A beautiful sunrise on a chilly morning, found us approaching this gateway port to Rome. Ahead of us, the “Koningsdam”, silhouetted by the lights from shore, her lights bright as she made her entry into the port. She made her turn around the breakwater and made for her berth, not having to turn, she was going starboard side to, this unfortunately meant that we could not berth bow-to-bow. I elected to swing outside, once near the breakwater and then back down the harbour to our berth, 100 metres away from our newest vessel.
The approach to Civitavecchia (green)
Our pirouette, (top left) and then backing down.
She was conducting a turn-around, guests disembarking and more embarking before she started her 12-day itinerary. Yours truly was eager to see the latest addition to our fleet and along with K1, K2 and Hazel, we set off at 11 o’clock for her gangway. Almost 500 of the Amsterdam’s World cruise guests had preceded us, having boarded at 9:30 a.m. and treated with a guided tour and a ‘mini-show’ in the show lounge. Having handed in our ID cards and receiving ‘Visitors’ passes, we boarded and made our way upwards, the purpose? To find an old friend and captain of the Koningsdam, Emiel de Vries; he and I went way back, he having sailed with me as my Chief Officer 6 years ago. He had on board his wife Susan and his daughter, Tess, who was a mere bump when we last saw them and now a beautiful 6-year old. My sense of direction didn’t fail me and I found their cabin, just as Emiel came out of it; much hugging ensued and once this was completed off to, where else? The Bridge! State of the art technology, it had little resemblance to my lovely ship, chairs for watch-keepers, (even with cup holders! Gotta get me one of those) 🙂 She has a ‘cockpit’ Bridge, centralised controls, each position with own radar and instrumentation…warp factor please Scotty!……..
Emiel, Hazel, K1, Moi and Susan
Once the Bridge visit was complete it was time to start a guided tour, (not often one gets a tour guide who is a Captain). A walk through the guest areas first:-
Lido area
Treatment room
Tamarind
Walking into the restaurant where you will find………
Distant Lands
Roasting Pan
Wild Harvest
Pinnacle Restaurant
complete with its Wine rack
The Dutch Cafe, (little Tess posing)
The Blend, where you literally do that for your own wine
The Show Lounge with its 270 screen
Tamarind restaurant
Atrium
A gorgeous dining room
Its a long way down………….
The stern is back there somewhere….
Beautiful arrangements everywhere
Just as I was about to save this post, the Koningsdam was about to sail, a dash to the Bridge. Civitavecchia has a ‘noise’ ban, no ships whistles and I couldn’t let our lovely ship pass without blowing them. An email, via the agent, to the Harbour Master, “please make an exception in this case”, the answer came back just in time, “yes”. A quick email to Emiel, ‘go for it’ and, having turned, she came past, her whistle booming across the harbour; we answered her salute, I could hear our guests shouting to the K and them shouting back, everyone waving and a lovely send off for a lovely ship. Now I have to download the departure photos for you………
First, he lifts the stern
and backs into the turning basin….
still swinging……
Our new logo
almost there……
that should do it….
who’s driving??
Farewell….
down the cut...
and round the breakwater, on her way
So there I was in my rec room this morning here in Ontario Canada watching the final of the men’s tennis between Nadal and Monfils being played in the beautiful location of Monte Carlo, Monaco, when their cameras zeroed in on a lovely cruise ship sailing by – I said to myself, I think that might be the Amsterdam. Sure enough, the cruise calendar that I perused said that you were in Monaco that day until 4:00 pm, and of course we were six hours behind so it was somewhere between 10 and 11 am our time. What a treat and it looked like the weather had been perfect that day for your passengers. Nadal won the tennis tournament so my day was complete! Thank for your time and talent in posting this blog and the pictures that you take! So fun!
Envy is our name! In 2011 we were bow to bow with the two “Amsterdams” and you were our host. This time around our zig and zag were out of sync (we were on GWV 2015 and will be again in 2017). We hope you are once again our ship’s master. Thanks for the great tour of the K-dam!
Wishing fair winds and following seas to two great ships — Amsterdam and Koningsdam — two great Captains, and two great crews!
Captain Jonathon – thank you for this lastest post, great postcard collection of the fleets new ship! I have enjoyed the various post you have provided thus far on the Amsterdam’s world voyage – my knowledge of worlds distance has been enhanced imeasurably!
Regards
Allan Gibson OAM
Absolutely Excellent report & images Captain. Thank you so much for sharing these with us.
A truly first hand look at the new ship.
Regards
Noel in Melbourne
Brilliant commentary and photos of the new ship!
Thanks for the tour!
Wonderful tour…..Thanks for posting!
How many passengers does the Konigsdam hold? Lovely pictures of the new ship.
Hello Judy, I believe it is 2600, however please don’t quote me on it 🙂
Did I detect a little “Bridge Envy” there?
Yup, Nelson, it was certainly interteresting to see what the future holds for us. For the time being, I’ll just have the cup holders 🙂
It seems that only the “other day” you were in Dubai .. Enjoying every one of the blogs as they come. Keep them flowing Jonathan..
Cheers – George
Thank you so much, Captain, for this wonderful blog post..really gave us a good sense of the Koningsdam..what an exciting day. GREAT photos too.
How fab for HAL to have its two great ships together in the same splendid port at the same time; quite a marvel. Thank so much for the excellent virtual tour so we could all enjoy the experiences. Lynn
How exciting!!! We will be on it May 9 th!!!
Thank you so much for the pictures of KODM. Capt. de Vries was our Captain on Eurodam in August 2-13. He was a rock star!
The Koningsdam is vertainly a beautiful ship! But we personally like the “Rotterdam Class” better, after having cruised 45 days on the Amsterdam…