Dave’s Live from Zuiderdam Voyage of the Vikings, July 30 – Sept. 3, 2019

[RetiredMustang]

 

After I had taken photos from the viewing platform, we consulted the small map in the brochure the info center assistant had given us, and walked a short way to a trail leading to a lake.   On the way, we met a friendly troll near a children’s play area:

 

 

 

The trail to the lake was about a half-mile/800 meters, and took about 10 minutes at an easy pace, passing by some nice scenery (that is not the path, which was wide and graveled -- it's  something off to the side):

 

 

 

We had a brief shower pass by on the way to the lake. The lake is small, but pretty, and there is a waterfall at the outflow:

 

 

 

 

 

We then returned to the funicular station.  We looked at our map and discussed what we would like to do, and decided that, since it appeared the showers had passed and the weather looked promising at least for a while, we would walk down one of the three paths leading back to town.  The one we chose was called the Floysvingene, and was marked as being 3.3 km (about 2 miles) back to the funicular base station.  So we set out, passing almost immediately a troll forest:

 

 

 

The path continued wide and fairly smooth.  At one point, I spotted Zuiderdam through the trees:

 

 

 

After a few minutes, we passed a placed where walkers/hikers had placed small stone cairns:

 

 

 

The path was pretty steep, with a lot of switchbacks:

 

 

 

About half-way down, the path crossed over the funicular line at one of the intermediate stations, and we arrived just before a funicular passed the station headed up to the top:

 

 

 

The path continued to be steep, but well-surfaced, and went through some great scenery:

 

 

 

There were signposts clearly marking the paths:

 

 

Near the bottom, we returned to town with houses and paved streets. 

 

 

 

There were several staircases near the end, including one that let out at the funicular base station:

 

 

 

Jessica had said that people walked the path up to the top, and indeed we met many going up as we were coming down, mostly we assumed locals, but some were from the ship.  Going up was more than we had wanted to do, but if you decided to do so, remember that it is 2 miles/3.3km up a steep slope, with a total elevation gain of 320 meters/1000+ feet.  You don’t have to hike in either direction of course, but can take the funicular up and down.  Still, you need to be able to negotiate a dozen or more stairs at each end to get on and off the cars.

 

 

As we passed by the funicular station, which was well after 10 a.m. by then, we noticed the line for tickets was somewhat longer:

 

 

 

We then walked back along the waterfront to the Zuiderdam.  I noticed that there were a lot more people about by the Bryggen houses as well by that time:

 

 

 

We arrived back to the ship about 11:15. As we went to the ship, we noticed that dark clouds were building, and by noon heavy rain was falling.  I hope everyone got under cover.  More showers continued to pass during the afternoon.

 

We really enjoyed our outing, and seeing Bergen again.

 

 

More later,

Dave

 

 

 

 

[cat shepard]

Wonderful pictures, and details about your DIY excursion.

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Thanks for all the photos of Bergen. They brought back fond memories when we did a similar voyage in reverse  on the Grand Princess from Southampton to New York. The funicular and walking through the colorful town were  favorites in Bergen,

[Cruising-along]

Loving all your photos and commentary!  Will be in Bergen Sept. 13 for our first time, and this was VERY helpful. 

If we're feeling energetic, we may try this plus the Rick Steves walking tour of Bergen I printed out.  Hoping we're lucky with the weather as you were -- you were smart to get out early before the heavy rain. 

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 14, Bergen (Cont.)

 

We departed just before 5 p.m.  At about 4:30, a huge downpour hit the port.  By the time we sailed, the sun was shining brightly.  As we proceeded out of the fjord, the sun shone on the shore:

 

 

 

And, when you have sun and rain, you likely have a rainbow:

 

 

 

We are sailing now in mostly sunny, blue skies.  Here are tonight’s MDR dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

 

And here is the special dinner menu in the Lido:

 

 

 

More tomorrow,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 15, at sea

 

We are making our way south to our Rotterdam port visit tomorrow.  The When and Where lists an animal zoo poolside on the Lido deck at 7 a.m., so I expect I might be able to share some photos later this morning.

 

Here is today’s When and Where:

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 15, at sea (Cont.)

 

As I suspected, the animal zoo was a celebration of the room stewards’ towel animal art.  I got there just as they were finishing up:

 

 

 

 

When they were done, the pool was surrounded by animals:

 

 

 

 

 

There were old friends like elephants and such that we find in our stateroom, but there were others that were a bit more involved:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was a fun diversion for the morning to see and appreciate the talent of the housekeeping staff.

