Source: Cruise Junkie dot Com

Events at Sea by Holland America Line

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Ship:
Amsterdam
Maasdam
Noordam
Oosterdam
Ryndam
Statendam
Veendam
Volendam
Westerdam
Zaandam
Zuiderdam



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The events listed have been reported in the public domain or to cruisejunkie by passengers or crew members onboard.  The list is by no means comprehensive.  For that reason it is necessary to be cautious in drawing conclusions from the potentially limited data.  Keep in mind that some companies may be more transparent than others about things that go wrong; conversely, some companies may be better at concealing events and thereby project an appearance that is inaccurate.  With that said, the following list is still interesting, as are the patterns when viewed separately by ship.




dd/mm/yy
Ship
2008
Incident
14.5.08
Veendam

The ship was forced to skip its port call at Ketchikan today because of winds of 40 knots. It was en route from Skagway and continued on to Vancouver where the cruise disembarks.
Missed port
20.3.08
Maasdam
Three ships (RCI's Serenade of the Seas, HAL's Maasdam, and Pullmantur's Holiday Dream) were prevented from docking at Bridgetown because of high seas. Two of the ships made it into port, but a decision was made to not disembark passengers. A fourth ship, Silversea's Silver Wind cancelled its call for March 21, also because of sea conditions.
Canceled port call
7.2.08
Veendam From a passenger: The ship arrived late today at St. Thomas (approximately 2pm, instead of normal time of 8 am) due to a medical evacuation that happened at 3 am yesterday morning. A helicopter was called to evacuate the passenger. The delay was also caused by engine trouble, which the Captain described as "oil overheating", and had to reduce speed to reduce the temperature of the oil. Once arriving in St. Thomas, the passengers will have to see immigration officials, as per the Jones Act, and the Veendam will have to depart at 5pm to make it's next port of call in Dominica. All shore excursions are cancelled. According to rumor, Head Office in Seattle would not let the Captain skip the port of St. Thomas as they insisted they stop there.  The ship left Tampa Feb 3 on a 14 day cruise.
Delayed arrival in port
5.1.08
Maasdam Dozens of people, just disembarked from the ship, were injured when a car collided with their bus while traveling west on I-595 near the interchange with Florida State Road 7 and Florida Turnpike. According to Associate Press, at least four people were critically injured, four others seriously injured and at least 20 people sustained minor injuries.
Onshore bus accident
2.1.08
Veendam The port call at Belize was cancelled today because of rough weather. Passengers were refunded ports fees and plied with free champagne.
Canceled port call (Weather)
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2007
Incident
22.12.07
Prinsendam
FROM A PASSENGER:  The ship was in dry dock for 21 days and they didn’t get everything done.  I would say they got nothing done.  The ship was late getting  to Fort Lauderdale, they did not contact us to tell us it was over 12 hours late and then shoved us into the Westin near I 95.  We could  have delayed coming as we live in Southern FL but they assured it would just be an hour or so (we were there hours with bad, dried up, cold pasta as our “luncheon”).  Lies, lies lies.  We did not leave port until the next day! We got on the ship at 7 pm and there were staterooms and public areas devoid of furniture.  The hallways on deck 5 and 6 were flooded for the first three days and several passengers have respiratory aliments.  They still smell like indoor pools that have never been cleaned.  The cabins on those decks are contaminated too.  If you have to get out of the elevators on those decks, it hits you every time.  They are painting pieces of the ship in the hallways (not the hallways themselves) and noxious fumes are everywhere.  The ship did not pass its coast guard inspection and if it doesn’t pass it on January 3 the ship isn’t going anywhere.  Every day large areas of the ship have no working plumbing.  The plumbers just drilled into the wall on the second day and flooded another deck.  The lido swimming pool is still not filled but they finally filled the aft one, which you have to navigate past the gym equipment to get to.  Since we left so late, they change the itinerary so that the first three days were at sea, with no pool at all. The air conditioning isn’t working right in the dining room and it is over 28C/ 80 F at dinner.  And people are complaining about the food and the service. The same can be said about several staterooms.  They are too hot or too cold.  There is dust everywhere on the ship and in the cabins.  When we put our clothes in the closet, they got covered with dust because the shelves and hanging bars were not washed down. There are queues of people at the front office howling for justice and relief, and the response is, “the cruise isn’t over yet, it will get better.”  I thought how could it get any worse, but it has.  After all the time in dry dock you would think the ship was sanitized.  But there are people coming down with Norwalk Virus.  And tons of respiratory ailments. The ship has not offered a single dollar worth of credit.  They have not offered to clean clothes for people who have placed them in dusty/dirty closets or sat on dirty outside chairs, nor have they offered to provide free of charge the medical care for those sickened by the moldy carpets and staterooms. The ship is on a 16 day cruise of the Eastern and Soutnern Caribbean.
