Meet Eurodam’s Port Lecturer

Frank Buckingham

Frank Buckingham is Eurodam’s port lecturer and, in my opinion, a walking Wikipedia! A 1960 graduate of Oxford University in England, he studied politics, philosophy and economics. He considered attending Cambridge University, where he also was accepted, and in the end his choice came down to, well, a color partiality.

“My initial preference was Oxford, as I liked the university’s color of dark blue versus Cambridge’s light blue,” Buckingham said with a chuckle. “But this was not the only criteria, just an initial one.”

After Oxford, he taught up to university level for almost seven years.

So how did he end up in the travel industry?

“I fell into educational travel with a colleague of mine in 1966 organizing tours, guides and hotels,” said Buckingham.

This led to his working for Maritz Travel for seven years and then for a friend who had an agency that booked post-cruise hotels and tours for Royal Cruise Line.

In 1984, he received an unexpected call from Royal Cruise Line asking for him to serve as a guest lecturer on board. He leaped at the chance and remained with Royal Cruise Line until 1996. Frank also has sailed with Norwegian Cruise Line and Silver Sea, and he has been with Holland America for 11 years.

I asked Frank if he were not a port lecturer, what would he want to do?

“I am a tremendous film buff and would work in the film industry,” Buckingham answered. “Or be a curator in an art gallery,” he added.

Frank loves engaging in conversation and welcomes an intellectual challenge. His specialties are history and geography, so if you will be sailing on Eurodam before Frank disembarks Aug. 29, introduce yourself and try to trip him up with an obscure historical reference or geography puzzler.

Meet Eurodam’s Tallest Crew Member

Tim Lodder stands 7 feet tall, while blogger Pam is 5 feet, 6 inches.

Meet the tallest crew member on Eurodam: Tim Lodder, 3rd officer in the Deck Department. Tim stands 7 feet tall! He was born in Ede in the Netherlands, which is no surprise because the Dutch are noted for being the tallest humans on earth.

You might see him around the ship inclining his head downwards to ensure he does not hit his noggin when walking around the ship.

“I don’t even think of lowering my head to prevent me from hitting something, it’s just an automatic thing I do,” says Tim.

Jan van Laer’s Long History with HAL

Jan van Laer recently sent us this story via e-mail:

Jan and Janet van Laer

I watched the christening ceremony with great interest. It was very nicely done.

I have a warm spot in my heart for the Holland America Line, going back almost 80 years. In 1931 our family sailed on a HAL vessel from Holland to America to our new home in Yonkers, N.Y. I don’t remember much about this trip, but, if memory serves me right, I believe the captain’s name was Bijl.

Thereafter, we returned on Holland America Line vessels every two or three years until the war came and interrupted those visits.

In June of 1950 I met my future wife, Janet, on board the Veendam. She boarded at Southampton on our trip to Holland and was a guest of Mrs. van den Toorn, the wife of the then president of HAL. We had dinner with them that night. This was right around the time the U.S. entered the Korean War. We married the following year.

In the summer 1960 we again sailed via HAL to Holland to attend the 60th wedding anniversary of my mother’s parents. In 1989 we cruised aboard the New Amsterdam to Alaska, taking our son and daughter-in-law with us.

This coming November we have signed up for a Thanksgiving cruise aboard the Eurodam and are taking our son, Eric, daughter-in-law Stella, and grandson Piet, along with us. Needless to say, we are looking forward to this trip with great pleasure.

The van Laers live in a retirement community in Florida where Holland America Line is promoting the Thanksgiving sailing, so there’s a good chance that they will be surrounded by both family and friends on their holiday cruise.

If you have a Holland America Line story or memory you would like to share with our readers, send us an e-mail and photo to roland@eurodamnews.com.

Slide Show of Eurodam in Rotterdam

Robert van Nimwegen of Studioro Productions in Delft, The Netherlands, sent us a link to a pretty cool slide show he put together of his photographs from Eurodam’s inaugural festivities. Check it out here.

Sailaway from Copenhagen

Guest and blog fan Steve Garrod disembarked Eurodam today in Copenhagen and snapped this photo as the ship sailed away for its next voyage. The 10-day cruise will call at Tallin, Estonia; St. Petersburg, Russia; Helsinki, Finland; Stockholm, Sweden; Warnemunde (Berlin), Germany, and Arhus, Denmark, before returning to Copenhagen.

A Bird’s Eye View of Eurodam in the Tyne

Retired professional pilot Bill Beavis was overhead for Eurodam’s arrival in Newcastle, and he was gracious enough to let us post these amazing photos.

Sailaway from Edinburgh

Blog reader Graham Stewart sent in more photos of Eurodam. These were taken as the ship was leaving the Forth and passing Edinburgh, which you can just make out in the background.

A Special Gift for the Captain

A dedicated blogger and guest on Eurodam’s maiden voyage, Ken Greenstein extended such personal generosity to Captain van Donselaar by presenting him with a Treasure Coast model railroad car. Since Ken has been following the blog, he knew that Captain van Donselaar is an aficionado of trains. This gift was a special labor of love for Ken because he made this model himself!

During the cruise, Captain van Donselaar had the opportunity to renew Ken’s wedding vows with his lovely wife, Ginger.

Postcards from Invergordon

Thanks to blog reader Jennifer Forsyth for sending in her photos of Eurodam at Invergordon, Scotland.

So Long, Farewell!

Pam took this photo today at the Crew Farewell after the disembarkation talk. Staff, officers and crew were on stage to bid farewell to the guests onboard the first Eurodam voyage. A standing ovation was received!