Statendam at the mercy of the tide
The Hotel Manager on board Holland America Line’s Statendam, Kees Van Santen had to choose his words carefully when talking to the media who had boarded in Brisbane on the Tuesday before Christmas for a two-night sample cruise.
The journalists and a travel agent group were hosted by Andrew Millmore, Managing Director of Travel the World and his Marketing Executive Eddie Wong and they joined more than 600 paying guests who had to walk a steep and shaky gangplank to board the 55,451-ton vessel on Tuesday.
Kees obviously wasn’t impressed and explained that P&O’s Pacific Sun had first dibs on Brisbane’s new port facilities which meant HAL passengers were shuffled through old storage sheds and had to deal with a gangplank that became increasingly steep as the tide rose.
“It wasn’t the most charming way for passengers to come onto the ship,” Kees said diplomatically.
Certainly some of the elderly would have struggled, despite the crew doing all they could to assist passengers.
The two-night cruise leg was unusual in that Statendam had been in dry dock in Brisbane for two weeks so the two nights were added onto the more traditional 16-night itinerary from Sydney to Auckland via Melbourne and Burnie.
During her spell in dry dock Statendam’s hull was painted and new carpet was laid and the ship took on supplies brought in from the US to keep the 50 per cent of passengers who were American happy.
“Around 80 per cent of our food and general supplies come from the US,” Kees said. That includes items from wine to toilet paper, while milk, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables and beef were sourced in Australia.
“It has to do with pricing and volume.” “If we bought everything in Australia it would double the price.”
Statendam continued from Sydney heading for its next port of Melbourne.
A CruiseMole Report
John Alwyn-Jones
Vegas’s Billion-Dollar Secrets – What They Don’t Want Tourists to Know
Visit Florida’s New CEO Bryan Griffin Shares His Vision for State Tourism with Graham
Chicago’s Tourism Renaissance: Graham Interviews Kristin Reynolds of Choose Chicago
Graham Talks with Cassandra McCauley of MMGY NextFactor About the Latest Industry Research
Destination International’s Andreas Weissenborn: Research, Advocacy, and Destination Impact
Graham and Don Welsh Discuss the Success of Destinations International’s Annual Conference
Graham and CEO Andre Kiwitz on Ventura Travel’s UK Move and Recruitment for the Role
Brett Laiken and Graham Discuss Florida’s Tourism Momentum and Global Appeal
Graham and Elliot Ferguson on Positioning DC as a Cultural and Inclusive Global Destination
Graham Talks to Fraser Last About His England-to-Ireland Trek for Mental Health Awareness
Kathy Nelson Tells Graham About the Honour of Hosting the World Cup and Kansas City’s Future
Graham McKenzie on Sir Richie Richardson’s Dual Passion for Golf and His Homeland, Antigua
ADS PRO 
Qatar Airways offers flexible payment options for European travellers
Airlines suspend Madagascar services following unrest and army revolt
Digital Travel Reporter of the Mirror totally seduced by HotelPlanner AI Travel Agent
Strike action set to cause travel chaos at Brussels airports
All eyes on Qatar as Qatar Airways leads a season of global events