Multiple problems
--
Not ready after drydock
4.12.07
Veendam The ship is continuing to have engine problems (see November 25) and according to a passenger missed San Juan on its current 14 day southern Caribbean cruise. In addition, the passenger writes: On this current cruise, a man collapsed in the Ocean Bar, and several calls were made to 911, including the bar staff, who went down to the front desk to plead for help. It took over 20 minutes for the paramedics to arrive. One of the bar staff then went down and yelled at the front desk and said “Thank you very much – the man has died!”
Engine problems
--
Missed port
25.11.07
Veendam According to passengers on the 7 day cruise to the Western Caribbean which ended today, there were engine problems that caused the ship to miss two ports: Key West and Cozumel. They did make the port calls at Belize and Guatemala. According to a passenger: Many guests are angry that the ship is experiencing so many problems, in addition to the engine problems, there was floodings, toilets did not work, and water was turned off several times. Engine problems
 --
Missed ports
31.10.07
Statendam Australia's The Age reports that the ship "...was damaged and came within seconds of running aground while entering Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne) without a pilot in board and without perission in December last year."  A top-level marine investigation of the December 6, 2006 incident found serious lapses by both the ship and the Port of Melbourne.  Despite compulsory pilotage, the ship continued torard the port and travelled at a speed well above the recommended limit.  The port was criticised for not challenging the ship's entry into the port.  One of the ship's stabiliser fins had been damaged; a full grounding had been narrowly averted.
Near-grounding
16.8.07
Zuiderdam 9-passengers (7 of whom were on a Holland America cruise) were on board when a flightseeing aircraft went down in Traitor's Cove (near Ketchikan), just 200-feet from the water. 5-people were killed.  3 of the 4-surviving victims were medi-vacd to a hospital in Seattle.  The cause of the crash is under investigation – State Troopers say high winds could have been a factor and they said darkness and worsening weather ended recovery efforts on Thursday night.
Flightseeing plane crash
21.5.07
Oosterdam From a passenger:  There was a small electrical fire on the cruise to Alaska. The fire alarm (which sounded eerily similar to the 'put on your lifevest and head for the lifeboats' alarm) went off shortly before midnight on May 21, 2007. There were three announcements over the public address system; the final one informing us that the fire was due to an air conditioning belt in the Vista dining lounge area. The cruiseproceeded as if nothing had happened.
Small fire
14.5.07
Maasdam The ship's docking at Sydney (Nova Scotia) was delayed more than 5 hours because of a med-evac from the ship shorrtly after it departed Halifax last night.  The evacuation meant the ship -- the first to visit Cape Breton in 2007 -- arrived at 12:45PM instead of 7:30AM.
Delayed arrival
7.5.07
Maasdam One hundred thrity-three (133) passengers  were denied boarding (as planned by the cruise ticket) at Savannah (Georgia) on May 6 because the port was not set up to handle cruise ship security.  Instead, these passengers were transported by bus and caught up with the ship today during its port call at Charleston (South Carolina).  HAL, in a letter to affected passengers, apologized for the missed embarkation and told passengers their onboard account would be credited for the lost day (not a refund) plus they would receive a $100 shipboard credit per person.
