Shipping your car on HAL?

[trubey]

Not that I doubt my sister, but she says that my parents once returned from Europe on HAL, with their car.

 

She says it was June, 1973 from Rotterdam. And she thinks the ship was the Veendam.

 

Can anyone here settle a friendly, family feud? Did HAL carry cars? susana.

[Krazy Kruizers]

I hope someone can answer your question because I am curious about this as well. We weren't into cruising yet in 1973.

 

[wwinfl91]

I don't know about the Veendam in 1973 but ships doing transatlantic runs often have space allocated to carry some cargo. This is less true these days with ships designed more for cruising than for actual place to place travel but it was very common during earlier years. Remember the scene in Titanic where the two co-stars have their moment in the car that is stored in the forward hole.

 

I found a site which I will put a link to that has the history of some of HAL's earlier ships and it says the Veendam of 1973 was originally built to carry both passengers and cargo so it might have carried an auto back from Europe. Here is the link.

 

http://www.lategreatliners.com/nl_hal.htm

 

The Veendam information is down towards the middle of the page.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[ejbmorr]

I will be anxious to hear if anyone has heard of this on Holland America. I would have thought it must have been on the Cunard QE II. When we traveled on that ship, people sometimes brought a car along. They were stored in the hold of the ship. It was interesting to watch them load them onto the ship. That is the only passenger liner that I am aware of providing that service. They also have (or, at least, had) a kennel on the upper deck for those who traveled with their pets. It was a very nice and pristine accomodation for furry family members. I'll be watching for other replies! EBM

[trubey]

I must admit that I haven't seen the Titanic. But I would love it, if they still had kennels on board. As we live in Europe, it would be wonderful for us if we could take our dogs with us for our transatlantic trip back to the U.S.

 

I know that in 1973, my parents had spent a year living in Majorca and had bought a Fiat in Italy. susana.

[Esme]

Trubey - at first I would have said "no way", but I wrote to a friend whose husband is with HAL and this is his answer

 

 

This was before my time but technically is was possible, what I recall of the Veendam/Volendam. They had a huge two deck hold.

 

My friend has also written to 2 other people who work on the ships to see if they know the answer.

 

We sailed the Volendam, which was the sister ship to the Veendam, in 1981, but never knew they had a huge two deck hold.

 

It's an interesting question.

[arzz]

I do not know what cruise line but my aunt and uncle, in the middle to late '50's, bought a Fiat in Italy that they used for their European tour (it was a sporty convertible and it was targeted by thieves in Italy once while they were off touring) and they brought it back to the US onboard the ship that they used for their return voyage. Unfortunately there is no one left to ask that might know what ship they sailed.

 

I had completely forgotten about that. Thanks for the post and the reminder.

[Druke I]

Several of the P&O ships (before Canberra and Oriana) were able to carry autos, and I believe that the Matson ships could also carry cars.

 

I do recognize that these did service the Left Coast and NOT the Atlantic seaboard.

[wwinfl91]

here is some information on the Veendam III which is the ship mentioned that started this thread.

 

 

 

Two new sister ships, the S.S. Argentina and the S.S. Brasil were built at Ingalls Shipyards, Pascagoula, Mississippi, for Moore-McCormack Lines to replace the ships built in 1928. They were built as luxury ocean liners, later becoming cruise ships and were the last passenger ships built in the U.S. To date she is the last American-built passenger luxury ocean liner, having been built from parts of all of the 48 states of the United States.

 

In 1973, HAL purchased the 1950's-built Argentina and Brasil from the American Moore-McCormack line, renaming them Volendam and Veendam.

 

Her sister (previously the Veendam) remained operating with Commodore until 2001, when -- in the wake of September 11th -- the company folded.

 

Both ships have since been sold to Indian shipbreakers.

 

The ships were originally built for the transatlantic run and therefore were intended to carry both passengers and cargo.

 

Have a great next cruise.

[kirkc]

Remeber, long before the 7 day cruise days that HAL was a major carrier across the Atlantic.

 

It was common for people to transport vehicles back from Europe with them.

[JimVrhovac]

This thread of yours has given me a case of severe gastric distress.

 

RUTH READ this thread and first thing out of her mouth was "THAT'S AN IDEA, THEN WE WILL NOT HAVE TO TAKE CABS WHEN WE GET INTO PORT. now she wants me to call hal to arrange it".

 

You owe me a drink and bottle of antacids when we cruise together next....

 

Jim

[Krazy Kruizers]

Oh MY!!!

 

I can just see it now if HAL starts letting us all bring own cars to avoid taxis in the various ports.

It will be a nightmare at embarkation - might take us all a couple of days to board the ship.

But then that takes us right back to years ago when you sent your steamer trunk to the pier early so that it will be ready for you when you got to your cabin.

[Vic The Parrot]

I'm sure that it was possible to make those arrangements, not just on HAL vessels, but any line doing the Atlantic crossing at that time.

 

Just as the major companies (HAL included) were ceasing the Trans-At in favour of cruising, there where still a few who employed this feature on some ships. Union-Castle Line did til thier demise.

 

Which leaves QE2 as the only ship with a dedicated garage.

There was some speculation that QM2 might be equipped with the same space, but that idea was snuffed out.

