look different from the Koningsdam except that the Bar (not visible) has been remodeled.

More and more areas are being delivered and today there was no more work done on Deck 2 with on the portside Billboard on Board and on the starboard side the Rock Room. And so it goes for most of the ship. The Crows nest is completed apart from the installing of all the interactive TV’s and then all the furniture can be brought in. The crew is really roaring to go but can only take over an area when it is completely finished. Thus a lot of time is spent on cleaning, meetings, trainings, and standing in line. The latter when things have to be issued or keys are needed.

Waiting for keys. Because security is a top priority, this is a bit of a tedious affair as each card is printed in the presence of the owner so the owner knows there is only one and the Security Officer is certain the key went directly to the correct person.

It is not short of amazing what a cruise ship carries on board while cruising and what is needed to comply with the Rules and Regulations. As one small item, today the sailors were busy with loading life jackets in the tenders. Although I call them sailors as they belong to the deck department, their official title is Life Saving Attendants. These are sailors who are specialized in maintaining all the life boat equipment. A never ending job as all this equipment is constantly exposed to the salt from the sea. If it is up to them the ship would have a downpour each morning around sunrise to keep all the salt off. So they did not mind the rain from this very early morning at all. The other job they have is helping out with the rigging of the gangways and the tender platforms. So one of these guys is always the first person ashore in whatever port we visit.

The L.S.A’s  busy with loading life jackets. There are 6 life jackets in a box and thus the box is not heavy to pull up. It just takes a lot of boxes for each tender.

Life jackets are required in the tenders for the tender part of the boat. First and foremost tenders are lifeboats and can carry 150 guests. If used as such. The guests will have their own life jackets but when in use as a tender of course not. Because Tenders are lifeboats it is not easy to sink them, even when filled with water but still, we need life jackets as people can fall over board or might have to wade through deep water back to the shore if a tender would go aground. Our tender capacity is 150 when in use as a lifeboat and 120 when in use as a Tender. The latter number is smaller as guests will carry bags and shopping with them so we need a bit more space. When we conduct regular tender service we never go over the 100. But 120 is on the certificate and thus we need 120 adult life jackets on board. The law also prescribes that another 10% of children’s life jackets shall be on board and thus each tender (and we have 6 of them) received 130 life jackets.

The distribution of art also slowly continues but we still have a few pedestals empty in the main staircases where there is still too much traffic going on. They have now started hanging art in the various guest corridors as most cabins have been delivered and also the small repairs have been completed. Not everything is completed; as the story with my window still continues. This morning it was inspected by a team that said YES, followed by very painful looking gentleman on the balcony who clearly said NO. If this continues like this, it could be turned into a Soap Opera called “Finestra, Finestra”.

Tomorrow the clouds are expected to disappear and the wind to abate. The sun will lift the average temperature by a few degrees but it is still not flip-flop weather.

This installation is quite intriguing. In front of this display case is a vertical plank with a hole. If you look through the hole or stick the camera through it you get this view. A very famous inhabitant of Brussels showing his disdain for a  gentleman with a bowler hat.

However when you look at the side it looks more like a fruit plate.

Another dry and sunny day but it is getting chillier and chillier as the temperature keeps dropping. Even in the sun it was not that great if you were standing still. The crew who ventured out last night to Venice and Mestre were not happy campers as most of them were not dressed for the weather. Quite a few still have a hard time to get their head around the fact that Venice is not in the tropics. At least not in the late autumn and winter.

With a happy Sunday behind them, the yard people re-appeared on the ship again and with them the loud conversations and the shouting in the corridors. Their numbers continue to dwindle as more work is finished. Still some minor challenges remain. A few days ago I received a new balcony window, this morning there was a technician scratching at the seals on the outside and later in the morning a whole committee inspected the window and declared it not good enough. They obviously did not like his scratching. So now we wait for the next development.

First photo of our Lido open for business. With no guests around yet, it was almost one on one service so I felt quite privileged.

But those are minor things and part of delivering a large and complicated ship. Today the Lido opened for the first time for lunch and officers and staff were there to test and see if they could collect food faster than the Lido Galley could replenish. Then tomorrow the dining room will be open for breakfast and dinner to get the routine going there as well. With the shakedown cruise there will be a larger number of Guests on board and thus the working pressure on all the venues can be increased step by step until we get the paying guests who can then expect the regular Holland America level of service.