Embarkation screw-up
11.4.07
Ryndam A passenger reports: At about 1:00 PM, April 11, I was finishing lunch in the dining room at a window table at the aft end of the ship when there was a loud clatter and the ship shuddered.  Looking out we could see that the stream from the propellers had stopped, and the ship was losing way and eventually came to a complete stop.  The Captain announced the Engineering Dept was working on it, and after awhile the ship was making 4.5 to 5 kts (per my GPS).  The was eventually increased to 14 to 17 kts, so we arrived at San Diego only some 4 hours late.  The Captain said the Coast Guard required the ship to have 2 tugboats to assist entering the harbor and docking.  The Captain said a representative of the propulsion unit manufacturer was flying to San Diego from Finland to help resolve the situation.  That evening the ships electrical power failed and the emergency lights came on.  The power was restored to some circuits after about 30 minutes, but other circuits, such as the main lighting and TV power in my cabin we not restored until after we docked in San Diego the next day.
Propulsion problems
--
Power Outage
2.4.07
Oosterdam From a passenger: The hoisting mechanism for life boat 12 failed when attempting to stow the craft after using it as a tender in Cabo San Lucas.  The ship left the port at about 6PM, but at a much reduced speed until the crew was able to lash the boat to the Deck 3 railing. The Oosterdam made the next port Mazatlan on time and the hoist was repaired while in port. Life boat problems
11.3.07
Ryndam The cruise scheduled to begin March 13 will be delayed for two days until March 15 so that a thorough cleaning can be completed.  Passengers on the affected cruise can cancel and receive a full refund, or take the cruise and receive a two-day refund plus onboard credits.
Cancelation because of illness
24.1.07
Oosterdam A reader reports that the cruise scheduled for 21 April 07 ( 7-day Mexican Riviera from San Diego) has been canceled due to overhaul of machinery.  She writes: Trouble with this had been reported on your site BEFORE we booked the cruise, and we had our travel agent check with HAL ...  She was told the problem had been fixed.  It was to be our 55th anniversary celebration and we had reserved 3 cabins for ourselves and our sons and daughters-in-law.  We are devastated by the news as it is too late to have any choice on another cruise at the same time.  Our sons have already arranged the vacation time for the dates of that cruise.  We will get a full refund, as we're too old to try to scramble for new reservations with some cruise line, but our plans of spending time with our family have been completely wrecked thanks to HAL not being honest with us.
Cancelation
21 April 07
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2006
Incident
9.12.06
Ryndam The ship spent the night anchored in Tampa Bay after encountering engine and electrical problems shortly after sailing.   The ship reported engine problems about an hour after sailing and stalled in the channel between the port and the Skyway Bridge.  Power was subsequently restored, but the Coast Guard said the ship would remain moored in the area overnight while they investigated the problem with the engines. Power Loss
17.11.06
Noordam During a four day window starting 8 September, cabins on 10 sailings (from January to April 2007) were sold for $849 rather than $1399.  The company caught its error and is now requiring passengers to pay the difference between the original confirmed fare and the newly revised fare -- a charge of $1100 per couple.  According to the cruise line: "After fully reviewing all the facts ... our conclusion was that we werre not able to offer the mistaken rate."  See USA Today for more details.
Bait and Switch?
14-21.10.06
Oosterdam From a passenger:  The broken Azipod was still not repaired so HAL gave all passengers a $ 25.00 credit as well as a glass of wine.  Calls at ports were shortened somewhat, especially Puerto Vallarta.  In a conversation with the Captain, he indicated the propulsion unit would not be repaired until April during the next haul out.  The ship was able to maintain 19 knots instead of the regular 23 or 24 knots.  Docking had to be tug assisted. Propulsion problems
8.10.06
Oosterdam A fire alarm went off at 6:00 AM as a result of a fire (or excessive smoke) in the engine room and affected one of the azipods.  The problem was put under control with injuries of difficulty, however one of the azipods was now disabled.  Because of reduced speeds the ship will sail a revised itinerary for the remianing cruise days, skipping Puerto Vallarta.  This is a seven day cruise from San Diego and the incident occured the first morning of the cruises.  The ship will return to San Diego one day early and passengers will be permitted to remain onboard.  Compensation included a $150 shipboard credit and future travel discount of 25% of the fare paid for this cruise.
