After eight sea days we arrived at Ponta Delgada, Azores, May 9. It was great to see land again! In the late morning the tour operator took us on a site inspection of some of the main sites. After leaving Ponta Delgada, we drove up to the view point from where we had a stunning view over the Sete Cidades crater lake. We then drove down into the crater and through the little village of Sete Cidades. Afterwards we drove towards the coast and stopped at the Vista del Rei viewpoint for some magnificent views of the coastline before driving back to Ponta Delgada. Back in town we finished our visit with a traditional Portuguese beef dish, called beef Acasa.

If you want to see more of my images, please go to www.marcovanbel.com

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Topics: Europe, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Postcards from..., Trans-Atlantic | | No Comments

Saturday, May 4, at 6:50 p.m. (UTC-2), Nieuw Amsterdam received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at Norfolk, Va., regarding a mayday signal it had received from sailing yacht Embla, which was disabled and adrift. Nieuw Amsterdam immediately diverted from its course and arrived on the scene at 9 p.m. local time.

The ship then initiated rescue of the sailboat’s crew, two males aged 29 and 61. The men were taken aboard Nieuw Amsterdam following a security check and provided food and accommodations. They will disembark in the next port of call at the Azores.

When it received the call, Nieuw Amsterdam was approximately 600 miles east of Bermuda on its trans-Atlantic crossing to Europe, and sailing yacht Embla was approximately 35 nautical miles south-southwest of the cruise ship, according to the Coast Guard. Nieuw Amsterdam is expected to arrive at Horta, Azores, Wednesday, May 8, on schedule.

Thanks for Nieuw Amsterdam’s hotel director Marco van Belleghem for the photos.

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Topics: Good Deeds, ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Trans-Atlantic | | 17 Comments

After publishing a post from Julian H. Preisler, we got this incredible note from a reader. What a random and exciting discovery!

My name is Nicholas Van Herpen and am a 4 Star Mariner and regularly check out the H/A blog. Today I found a photo from a Mr. Julian H. Preisler showing some photos of his Mother traveling on the Nieuw Amsterdam back in 1954. The photo that immediately got my attention was the one with people resting in their deck chairs. The couple in the middle of the photo along the railing and dressed all in black are indeed my grandparents Johannes and Cornelia Van Herpen. I know this to be true since they visited us in the USA in 1954 and traveled on the old Nieuw Amsterdam.

Topics: HAL History | | No Comments

Every cruise Hotel Director Marco van Belleghem holds a presentation on photography onboard the ship called “The World Through a Camera Lens.” The presentation is held in the Queen’s Lounge and it’s a very popular activity. During the presentation Marco explains about the technical aspects of photography as well as shares his own images.

An avid professional photographer, Marco’s images have been featured in numerous magazines around the world, including prestigious magazines such as Conde Nast Traveller in the UK, Islands magazine in the U.S. and Oceans magazine in Australia … just to name a few! This summer he will start his first exposition in Bruges, Belgium, to show off his images as artwork, and recently a seven-page article was featured in a Dutch photography magazine named “The World at its Most Beautiful.”

Marco has a true passion for photography and mostly specializes in landscape photography, as he likes to convey the true beauty of a country and show how beautiful our earth really is. He has his own website where you can see his images, as well as watch his photography presentation. Go to www.marcovanbel.com to see more from our talented hotel director!

Here are some of his favorite images.

Napali Coast.

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Topics: Art, Activities & Entertainment, ms Nieuw Amsterdam | | No Comments

Nieuw Amsterdam is currently in drydock in Freeport, Bahamas. This is the first drydock for the Nieuw Amsterdam since she came out. So far we are making very good progress with the works.

We will come out as a sparkly new ship again. Last night I went out with my camera to take some gorgeous evening images of the ship. I hope everybody enjoys them.

If you want to see more of my images, please go to www.marcovanbel.com

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Topics: ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Technical | | 8 Comments

Nieuw Amsterdam is at the Freeport shipyard for a routine week-long drydock, and our friends at the yard sent a few photos of the ship arriving earlier this week.

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Topics: ms Nieuw Amsterdam, Technical | | No Comments

We held our 140th anniversary event in the showroom at sea. All guests were invited for a special presentation with a very special surprise.

The event started off with Cruise Consultant Matt Caplinger introducing the event and showing a video about the history of HAL. Afterwards Matt turned over the microphone to our Captain Vincent Smit.

Captain Vincent Smit.

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Topics: HAL History, ms Nieuw Amsterdam | | 2 Comments

Thanks to Cesar Lizarraga, vice president of port operations at Costa Maya in Mexico, for this fun photo of Nieuw Amsterdam and Carnival Legend, taken from Deck 8 on Ryndam.

Topics: Caribbean, ms Nieuw Amsterdam | | No Comments