Reflecting on the Crew We Left Behind
Day 48, Grand World Voyage
Monday, Feb. 20, 2023; At Sea, Great Australian Bight.
Leaving the ms Amsterdam suddenly almost three years ago was traumatic for the 1,000-plus passengers. We knew little about this mysterious virus coming from Asia. No one on our ship was sick, but reports from a few other cruise ships were not good. So just as travel was about to shut down, we left the ship in Fremantle, Australia, and began the long journey home.
I wrote about those last days on the ship, as well as my return home and even the final return seven months later of the suitcase I had left aboard:
And Just Like That, Our Cruise is Ending, March 14, 2020
We Face Reality, and We Are Sad, March 17, 2020
Getting Us All Home is a Challenge, March 21, 2020
Going Home, One Step at a Time, March 22, 2020
There’s No Place Like Home, March 25, 2020
Oh, The Places My Luggage Will Go! July 25, 2020
Suddenly Saying Goodbye to the Amsterdam, July 26, 2020
If This Suitcase Could Talk …, October 30, 2020
Today, crew members from that last voyage shared their pandemic stories in a special Amsterdam 2020 Grand World Voyage Reflection Get-Together.
The 483 passengers from that cruise who currently are on the 2023 Grand World Voyage were invited to join together in the World Stage are we approach our return to Fremantle tomorrow.
The event started with a slide show highlighting the Amsterdam’s last days with Holland America, as the left-behind luggage was finally off the ship.
After brief remarks by Captain Friso Kramer gezegd Freher, our current Cruise and Travel Director Ian Page interviewed Hotel General Manager Henk Mensink about his last few days on the Amsterdam, his experience at home during the pandemic shutdown of cruising and his return to the sea.
Once the company announced this cruise would be on the Zuiderdam, Henk requested to be assigned here, as he knew based on his 19 world cruises that another ship would need some time to be ready for our 128-day world voyage, and he would need time to get the special crew into place.
The most touching part of the ceremony was the video-taped interviews of the 20 team members on board now who also were on the Amsterdam. Many of them, such as Josephine (dining room hostess), Tina (Pinnacle Grill manager), Twinkle (assistant beverage manager), and Spencer (sports director) are familiar to all of us. Others, who work in the laundry, housekeeping and below decks, we didn’t know as well. But they are all part of the Amsterdam family, and they all shared their thoughts of leaving the ship amid uncertainty, their experiences supporting their families during the shutdown and their return to Holland America’s ships.
Tomorrow we will dock in Fremantle at the very pier where we left almost three years ago. On Thursday, after we have left Australia for the eight-day crossing of the Indian Ocean, a group of us will hold a passenger-organized reunion party.
We had our long vacation interrupted, but it was good today to be reminded that almost 1,000 crew members lost – at least for a while — their livelihoods and the family of their fellow team members.
Well done! Thank you for sharing this wonderful event for those of us who couldn’t be there. Can’t wait to hear about the reunion!
I subscribed to your blog after seeing it mentioned in Pete’s The Inside Cabin. I’m so glad I did because I have thoroughly enjoyed every one of your posts from this year’s World Cruise. And today, you rewarded me with your posts from the abruptly canceled 2020 WC. As a long time cruiser with HAL (300+ nights), I was riveted to all the news about cruise passengers stranded around the world. We didn’t get much detail, though, so it was fascinating for me to be able to read your stories of trying to get home and reunite with your luggage. Ron and I had just finished a cruise in February when the cruising landscape started getting foggy from the unprecedented Covid restrictions.
We had three upcoming cruises that could be conveniently shelved, with cruise credits banked so we were able to wait it out without much distress. We were unhappy about the pause but often thought about passengers like you who were trapped in so much uncertainty, stranded so far from home, and in distress from having your wonderful cruise ripped away from you.
I want to thank you for this opportunity to read about your experience. And, really, I want to thank you for your delightful stories about all your travels. I’m so glad I found you. And . . . I hope to get to meet you. Ron and I will be boarding the Zuiderdam in Amsterdam for the final leg of this year’s WC. We will be sailing on the Rotterdam’s 150th Anniversary Cruise on April 3rd out of Fort Lauderdale and when I saw the two ships would be together on April 18 and 19 in Holland, we decided we would much rather sail home with our beloved HAL rather than fly.