Fire
26.7.06
Zuiderdam A generator malfunction caused the ship to spew black soot and soot on Skagway, AK.  According to HAL, "there was a technical malfunction of one of the ships five diesel generators which resulted in an extraordinarily abnormal emission of heavy black smoke and some soot from its stacks. The emission was exclusively from the ship’s stacks and lasted approximately five minutes."  According to the fire chief, “It came into town at least three blocks.” Environmental
13.7.06
Westerdam 16 passengers were onboard the 48-foot catamaran Ke'el when it struck a rock near Sitka and sustained heavy damage,  No passengers or crew were injured and were transferred to another vessel.  On May 31st, another tour boat owned by the same company, M/V Kalinin Express, hit a rock near Ketchikan with passengers from the Statendam.  15 passengers and 2 crew reported minor injuries in that accident.
Shore Excursion Grounded
24.6.06
Statendam At approx. 5:30 AM the fire alarm (5 short blasts) went off.  The fire was contained in the “stack of the incinerator that burns garbage”, and a fire crew was kept standing by to make sure it didn’t flare up.  I was partially awake, therefore being able to hear the alarm.  But most of our fellow cruisers did not hear the alarm.  A “survey” was taken later that day asking the question about the speakers in the staterooms, etc.  When I asked fellow cruisers, I found out that like in my room, the “speakers” were not operational.  The captain thanked those who responded to the survey, but nothing was done to correct any of the speakers, and even to the end of the cruise, announcements were barely audible unless you opened the cabin doors.  Fire
29.3.06
Zuiderdam The ship lost all power and was adrift for about an hour (midnight to 1 AM) while between St. Thomas and Tortola.
Power Loss
21.2.06
Statendam The ship aborted its planned port call at the Port of Napier (New Zealand) because of "difficult sea conditions."  Extreme surge prevented the ship from being morred safely and no alternative berth was available given the surge conditions.
Cancelled port call
19.2.06
Amsterdam A 30 year old crew member (galley worker) apparently fell overboard early Friday about 1100 miles northeast of Hilo.  The ship was assisted by the Coast Guard in a search, which was called off mid-day on Saturday.  The ship is now en route to San Diego and will arrive one day later than scheduled. Crew member missing
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2005
Incident
26.10 - 5.11.05
Maasdam From a passenger:  The ship was quite late boarding due to a quarantine.  According to ship authorities, a virus was responsible for an undisclosed number of ill crew and passengers inbound from New England.  Our trip was impacted due to increased sanitation for all but the last two days.  It was difficult to even obtain towels at the pool.  Without a doubt, the worst cruise we ever had because they were obviously very short handed due to sick crew.  No compensation-not that we expected any.  Also on this cruise, a pipe burst ( I believe on level 3) and flooded the floor.  We know a couple who said everything was quite “hush-hush”.  After the pipe was fixed and rooms water vacuumed, we were told that the smell from both the water then the chemicals was awful.  They were compensated with a choice of future cruise or $500.00. Illness / Delay

Burst Pipe
26.10.05
Volendam
Many ships had their itineraries impacted by Hurricane Wilma, including the port of embarkation and de-barkation changing without proper notice.  I received many e-mails, including from the Coral Princess and Volendam.  The latter two were interesting because passengers complained about the lack of information and the giving of false information by folks on the phones prior to the cruise.  There were also complaints about confusing information onboard.  As one person recommended to cruise lines: This is not the only time this is going to happen -- learn some lessons and develop measures to ensure customer support and satisfaction for the next time.  Interestingly, a passenger on the Coral Princess reported that passengers on the shortened sailing received a refund of 33%; a passenger on the Volendam reported receiving an onboard credit of 78 cents and a free cocktail.
Weather Delays
6.7.05
Maasdam The ship left Sydney, Nova Scotia two hours early for Halifax where it plans to repair one of its failed engines.  It is unclear the degree to which engione problems have influenced the ship's itinerary.
Engine problems
10.4.05
Maasdam From a passenger onboard: Start of the cruise was delayed after the ship arrived 8 hours late into Norfolk, VA on April 10th -- it had engine problems and encountered heavy weather.  The current cruise will skip Half Moon Cay to make up time, and because of engine problems also skipped San Juan.   Passengers were given an onboard credit of $100 plus 20% off a future cruise, although after complaining some (but not all) passengers received credits of larger amounts (as high as $400).
Engine problems / Delay / Missed Ports
10.4.05
Oosterdam
Though airlifts from cruise ships are not uncommon, it is unusual that three passengers would be airlifted the same day.  That was the case in San Diego.
