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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!

 

 

Please Note: Photographs, postcards and images on this page are from the author’s collection unless stated otherwise!

SS Rotterdam - Part Six

Liner & Cruise Ship Deck Plans

Please Note:

If you arrived at this page via a search engine: Please read Part One first!

PLEASE NOTE: This Eight Page SS Rotterdam V Feature has been completely updated as well had five brand new pages added. However, I wish to announce that this feature is in reality a new work is also my very last ever work that I will do for ssmaritime or for any other of my sites. I have done so for reasons that may be well known to many of my regular readers. Therefore, I have now fully retired and will sit back and I am joyful with what I have achieved and I trust that you will enjoy reading the well over 620 classic liners, and other ships that are online! Thank you for your wonderful support I has been greatly appreciated!

Best wishes,

Reuben Goossens.

Maritime Historian & Founder of the “Save The Classic Liners Campaign.

And the “Save The SS Rotterdam Campaign.”  

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1959 - Preliminary Accommodation Plans

The two first plans I have are the very first edition and are dated January 1959 therefore they are the “Preliminary Accommodation Plans” of the ship that would become in due course “The Grande Dame of the Sea” SS Rotterdam.

The First Class cover is red and white, whilst the Tourist Class is a pleasant blue and white. Both feature the traditional HAL logo of a towering bow of a two-funnelled liner, which is said to be the SS Nieuw Amsterdam with the historic vessel of 1609 the “Halve Maen” on which Henry Hudson discovered the Hudson River and New Amsterdam (later New York) was established. Of course this oval logo appears on the funnels all of today’s HAL cruise ships, as it did on the SS Rotterdam from 1986 to 1997 until the day she was sold!

The scanning process:

As you can imagine, it was quite a feat scanning these two Deck Plans, for they are very long and I only have a scanner that facilitates A4, thus I had to scan them piece by piece and then carefully put them together using Photoshop ensuring to keep the size the same. In the Tourist Class section, I did lose a very small section, being mostly a deck name, but I did fix that by adding it anew.

First Class Deck Plan

 

Above is a copy of the First Deck Plan Cover!

 

This is the opening page to both the First and Tourist Class Deck Plans

 

For a larger version of any of these plans just Click HERE or on the actual Images Above or Below and they will open. When the plan opens,

You will note that it will reduce in size, but just click on the image and it will return to its original large size!

Some plans will be very large below, just use the Scroll bar to move the image to be able to see all the Plan!

 

Click Plans to enlarge

 

 

Click Plans to enlarge

 

 

Click Plans to enlarge

 

 

The First Class Indoor Pool is available to Tourist Class during inclement weather at advertised times

The Indoor pool plan does not enlarge!

 

This completes the First Class Deck plans from Observation Deck down to D Deck. Obviously Promenade Deck is not shown, as it is entirely devoted to Tourist as we will see below!

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Tourist Class Deck Plan

Tourist class was very popular for all who sailed in this class, for once many having boarded the ship for the very first time they almost thought that they had entered the wrong class for the lounges and the vast amount of space that was allocated was beyond anything they had ever experienced on any other ship and the luxury was just overwhelming! The style and quality of Tourist Class on the Rotterdam was very much like any First Class on most of the Trans-Atlantic liners of the day, in fact in many cases even better! The truth is simple, that not any other company offered the run of the ship Tourist Class, with a full length Promenade Deck filled with of lounges as well as one of the grandest two deck high domed golden Restaurant, giving passengers one of the finest voyages across the Atlantic at Tourist Class fares!

As you can imagine, it was quite a feat scanning these two Deck plans, for they are very long and I only have a scanner that facilitates A4, thus I had to scan and then in Photoshop carefully put them together ensuring to keep the size the same.

 

As this Deck Plan was too long for the page, I split it and the forward section of Promenade Deck is below –

However just Click the above section of the Plan to enlarge as it will come up as one big Plan!

