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Over the top on the Maasdam ..........

OlsSalt

By OlsSalt,
in Holland America Line

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Ken the cruiser "Live from...." Rare

Ken the cruiser

Posted
Posted
A photographh like this one! I took it from the balcony of cabin 220, shooting toward the starboard side of the ship to photograph the Veendam, which was in port with us in Bar Harbor.

20150828_171427-M.jpg

Thanks for the picture!! What a great view for not being an aft-facing cabin. We had seen pictures of the balcony before but never realized it had that great of view!!

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JRG

JRG

Posted
Posted
Only if you are doing the Caribbean or Alaska, otherwise, you will find a LOT of other nationalities on board.

 

We've met some great Dutch passengers on our cruises, and from France. The nationality list goes on. It''s definitely not a "North American environment" in Europe and having done the South Pacific, I can say the same.

 

So, no, the majority of passengers on board are not always North American. And actually we can be in the minority at times. And, we are better off for it having met a lot of lovely people over time :)

 

I too strongly disagree with the opinion in this post. Of the 20 plus cruises we've done they have always, always had a majority be North American.

 

Maybe this is a symptom of only sailing on one or two ships recently and not having a broader perspective of what happens on other cruiseships and cruiselines?

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SetAnOpenCourse

SetAnOpenCourse

Posted
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People from a variety of cultures may take issue with this, and HAL will need to take these into account, not just North America and Europe. My hunch is that much of the staff, the Indonesians and Filipinos, may find it strange practice. Some who support the idea may in fact be the most parochialistic here.

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JRG

JRG

Posted
Posted
People from a variety of cultures may take issue with this, and HAL will need to take these into account, not just North America and Europe. My hunch is that much of the staff, the Indonesians and Filipinos, may find it strange practice. Some who support the idea may in fact be the most parochialistic here.

 

No. It's much simpler than that.

 

Values are related to time and place.

 

Ones perception regarding the appropriateness of topless sunbathing on a cruiseship (or elsewhere) is based on your values system.

 

That is why there are so many different IMHO's on this subject.

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SetAnOpenCourse

SetAnOpenCourse

Posted
Posted
No. It's much simpler than that.

 

Values are related to time and place.

 

Ones perception regarding the appropriateness of topless sunbathing on a cruiseship (or elsewhere) is based on your values system.

 

That is why there are so many different IMHO's on this subject.

Sorry, I don’t see your point.

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kazu "Live from...." Rare

kazu

Posted
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One of the few HAL voyages where that might be the case are the cruises up north from Amsterdam. Lots and lots of "cloggies" on those. Otherwise it's still majority Yanks and Canucks like you stated

 

My experiences and the reason for my post:

 

I've seen a fair number of Europeans on several TA's that were heading to Europe. Partially as I understand it because some come to enjoy the sun in the US to escape their winter and use the TA to get back home in a very relaxed way.

 

They can do the reverse on TA's coming to North America but I haven't seen as many.

 

Definitely a lot of Dutch when we are sailing out of Amsterdam or Rotterdam and a fair number on our Rotterdam TA when we were arriving in Rotterdam.

 

On our NCL TA, 60% of all passengers were Portuguese. A lot were disembarking in the Azores and the rest were visiting family (it was a national holiday on that port day). Portuguese announcements were made after the English due to the numbers.

 

On our Westerdam Pacific cruise, there were several Commonwealth parties as there were so many from all across the Commonwealth. South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, etc. - a LOT of Commonweath countries were represented. Canadians were the second smallest group next to South Africans when they called out the numbers.

 

So, I guess everyone's experiences can vary ;)

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

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Cruise_More_Often: thanks for the photo!

 

I remember this deck very well from a Panama cruise. It was, at times, a great place on sea days to watch the sea go by.

 

 

However, it was used, almost exclusively, by the spa ladies, dancers, singers, shop sales people: sunbathing, portable music, food. To the extent that if pax actually came out onto that deck, they felt rather out of place. It had the feel of a private staff area when the staff were there in force, which was often on sea days.

