cruzingnut

15 hours ago, ski ww said:

We were lucky enough to do two different segments of a world cruise on the Amsterdam. Singapore to Vancouver and two years later Singapore to Ft Lauderdale. 

 

You beat me to it!  I was thinking of doing this too but I need to dig through all my pictures to find these, lol!  Our first one was actually the 2010 "Wrong Way" World Cruise.  Remember that?  Sailing east the whole way around....that was rough with loosing hours all the time instead of gaining...  I have so much digging to do to get more stuff to share on here.

Linda R.

3 hours ago, Fredspak said:

Perhaps not.  All things must come to an end, and this was not totally unexpected.  At least Capt. Mercer was able to command her last official voyage, and they sort of retired together.  And we can have the distinction of being Amsterdam's last paying passengers.  What a trip!

Oh, he was...most definitely, he was quite shocked actually.

Linda R.

I'm incredibly sad that our beloved Amsterdam has been sold.  I knew some of the ships would go but not her.  So, I know that many of us have fabulous memories of cruises on the Amsterdam so please share them here. 

Our first time sailing on the Amsterdam was a trans Atlantic from Ft. Lauderdale to Civitavecchia, Italy.  I think it was a 16 day sailing and was our longest at the time.  I'd also never been to Europe (I wouldn't fly) so it was the perfect way to get there.  We absolutely loved the cruise; the elegance, the coffee bar (free at the time, located outside the Wajang Theater), the after dinner coffee's in the Explorers Lounge (also free). 

Since that cruise (our second on HAL), we've never stopped and have racked up 935 (actual) days on the Amsterdam alone.  Needless to say, she was our home away from home and the crew that we got to know well over the years became our extended family.  We will sorely miss her. 

Linda R.

ms. Amsterdam at anchor off Dravuni Island, Tales of the Pacific 11/20/19.

8 hours ago, AlanF65 said:

If its a private group on Facebook you can't cross post to non private sites, the only work around is a screenshot and make sure there is not private info like real names etc.

 

A-

Maybe it got hidden because I initially tried putting a link into it.  I've never seen that before and I posted from here, not from anywhere else.

Linda R.

I posted and it ended up being "hidden" and I have no idea why it did that?  Here is the link to it.  If anyone knows how to unhide stuff, please let me know.

Linda R.

Just now, Gloria sunrise said:

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer me.  So you are saying there is a Facebook roll call?  I have gone to roll calls and that is where I read your posting about the Gulf Bridge bringing our luggage back.  But I wondered where that information came from and some one said 2020 World Cruise Amsterdam HAL on Facebook but all I found there were ads promoting HAL.

No, there isn't a roll call on Facebook.  On Facebook there is a group of us that were on this years World Cruise.  That group was started when we all had to leave the ship in March in Australia and is limited to those passengers that were actually on the World Cruise.  We made it so that we could keep in touch with each other.  I posted the information about the container ship bringing our luggage back and I had gotten the information from our Captain that we had on that cruise. 

Linda R.

9 hours ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

 

They are contractors similar, but in a lot less numbers, to what you would see in a dry-docking situation

That's what I figured @Copper10-8, thanks for the info!  I'm hoping that my favorite ship and home away from home will survive this "thinning of the cruise ship herd".  

Linda R.

3 hours ago, Gloria sunrise said:

And how do you do that or is it limited?

Gloria, the Facebook group is for the passengers who were on this years world cruise.  If you look on here (Cruise Critic Roll Calls) and find the Roll Call for that cruise, you'll see more information if you are interested. 

Linda R.

1 minute ago, ATC said:

Since Amsterdam, Maasdam, Rotterdam and Veendam are all sailing for Suez/Eastern Med,

July 17-24 perhaps there is a buyer there.

Amsterdam picked up 25 "engineers" in Singapore along with some new crew.  They are all in quarantine for 14 days.  Even though this info was worded as engineers, I'm wondering if they are contractors that will begin some work that is due since she was supposed to go to dry dock on May 12th this year.  Layup for some of our ships was supposed to be Malaysia but there were "issues" and the location was changed to Cyprus.

Linda R.

2 hours ago, Storylady said:

I read that on FB. I mentioned Haifa as that is what was listed as next stop after leaving Singapore on a ship tracker website. I do wonder what happened to change the Amsterdam’s anchorage from Port Klang to Cyprus? Someone suggested, it was easier to ship crew home to Europe. Do you happen to know?

 

The Amsterdam was actually scheduled to lay up in Labuan, Malaysia.  The Maasdam was there but left and headed to Singapore.  Apparently, there were "issues" of some sort with that location so layup was changed to Cyprus. 

Linda R.

The Amsterdam has left Singapore and is headed to the Suez Canal, as @Copper10-8 said.  I've been keeping in touch with one of the waiters still on board (still within his contract time).  They are not quarantined in cabins, again, as copper said, they are out and about on the ship.  My waiter posted pictures of the barge (shown in a previous post) that was alongside the Amsterdam that had containers on it, both for offloading supplies and for taking on our luggage.  Apparently, there are 8 containers for all our luggage and he also posted this picture of tugs taking the barge, with containers, away from the Amsterdam.  Our luggage is indeed, finally off the ship.  As busy as Seattle is, I'm sure that we will get our next luggage update once the containers are onboard whatever cargo ship will be bringing them to the US.    Photo courtesy of Ali Mansur.

Linda R.

2 hours ago, REOVA said:

Does anyone know what the passenger ship in front of the Amsterdam is? Its between the cruise ship and tender 10. 