 

This is the forward section of “Promenade Deck” featuring the Queens Lounge and the Theatre

 

 

Click Plans to enlarge

 

 

Click Plans to enlarge

 

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A Listing of the Main Public Venues by Class - 1959

 

First Class

 

Deck:     Venue & Seats:

 

Navigation/Bridge Deck………………….Sky Room - 50.

Upper Promenade Deck ………….………Theatre Balcony - 163.

Upper Promenade Deck…………….     Ambassador Room - 142.

Upper Promenade Deck…………..………Library/Writing Room - 8.

Upper Promenade Deck…………….…….Card Room - 28

Upper Promenade Deck……………….….Smoking Room - 130.

Upper Promenade Deck……….………….Tropic Bar - 53 including Barstools.

Boat & Upper Promenade Decks……..Ritz Carlton - 260.

B Deck………………….………………….………Odyssey Dining Room - 260.

 

Tourist Class

 

Deck:     Venue & Seats:

 

Sun Deck………………….……………………..Sun Room - 50.

Promenade Deck………………….………….Theatre - 444.

Promenade Deck…………….…….…………Queens Lounge - 500.

Promenade Deck………………….…….……Ocean Bar - 50.

Promenade Deck……….………….………… Library/Writing Room - 22.

Promenade Deck………….………….………Club Room - 150.

Promenade Deck………………….…….……Café de la Paix - 112.

Promenade Deck………………….…….……Verandah - 60.

B Deck………………….………………….………La Fontaine Dining Room - 510.

 

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The “Rotterdam Dry Dock Company” General Arrangement Plan as built

Below is the overall “General Arrangement Plans” that reveals SS Rotterdam’s details exceptionally well and you will be able to see on the single plan that all lounges for First Class are all located on Boat and Upper Promenade Decks, whilst those of Tourist Class cover the full length of Promenade Deck. The Dining Rooms for both Classes are located together on B Deck, and are separated by a Central Lobby. Each Class reaches it by the very same Central Staircase, yet they never meet! For this is the famous “Secret Stairwell,” I have written about earlier on Part One! Of course the lifts (elevators) are programmed to stop at the relevant decks! I am sorry that this plan is not of a great quality, but the scan I was sent by a dear friend in the Netherlands said that it was the best available!

Each Plan Section below has an enlarged version online, just click on the one you wish to view and it will open in a new page!

 

PS: When the plan opens, it will reduce in size, just click on it and it will return to its original large size!

 

Click Here or the Plan above for an enlargement

 

 Click Here or the Plan above for an enlargement

 

Click Here or the Plan above for an enlargement

 

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1980 Cruise Plan

As you can see, below I have placed a plan from around the 1980’s when the SS Rotterdam was operating mostly as a full time Cruise Ship sailing out of the USA!

 

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SS Rotterdam INDEX online to date:

Part One:             Construction & her Maiden Voyage Sep 3, 1959.

Part Two:            Her Grey Hull days - Sep 1959 to 1971.

Part Three:          Her HAL days & Premier Cruises days - 1972 to 2000.

Part Four:            Brochure - Page One.

Part Five:            Brochure - Page Two.

Part Six:              Deck Plans, 1959 First & Tourist & a later One Class Cruise Plan.

Part Seven:         SS Rotterdam 1959 Specifications & Engine Room photos by Klaas Krijnen.

Part Eight:           Saving the Rotterdam 1995/97 - 2009.

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Please Note: ssmaritime and associated sites are 100% non-commercial and the author seeks no funding or favours of any shape or form, never have and never will!

Photographs on ssmaritime and associate pages are by the author or from the author’s private collection. In addition there are some images that have been provided by Shipping Companies and private photographers or collectors. Credit is given to all contributors. However, there are some photographs provided to me without details regarding the photographer/owner concerned. I hereby invite if owners of these images would be so kind to make them-selves known to me (my email address may be found on www.ssmaritime.com only), in order that due credit may be given.

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