Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Oceania Drops Option

Lloyd's List is reporting that Oceania will not exercise the option they have with Fincantieri to construct a third vessel in the series they have on order with the Italian builder.

The first of the two 65,000-ton vessels, Marina, is scheduled for delivery in September 2010, and the second, in July 2011. Sources are saying that Oceania is also in negotiation with Fincantieri to delay delivery of those two by several months.

Neither Oceania nor Fincantieri have yet confirmed the information.

Update: Oct 1
Oceania and Fincantieri have now agreed to extend the option for the third vessel for one year. The extension is not surprising given Fincantieri's lack of new orders flowing in.

Propulsion Pods Installed on Nieuw Amsterdam

Holland America's blog reports that the Azipod propulsion pods have been installed under Nieuw Amsterdam which is being built at Fincantieri's Marghera yard. The photos detail the massive size of the units.

Nieuw Amsterdam is slated for delivery in July 2010.

Man Medevaced from Zuiderdam

The US Coast Guard received a call from Holland America's Zuiderdam at approximately 6pm Tuesday (September 29, 2009) while the ship was approximately 23 statute miles southwest of Long Beach (California). The ship was reporting that an 85-year-old man aboard had suffered a stroke and needed to be evacuated to a shoreside medical facility.

The Coast Guard dispatched an MH-65C helicopter from the Coast Guard Station at Los Angeles and arrived on-scene the scene 7:31 p.m. The patient was hoisted to the helicopter routinely and taken to a hospital in Torrance, California.

Zuiderdam had just departed from Los Angeles en route to Cabo San Lucas as part of its repositioning itinerary to Ft. Lauderdale where it will ultimately scheduled to arrive on October 14.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Coast Guard Medevacs Passenger from Zuiderdam

The crew of Holland America's Zuiderdam contacted the US Coast Guard at 10:55am Sunday when the ship was 5 miles west of Tillamook Bay, Oregon.

The female passenger was found unconscious in a hot tub. The Coast Guard launched a 47-foot lifeboat from the Coast Guard station at Tillamook Bay to rendezvous with the ship and transport the woman to a local hospital.

Zuiderdam is on a 3-night repositioning cruise which sailed on Saturday (September 26) from Vancouver to Los Angeles.