This new photo-album can be accessed (as usual) via my website.

I hope you enjoy the photos and keep in mind that the announced openingdate is on 31 March 2008.

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Met vriendelijke groeten / With kind regards

Looks like a tremendous amount of work has to be done before the March opening.

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Originally posted by Ernst:
Thanks for these interesting pictures. One gets the impression that they are doing this thoroughly.

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Originally posted by desirod7:
I did not realize that they were ripping everything down to the bare steel. Are the fittings going back to look original?

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Yes almost everything is to return. Wat they are doing is adding two cabins together and redecorate the new cabin with the original furniture. What left is auctioned/sold of. They also turning the officers cabin behind the bridge to suites with balcony using the deck space surrounding this quarters.

Look fore the cabins on there website:
De Rotterdam.

They even return to the original layout much as possible.

Greetings Ben.

[ 10-08-2007: Message edited by: Maasdam ]

I wonder if the reason for so much of her interiors being stripped was to remove asbestos. That work will also allow the electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs etc. access to portions of the ship sealed off for nearly 50-years and bring her up to modern standards behind the scenes.

As for this refit, I thought the late 1960s rebuilding of QM was extensive but after seeing these images her new owners seem to be re-fitting her above and beyond what the retired Cunarder went through nearly 40-years ago. The City of Long Beach spent nearly $70 million dollars on that (over $600 million in today's dollars), I wonder what the budget is for Rotterdam's restoration?

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Originally posted by lasuvidaboy:
Thanks for sharing those wonderful pics Willem!

I wonder if the reason for so much of her interiors being stripped was to remove asbestos. That work will also allow the electricians, plumbers, HVAC techs etc. access to portions of the ship sealed off for nearly 50-years and bring her up to modern standards behind the scenes.

As for this refit, I thought the late 1960s rebuilding of QM was extensive but after seeing these images her new owners seem to be re-fitting her above and beyond what the retired Cunarder went through nearly 40-years ago. The City of Long Beach spent nearly $70 million dollars on that (over $600 million in today's dollars), I wonder what the budget is for Rotterdam's restoration?

I also noticed that it appears that her unique (and technically no longer needed) exposed expansion joints are being plated over.

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Yes you are correct. With everything stripped off, all sewage, electrics and airco can be renewed and also new insulation material can be placed.
New insulation you can see on various photos.

I have no idea what the budget is. Some time ago I heard the amount of 120 million Euros, but I think it might be more.

The expension joints are indeed no longer needed, but they are not plated over, but welded together.

I hope you all enjoyed this little bit of inside sight.
It sure was a very long day, for me (latest in the car, first out) it was 15 hours, for my friends living in Amsterdam almost 17 hours, but for those from Rotterdam it was a 20 hour day

With the Queen Mary, however, that was a progress that wasn't planned out in advance. Otherwise, the ship's powertrain and lower decks would not have been removed. If the Queen Mary was renovated in the same fashion as the SS Rotterdam, it would have been a huge hit.

Seeing what the SS Rotterdam project cost makes me wonder how much it would have actually cost to restore the SS Norway(as well as the removal of the upperdecks) back to the SS France as a hotel ship?

It will certainly be interesting to see the sort of progress that will await the QE2 and the Kungsholm. I can now see why renovating retired ships are a huge undertaking. I say only the finest vessels deserve to be in this category. The SS United States especially. Keep us posted on the SS Rotterdam continuing progress. We all look forward to witness the finish results.

[ 10-09-2007: Message edited by: Redlinekid2 ]

A land example would be the Glasgow Merchant City and Brussells, Belgium: Buildings from the 18 Century and earlier are gutted on the inside, exterior facade remains in place and restored. If there are significant interior fittings, they are removed, restored, and re-installed. Everything on the inside is brand new with up to date space planning, and life support systems.

The governments are more inclined to subsidize national and historic monuments.

Private industry would have a hard time to make the #'s to keep a classic like the Queen Mary or the Rotterdam in shape.

Rotterdam's asbestos was undisturbed for 1/2 a century and abatement was standard procedure.

SSNorway was an explosion leaving a very toxic powdery mess. I am lead to believe that all of the potential suitors saw what was going on and did not want the lifelong legal liability.

There are many workhorse unknown liners that are simply not preservation candidates.

QE2 is very lucky.

In all fairness Queen Mary 1 is the first example of its kind so naturally things should have been done differently.

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Originally posted by Redlinekid2:
Willem,
The pictures that you have provided of the ship's progress are amazing. It is unbelieveble to see the kind of budget that has been taken to get the SS Rotterdam ready for her new role. Over 120 Million Euros just to renovate the ship? Quite pricey. But well worth it because it will not have any problems as a hotel ship in the future.

With the Queen Mary, however, that was a progress that wasn't planned out in advance. Otherwise, the ship's powertrain and lower decks would not have been removed. If the Queen Mary was renovated in the same fashion as the SS Rotterdam, it would have been a huge hit.

[ 10-09-2007: Message edited by: Redlinekid2 ]

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Originally posted by desirod7:
European countries tend to care far more about their heritage than the United States.

In all fairness Queen Mary 1 is the first example of its kind so naturally things should have been done differently.

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I think that is changing here as more average people and developers realize the value of these structures AND that once these older (pre-WWII) buildings are gone there is no way they can be re-created. We just don't have the craftsmen and classically trained architects to do the job and add to that the cost of materials and many of these older structures are just to valuable to lose.

As for the rebuilding of QM I have read that the city of Long Beach really wanted her primarily as a convention center then as a hotel and tourist attraction. The rip-out of her engine spaces of course went out of contol but I believe much of that space was intended convention/museum space that never was fully installed.