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With Reuben Goossens
Maritime Historian, Cruise‘n’Ship Reviewer & Author
Please Note: All ssMaritime and my other related ssMaritime sites are 100% non-commercial and privately owned sites. Be assured that I am NOT associated with any cruise or shipping companies or travel/cruise agencies or any other organisations! The author has been in the passenger shipping industry since May 1960 and is now semi-retired, but continues to write articles on classic liners and cruise ships in order to better to inform cruise and ship enthusiasts for their pleasure!
SS Rotterdam ~ SS Rembrandt - History Part Three
Please Note: Photographs, postcards and images on this page are from the author’s collection unless stated otherwise!
The
SS Rotterdam with her new livery seen cruising
If you arrived at this page via a search
engine: Please read Part
One first!
Best
wishes,
Reuben
Goossens.
Maritime
Historian & Founder of the “Save The Classic Liners
Campaign.
And
the “Save The SS Rotterdam Campaign.”
****************************
By 1972 the days of the much loved Holland
America Line grey hulled SS Rotterdam was about to disappear!
This livery had become a well-known sight worldwide and had aided
in making the SS Rotterdam a much-loved ship and as being one of
just a few of the great traditional luxury cruise ships left in
the world.
However, Holland America Line had decided to
give their passenger fleet a complete exterior makeover with a
deep blue hull and a new logo. Even though I may sound somewhat
negative to the idea, yet in reality I am not, for actually that
deep, dark Blue Hull was much like Holland America Lines was
returning to their old original N.A.S.M. maritime roots, for all
their earlier passenger liners had a dark hull and the grey hulls
were in fact introduced with the arrival of ships such as the
delightful, mostly Tourist Class twins; SS Ryndam of 1951 &
SS Maasdam of 1952 and they were followed by the beautiful mostly
Tourist Class SS Statendam of 1956.
SS
Ryndam of 1951 was the very first HAL liner to receive the grey
hull with a gold band around her hull
Her
sister the SS Maasdam followed a year later
It was in October 1972 that the SS Rotterdam
arrived at a
On the sides of the funnel there was a new
modern logo that had two stylised Aqua/Blue “waves” (or
lines) with a White “Wave” in the middle, this replaced
the famed hundred year old “N.A.S.M” Green and
white bands as can be seen below on the Statendam’s original
funnel!
The
traditional SS Statendam funnel, with HAL colours that go back as
far as the 1800s
SS
Statendam seen after receiving her new livery of her orange
funnel and the three-waves logo
As the SS Rotterdam had no traditional funnel,
all I can say is “thank goodness,” thus the logo had to
be placed where the previous “N.A.S.M” logo had
been located on superstructure located topside and amidships,
where normally a funnel would be. The interiors having two decks
contained the popular Sunroom looking aft and Skyroom above it
looking both forward and aft. On each side there was square
Above
we see the SS Rotterdam completed with its new logo and name
placing, etc., and departing on a cruise
The
Looking
so beautiful, the SS Rotterdam with her new livery is seen
departing
In 1977 it was decided to lower her
passenger capacity to just 1,114 passengers giving the
A
painting of the SS Rotterdam with her new livery – 1972
This beautiful painting is by & © Captain Stephen Card as seen on board a HAL ship today!
The
The
96 Day 1984 Grand World Cruise Brochure
A
photograph of the “Grande Dame of the Sea” as found in
the world Brochure above in 1984
It took a good 14 years, but finally Holland
America Cruises came to realise that not all the
modernizations on their ships were a real improvement,
or that popular with passengers, and finally they took a
step to override a bad decision made in 1972. Now in 1986
On Page One we read that SS Rotterdam arrived
in
Tragically Carnival was going to have its way,
for they did not want any “Old Ships” in its fleet and
they already had a replacement based, which was a slightly larger
version of the ms Statendam Class cruise ships of which there had
been built. It was in 1989 when the American Carnival Corp, of
Carnival Cruises took over Holland America Line and although
the Rotterdam continued to cruise for a couple of years, Carnival,
the company many call “the guillotine or destructive
company” had already decided to get rid of the ship they
called that “old ship” and they used a
disgustingly flimsy, as well as a completely false excuse in
order to appease SS Rotterdam’s loyal ex passengers who had
protested loudly as well as ship enthusiasts!
