Meet Eurodam’s Rockin’ HALCats

From left: Michael ‘Mikey Slaps’ Adams, bass; Johnny ‘Johnny B. Goode’ Maldonado, guitar; Frank ‘Big Bird’ Crow, percussion/vocals; Kirk ‘the Captain’ Danielson, keyboards; Leena ‘All Star’ Salim, vocals; Steve ‘Chief Stiff Horse’ Iveson, band leader/piano; Steve ‘Stevie Rims’ Hawryluk, drums, and Jason ‘J Coffee’ Nelson, sax/flute.

Band Leader Steve Iveson, a 13-year HAL veteran, sent us this great post about the Eurodam HALCats, the new shipboard band that is responsible for backing all of the guest entertainers and production shows performed in the Show Lounge and Queens’ Lounge, and the band that provides party dance music around the ship:

The Eurodam HALCat “Allstars” were hand selected by both the Seattle office and me to perform on the first Signature-class vessel. All ship-seasoned pros, superior musicians and performers, and great guys and gals, their performances have been enjoyed during the inaugural cruises of Eurodam since late June 2008.

To be a successful HALCat requires quite a specific skill set. All the guys in the band need to be excellent sight readers, and be familiar with many musical styles from classical and Broadway to jazz, blues and contemporary pop music. We never know what music we may be presented with — and with only a couple of hours’ rehearsal time available, we need to be able to put the whole thing together and be ready for the show the same evening.

For the Eurodam, I was asked to present a band that creates a party atmosphere at every performance we give — and I think we have succeeded with that. Our performances are full of energy, nonstop dance music, and we manage to find time to have a little private fun on stage ourselves — which the more attentive members of the crowd enjoy, too!

Sadly, after three months on board Eurodam, the band members will begin to go their separate ways very soon. Several of the band will head to Rotterdam for the upcoming 2009 world cruise, and others will go to Amsterdam for the upcoming Asia/Pacific and South America itineraries.

Please come say “hi” on future cruises if you recognize any of us!

Meet Employee #121

Aries Tabrani

Each employee with Holland America Line receives a unique employee number when they go to work for the company. The lower the number, the more years of service an employee has with the company. Employee #121 is Sailor Aries Tabrani, Eurodam’s longest-serving employee of 30 years. He comes from the beautiful city of Palopo on the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia.

Aries’ first job at sea with was a cargo ship company in Singapore. He then went to work for Holland America on June 10, 1978. During his long career with the line he says there is nothing he has not done or seen. He has held jobs on board such as a fire guard, storekeeper, able-bodied sailor and was a quartermaster for 20 years.

“My favorite job was being a quartermaster and hand-steering the ship”, said Aries, smiling.

His favorite ship was “The old Noordam,” he said. “I have also sailed on the old Statendam IV, Rotterdam V and Veendam III.”

There is not a place Aries has not been to from his first time in the United States at Portland, Oregon, to circumnavigating the globe on world cruises. He also has a lovely family, his wife and three children — sons Rusdi and Fadli and daughter Fatmawati.

When asked when he will retire, he replied, “I might in three years but I just love the sea.”

But for the time being, if you sail on Eurodam, it will be hard to miss Aries’ huge smile, whether he is varnishing the decks, looking after the lifeboats or painting.

Where Do All the Calls Go?

Telephone concierges for superior suite guests Rechilda Orca (left) and Sara Ann Leutner.

Have you ever wondered when you dial from your stateroom phone or from any public venue on the ship where the calls go and who is on the other end?

The service professionals of the guest relations team at the Front Office answer guest questions and so much more. Behind the Front Office is where the heart of it all takes place. The telephone operator in the 24/7 Front Office manages all calls from 1,052 guest staterooms, including all 911 emergency calls and emergency buttons located in public venues all over the ship.

Meet Second Officer Aafke Bergsma

Second Officer Aafke Bergsma

Do you ever wonder who drives the ship while the captain is not on the bridge? One of the “watch keepers,” formally known on board as a “deck officer,” is Second Officer Aafke Bergsma from Rotterdam. She is one of only 17 female deck officers in the 14-ship Holland America Line fleet and the only woman in Eurodam’s Deck Department.

Aafke is used to being the only female, as the lone girl among five brothers. She also was one of only two women in her graduating class of 25 at Rotterdam Nautical College.

“I am just one of the guys, and it is a novelty, but also a downside as I would like to have another woman colleague and friend with me,” Aafke said. “It’s a shame there are not more women in this line of work.”

Aafke comes from a family of seafarers. Her grandfather was a pilot in Holland, and she recalls riding with him on pilot boats. Although she was fascinated by water as a youth, she admits that she also was afraid of it. She overcame her fear with some unwelcome assistance.

“While we were on a lake, my father put me in a sailboat and just pushed it away and there I went,” Aafke recalled. “The more difficult something is for me to get, the more I want it. The freedom of overcoming something such as fear is a great feeling of success.”

Her training included eight years of school and then another four years of schooling and licensure. She completed cadet training on a cargo ship, then joined Holland America Line. In five years Aafke quickly rose through the ranks of fourth and third officer, and is serving her first term as second officer.

