Around the Ship

Enjoy some final views from around the ship before the first guests come on board.

The reception staff go over some final preparations before guests embark.

Guests will be able to bid on and purchase various pieces of art during the cruise. The art gallery is run by Park West Gallery.

This is a nice overhead view of the Atrium Bar counter-top.

Atrium Chandelier and Dining Room Ceiling are Complete!

Both the Atrium chandelier and Dining Room ceiling are fully installed and complete!

Click here to see the chandelier during its assembly. The flowers will change color depending on the time of day: bright colors during the day and warm colors in the evening.

Just last week we showed you the Dining Room ceiling being installed. It looks much more intricate in this photo.

Glass Sculptures Dress Up Lido Deck

Under the magrodome on the Lido Deck are two “Wantennas” created by Austrian artist Katrin Maurer. The Wantennas are sculptures constructed of glass elements, sandblasted with individual colors and augmented with Maurer’s original poetry. Thanks to Pam for taking the photo and letting us know about the interesting works of art.

Installation of the Dining Room Ceiling

The ceiling in the Rembrandt Dining Room was installed today.

It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

The water feature at the midship pool on Lido deck is up and running. It was successfully tested today, and Security Officer Doug Moncrief took a couple of great photos for the blog.

Meet the Artists

Blog Correspondent Pam met Yvonne Pitter and Oscar Paanen, a husband and wife team that work for VFD Architects of the Netherlands, the line’s interior and art consultants. Pitter and Paanen have made more than 100 pieces for Eurodam, including vases, statues and other items, and it has taken them six months to make everything.

Pitter and Paanen with their statue of Poisden, which is made out of a flame-retardant polyester compound.

Pictured with Captain Jeroen van Donselaar (right) is Roy van Binsbergen from VFD. According to van Binsbergen, this ship model was on the old Statendam and has been in storage. It will be placed in the Explorers Lounge.

Also according to van Binsbergen, the small wooden boat model is called “Dixie” from the 1920’s, and it will be placed in the Ocean Bar.

Card Art: Missing Ryndam Painting Surfaces

We finally received an image of the fifth painting by maritime artist Stephen Card that will be featured in the forward stairwell on Eurodam. It is a depiction of Ryndam II outbound for Wellington.

Built in the Netherlands and delivered in 1951, Ryndam II was originally designed as a cargo ship, and is notable as the first Holland America Line ship to sport a gray hull. In 1960 the ship was transferred to the Montreal and Quebec service. In 1964 the ship inaugurated Holland America’s first service around the world to Australia, a trip that took 10 weeks.

Ryndam II was the first Holland America ship to sail with an Indonesian crew. The ship was laid up in Rotterdam in 1970 and sold in 1972. In 1993 the ship was refurbished and was permanently moored as a floating casino at Gulfport, Mississippi.

Captain’s Log: The Art is Arriving

VFD Architects of the Netherlands, our interior and art consultants, have arrived at the yard and the installation of the priceless artworks has begun!

The wooden crates containing the various paintings, models and statues are loaded on board and delivered to the Half Moon and Hudson rooms. Here, they are carefully unpacked and then transported to their destinations elsewhere on the ship where they are installed by experts.

Atrium Art Installation

Chief Engineer Frank de Vries sent us this photo of the atrium art being installed. The flowers are being affixed to the sculpture to give the appearance that they are floating down from the ceiling.

As we mentioned back in December, the impressive work of art was designed by Vincent Jansen for VFD Architects, and it is being executed by a Dutch company called Transtech. Carolijn Nelis from VFD told us that while the flowers look like glass, they actually are made from material approved for use on cruise ships by the International Maritime Organization. The flowers will change color depending on the time of day: bright colors during the day and warm colors in the evening.

Take a look and compare the actual piece versus the rendering.

Card Art: Zijldyk

An alert reader (and you know who you are) alerted us that there are two more paintings by Stephen Card that will be displayed on Eurodam, even though we’ve shown you all the images we’ve managed to collect so far.

So here is Zijldyk, about which we know very little beyond the fact that it was a cargo ship (hence the -dyk suffix) that was part of the Holland America Line fleet from 1909 to 1928.

If an alert reader (and you know who you are) has additional information on Zijldyk, please share it with us and we’ll share it with everybody.

UPDATE: I just knew someone in The Netherlands was paying attention. Check out the comments on this post for more information on Zijldyk from a couple of our alert readers. Thanks guys!