North to Alaska: Our Ship

Our Alaskan cruise will be with Holland America. With a name that includes the word Holland, I pictured a Dutch influence with wooden shoed cabin stewards and little windmills everywhere.

New Nike Brand Wooden Shoes

Many famous people have a Dutch association. Ronald Reagan was nicknamed “Dutch” as was Dutch Shultz the famous gangster. On the other hand, was it Shultz who was the president and Reagan was the gangster? I get them confused. Then you have Dutch Meyer the football coach and Dutch Savage the professional wrestler. Moreover, who can forget Cornelius “Dutch” Warmerdam the famous pole-vaulter? I did, until Wikipedia came to the rescue.

All Holland America ships have names that sound like Dutch curse words. The cruise line’s first ship was the Amsterdam, which loosely translates to the condemnation of a small rodent, as in “damn hamster.” We would say Hamsterdam but in Dutch the “h” is silent. All of their ships use “dam” at the end of their names. There is the Rotterdam, the Volendam, the Zuiderdam, the Goddam, the Hotdam and the Aylebedam. Our ship is the MS Zaandam which is obviously condemning the Iranian newspaper Zan. There is also a town and river in Holland named Zaan, but I doubt there is any connection. If there was, you wouldn’t follow it with the word dam.

I feel good about being aboard a ship with a Netherlands association. Who would know more about boats than a country mostly situated below sea level? The ship was built by Fincantieri in Venice, Italy, a soon-to-be-below sea level location. A previous ship was christened MS Zaandam but it was torpedoed by a German submarine (U-174) in 1942.

Holland America started life in 1872. We understand that many of their original passengers still cruise with them. Holland America is known for serving an “older” clientele. It is politely referred to as a “senior demographic.” It will be a great ego boost to be considered a “youngster” again. I only hope that I am not restricted to the children’s area.

You can tell that Holland America really cater to a mature audience. On the excursion and activities list, they have zip lining with walkers, a horizontal rock climb, Rascal Scooter races on the Lido deck and cane fencing. The spinning class, while held in the gym, involves a real spinning wheel and a loom. The spa center specializes in Bengay massages. Room keys have a special fob with a button that, when pressed, indicates you have fallen on gangway H-4 and can’t get up. The "early bird" midnight buffet is held at 5 p.m. I read a recent story on the Cruise Critic where a Zaandam passenger had called the purser’s desk and wanted to know how to get out of his room. The purser said he just needed to open the door. The guest replied he only had two doors and one led to the bathroom and the other had a sign that read Do Not Disturb.

In reality, Holland America has no affiliation with Holland, other than the flag on the stern. Most of the ships are built in Italy and Carnival Corporation of Miami (Micky Arison) is the parent company. Carnival owns the Costa Cruises (see previous blog entry for Costa Concordia reference). Carnival also owns the Cunard Line (Lusitania) which, in 1934, had merged with the White Star Line (Titanic). I have binoculars and will be on the lookout for torpedoes and icebergs. The torpedoes I can do without but I would like to get a nice picture of an iceberg.

For anyone wanting to join us, I understand they have some very inexpensive accommodations near the engine room. Each is equipped with a small window. If you row really fast they will also provide free gruel.