 

More later,

Dave

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

Wonderful report on Bergen.  Love the troll -- we actually have 3 trolls that we bought on various cruises to Bermuda.

 

Great shot of the rainbow.

 

Nice pictures of the pool side towel animals.

[puppycanducruise]

Love the towel animals around the pool.

Great job by the staff.

Thanks for the pictures.

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 15, at sea (Cont.)

 

As it’s another sea day, I will post some more photos of the ship.  This time, it will be the area we spend a lot of time in – the Ocean Bar.  We go there for happy hour at 4 p.m. most days, and find it a quiet relaxing place at other times of the day, when it is not being used for coffee talks with officers, private functions or jewelry sales pitches.

 

We like the color scheme and the staff.  Like Westerdam and Oosterdam, the actual bar is on the starboard, narrow side.  Noordam has it on the port, larger side, but that may change in the upcoming refit.

 

As you go down the passageway from the photo shop forward, you pass one entry to the bar area, a charming (?) statue, and then another entry:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a series of photos that show the bar seating and other areas of the Ocean Bar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

Edited August 15, 2019 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 15, at sea (Cont.)

 

It was a relaxing day.  The weather was rainy at times, but we had sun breaks and lighter skies often.   The last I saw, the forecast or Rotterdam tomorrow is cloudy with showers in the afternoon, highs of 70F/21C.  We can deal with that.

 

Here are tonight’s dinner and dessert menus:

 

 

 

And, here is tonight’s Lido dinner menu:

 

 

 

 

More tomorrow,

Dave

Edited August 15, 2019 by RetiredMustang

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

 

We are making our way through the huge port area of Rotterdam to our moorage on the Nieuwe Maas River deep into the port.  The forecast is still for cloudy and afternoon showers.  HAL and the port apparently are treating this as just another port instead of a full-blown turn-around day where they have to zero out the manifest.  Someone told us only about 400 passengers were debarking today; I haven’t heard how many are expected to board.

 

Here is today’s When and Where:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is the Rotterdam port guide:

 

 

 

 

And, here is the Voyage Planner for the portion of the journey through to Reykjavik:

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[Krazy Kruizers]

I love Blue!!  Thus I like the new colors of the Ocean Bar and areas around there.

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam (Cont.)

 

We continued into the city as the sun rose:

 

 

 

We saw a lot of low barges on the waterways, and they all seemed to have living quarters, and a car in the “driveway”:

 

 

 

After turning in a confluence of channels, we slowly backed in and approached the HAL pier:

 

 

 

As we neared, we passed the moorage of the SS Rotterdam V, the former HAL flagship which is now a hotel and museum:

 

 

 

As we got closer, we could see the Hotel New York, which is in the old HAL headquarters building:

 

 

 

The building has towers, one of which sport a replica of the Half Moon ship, and the directions on the clock: Noord, Oost, Zuid and West:

 

 

 

Soon we were at the modern cruise terminal, next to a beautiful bridge over the Nieuwe Maas:

 

 

 

 

We were cleared shortly afterwards.  Those debarking had been given a time when their luggage would be available in the terminal, but there was no calling of colors and numbers.  Those of us staying on were free to go ashore at any time, and return by all-aboard at 4 p.m.

 

DW and I will leave about 9 a.m., with a two-fold mission:  tour the Rotterdam V, and get some street frites!  We have been in Amsterdam several times, have visited the collection of old windmills, and toured the town of Gouda, but we’ve never toured Rotterdam V, and it is too close to our dock to miss the chance to see it.

 

More later,

Dave

Edited August 16, 2019 by RetiredMustang

[Polar Bear Mom]

Sitting in our hotel waiting to go to ship.  

 

We sailed on the S.S. Rotterdam in 1989.  We stayed on the S.S. Rotterdam in 2015.  Did the tours of the ship.

 

Be onboard the M.S. Zuiderdam soon.

 

Nancy

[erewhon]

Catching up with your reports, super photos, thank you.

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam (Cont.)

 

I got a few shots of the view from our balcony before we set off:

 

 

 

 

 

More the in the next post,

Dave

 

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam (Cont.)

 

Well, we accomplished both of our missions.  I will report in three posts.  The first post deals with arriving at Rotterdam V and the first part of the tour.

 

It took us about 30 minutes to walk the 1.2 mile/2km from the ship to Rotterdam V.  We arrived about 9:40.   I took a shot of the ship as we neared, and of the vintage luggage they had displayed by the entry stairs and elevator:

 

 

 

 

Inside the foyer on the main deck was a model of the ship:

 

 

We went to the hotel front desk and purchased tickets for the upper decks audiotour.  We could have also taken an engine room tour, or a combined tour.  We were directed to ride the elevators to the promenade deck, where we found the gift shop, and audiotour desk.  The Lido restaurant aft of the gift shop was open for breakfast, but it has been changed into a modern café so I didn’t take any photos.