Deliveries to all venues in the ship continue as more and more space is handed over by the shipyard to the ship. Today the storing of the Bo ‘sun store went full pelt and the same was going on downstairs in the vast storage spaces of the Engine Room. My cabin was adorned with fancy pillows (those big ones more for show than use) and the bathroom received its soap dispensers in the shower. Nothing in it yet, it goes step by step. Also the lifejackets arrived and a new remote control. The original one was removed (the one with all the buttons) and replaced by the simple hotel version which you can also operate without first having to obtain a degree in TV-onics.

The complete group of the MAT present. As you can see there are quite a few but then the Nieuw Statendam is a big ship.

For the ship in general, the main focus of today was the full drill in the afternoon. We had one two days ago, yesterday was a partial drill and today we did the whole sequence again, fire, assembly, and lowering away. The Nieuw Statendam is an indoor mustering ship and thus we have a lot of teams dedicated to get the guests to where they have to go. One of the teams that is not so well known is the MAT team, or the Mobility Assist Team. Guests only see them when they come to the gangway or the tender platform. They are the crew who wear the blue vests with a wheel chair on the back. In a real emergency it can be expected that we have a number of guests on board who cannot run the marathon anymore and will thus request help. When a cruise starts we already collect information about all the guests who have a physical or mental challenge and might need support in an emergency. The MAT will then be ready to support where needed. This group assembles in the Orange Room and will be dispatched when needed to the right location. With the aid of the list, they will know the challenge and can dispatch the right number of supporting crew.

Lining up for the Crocodile line, going to the lifeboats. For those who can not walk the stairs, there are exists on ground level in the World Stage, Emergency Elevators and the MAT to help.

The other thing is, when you are at your muster location, you have to get from there to your lifeboat. To ensure that is happening in an orderly way, we use the “crocodile lineup” also known as a “Conga line”. However before you are ready to teach and help the guests to do this, you have to know yourself what it is as not every crewmember knows what a crocodile line is. Thus we also practice that. We will continue to exercise all the evolutions in the drill sequence until everybody can dream his or her duty and can react in a flash.

For the weather it will remain cold, windy but dry.

The daily piece of art. The wall covering in the Sel de Mer has appeared. On the Koningsdam it is a Parisian scene by Lautrec and I assume this is also by an impressionist but I do not know his name.

The wall decoration in the Sel de Mer has appeared. As the art on the ship does not come with name tags, I have no idea who the painter might be.

Life continued here in Marghera on a sunny but chilly day. The biggest group working was the crew itself and the yard’s painting department who were definitely taking advantage of the dry weather. Good for us as well as with a deadline of the delivery looming, painting would have continued regardless if it would have been raining or not.  Thus our Bo ‘sun is a happy man as he will not have to send his teams out to redo what has been affected by rain.  As per this morning’s announcement we now have 950 crew on board with 7 more regulars to join, so we are more or less complete. For the rest we have about a 100 extra’s on board, who come and go depending on what their task is here.

Stewards sorting out the cutlery, crockery, napkins and unpacking coffee pots.

With more and more area’s seeing final delivery we now have the Main Dining room in full swing with setting up. Last night there was the first serving test with yet again the officers as guinea pigs so the stewards could get just to the fastest routes and the routine of getting in and out of the Galley. Plastic is still lying over the chairs but then there is still a lot of coverall traffic around. Chairs have arrived in the Canaletto and the Sel de Mer is now fully set with cutlery and crockery on the table. The Grand Dutch Café still has some minor things to deal with (the little Dutch houses have disappeared again so all is not well there yet) but the GDC team is already testing the pantry with cooking pancakes and the displays on the Bar are being put in place. Also the Lido is nearing completion, the crew is setting up the various work stations and if all goes well, we will have lunch there tomorrow which will make it easier for a lot of people. At the moment we are using the Petty Officers Mess and Dirty Officers Mess but those venues are too small to accommodate everybody if they are all arriving at the same time. Work in the Billboard on Board and the Rock Room is almost finished and the same goes for the Queens Lounge which is now officially called The BB King Jazz Club. So things are looking well and with 12 days to go everybody is in a good mood.