A 78-year-old man who fell and broke his hip and a 64-year-old woman with a tear in her esophagus (reportedly after walking through a glass door at an onboard  shop) were airlifted Saturday night; the following morning a 55-year-old woman suffering "severe internal pain" was airlifted from the Paradise.  These are reminders not to travel without adequate health insurance that will cover such emergencies.
Airlift ill pax
1.4.05
Amsterdam A California woman and her son have sued Holland America Line after getting sick on a South America cruise in March 2004 where they said toilets overflowed and crew members were seen with prostitutes at ports of call.  Their lawsuit alleges: "Not long into the cruise, the toilets on lower decks overflowed several times," and it took crew members 15 hours to clean up the mess, which "created incredibly unsanitary conditions on board, separate and apart from a piercing stench."  See Reuters for details and judge for yourself. Lawsuit
16.3.05
Statendam West Hawaii Today received numerous calls that the ship discharged what appeared to be "brown water" into Kailua Bay for about 15 minutes to 20 minutes before it moved further out to sea. Several of the callers reported the discharge left a "brown mark" on the vessel's side.
Environmental
14.2.05
Volendam
Statendam
The following is from Carnival Corporation's Annual Report filed today:
In August 2004, Holland America Line was notified by the National Park Service ("NPS") that the Volendam and Statendam may have violated opacity standards while operating in Glacier Bay. On November 10, 2004, NPS notified Holland America Line in separate letters that a Violation of Record would beentered in the permanent park files for each ship.
Environmental
2.2.05
Amsterdam Tenders brought passengers ashore to Port Stanley (Falkland Islands) to explore for the day with a planned 5pm departure. However, the wind picked up and by 1pm, conditions in the outer harbour had deteriorated, suspending launch operations. Conditions deteriorated still further with gale force winds whipping up white-caps, leaving 936 passengers and 63 crew stranded overnight in a town with two tiny full hotels where the population is normally under 2,000. The drill hall of the Falkland Islands Defence Force, the parish hall and the secondary school gymnasium were converted into temporary shelter while all commercial kitchens were pressed into service to feed the thousand stranded people.  Conditions improved by morning and passengers returned to the ship.
Stranded ashore
5.1.05
Statendam A 73 year old man reportedly went overboard when the ship was near the Coronado Islands.
Person overboard
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2004
Incident
22.12.04
Maasdam The ship will arrive in Norfolk 8 or 9 hours later than scheduled, reportedly because of bad weather.  Disembarking passengers will begin at 5 PM; emabraking passengers will begin boarding at 7:30 PM.
Delays
14.12.04
Holland America Line The company agreed to a $2 million plea agreement in return for its discharge of raw sewage in Juneau Harbor in August 2002.  The offense was considered a misdemeanor.
Environmental
28.9.04
Rotterdam Ambulances greeted the ship in Halifax after passengers and crew endured a harrowing encounter with monster waves generated by hurricane Karl in the North Atlantic. About a dozen passengers were taken to hospital with suspected fractures and severe bruising.  In total, 90 poeple (including five crew) reported some minor injury.  The ship lost power and for 3.5 hours was tossed around in high waves and in total darkness.  Here's a link to a news story if you want more info.  And another.
Power Loss and Adrift
-----
"Cruise from Hell"
30.6.04
Holland America Line
Former Vice President, Richard K. Softye, was fined $10,000 after pleading guilty to falsely certifying that Holland America Line was performing environmental audits when it wasn't.  He was also ordered to perform 450 hours of community service while on probation for three years.
Environmental
12-30.5.04
Veendam
Volendam

There have been multiple reports on Internet newsgroups of engine/propulsion problems with the Veendam.  The May 14th and May21st cruises skipped College Fjord, cut short the visit to ports, and arrived late into Vancouver (and Seward)  because of the problems, which caused most passengers to miss their scheduled flights home.  
There also appear to have been propulsion problems aboard the Volendam's May 12th cruise -- the right engine was not operational and the cruise was ended on one engine.  
Neither ship has been taken out of service for repairs.