 

But, it won't hurt to ask HAL if they offer some arrangements to this. It won't be drive-on, drive-off of course. Imagine the trill of seeing your auto being pulled up in a netted enclosure, before vanishing down the open cargo bay.

 

 

;)

[RuthC]

Gee, never before have I thought of the QE2 as a ferry.

[Vic The Parrot]

Think 'luxe ferry'

 

 

 

;)

[trubey]

So, I guess my sister has won this little spat; she probably did remember correctly. It's nice to think, though, that my parents were cruising with HAL way back in the early 70s.

 

And as far as taking your car, I did some googling on freighters. And came across an absolutely wonderful site with some great alternatives to cruise line crossings. And although you still can't take your car on these, I thought I'd post the link because they intrigued me. Especially the Indian cooking. susana.

 

http://www.freighterworld.com/index.html

[mr green]

A friend of mine shipped his car to Germany and back several years ago from Canada, I do not know if it was a cargo, or a cruise ship. What I do remember was that a stevedore suggested that he be paid quite a bit of money, to keep the workers 'happy', as his car was being loaded. He paid. john

[JimVrhovac]

Showed Ruth the freeighter cruise site and I will be wearing the bruises for about a week.

 

She was excited over 102 day cruise until she saw the ship and that there was no verandah.

 

Oh well, I tried....

 

Jim

[dougnewmanatsea]

A little problem with this story...

 

HAL ceased regular transatlantic liner services in 1971. VEENDAM was not acquired until 1973, and during her HAL career she was used only as a cruise ship, not in the least because their liner services had ended two years before.

 

I am not going to say that it is impossible that this is true, as there may have been some sort of repositioning cruise in that year across the Atlantic (of the sort that HAL ships still make today) and as it would have physically been possible for the ship to carry cars, perhaps on such a cruise they did carry cars.

 

The only way to settle this would be to find VEENDAM's 1973 schedule and see if she did any transatlantic positioning cruises.

 

Now, there is no question that HAL and most if not all of their competitors carried cars and all sorts of other cargo when they were still running regular liner services... But this had ended by 1973.

 

By far the most famous connection between HAL and carrying cars is that the first Volkswagen to be officially imported to the US was carried on the first WESTERDAM, a passenger-cargo ship built in 1946.

 

In most Atlantic liners, cars would simply have been carried in a cargo hold along with all other manner of cargo. I know that FRANCE and QE2 both were built with dedicated garages and there may have been others as well.

 

I believe the days of carrying cars on passenger liners ended in 2004 when QM2 took over QE2's Atlantic service. QM2 does not have the ability to carry cars as it would have been exceedingly complicated given today's safety regulations.

 

QE2 still makes one crossing every year, in January, but I am not sure if she carries cars on that crossing. (I suspect not.)

 

Of course cars are still carried across the Atlantic in cargo ships all the time... For one thing if you live in North America and drive a car made in Europe, then obviously it has been shipped across, most likely in a car carrier chartered or even owned by your car's manufacturer.

[Arubalisa]

But I would love it, if they still had kennels on board. As we live in Europe, it would be wonderful for us if we could take our dogs with us for our transatlantic trip back to the U.S.

Queen Mary 2 Pet Kennels

Queen Mary 2 now operates as an approved carrier in connection with the Pet Travel Scheme (PETS) on our Transatlantic Crossings. Passage in the kennels is subject to size restrictions, availability and certain conditions. Animals traveling to the UK must meet the requirements of PETS. A fee will apply for this service. Please contact Cunard for details.

QM2 Dog Kennels see 5th paragraph http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=5624

 

 

Google Search qm2 dog kennels

Google Search qe2 dog kennels

[cactuslady]

There's always a way to ship something somewhere. My old sailboat went to Japan on a freighter.

 

But one question has been bugging me for years -- how on earth do they ship the Olympic flame around the world every 2 years? What kind of forms would you have to fill out?

[QQRZZA]

In the era before modern cruise ships, trans-atlantic steamships routimely carried automobiles for on-board passengers. I was stationed in the US Army in Italy in the late 1960's and families were regularly transported to Europe on the American Export Line to Genoa with their cars. Others made similar voyages with their families and cars on the Cunard ships to Southampton. The HAL ships of that day were sailing from Hoboken, NJ to Rotterdam, and most likely carried cars for some of the passengers. The passengers were not cruisers in our current sense of the word. They were travellers using the ship as we would use aircraft for trans atlantic service. So, yes, it is probably true that HAL did carry cars during the hay-day of trans atlantic steamships.

[Santa Fe Jim]

Imagine the trill of seeing your auto being pulled up in a netted enclosure, before vanishing down the open cargo bay.

;)

 

Unfortunately, it isn't always in a cargo bay. I had my car shipped from Bayonne, NJ to San Juan, PR in 1967. Apparently they ran out of room in the hold and mine was one of the cars loaded on deck with a tarp covering it (I suspect it happened often). It ended up with faint, nickle-sized spots all over it.:(

 

I never was able to get any compensation for the damage, and it didn't really matter much -- after a couple of months in that climate, the spots as well as the gloss on the paint job weathered away. :cool:

 

SFJ