New Ship Preview: Holland America’s Rotterdam

Posted on 15 February, 2021 by Spacejunkie2

The Rotterdam will be the seventh ship in the history of the Holland America fleet to carry this name. The ship was originally named the Ryndam but Holland America changed it to Rotterdam following the sale of the previous Rotterdam to Fred. Olsen Cruise Lines in 2020.

The new Rotterdam is a sister to the Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam, part of Holland America’s Pinnacle-class of ships.

Ship: Rotterdam Cruise Line: Holland America

Capacity: 2,650 passengers Shipyard: Fincantieri, Italy

Estimated Delivery Date: July 2021

Features and Design: The 297-meter ship has 12 decks and 1,340 cabins. The what seems like never-ending entertainment includes live music spaces like the Rolling Stone Rock Room, the Lincoln Center Stage, Billboard Onboard, World Stage, and B.B. King’s Blues Club; a BBC Earth in Concert, a Microsoft Studio for creating photo albums and travel videos; the Greenhouse Spa & Salon; a casino; children’s club; and more.

The Rotterdam will also offer 11 dining experiences: from burgers and pizza to sushi and seafood, as well as dedicated French, Asian, and Italian restaurants. It also offers 24-hour in-room dining for those who get peckish at less convenient hours.

Debut Season: The Rotterdam is scheduled to spend summer 2021 exploring Northern Europe and the Baltic on roundtrip cruises from Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Following Itineraries: In autumn 2021, the Rotterdam is scheduled to embark on a couple of transatlantic voyages to and from the U.S., from where the vessel will change to Caribbean itineraries all the way until April 2022.

MSC Pausing Cruise Operations in Europe

Posted on 6 December, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

MSC Grandiosa.

MSC Cruises today said that it will temporarily pause the operation of the MSC Grandiosa later this month per a directive from the Italian government.

MSC also said it will move the planned restart of MSC Magnifica to January as a result of new travel measures introduced by the Italian government for the Christmas and New Year period.

The new rules include extensive restrictions to people’s mobility across the entire country that will severely impact the ability of future guests – Italian residents, plus those from overseas – to reach any of the ships’ embarkation ports in Italy, the company said.

The Italian government has said it will tighten the movement of its residents between regions, cities and towns in its efforts to combat the pandemic ashore between 21 December 2020 and 6 January 2021, which will also restrict the ability of holidaymakers from abroad to travel to, through and from Italy.

This has caused the cancellation of three future planned voyages of MSC Grandiosa and three sailings of MSC Magnifica.

The MSC Grandiosa will temporarily pause her current program of seven-night voyage sailings on Dec. 20 in Genoa, Italy and will resume her Western Mediterranean cruises on Jan. 10, 2021, also from Genoa.

The MSC Magnifica, which was due to re-start 10-night voyages in the West and East Mediterranean on Dec. 18 from Genoa, will now commence its sailing programme on Jan. 15, 2021, following the cancellation of three previous sailings.

Palfinger Completes First Cruise Drydock Since Pandemic

Posted on 10 November, 2020 by Spacejunkie2

Palfinger Marine has completed its first major refurbishment jobs since the start of the pandemic, according to a press release.

The job involved servicing 18 lifeboats and 20 winches for the Allure of the Seas from Royal Caribbean International.

To complete the job, 11 technicians from Palfenger’s U.S. service office travelled to Naventia’s shipyard in Cádiz, Spain, where they joined five LSA- and seven refinishing technicians from Palfinger Spain.

Palfinger’s Florida-based Operations Manager Josh Lozano has celebrated the resumption of major cruise operations at Palfinger.

“Slowly but surely, we were able to resume our work after the lockdown, starting with the first successful service job for the Allure of the Seas,” he said.

Together, the technicians working on the Allure refinished the canopies on 18 lifeboats – which can carry up to 370 people each – and inspected the boats and release gear.

This work included “cleaning and maintaining the release hooks as well as inspecting the boats according to MSC.402 and other regulations required by class and flag,” the company stated. The jobs took 30 days to complete.

Lozano said that they have also been performing two cruise drydocking in Italy and Singapore, utilizing the company’s corresponding local offices. Additional planned inspections were performed by the company’s UK office.