Propulsion problems

Ports skipped

Delayed arrivals & departures
8.4.04
Noordam
Carnival Corporation reported in its 10Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission that on March 5, 2004, Holland America Line notified the United States and Netherlands governmental authorities that one of its chief engineers had admitted to improperly processing bilge water on the Noordam. A subsequent internal investigation determined that the improper operation may have begun in January 2004 and may have continued sporadically through March 4, 2004.  The matter had also been raised by Coast Guard officials in San Juan, Puerto Rico to their counterparts in Tampa following a report to them of the incidents.  It isn't clear whether Holland America's self-report predates the report made by the Coast Guard.  Holland America Line and three shipboard engineers have received grand jury subpoenas from the Office of the U.S. Attorney in Tampa, FL (where the ship was homeported).  (See CCL 10Q filed with the SEC on April 8, 2004)
Environmental
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2003
Incident
13.11.03
Veendam
Passenger report:  Both ships were docked at the Cozumel pier stern to stern with approximately 20-30' between the 2 ships.  A sudden breif storm with high wind and rain came in around 7-7:30 and pushed the Veendam into the Norwegian Wind.  The Wind seemed to have more damage than the Veendam.  From what we could see, the Veendam had damage to a window cleaning walkway.  The Wind had a nice size dent 15' wide in the stern at Deck 7/8 towards the port side.  The floor on the deck was buckled where it meets the stern.  Also a section of pipe under deck 8 crimped.  Possibly related to the accident and to the crimped pipe, a sprinker line burst in the aft stairwell around the same time.  Departure from Cozumel was delayed by only 15 minutes and as far as we know, there were no injuries.
Bump
17.10.03
Westerdam
Fire broke out on the ship while it was under construction at Fincantieri shipyards in Marghera, Italy.  The fir broke out on the aft section at about 7:30 AM and was extinguished by 11 AM.  The ship's delivery on April 15, 2004 does not appear to be affected.
Fire
18.5.03
Veendam
A 51-year old man was missing from the ship when it disembarked passengers in Vancouver.  Given that he could not be found onboard, and the computer system indicates that he didn't leave the ship, the assumption is that the man fell overboard.
Passenger overboard
13.3.03
Ryndam
"The ship listed to the port side around 6:30 PM and caused injuries to passengers and crew.  Furniture went flying, dishes broke, glasses destroyed.  The pool emptied down the elevator shafts, and put elevators on the port sode out of commission for four days.  They explained the incident as a mechanical failure from going from manual to automatic pilot."  -- Passenger account
Unexpected list
11.3.03
Oosterdam
The first two voyages originally planned have been cancelled because the ship's delivery will be delayed.  The maiden voyage will now depart August 3 (instead of July 10)
Cancellation
5.1.03
Statendam
An elderly man was suspected to have jumped overboard the night before disembarkation at San Diego following a roundtrip cruise from San Diego to Hawaii.  According to a spokeswoman for Holland America Line, "'We're a 130 year old company and it happens very rarely, but it is not unheard of on a cruise ship' to lose a passenger."
Person overboard
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2002
Incident
21.11.02
Amsterdam
Cruise cancelled for thorough cleaning of ship.
Cancellation
17.8.02
Ryndam
Approximately 40,000 gallons (250 according to HAL) of sewage sludge discharged into Juneau harbour.  The incident was reported by harbourmaster staff.  The brown, thick substance is being tested  by Alaska's DEC for fecal coliform, pH, and biochemical demand levels.
Environmental
12.8.02
Ryndam
A generator stopped running while the ship was in the Lynn Canal (Alaska) causing it to lose power -- it lost all propulsion and was adrift for about 20 minutes (at 1:30 AM -- the water was too deep for the ship to drop anchor).  Passengers awoke expecting to be in Glacier Bay but were instead at Auke Bay. Escorted by a tug, the ship docked to undergo a Coast Guard inspection. Cruise continued, but Glacier Bay replaced by Tracy Arm and Sawyer Glacier.
Power failure & Lost Propulsion
11.8.02
Statendam
Announced on August 7, that the August 11 cruise was canceled because repairs to the electrical generation system was taking longer than expected.