The Food and Beverage Team getting to grips with the details of the GDC operation.

Because the ship is getting cleaner and cleaner and is carpeted now everywhere the yard has started to hand out shoe covers to stop the outside dirt from getting into the carpets. There are walkways everywhere made up from sticky plastic but some contractors have to work on carpeted areas and not everybody seems to be able to walk in a straight line, even if the “plastic path” is 2 feet wide. The security guard at the entrance to the ship, where we scan our yard ID cards, has been assigned to hand them out and advise everybody. But the supply is never enough to deal with all the traffic and so the end result is a bit haphazard in its effectiveness.

A Lady in Red walking up a staircase while the Guests will do the same in the staircase this picture is hanging.

Also more art work has been hung in the various staircases. In total the ship will be enriched with 1920 pieces of art, in all shapes and sizes. What is a new theme is, that has been woven into the collection are Fashion Photos. In the middle staircase a number of Photos /pictures have appeared with Ladies in all sorts of Gowns, flowing dresses or dresses in color themes which hark back to the late 60’s when Mary Quant ruled Carnaby Street in London. On the stairs to the Tamarind there is a dress design made entirely from butterflies.  What I had hoped for and what has indeed happened, outside the entrance to the Tamarind, a variation of a Far Eastern antique has been installed. On the Koningsdam it is a sort of Buddha but then made out of one strip of winding oxidized copper and here we have what looks like a rack of small cymbals or drums. All will be revealed for closer inspection when the plastic comes off.

Staircase to the Tamarind. A dress made up from only butterflies. Maybe a subtle hint to the Opera “Madame Butterfly” which also had an Asian setting???

Tomorrow the yard will gear up again to finish what is still not completed or outstanding, the latter for the items that have been marked as incomplete, broken, not working or not acceptable. They will be helped with yet another sunny day and the temperature is supposed to drop another few degrees to 9oC / 49oF.

Today we have less than a fortnight to go and if the weather stays as it is then we can count ourselves very lucky. It is getting chilly but the sun is out and it is a very dry day. As a result the painters are focusing on outside work and are repainting and touching up on railings and bulkheads. Some of the crew are complaining bitterly about the cold weather as they were convinced that Italy has always warm weather. Yes if you watch the TV they do not show the rain or the cold wind in Venice. But the Alps are not that far away so when the wind turns to the north it can blow an icy chill down to this area. But for those of us who come from the cooler areas of the globe it was a very nice day.

The new crew is still trickling in and this morning we were advised by the Human Resources Manager that the count was up to a crew number 944 with 11 expected today. On board we know who is coming each day to the ship and what their function is, if they are regular crew, but all others can be a bit of a surprise sometimes. He/she will be on a list otherwise the security guards at the Gate will get nervous but it is not always clear what each person will be doing on board as they will be sent by the various specialists departments on board. So until all is revealed it is not always clear who is crew and who is not.

The crew without a specified function assemble in the crew mess. We can use these crew “as Directed” as they will be called out to help where ever they are directed to go to.

Today we had our first All Crew Drill. So 944 crew members were marching to their Emergency Duty Stations and carrying out their emergency functions. And from there to their boat and life raft stations once the General Emergency Alarms had sounded. Normally a complete drill takes about 45 minutes when going through the complete evolution. This, our first drill, took double the time as all the team members still have to become a team. Next drill will go faster and eventually we will get to the 45 minutes and then it will also have included a full fire drill and a boat lowering exercise. With nearly 400 Koningsdam crew on board the routine was already working very well and the new crew could tag along as buddies and find the correct location of reporting. They had all already been trained, but there is a great difference between being told how to do it, and then having to do it yourself.

Acting as guests. Only a few at the moment but enough to check the system out.

Those who are on board and not regular crew and are staying in guest cabins, were to act as guests and assemble in the appropriate locations according to the sign on the back of the cabin door. Thus the lounges were not full but enough “Guests” came through to test the crew on location and to see if the mustering PDA’s worked. (Electronic Scanners) There will be quite a few more drills in the coming days before we have our “exam drill” which will be observed by Lloyd’s as they will be issuing the Ships certificates on behalf of the Dutch Government, which is the Flag State of all our ships as we have our home port / registration port as Rotterdam.

