It
was a most unusual sight, even for eclectic, hectic Baltimore.
A forest of industrial cranes and small mountains of potash and
bituminous surrounded a luxury cruise ship, Holland America's new Amsterdam,
fully dressed.
After I flashed the Maryland State Trooper directing traffic at
the Dundalk Marine Terminal (flashed my press card, that is) we
checked out the harbor area before we parked. A small passenger
ship, Christopher Columbus, was in port, along with a Red
Cross hospital ship and two massive merchant vessels offloading cars
and trucks.
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| C. Columbus in the Port of Baltimore |
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| The Amsterdam
at Dundalk Marine Terminal |
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| The
Tradition of Flagships |
| In
military terms, the flagship is the vessel that carries
the flag of the commander of the fleet. It could be a
destroyer, an aircraft carrier, or even a light cruiser.
All that matters is who's on board; there's only one
boss and one flagship. Commercial lines use the term
flagship for the most distinguished ships of their
fleets. Because Amsterdam and Rotterdam
are almost identical, both are designated as flagships
by Holland America. |
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The terminal design? Contemporary warehouse crossed with drag
queen. Extremely purple columns exploding into sprays of metallic
fronds were all around. Massive photo enlargements of the Port of
Baltimore "back when" softened the industrialness of it
all.
As overnighters, we were on the second shift. Earlier, the teeming
masses - some 5,000 strong - trooped through the ship to see this
newest offering, which shares HAL's flagship designation with the
almost-as-new Rotterdam. |
HAL's board-by-number system (FTFO - First There, First On) was in
operation and the terminal was full of folks - most of whom seemed
to be talking on cellphones - guarding their suitcases, looking at
their number cards, and waiting for their numbers to be called. We
were allowed to bypass that exercise and boarded on the crew
gangway, escorted by Erik Elvejord, HAL's Director of Public
Relations.
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| Erik and Pam
(bad hair afternoon?)
boarding the Amsterdam. |
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| Uncovered
forward crew gangway to Amsterdam |
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| Once in our stateroom, after reading our invitations for the
evening I threw the Giant Tote Bag on the bed, quickly
unzipped our single schlep-aboard, hung up our dinner clothes,
and determined our starting point. At the top, of course. |
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| Now THIS
is a stateroom! |
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| Pool bench
on Lido Deck aft |
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| Nattily
togged-out staff |
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After a quick turn around the Sports Deck, the Lido deck was next.
Astern, a pool with an AbFab ceramic bench anchoring the aft end of
the pool. While sitting on it might be a bit strange (and
possibly dangerous while wet), it was a hint of some of the décor
to come.
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| Pool
and bar area on Lido Deck amidships |
We ambled forward, passing through the Lido buffet
restaurant, where the staff was nattily togged-out in
outfits that required a second glance and a smile, to the
main pool area. It looked almost exactly like Ryndam's,
right down to the light fixtures, table arrangements, hot
tubs and pool surround. But something was wrong. It took a
while to figure out that there were no lounge chairs in
place, making it seem much more open. All the HAL-related
lines had marketing tables on the port side and were doing a
hot and heavy business, with smiling representatives of
Seabourne, Cunard, Costa, and Windstar passing out
brochures. HAL canvas tote bags were flying off the official
HAL table. |
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| Those really
are rocks on the pebbles behind the bears! |
Then there were the bears. Another press type was engrossed in
measuring the size of the two-bear sculpture at the end of the pool.
My sense of humor took over when I looked at the strewing of rocks
on the bears' pebbled platform. Most of the rocks were placed at the
rear of the bears, suggesting that the bears had stopped for lunch,
even though we hadn't.
Bear-inspired, we lunched on the Lido Deck. It was sunny, at
least 80 degrees, and we downed margaritas, pretending we were in
the Caribbean. The dining room could wait until dinnertime. Several
excellent salads, including a mixed pasta number and a fresh-crunch
cucumber and yogurt with dill, went happily along with ham, cheese,
onion and tomato sandwiches on excellent fresh French rolls. But,
oh, those sneaky desserts. Imagine a tiramisu mousse wrapped in
chocolate leaves. Miniature pecan pies? Who needed the sandwich?
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Too soon, it was time for real work. But not before I noticed a
nice touch in the Lido buffet restaurant. There are lights in the
set-backs beneath the counter-ways along the buffet line. The tile
along the line is a light yellow color. If someone drops a big chunk
of eggplant or any other slippery food, both staff and passengers
can see it and either clean it up or avoid it. Very smart.
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