We are Ron and Jane Raifsnider from Port St Lucie, FL. Looking forward to joining you soon.
P.S. On our 2017 World Cruise, we embarked with 14 boxes and suitcases. We disembarked with 19. I don’t know how I could ever have dealt with what you had to through in 2020.
Thanks soo much for posting all of this. I remember so vividly your posts from those days.
I am glad that the ship had a meeting for all of you that were on that cruise. A bit of closure.
We were to go to Australia on March 9, 2020 and cancelled the day before. Still haven’t made it. 😬😬😬 hopefully next year. Love following your posts!
Aww….this was really special!! We weren’t on that fateful trip, but have heard much about it. Seeing all those heads in the theater ….. brings the “1,000” passengers into real focus. So glad all the “hidden figures” were recognized.
We were supposed to do a Med trip that year, but cancelled before the shutdown.
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well, Jo, you really touched my emotional buttons today with your “reunion” stories. I am flabbergasted that So MANY of you….left that trip, midway, and are back aboard to go to the same destination (not all, I know) again. The staff and crew stories, even though just indicated, are heart tugging. I hope you have all had a WONDERFUL day to get off the ship and then get right back on! Eight days at sea….Oh, I couldn’t stay busy that long. YIKES.
I really enjoy your writings. Thanks for sharing those past adventures today too. I will read them all, many for a second time.
Enjoy the rest of your cruise and keep telling us about your life aboard and in the world ports.
This may be of interest to you. A different HA ship.
I have ordered this book from our local library.
Record details
Main title:
Cabin fever : trapped on board a cruise ship when the pandemic hit : a true story of heroism and survival at sea / Michael Smith and Jonathan Franklin.
Summary
In early 2020, the world was on edge. An ominous virus was spreading and no one knew what the coming weeks would bring. Far from the hotspots, the cruise ship Zaandam, owned by Holland America, was preparing to sail from Buenos Aires, Argentina, loaded with 1,200 passengers – British, American, Australian, European and South American tourists, plus 600 crew. Most passengers were over the age of 65. There was concern about the virus in the news. But that was oceans away, and escaping to sea at the ends of the earth for a few weeks seemed like it might be a good option. The cruise line had said the voyage would go ahead as scheduled and it would be safe. Cabin Fever is a riveting narrative thriller, taking readers behind the scenes of the ship’s complex workings, and below decks into the personal lives of passengers and crew who were caught unprepared for the deadly ordeal that lay ahead. Among the passengers, there is a retiree on a dream vacation with his wife of 56 years, on a personal quest to see Machu Picchu. An Argentine psychologist taking the trip to celebrate her 64th birthday with her husband finds herself fretting in her cabin on day one, trying to dismiss her fears of what she’s hearing on the news. There is an Indonesian laundry manager who’s been toiling on Holland America cruise ships for thirty years, sending his monthly pay check to his family back home. Within days, people aboard the Zaandam begin to fall sick. The world’s ports shut down. Zaandam becomes a top story on the news and is denied safe harbour everywhere. With only two doctors aboard and few medical supplies to test for or treat Covid-19, and with dwindling food and water, the ship wanders the oceans on an unthinkable journey. Cabin Fever is a story layered with moments of peril, perseverance and kindness. A remarkable tale that is filled with individual acts of heroism, the struggles and the tragedies of the crew and passengers.
Thanks for the recommendation. Margaret! I actually read the book last fall, while in covid quarantine in my cabin on the Westerdam. I wrote in my blog that a pro tip for covid quarantine is NOT to read a book about passengers with covid on a cruise ship. It is an interesting account, and from what I understand, mostly acccurate.
I have so enjoyed reading your articles. I love how you weave the story. You and your suitcase had some of life’s most interrupted experiences. Both seem to have come out no worse for the wear. And you have given me a great read about your terrific adventure. Hope to meet you on the 2024 World Cruise which will be our first. Hoping for many many more. Enjoy the rest of your cruise!