Carnival Corp announced that the SS Rotterdam
required urgent and the very stringent 1997 SOLAS (Safety Of Life
At Sea) regulations and indeed she did need this, and they
claimed that it was going to cost at least US$40 million to
bring her up to new regulation standards, this proved to be a
lie, for not much later this was done for just US$20 that is
half what Carnival stated!
In the meantime she continued her regular
cruise duties and remained as popular as ever for the Rotterdam
had a very long and established following, and when they had
heard the rumours that HAL/Carnival was even thinking of
replacing the SS Rotterdam, they were sending in their protests
in by the thousands, but the Carnival bosses did not care less
for that “Old Ship.” Her 1993
A
souvenir plate of the 1993 Around the World Cruise
Regardless all the protests and with the “Grande Dame of the Sea” the SS Rotterdam was still doing financially well - Carnival who hated that “Old-Ship” was still saying that she would be sold soon! As far as myself is concerned, I had commenced the “Save the SS Rotterdam Campaign” in 1995, but it was not until 1997, I actually placed it online on my maritime sites and my “Save The Classic Liner Campaign” which amazingly over time was receiving millions of visitors!
The
Sadly
her days with Holland America Line would soon come to an end!
Above
& below: Two fine photographs of the SS Rotterdam seen in
Milford Sound
Above
by & © Dave Edge - Below by & © Torrens
Above
& below: SS Rotterdam seen in
All
four Photographs by & © Reuben Goossens –
ssMaritime.com
This
is a souvenir key ring obtained from the SS Rotterdam 1997 World
Cruise
The
Photographer
unknown – Please see Photo Notes at bottom of page
This
is a painting of the SS Rotterdam’s final World Cruise for
Holland America Line in 1997
This
beautiful
The
Inaugural ms Rotterdam 1997 – 1998 Cruise Brochure
The
ms Rotterdam is sailing down the river in the
A Special Note: The four ships of the
R-Class, being the 61,849-ton ms Rotterdam of 1997, the
61,214-ton ms Volendam of 1999, the 61,396-ton ms Zaandam of 2000
and the 62,735-ton ms Amsterdam completed in 2000 are all
wonderful ships and filled with over a million dollars of high
quality of art on everyone of their 5.5 Star luxury ships! Both
the ms Rotterdam and
When the SS Rotterdam was launched in 1959, she
was the fifth ship bearing this proud name that first appeared in
1872, but besides her remarkable exterior design with those twin
aft stovepipe uptakes, the truth is that her most distinguishing
feature was in reality her democratization of life at sea. When
built the Rotterdam was the largest Dutch Liner ever to be built,
and on board the then huge ship, it was not possible to tell by
the decor from her many beautiful grand Public Rooms, which venue
or area was originally First or which was Tourist Class, for the
entire ship was simply magnificent and luxurious. The
One
of the most elegant rooms afloat the two deck high Ritz Carlton
Lounge, a venue featuring one of the largest and
most
spectacular murals that winds from the sidewall right across the
aft wall. There is also a copper dance floor
The elegant semi Spiral Stairs with the amazing balustrade metalwork
From the day of being completed to thirty-eight
years later, tragically the age of that horrid Megaship had come,
and amazingly cruise companies keep calling them, by the wrong
title; “Megaliner” or Superliner.” Excuse me, they
are not liners, for the liner days have long gone, they are ALL
Cruise Ships, even though some may make the occasional Atlantic
voyage, but they are still cruises! By the time the SS Rotterdam
days had come to an end, amazingly she somehow had gained far
greater elegance compared with what she may have lost in size
compared to those huge hideous boxlike cruise ships.
The
NCL cruise ship Pride of America. To be honest, looking at it
there is really nothing to be proud about this ship
For
this 80,500-ton ship is without a doubt one of the ugliest
looking ships ever and she is not much better inside either
NCL
also has the worst record for looking after their crew, and that
is according their own crewmembers!
Whilst the SS Rotterdam was a ship that was
built in a superior manner and she featured elegant and fine
polished woods instead of fibre optics and electronics etc,
although she did have the internet in her later years!
