Thread: 1959 Rotterdam to be sold

Just read this:

Holland - Uncertainty!

The 1959-built, 38,500-grt Rotterdam has been a museum, hotel & entertainment center in Rotterdam harbor for the past year. But while attendance has been good, she's lost money, lots of money. Her owners, Woonbron, a housing developer, has decided to sell the historic ship, valued $100 million. The 748-ft long former flagship of the Holland America Line is cherished and most likely will find other buyers.

She sure was pretty. But where are the balcony cabins?

I was never on her.

But as far as I know -- she never had any balconies.

No, just joking about the balconies. She predates the trend. Although there might be one on the rear. What do you think?

Ships in those days did not have private balconies.

I believe the first ship to have private balconies was the Sovereign of the Seas built in 1988.

I remember that seeing that Rotterdam a number of times but we never sailed on her.

I don't believe the Sovereign had balconies when she was first built. To my best recollection, she was retrofitted with them during her last major refurb while still a part of the RCL fleet.

From what I heard, the service on board has not been all that great and she has been split into "sections" so you can't tour the whole ship only, with a lot of the best public rooms being used for private functions only and not open to the public.

Originally Posted by canarymoon

I don't believe the Sovereign had balconies when she was first built. To my best recollection, she was retrofitted with them during her last major refurb while still a part of the RCL fleet.

From Wikipedia

The Sovereign class is Royal Caribbean International's third generation of cruise ships.
The three ships of the class were built in Saint-Nazaire, France at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyards. The first modern "megaships" to be built, they also were the first series of cruise ships to include a multi-story atrium with glass elevators. They also had a single deck devoted entirely to cabins with private balconies instead of oceanview cabins. The first ship, the Sovereign of the Seas launched in 1988, was the world's largest passenger ship in service

Great information, guys.

I think Wikipedia is in error there, really.

The balconies were retrofitted on her last major refurb when whe was still home ported at Port Canaveral

She was not built twith balconies, but I believe her two sisters may have been.