What's longer than a HAL sofa? Why, it's Cruisinetta's latest ship model!

[Spinner2]

Cruisinetta, aboard the Noordam, is at it again. She writes, about her half-built model:

This ship is over 7 feet long. By far the largest I have ever built. A lot more details. Check out the railing around the aft Lido pool.

Here are the photos; first the original that she sent, and then an enlargement of the railing area so you can see the detail on the railing. More photos in the next post; this next set will give you a better idea of the length.

[Spinner2]

As Cruisinetta says, she needs every inch of her cabin space to build this ship. She's working on it right in front of the sofa, on the usual HAL coffee-table, so all of you know how big that is and you certainly know how big the sofa is. It's clear that the ship is longer than the sofa!

[Spinner2]

[Cruising-along]

Ahh, the Halraiserdam is a beauty!! Thanks a bunch Spinner.

[CowPrincess]

I love that you and she take the time to share her ships with us Thanks SO much!

[sail7seas]

Thanks for the photos, Marney. Absolutely fabulous.

[timothy998]

Based upon some prior discussions, I was hoping it'd be named the ms godverdam!

[rosegrower]

Thanks for posting the pictures! It makes me more excited that we are on her Jan 24 Noordam cruise and will be able to see Cruisinetta and her creation in person.

[timothy998]

May I ask whether you're using supplies collected onboard, save for the Elmer's which is brought along, or are you bringing the supplies with you?

[Love the beach]

Originally Posted by timothy998

Based upon some prior discussions, I was hoping it'd be named the ms godverdam!

Good one! Maybe we can convince her to name the next one that!

[CuriousJ]

This is great! I'm dying to know the "backstory" - is this something Cruisinetta does on every cruise? Just how long is she on the Noordam? It would take me YEARS to build such a model; and it wouldn't be half as detailed as this one. My only question is: where does she put her room service breakfast???

[Cruising-along]

Originally Posted by CuriousJ

This is great! I'm dying to know the "backstory" - is this something Cruisinetta does on every cruise? Just how long is she on the Noordam? It would take me YEARS to build such a model; and it wouldn't be half as detailed as this one. My only question is: where does she put her room service breakfast???

CuriousJ, she does, on almost every cruise. I'm wondering how big "our" ship will be on the Circle Hawaii cruise next April. She told me that one will be huge ---- seems this one at 7 feet is beyond gigantic!

Sorry for the OT, but since you live in Bellingham I wanted to mention how bad I feel that Whatcom Middle School is on fire. I spent a couple great years there. What a shame, the building is 106 years old.

[jtl513]

How much time does she spend on these things? Does she pre-build anything before boarding?

[Spinner2]

Cruisinetta will come on and answer questions when she has time/bandwidth, but briefly, yes--she builds them entirely on the ship from materials that she finds onboard or buys in port. Those are the rules for a shipbuilding contest, and even if there is no contest I believe Cruisinetta sticks to that--they might decide to have a contest later in the cruise. I have borrowed Elmer's from the front desk myself, so that's no problem. Much of the ship is based on soft drink cartons. Shopping bags from the onboard shops are used to cover the the base. She waterproofs with saran wrap that comes from the kitchen. Look carefully and you can usually find evidence of her absolute genius in adapting common products to her own needs. If I have details wrong, Cruisinetta will correct me!

She's been sending me photos from assorted cruises for awhile now and as far as I know the threads are all still posted. E-mail me if you want some links back to them. My address is at the bottom of my posts.

Today she's sent me a photo of the work she's done on the Crow's Nest. Below is the photo she sent, and in the next post I'll put up the blow-ups of sections of that photo, so you can see the details.



The hole that you see at the right of the photo--this is the place where she'll drop the soda cans for the part of the contest where you have to show that the ship can stay afloat with weight in/on it. How many soda cans seems to vary with each ship's rules for the contest--6 at least. Sometimes more.

[Spinner2]

Details of the front Crow's Nest portion:







Thanks for all the nice compliments; I know that Cruisinetta loves making the ships, having more people than just who's on board get to see the ships, and I really enjoy getting to post them for all of us.

[Spinner2]

Cruisinetta says that she doesn't have a lot of internet minutes left so she'll answer questions when she returns then she should have enough minutes to send the photos.


Today's photo shows the work she's done on the Sports Deck. Here's the photo and then I'll post some enlargements I made of some of its features.

[Spinner2]

Detail shots:



The "logo" you see below is a design that Cruisinetta created as the logo for this very active Roll Call group. I believe everyone printed a copy and brought it to the ship to put on their cabin doors. The group calls themselves "The Hal Raisers" and they've named their cruise "The Voyage of the Hal Raisers". That's what you see printed between the horns on the logo.

[Spinner2]

If you haven't been on one of HAL's ships, you might not know that at the very top deck there's an area for games that's covered by a large net of sorts; it's there so that your tennis ball, basketball or whatever won't go over the side of the ship. Cruisinetta has used netting that she gets from the kitchen (assorted veggies and stuff come to the ship packed in net bags) so that's probably what she used here. Notice the detail of the basketball court!

[alpal1993]

Very impressive.What does she do with the models after they are complete?Does she donate them to HAL to put on display?

[Cruisinetta]

Hello all. The Halraiserdam is finished. I just sent Spinner2 the finished pic. The comp is today at 12:30 est. We have 8 ships competing. Should be a good one. Wish the Halraiserdam luck!!