She continued to have those wonderful clean
lines, and a wrap-around Promenade Deck, instead of a horrific 8
to 12 deck high wall of balconies and with lifts flying up and
down amidships, etc. And with all those modern monstrosities
around, can you believe it, in 1996 amazingly the SS Rotterdam
was named the “Ship of the Year,” but according to
Carnival, she was just that “Old Ship” and she
no longer met the recently instituted international maritime
regulations as I stated previously.
One of
“Dear
Reuben … As we awaited the final disembarkation, passengers
gathered in the Lounges and the feeling on board was so very sad.
Down at the Main Deck Main Lobby, there was a blue banner at the
Front Office that said:
“Thank
you and goodbye to all my loyal friends with all my best wishes.
Will miss you - S.S. Rotterdam.”
…
I can tell you no one is going to miss the
Although
I am a staunch Holland America cruiser, it will be so hard to
sail on the new Rotterdam VI that is due to commence cruising
later this year, for I have heard she has been delayed …
Reuben, no other ship will ever take the place of “The Grand
Dame” and she will remain in my heart always! Thank you for
writing her story on your site, that way she will be seen by so
many who did not have the joys on her that I and others
did!” JHG.
SS
Rotterdam seen berthed at
There was an announcement that there was a
possible proposal for the
Thankfully a good offer came from Premier
Cruises 1997. Amazingly, or possibly not so much, Premier Cruises
refitted her for a fraction of the purported cost that was
previously announced by Carnival, just US$20 million, that is
half of what Carnival claimed and more so her magnificent
interiors remained completely intact, which Carnival claimed
would be destroyed!
But, ship lovers worldwide were outraged when
heard a rumour that Premier Cruises were thinking of renaming the
SS Rotterdam the SS Big Red Boat Four and that her hull
would be painted in the companies traditional bright red colour.
But thankfully that was never Premier’s idea and it was the
typical rumour junkie going mad! Thankfully Premier decided to
market this fine ship from their middle market to their more
upmarket clientele who would appreciate this luxury vintage class
liner that retained all her original innovative beauty and
glamour, and thus they renamed her the SS Rembrandt, which was a
most suitable name indeed!
SS
Rembrandt Photo Album
But, the SS Rembrandt looked a magnificent sight at all times for she remained a meticulously maintained ship, and thus it was no wonder that the cruising public and ship lovers were so happy with her. But, it was also because she had been given the name of that great Dutch painter - “Rembrandt van Rijn” and having been named the Rembrandt was the perfect choice for a Dutch built ship, which contained so many items of classical and modern works of art!
Except
for the Premier Cruises sign on her hull and her new name, she
looked just like she always did!
She
had remained a superbly beautiful ship unto this very day. But,
there were many painful hurdles on the way!
The
superb two level Ritz Carlton Lounge located aft of Upper
Promenade Deck
This
venue received new carpets both the stairwell and the main floor
and the chairs received a new darker upholstery
A
close-up of the brilliant Mural on the walls of the Ritz Carlton
The
Sculpture on the wall of the Smoking Room
Another
fine piece of modern art found in a lobby
A
small section of the beautiful Ambassador Lounge
This
is a beautifully glass blown mirror on one of the lobbies located
on the “Central Secret Stairwell”
At first, she operated a short but a successful
South American cruise series, but during the Northern Hemisphere
Summer of 1998 the Rembrandt headed across the Atlantic and she
commenced a European Cruise Season and visited a vast number of
ports including Italy, Gibraltar, Portugal, Spain, France and
countless other ports!
Another
fine view of the SS Rembrandt as seen at
The SS Rembrandt made a memorable visit on
October 26, 1998, being to the City where she was built as well
as being her original Homeport, the City of
The
SS Rembrandt is seen in
And
you can just see a replica of the SS Rotterdam Bridge on the
lower part of the concrete tower that can be visited
Photograph
by & © Ron van der Silk
It would be on September 13, 2000 the
However, a week or so later that month the
Rembrandt was permitted under special warrant conditions to sail
for
The
SS Rembrandt is seen in 2004 having been laid up for four long
years
Photograph
by & © Klaas Krijnen - NL
The
bows of the Rembrandt is seen here laid up in
built
as the Union Castle Lines SS Transvaal Castle, then SA Vaal, then
Festivale, IslandBreeze before obtained by Premier
Photographer
unknown – Please see Photo Notes at bottom of page
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