While the ship is being finished off, there is still a lot of testing going on, so on occasion the lights go out and then come back on again. Sometimes everything goes out, that is a black out, but most of the time it is the non-preferential groups, which means light go out in a certain section, or the AC stops for a moment. Sometimes it takes only a few seconds, sometimes it goes on for a few minutes. If there would be a full blackout while at sea, then the main electricity supply (not for the cabins but for corridors etc.) would be back in 10 seconds as the Emergency Diesel Generator would start up.

Part of the Emergency Diesel Engine Set-Up. This is a completely self contained unit with its own fuel supply, own main switch board and own command stand.

This is for the Nieuw Statendam a 1950 KW strong Caterpillar 4 stroke diesel engine located on deck 10 amidships. Apart from dry docks I have experienced only a few full black outs in my career but it was always amazing how fast this engine would come on line and how fast the engineers then restored full power to the ship. On the old ships they had to run around and restart everything locally but now with modern technology everything can be done from the ECR. (Although an engineer will still make a round to see if it all works, so the engines have not yet made human kind redundant)

The “Bar Tables” in the Grand Dutch Café with the Dutch houses to be installed.

More art is coming on board so today a photo of the installing of the little Dutch Houses in the gully of the high bar tables in the Grand Dutch Café. This is the series of colored houses; the other table has them in white and blue.

Tomorrow calls for another sunny day with a chilly breeze from the North East. The yard will be much quieter as it is a Sunday but there will still be work going on…………… and drills of course.

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 ?

Another dry and sunny day in the yard and work progresses steadily. Final inspections are taking place and repairs and adjustments are carried out everywhere. There is a new glass window lying outside my door so somebody must have decided that there is something wrong with the balcony door and thus new glass is going in.

We now slowly see a shift in the numbers balance between yard and ship. Less and less yard workers are milling around and more and more crew. Today we reached the 950 with another 45 coming and then we should be on regular new building complement. A little bit more than over regular TOP (Table of Personnel) but we have functions doubled up. As an example we have two Hotel Directors on Board. One who handles the new building part and one who is busy with starting up the Hotel department. And so it goes for a lot of other functions. Running a ship on routine voyages is already a full day job in each function, finishing a ship and starting it up, is more than a full day’s work and hence we have extra people in various key functions.

Housekeeping sorting through all the cabin papers. Ever counted how many pieces of paper you have in your stateroom when you make a cruise? It will all be delivered to the cabins and is broken down in smaller amounts in the right quantities for each steward section.

With a lot of ventures and cabins being completed and delivered, it is time to start getting them ready for operation. Hence large groups of crew are carrying boxes and unpacking them to put the contents in the lockers already available. Plus to check………. if what is expected to be in the box………. is also really in there as that is not always the case. Anybody who ever bought anything from IKEA knows the feeling and the hope that there will a few screws too many and not too few. In between, the number of trainings is heating up. All the 900+ crew have to go through a whole cycle of familiarization as the lifeboat drill system for the Nieuw Statendam is slightly different from the Koningsdam. No changes for the guests but the routines with which the crew make it all happen to get everybody to where they have to go. With 900+ crew this is quite a complicated operation to have all the functions lined up properly and the lines of communication crystal clear. Then what is done if the regular lines of communication break down? During an emergency on a ship all sorts of things can happen and we try to plan for everything. So how does it go if the phones do not work anymore? “Who will be the Runner” and where does he/she go and when? What we train here on board for the “behind the scenes” will eventually be rolled to all the Carnival Company ships which are similar in setup. And that will have great benefit to everybody as standard stuff is always easier than having to learn a different system every time. But it has to be learned first and thus we train and train.

The Food department sorting out cutlery and crockery for Lido, Tamarind and Canaletto. Here it is unpacked, counted and assigned to the correct locker in the correct restaurant.

The art team is progressing as well. With the paintings and similar that hang on the walls it is the carpenters who work from drawings. With the “three dimensional installations” it is slightly different as they have to be installed under the exactly right angle and composition as the artist intended. Hence today the gentlemen were accompanied by a lady who ensured that the art on location also gave the right artsy impression.

The Piano Mirror. If you stand right in the middle, the string of lights are pointing towards the stairway behind you. So a sort of stairway to heaven  idea ???  The stairs behind me are not in the same color as the white side is wooden protection for everybody to use, while the carpeted  side, in brown, has been roped off. Once all the yard work is finished all the wood coverings will be removed. 