Cancelation
4.8.02
Statendam
Five tug boats called to tow the ship back to Vancouver after a small fire in the ship's generator rooms knocked out four generator and the ship's two main propulsion motors.  One  generator continued to operate, so there were lights but no A/C.  Incident happened when the ship was 24 miles from Vancouver, in Strait of Georgia (call for help came at 9 PM). Efforts to repair the problem took too long so the cruise was canceled. (The Canadian Coast Guard says there was a fire; HAL says that a breaker panel overheated and melted, tripping other generators and the propulsion system.)  See: TSB Report on Switchboard Fire Passenger Vessel Statendam Strait of Georgia, British Columbia, 04 August 2002, Transportation Safety Board of Canada Report Number M02W0135 Fire
1.8.02
Ryndam
Cruise canceled because of two successive cruises with  gastrointestinal illness from Norwalk-like virus.   See CDC for more information.
Cancelation
dd/mm/yy
Ship
2001 and earlier
Incident
5.6.01
Zaandam
The company reports that a crew member noticed a sprinkler head missing from a passenger cabin which led to discovery that a branch of the sprinkler irrigation did not connect to the main water supply.  The problem was fixed on May 31.
Fire sprinklers  defective
13.3.01
Volendam
A small engine room fire was reported.  It was quickly brought under control.
Fire
3.10.00
Veendam
The ship lost electricity for about 3 hours, leaving the ship without cooling, lighting, running waterr, or ventilation.
Power loss
23.5.00
Nieuw Amsterdam
A fire in the crew quarters was extinguished after 45 minutes, causing extensive damage to 10 crew cabins.  Following a damage assessment, the ship continued on its planned itinerary of cruising Galcier Bay.  See: Fire on Board the Netherlands-Registered Passenger Ship Nieuw Amsterdam at Glacier Bay, Alaska, May 23, 2000, NTSB Report Number: MBR-01-01 Fire
5.5.00
Westerdam
The ship grazed the Mercury (already docked) as it was docking in Victoria, BC.  Damage to both ships was slight.
Collision
Apr.00
Rotterdam
Hit by rogue wave.  Damage to anything not bolted down; rough seas for Pacific crossing.
Rogue wave
16.9.99
Ryndam Thirteen passengers were injured when a rudder glitch caused a list (estimated at 6 degrees)  that emptied a quarter of the indoor swimming pool.
Severe List
26.7.99
Westerdam
The National Marine Fisheries Service is investigating an incident in which a cruise ship truck a whale in SE Alaska.  It's not known whether the ship killed the whale or if the whale was already dead.
Whale death
Oct.98
Rotterdam
In 1994, discharged waste 13 times in 10 days into Alaskan waters.  The ship had fixed, permanent piping that allowed oily waste to be discharged directly overboard.  (Reported Assistant Engineer -- he got $500,000)  Fine = $2 million ($1 million fine, $1 million restitution) Environmental
17.8.98
Westerdam A 28 year old woman believed to be from Turkey jumped overboard after learning she was about to be fired.  The ship was in Howe Sound en route to Vancouver when she leapt from the ship at 4:30 AM.
Suicide
20.11.97
Noordam
Forced to abandon a seven day cruise after striking an underwater object off the Mexican Caribbean coast (near Playa del Carmen).  Initial inspections indicate the ship damaged its starboard propeller; the following cruise is cancelled for repairs.
Grounded
11.8.96
Statendam
The ship barely averted a collision with a tugboat towing a barge of propane in BC's Inside Passage,  The tug/barge took evasive action, which prevented the accident.  See: Near-collision Between the Cruise Ship "STATENDAM" and the Tug/barge Unit "BELLEISLE SOUND"/"RADIUM 622" Discovery Passage, British Columbia 11 August 1996, Transportation Safety Board of Canada Report Number M96W0187 Near collision
12.1.96
Maasdam
The ship dragged its anchor over Soto's Reef, a key tourist attraction of the Cayman Islands.  It is likely the company will be fined for the damage.
Environmental
10.8.94
Nieuw Amsterdam Went aground about three miles from Ketchikan and was reported to be leaking oil.  The ship was able to refloat itself and continue on.
Grounded
6.11.93
Noordam
Collision of the Netherlands Antilles Passenger Ship Noordam and the Maltese Bulk Carrier Mount Ymitos in the Gulf of Mexico November 6, 1993. (NTSB Report Number: MAR-95-01) Collision