As second officer, Aafke is responsible for the administrative side of navigation such as charting Eurodam’s course on navigational charts.

“There is still much manual planning, like telling the computer where to go,” she said.”Not all is done by GPS.”

She also calculates Eurodam’s sailing speed, calculating distances so the chief engineer can order fuel and plan engine maintenance. The second officer also advises the captain of arrival times so he can order pilots in each port, provides the “From the Navigator” information for the daily program, and inputs navigation information into the chart pilot computer system and the navigational display available on stateroom televisions. In addition, Aafke trains the crew in safety and lifesaving, and maintenance of lifeboats and navigation equipment.

She says her favorite part of the job is “watch-keeping and navigating, being on the bridge and sailing the ship with 3,000 souls on board.”

Aafke even met Queen Beatrix during the naming ceremony in Rotterdam.

“That was very exciting and special for me being from the Netherlands,” she said. “We had a short conversation and she asked if I was the only female officer and where I went to school. It was the icing on the cake for me!”

Aafke says she wants to become a pilot and follow in the footsteps of her grandfather.

For Aafke Bergsma, sailing is not just a job, it’s a way of life, and she enthusiastically encourages more women to go to sea to experience the adventure.

Meet the Bakeshop Team

The delicious breads and rolls are always very popular at mealtime. The crew in the bakeshop work tirelessly to ensure there’s a variety of breads and other goodies served at every meal.

Love In Bloom

Floral designers Callista den Hartog and Eddy de Groot

Shipboard floral designers Callista den Hartog and Eddy de Groot are the dynamic duo that designs all of Eurodam’s fresh flower arrangements, including all public rooms, guests’ preordered floral gifts, special requests and deluxe suite flower arrangements. They arrived on Eurodam June 4 as newbuild veterans, having helped bring out the last new ship, ms Noordam.

The creative couple works for Dianthus in the Netherlands. They met in high school and have known each other for 12 years. Their experience includes six years of training in floral design in Holland and aboard numerous Holland America ships — they have traveled to every continent except one. “We have only South America to see,” Eddy said. “We even just did this past world cruise.”

So, how many flower arrangements are there on Eurodam? The two-person department is responsible for 350 small floating arrangements, 15 large arrangements, 18 countertop arrangements and 30 arrangements of various sizes. All of the flowers are received on the first day of every voyage and arrangements must be designed and cared for so flowers last the length of the cruise.

What is it like to work on board? On a ship where space is limited, they have no fixed area in which to work, unlike a land-based florist shop.

“The most challenging thing with a newbuild is that our plants get moved everywhere after we have already set them in a specific spot,” said Callista. “Once everything is settled and all of the crew know where plants and flowers should stay, the time comes when new crew arrive and we have to start all over again.”

I asked them what are the most frequent questions guests ask. They both smiled and said, “Are the flowers real?”

Eddy and Callista said the amusing thing is that usually when someone asks that question, they have a watering can in their hands.

The most unique floral request they have received: “We were asked by a penthouse guest to make a floral elephant as a table arrangement,” said Eddy. “Another guest wanted a Hawaiian lei. Remember while at sea, you cannot just go and get more flowers for such specific requests.”

“We enjoy working on ships because we have so much creative freedom,” said Callista. “We have to be creative with what we receive from our flower delivery every cruise.”

Callista and Eddy sometimes experience a wide range of “flower emergencies.” When they don’t receive their entire flower order before departure, they have to make a “flower run” in a port of call. One time on Noordam they didn’t receive the full order due to weather delays. They received special permission from the captain to go ashore in Manhattan and get as many flowers as they could and return within 30 minutes before the ship sailed!

“We came running back with hundreds of flowers in the February cold from one shop that was very happy to see us,” said Eddy.

Eddy has a ship mobile phone so he can be reached around the clock. Emergencies can be last-minute requests for an almost-forgotten birthday or having to get up in the middle of the night to secure plants and flowers during rough seas.

I asked them what was the next goal on their to-do list. Not surprisingly, they are circumventing the globe again as the on-board floral designers on the 2009 world cruise.

If you’re sailing on Eurodam, take a moment to stop and smell the flowers. And if you see Eddy or Callista with a watering can in their hands, you know that the flowers not only are real, but are cared for with love from Holland.

Let Her Entertain You

Jill Quinlan

Headliner Jill Quinlan is no stranger to the Holland America Line stage. Paul Lasley spoke to Jill about the lifestyle of a shipboard entertainer and the excitement of performing for a live audience.

To listen to this podcast, click on the arrow below.

Meet the Production Cast

Pam went to the theater to snap this photo of the production cast wearing costumes from “Dream Park.” It looks like a bright, high-energy show.

Back row, from left: Lindsey Wild, Erika Tomlinson, Jennifer Killian, Virginia Reid, David Brouwer, Jill Quinlan, Daniel McHugh, Michon Suyama-Brouwer, Christina Marshall and April Leopardi.

Front row, from left: Steven Montalvo, Kenneth Anneberg, Peter Gill and Mario Covacevich.

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.