Largest piece that was installed yesterday was the Piano mirror in Deck 9 elevator lobby. I normally try to stay out of my own photos but how do you otherwise photograph a mirror? It uses some clever optical effects so when you look in the mirror, it looks like as if you are surrounded by a pathway of light.

Tomorrow will be another sunny day in the yard, so somebody in Fincantieri management must be very happy. No disruption in the work. But the wind is expected to pick up and that will make the temperatures drop by a few degrees.

Below an over view photo of the yard. The Nieuw Statendam can be seen in upper middle. The yard is located right in the middle of a industrial area and container port, connected with one long channel to the Adriatic Sea.

For those who fly KLM into Venice. The airplane is coming straight over the shipyard. Here the yard on 14 November in the early afternoon. (Photo Courtesy: Ruud van Deventer, son of old HAL Capt. H.L van Deventer)

Another dull morning with fog, but later with a bit of sunshine here in Marghera and it stayed dry and that was all the shipyard could ask for. There is major cleaning going on, on the outside, and the Sea View deck (Lido deck Aft) is finished off little bit by little bit. And for a good job you need good weather; at least dry weather. This morning the HR department announced that we had 841 crew on board and that we were expecting 42 more. So by tomorrow we should be more or less on TOP. ( Table of Personnel) More or less as there will always be a few more coming and a few leaving.  Because the Print shop has not been completed yet, the machines are there and installers are on site, we have a 08.00 hrs. Morning announcement about what can be expected – crew wise- for the day.  Crew has to go to training at various times and in various places so there is a daily reminder of not to forget and to be on time for the first induction training and to check the schedules in the mess room for the other things going on. I expect that, as same with the Koningsdam, as soon as the Print shop is ready, we will start getting little programs with the most pertinent information. Everybody has to test everything out and thus on the Koningsdam they started these little programs to get everybody into the daily routine.

Also our Captain arrived, Captain Sybe de Boer, who has only recently come from the Seabourn Odyssey. As explained in one of my previous blogs Captains, officers and crew have started to rotate through Seabourn. It is the wish of my Seattle management that I am getting myself involved with Seabourn as well so next year you might get some blogs from me from there. It might not be easy as those ships are small and they are always full so I might have to wait until somebody cancels the Owners Suite !!!  I will upload a biography of Captain de Boer in the coming days under the header of Current Captains and their Schedules, elsewhere on the blog. I have known him for a very long time, as a matter of fact he was my Chief Officer on the Noordam in 2001 and not long after he was promoted to Captain himself.

This is a lady with high combed up hair and a sailing ship on top of it. I remember that in the days of Louis IV there was a period where ladies did walk around with all sorts of things stuck on top of their hair and small ships models were one of those. So maybe the artist got the inspiration from there.

In the meantime the “Art People” made up by two carpenters from the shipyard are installing more and more art. More and more pictures, collages and other “creations” are appearing in the ship. I am using the word creations not in a negative way but simply because I do not know if you can use the word “statue” for a paper creation which looks a statue but isn’t. This is the eye catcher located on Deck 3 center elevator landing just outside the Front Desk. A statue, a display, a composition, a display, a creation, an installation none of these words really cover the context of this white paper display that is quite ingeniously made and will certain attract a lot of attention.

We have two of these showcases where day to day items have been embroidered. It cannot have been easy to do this. Just look at the pair of scissors.

And so will other display cases in the ship. To a certain extent it follows the same pattern as on the Koningsdam. There in the forward staircase they have an old Singer sewing machine on display but then transformed into a LP record player. Here we have a more modern sewing machine but now completely embroidered. Also the music team has not been forgotten. The focus point on the two level high wall outside the Club HAL kiddie’s area has been decorated with two large LP records with in its center what certainly are two great music lovers. Who says art cannot be entertaining? More to come.

Time for honoring the music fans, old and young, with records, Walkman, Smart Phone or CD player.

In the ship there are no major things going on at the moment. It is all about the finishing touches. The last two spaces that still require a lot of work, The Rolling Stone Rock Room and the Queens Lounge / BB King Jazz Club are nearing completion as well. Thus we are now entering the phase, “let’s check why it works, so it keeps working”; then check recheck and double check. And a lot of time is spend on this by all the officers. Some of the officers have been with the ship from the very beginning and they all want to deliver the best HAL ship ever.