 

This may be what happens with this area on the Massdam, unless they have been forbidden it.

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SilvertoGold

SilvertoGold

Posted
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One of the few HAL voyages where that might be the case are the cruises up north from Amsterdam. Lots and lots of "cloggies" on those. Otherwise it's still majority Yanks and Canucks like you stated

 

Agree that this would be the norm.

 

On the ms Rotterdam:

 

1, TA, FtL to Rotterdam: 75% Cloggies

2, Rotterdam to Med to Rotterdam: 60% Cloggies.

3. Rio to Lisbon was only 40% Cloggies, with a lot pax from Brazil.

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edward01ca

edward01ca

Posted
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Men go topless on every cruise line, on every ship, even with children around ...... and I've certainly seen plenty of men that could use some over the shoulder boulder holders! Call them breasts or pecs - they are only skin .... no big deal in my opinion. I have always felt Americans are very prudish in this regard and the "taboo" of women being topless is very sexist.

 

I know HAL has quite a large German clientele, especially on their more exotic cruises - perhaps this small change is meant to appeal to that client base, especially with Maasdam doing more trips in tropical locales

 

I quite agree with you. I have been on HAL cruises where there were more Canadians than Americans on the ship. We were on

the Zaandam last year from Vancouver to Rio. There were 300 German people on board out of total of 1400 people. There were many Australians, New Zealanders, and Canadians as well. It was very possible that Americans were in a minority.

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bEwAbG

bEwAbG

Posted
Posted

Other lines leave this to the discretion of the Captain, so I'm not entirely surprised if HAL does the same. Maybe it was a passenger request? I wandered across the singers and dancers on the upper deck of a Celebrity ship not long ago, and there were no "warning" signs along the way. I know of no explicit policy they print for anyone to know about it in advance.

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ksmaxey

ksmaxey

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When we took our first cruise on MSC there was a deck for topless sunbathing. It was the equivalent of the sports deck. My 17 y/o son when up there and decided there was nothing to see or worth going back up for. Much like the beaches in Europe, the ones who were topless were not the ones anyone wanted to see. My wife and I still laugh about it.

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Boytjie

Boytjie

Posted
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People from a variety of cultures may take issue with this, and HAL will need to take these into account, not just North America and Europe. My hunch is that much of the staff, the Indonesians and Filipinos, may find it strange practice. Some who support the idea may in fact be the most parochialistic here.

 

 

Staff on charters I have been on did not seem to have problems with the clothing optional deck: they served drinks, cleaned, stocked towels like on any other deck.

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bennybear

bennybear

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We too have found we were in the minority on a cruise out of Rotterdam. The strange part was how silly I felt when I couldn’t respond when people spoke to me in Dutch. A lot of smiling.

 

But as to the topic, I think it is strange that no mention of the change was made. And I think if there is a change that would affect your cabin perhaps it would be wise to mention. There are some cultures that would be horrified. We love on a multicultural world, and communication is key.

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SetAnOpenCourse

SetAnOpenCourse

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Staff on charters I have been on did not seem to have problems with the clothing optional deck: they served drinks, cleaned, stocked towels like on any other deck.

Perhaps they felt there was some risk if they showed any qualms with the situation. I think some of these staff could not afford taking the slightest risk, if they have loved ones to support. But it’s just a hunch on my part - for all I know, they might see this setting as “the other” and maybe even comical (as some in this thread apparently do).

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Boytjie

Boytjie

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Perhaps they felt there was some risk if they showed any qualms with the situation. I think some of these staff could not afford taking the slightest risk, if they have loved ones to support. But it’s just a hunch on my part - for all I know, they might see this setting as “the other” and maybe even comical (as some in this thread apparently do).

 

 

 

Actually, the staff have options to swap out of these charters (HAL has also done nude charters). You have a hunch, I have first hand experience. [emoji6]

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