These "ships" show up and then disappear...then show up again.  I think they are a "ghost" of the other ships.  They are too close to be an actual ship and I've seen them before in Manila Bay.  Usually I see them for a short time after one of the ships pulls into it's anchorage spot but then it disappears.  At this anchorage is the first time I've seen them "show up" and then "go away" and then "show up" again.  Odd....

Linda R.

Amsterdam is now at the achorage off Singapore.  Will be interesting to see if our luggage gets offloaded here.  I think it's all still a crapshoot as things keep changing.  We can only hope!  The arrow in the picture is pointing to the Amsterdam.  The other blue dot next to her is the Westerdam.

4 minutes ago, socalcruisers2 said:

Did anyone leave the heavy battery charger "gift", we all received on the World Cruise, in their luggage on the ship?

 

I'm wondering if its lithium battery will cause a problem with whomever is contracted to transport our luggage back to the states.

 

For that matter, I'm wondering how customs will feel about letting all this unaccompanied luggage into the country.

 

Your thoughts.

I can't imagine any of us dragging that home in our carry ons....    But, this kind of thing gets shipped all over the place all the time.   I imagine that they were included in one of the containers that we picked up in one of the various ports we got supplies in.   Our gifts were scheduled along the way so that's how they had to have been sent.

8 minutes ago, rafinmd said:

It was a strange to uncomfortable situation.  The guy had top put a swab pretty well up my nose and twist it around for 10 seconds.  I appreciated that once it was in place he counted off 2..4..6..8..10 so I had a good sense of the end being near.

 

Roy

I had this too before eye surgery.  Oh, my, it was nasty!  I had no idea it would not only feel like that but that it would be up BOTH nostrils!  Not to scare anyone....(maybe it's different for others) but think "wire bottle brush"....

Thanks for the daily updates!  I lurk and don't usually comment but had to today. 👃

Linda R.

1 minute ago, cccole said:

Cruzingnut, Thank you so much.  That totally explains it.  And also, thank you for your other informative posts on this thread.  What a journey for the Amsterdam.  Cherie

Thank you Cherie, that's so sweet of you!  Yes, it's been quite the journey for my favorite ship.  Can't believe it's been just over 3 months now since we left her in Australia....😪

Linda R.

6 hours ago, cccole said:

The Amsterdam off-loaded non-essential Indonesian employees on May 6 in Jakarta (pg 14, posts 339-346) before heading to Manila.   Can anyone tell me why they are heading back to Jakarta instead of going to Malaysia?  Were all of the Indonesian employees eligible to leave not given a ride to shore?  Please point me to the posts that may have already been made that answer my question.  I have really enjoyed reading the saga of the Amsterdam which was supplemented by Captain Jonathan's blog.  Thanks for any help to clear my confusion.    Cherie  

The Amsterdam has gathered a number of Indonesians from some of the (as of Wed.) 29 ships in Manila harbor and is taking them to Jakarta for repatriation.  After that?  Who knows....

Linda R.

24 minutes ago, dragonfly33478 said:

More than one Hal publicly for sale...

 

2 ND one. Is $120 million

.located in phillipines..

 

I suspect more than 2 available if a buyer is found for particular vessels

 

Perhaps even the brand

 

Ymmv

Veendam and Maasdam have been for sale for a couple years now I think.  This one listed looks like the Volendam.  As I said, some of the pictures are from other ships but from the atrium pictures I was able to pin it down to the Volendam.  I'm really, really hoping that the Amsterdam doesn't go on the chopping block.  She's my favorite ship and I've spent just shy of 3 years on her all together. 

20 minutes ago, dragonfly33478 said:

https://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1999/cruise-ship--1-432-1-718-passengers-3683905/

 

Just want luggage back before they decide to sell or scrap

Thankfully, this ship is NOT the Amsterdam.  Amsterdam was built in 2000 and has the double funnels.  I did look through the pictures and they are from different ships.

41 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

Just learned that Nieuw A received permission to disembark/repat 252 Filipino crew today! Happy Campers! 🙂

...and that would explain why I'm seeing 6 N.A. tenders in the water!  Yahoooo!  Good for them!  At least they won't have to be in quarantine for 3 weeks like they did on the Amsterdam.

1 minute ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

They are waiting for permission from the locals and they are not just from India and Thailand

That's why I said (at least) from those two places.  It's crazy that it's taking so long to get permission but maybe it's because there are just soooo many ships there all wanting to do the same thing?  Heaven knows that the crew on the Amsterdam doen't have the virus...we never had it on the ship, all the way from the beginning of this mess.

Linda R.

Amsterdam has plenty of HAL company in Manila Harbor.  Along with the Noordam, Volendam, Nieuw Amsterdam, the Rotterdam sailed in not long ago.  Last I heard was that Amsterdam still has crew from India and Thailand (at least) that need to get home.  Maybe they are waiting for flights from Manila? 

Linda R.

Thanks @Copper10-8 for that video.  It was great and a welcomed sound for sure!  I keep watching the Amsterdam on the ship tracker wishing that she'd go somewhere but know there are still crew from other parts of the world on her waiting to get off.

Linda R.

I'm wondering if the reason why we haven't gotten this (Caribbean B2B on N. Statendam Nov/Dec '20) is because they don't expect to be cruising by then.  It's looking more and more that cruising won't begin much before next year what with the most recent rash of cancellations. 

Linda R.

Just an FYI Rich, the Eurodam changed plans and went to Bali first.  They were there yesterday and dropped 336 Indonesians off and are now headed to Jakarta.  I swear, they must have skidded in sideways, dumped them off and took off again.  Well, relatively speaking thats what it looked like as I saw them pull in last nite my time (ET) and this morning they are off and the ship is away. 

Thanks for the daily reports!! 😎

Linda R.