It looks like that will be another dry day tomorrow and that is all the ship needs to indeed deliver the best ship ever. I am closing for the day with the Kitchen Departments favorite piece of art: hanging on deck 5.

I think this is an Andy Warhol Affiche. As there was a period in his life that he was into Soup. It looks like his signature on the lower left hand side.

An overcast but dry day to day so the work goes on unabated. The ship gets cleaner and cleaner by the day. The yard is cleaning up but also the crew is coming into full swing, today another “plane load” of new crew arrived. It will not be long before the complete team will be here. It also means that the trainings on board are gearing up.

Here we have the Kitchen team in action. Un-wrapping all the new plate covers that keep you food warm during transport from galley to diningroom

Apart from the induction trainings (HAL company and safety basics, which everybody gets when coming on board), the crew is now also going through the lifeboat handling training and the specific safety duties for each crew member.  Lifeboat instruction, Evacuation instruction etc. etc. Although we are loading full speed, there is still a lot material awaited and which cannot go in yet as a lot of public areas are not ready yet for us to move in full time. Although it will not be long before the furniture will start to arrive and the public rooms will start to look like a real ship.  But as open spaces make for easy cleaning and thus everybody is in full swing.

Even in the shipyard there are things to see when looking out of the window.

As you can see the ship was still missing the top and now it has arrived.

My efforts go now towards making small manuals for the training officers who will join the ship in the future.

So I am working in my cabin and running to and fro in the ship to see if everything is installed according to the drawing and what the variations are there with the Koningsdam as even sister ships are not 100% identical. Looking out of the balcony I saw a sight that you do not see every day: a complete ships funnel coming by. The top of the funnel of the Carnival Panorama arrived. Built at a shipyard nearby it arrived by barge and will be hoisted in place sometime in the future.

Why all this effort for the future? The ships are nowadays so complicated that you have to really sit down and study about how something is constructed, installed and works. We often lack that time and we have to train the crew so the ship is safe at all time. So to say,” I am turning the bible into 20 minute sermons”, so even when you are not a vicar you can still do the job. The main challenge is all the food outlets in the ship. The days that an extinguisher and a fire hose were the only tools you had and needed are long gone. Every time there is a major (cruise) ship fire, the industry comes up with an additional gadget which will make it safer again. Together with the Engine Room, the Galleys / kitchens are the most dangerous locations on board.  Our main concerns are the deep fat fryers and grills.  And there the main danger is that the flames will go into the hood and spread that way. There is always the danger of grease accumulating there. (Angelina Laura 1981) Although we also have cleaning systems in the hood to reduce the grease.

Nothing is too good for our guests. Which company buys a Van Gogh, just to hang in a staircase?  Forward Guest Staircase.

To avoid this, we have Hi-Fog everywhere. Also in the rest of the ship (including cabins) but there it works automatically as a glass bulb will burst if the temperature goes too high. A glass bulb above a frying location does not work and thus everything is/has to be manual. And thus we need to train the crew. There is Hi-fog which we can spray safely over Deep Fat fryers as a dense mist, there is CO2 up in the exhaust hood to avoid the flames from traveling upwards and then there are the manual dampers, steel covers and  shutters to close off the area. And then there is still the extinguisher, the fire blanket and the fire hose. Lots of options but everything has to be operated in the right way and in a safe way.

Quite a few landings in the staircases have rows of three or four smaller pictures next to each other.

In the meantime the shipyard carpenters have descended full speed on the staircases and have started to install the art on all the landings. As with the Koningsdam there is art everywhere and some is music related and some is considered “whimsical” At the moment the “whimsical” part is being installed. Similar in vein as on the Koningsdam but still different. I do not know if you can apply the word “beautiful” to every piece but it is certainly fascinating. There are some very creative artists out there who can dream up these ideas and then execute them in such a way that there is a sort of universal appeal.

A start has also been made by placing objects in the Elevators squares on various landings. More about that tomorrow.

Forward Guest Staircase. Is there a Van Gogh painting like this out in the world somewhere ?

I find this very clever. To select all these small items and turn them into another Van Gogh (or inspired by van Gogh) painting.