 

We listened to the audio for the first of 12 stages; it was the history of the ship, basically.  We then were directed to go up to the upper promenade for stage 2.  But, we were met by a guide who showed us many of the rooms.  The ship had been divided into first and second class portions during her ocean liner days.  Second class was mostly on the promenade deck, but that deck has been mostly converted into modern hotel spaces; there was only one room still in near original form, the second class lounge:

 

 

 

Our guide then led us to the upper promenade deck, which was the domain of the first class passengers.  We visited the first class lounge:

 

 

 

 

The library:

 

 

 

 

The smoking room:

 

 

 

 

The Tropic bar:

 

 

 

And the Grand Ballroom:

 

 

 

Our guide then sent us to B deck for a glimpse of the dining rooms.  These are used now as conference and receptions spaces, so the furniture is replaced, but the decorations are still original.  Here is a shot of the first class dining room; the second class dining room was very similar, with the wall art being a bit different:

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

 

 

 

 

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam (Cont.)

 

We returned to the upper promenade to continue our audiotour.  Among other things, we visited the bow, the deck with lifeboat stations, and then passed by the lifeboats themselves:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then waited out turn on the bridge, which was also manned by guides.  There was the bridge itself:

 

 

 

 

And a couple of rooms that included displays of a lot of HAL paraphernalia and memorabilia, including a display of new stuff from Nieuw Statendam from 2018 that many will find familiar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We could have spent a lot more time looking at all that neat stuff, but were gently encouraged by the guides to quit hogging the displays and move on (my words, not his).  We passed the radio room re-creation, and then took ganders at the captain’s bathroom, bedroom and office:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We then looked at some other officer staterooms, and then did a lot more walking along outside decks, including the first class and second class sports decks.  I took a shot of the famous twin funnels from the second class sports deck:

 

 

 

We then did a bit more sightseeing around the public spaces before turning in our audio guides and hitting the gift shop, where I scored a Rotterdam V ball cap, which I will wear on an upcoming Eurodam cruise to, well, basically, show off.

 

This was a highly enjoyable tour ona great ship.  You don’t have to walk to the ship, as you could easily take a taxi or water taxi to Rotterdam V.  There are elevators from outside to enter the ship, and some inside, but much of the outside portions of the tour involved climbing up and down steep ship’s ladders, so if you have difficulty with those, you may want to think about whether the 14.95 Euros per person cost would be worth it to be able to see only part of the things:

 

 

 

More in the next post,

Dave

[RetiredMustang]

Aug. 16, Rotterdam (Cont.)

 

We finished our tour on Rotterdam V and left about 11:45.   We walked back a different way so we could pass by a stand selling Dutch French fries, which we enjoy very much.  I had noticed the stand when scanning Google maps of the port area – it is only a few hundred yard/meters from the cruise terminal.  We placed our order and waited for the fries to be cooked.  They were so fresh, they had been cut from potatoes as we walked up to the stand.  We both ordered a medium cone each, with that wonderful Dutch mayonnaise, and a bottle of water for less than 10 Euros.  What a great lunch:

 

 

 

 

 

More later,

Dave

[esther e]

I am enjoying this so much.  Thank you for the wonderful photos and commentary.  I feel I'm right with you all.

[RetiredMustang]

32 minutes ago, RetiredMustang said:

14.95 Euros per person cost

 

Correction:  The tour cost was 12.95 Euros per person; it was the ball cap that was 14.95.  Also, I should point out that we got to see some spaces, like the dining rooms, only because they had not been booked for events today.

 

Dave

[RuthC]

Thank you so much for the photo tour of "my" Rotterdam. How I loved that ship! (and still do). I recognized so many of the rooms by the name I knew them as, so they did a nice job on the restoration.

Tell me, though, were the glass panels between the double helix forward staircase still there? From high to low, they showed the world we know from the skies down to the depths of the ocean. It was a marvelous piece of art.
Were the signs over the public restrooms still the art deco man in a tux, with high hat and walking stick, and lady in a draped formal gown? I clearly remember the one on Upper Promenade.

How I would love to take that tour!

[jakkojakko]

1 hour ago, RuthC said:

 

Edited August 16, 2019 by jakkojakko
Wrong thread

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks for the tour of the Rotterdam V.

Those frites with Dutch mayonnaise look delicious.