The Vincent van Gogh self portrait is made up of all sorts of small items. Items that I would say you find in children’s play rooms. The next collage (?) picture below is made up in the same way. I have placed an detailed enlargement next to it.

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Welcome Monday morning and the ship was buzzing again. Still we see less and less welders and fitters, but still lots of painters and contractors finishing off their respective public rooms. Everywhere technicians are following up on what is almost completed, or what did not work during the inspections or what needs to be tuned or touched up some more. Also the Cleaning Ladies are out in force again. While all these people are going about their regular business, the ship is slowly filling up with crew. As of this morning we are with 600 of us on board and today another 150 are being expected.  As we now have a lot of the inventory on board everybody is getting busy with un-boxing, separating materials and taking it to the cabins or the work place. My cabin collection of inventory increased today with a shoe basket. Every day is Santa Claus with something else popping up.

Housekeeping sorting out cabin amenities in the staircase.

The Fire/security/safety officers are trying to get everybody to wear safety shoes and helmets but they do not know where to start as we have the typical chicken and egg situation. The new crew can only get a hard hat and safety shoes after they have checked in but in order to check in they first have to walk through the ship, where hard hat and safety shoes are compulsory. And then there was the beautiful moment that the very tall Safety Officer was nicely told off by a very small Philipinna Lady……. that she might be able to wear a helmet tomorrow but not today as she had just washed her hair.  So he gave up, he was married I suppose and had come across a similar argument himself before. Luckily the chance of accidents has gone down enormously as the ship is not a real danger zone anymore as all the rough and tumble work has been completed.

The Cleaning Ladies are out everywhere in force. It is just hard to get them on Camera. Peculiar thing is that are only Ladies, never men. Not that I mind…..

With all the testing going on, testing the PA system is part of it, and during the last few days they have been playing music through all the cabin speakers (normal speaker in the cabin, emergency speaker in the bathroom) for most of the day. I am a great lover of the music of Queen but all day long the same CD is a bit much. This afternoon somebody changed the tape and now we have hard rock. They never seem to want to play classic music, while Beethoven’s 5^th. rocks quite good as well.

With more and more items being handed over, there is normally some sort of training involved. We are now getting closer to the handover of the lifesaving systems and thus this morning we had an explanation of how the system with the Davits work. Luckily they kept the system identical to the Koningsdam and that made it a lot easier. Our lifeboat system is of the Semi-Gravity System. Full Gravity means lifting the brake and the boat goes down. But as these boats are stored further inside the ship, we have semi-gravity. This means that we have a little hydraulic system that pushes the Davit (the arms in which the lifeboat hangs) through its dead point of gravity after which mother earth can take over.  Gravity always works. Hydraulics are mechanical and thus we need to have several backup systems to ensure that it also always works. Most cruise ships have this or a similar system nowadays. But there are variations in how to go about it and thus we need a bit of training.

The assembled deck team and some Fleet trainers, listening to the wisdom of an instructor with a very Italian accent.

A few readers asked what Club Orange was. Well this is a new thing that Holland America is starting to roll out. The location is what is currently the Culinary Arts Centre / America’s Test Kitchen and in the evening used to be the Farm to Table Dinner concept. Details will be rolled out in the coming period but it is basically a response to what the guests observe on other cruise company’s where there are more options to “pick and choose” even if there is a price tag attached to it. Suite Guests are automatically included in Club Orange but those guests who do not care about a having a suite but would like to have some of the amenities of the Suite Guests, can sign up for the Club Orange package. Further details I leave to the company, see today’s Press Release.

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As the Club Orange is a very recent development, the venue is still being delivered as the original Farm to Table Restaurant which incorporates America’s Test Kitchen. The area is finished apart from some ceiling panel work still going on.

Today was another perfect day for working on the ship, dry a little bit of sunshine and not too warm. Those who had to work on the open decks could not have had it better and those inside got the benefits as well by opening all the Emergency Exit doors to the outside deck.

Looking at the Clouds it should be more of the same tomorrow. Perfect weather for a finishing a lot of work.

How do you communicate with your team when starting up and nothing is running yet ? Meetings in the mornings and throughout the day. This is the Beverage Team meeting at 08.00 hrs. in the Ocean Bar,