NIEUW AMSTERDAM cruise vessel 1983

The full index of our ship stamp archive
Post Reply
aukepalmhof
Posts: 7771
Joined: Thu Apr 02, 2009 1:28 am

NIEUW AMSTERDAM cruise vessel 1983

Post by aukepalmhof » Sun Nov 08, 2020 7:44 pm

On this stamp are two cruise vessels depict, with the black hull is the NIEUW AMSTERDAM the other is the HOLIDAY viewtopic.php?f=2&t=16922&p=20063&hilit=HOLIDAY#p20063

11 October 1980 the NIEUW AMSTERDAM was ordered by the Holland America Tours N.V., Willemstad, Curacao.
Built as passenger cruise ship under yard No V27 by Chantiers de Alsthom L’Atlantique, St Nazaire, France.
14 November 1981 was the first section placed in the dry-dock.
21 August 1982 floated out as the NIEUW AMSTERDAM, one sister the NOORDAM.
Tonnage 33,930 grt, 16,050 nrt, 4,850 dwt, dim. 214.66 x 27.26 x 7.40m, (draught)
Powered by two 7-cyl. two-stroke Sulzer 7 RLB 66 diesel engines manufactured by C.M.M.- Sulzer La Jolie, Nantes, France, 29,370 hp (21,603 Kw). Twin pitch propellers, maximum speed 22.7 knots, service speed 20 knots. One bow and one stern thruster each 1,000 hp.
Passenger capacity 1,374 maximum in 605 cabins of which 411 were outside cabins. Crew 538.
Between 12 and 14 March 1983, the technical trials were held off the coast of Normandy.
While in the final stages of construction a fire destroyed the ship's main switchboard on 24 June 1983, which delayed her delivery to her owners by three weeks.
09 July 1983 christened by Princess Margriet, sister of the at that time Queen Beatrix, Princess Margriet is also the godmother of the Dutch Merchant Marine.
July 1983 delivered. IMO No 8024014.

The NIEUW AMSTERDAM was the first in a pair of identical cruise ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at St. Nazaire, France for the Holland America Line (HAL) with North-American cruising in mind. Her sister ship is now the MS THOMSON CELEBRATION. She was launched from dry-dock on 20 August 1982. While in the final stages of construction a fire destroyed the ship's main switchboard on 24 June 1983, which delayed her delivery to her owners by three weeks. She was delivered to HAL in July 1983.

Service history
1983–2000: MS NIEUW AMSTERDAM
The NIEUW AMSTERDAM entered service with Holland America Line in July 1983, doing a transatlantic crossing from Le Havre to New York. Following her maiden voyage, she was used for cruising in the Caribbean during the northern hemisphere winter seasons and cruises out of Vancouver to Alaska during the summer seasons. In April 1984 she was joined in service by her sister MS NOORDAM (1984), which operated similar itineraries. As the HAL fleet grew from the late 1980s onwards, the NIEUW AMSTERDAM's itineraries widened to various destinations around the world. In 1989 the Holland America Line was acquired by the Carnival Corporation, but HAL remained a separate entity.
In late 1999 the NIEUW AMSTERDAM was sold to American Classic Voyages, with delivery planned for October 2000. The ship finished her final cruise with HAL in Vancouver on 24 August 2000. Subsequently, she sailed without passengers to Sydney, where she was moored as a hotel ship for the duration of the 2000 Summer Olympics. On 2 October 2000, the ship left Sydney for San Francisco where she was handed over to her new owners.


2000–2002: MS PATRIOT
On 18 October 2000, the NIEUW AMSTERDAM was taken over by America Classic Cruises in San Francisco and renamed MS PATRIOT. American Classic Cruises had decided to revive the historic United States Lines brand for cruises operated out of Honolulu, and the PATRIOT was to be the first ship of this new venture. Unusual for a ship built outside the United States, the PATRIOT was registered in Honolulu. By terms of the Passenger Services Act (also known as The Jones Act), only ships built in the United States may be registered in the United States, and only ships registered in the United States may be used in intra-United States passenger traffic. American Classic Cruises planned to have two brand-new ships (codenamed "Project America") built for United States Lines at the Ingalls Shipbuilding yards in Mississippi. This scheme was given generous support by the United States government with hopes that the project would help restart passenger ship construction in the United States. As a temporary measure, United States Lines was allowed to register the PATRIOT in a US port to begin operations before completion of the Project America vessels, thereby allowing her to cruise around the Hawaiian Islands without the need to make calls at ports outside the US. The PATRIOT was the first ocean-going passenger ship since 1958 to enter service under the United States flag.

Following a refit the ship left San Francisco on her first cruise with her new owners on 2 December 2000, arriving in Honolulu on 8 December and commencing normal service around the Hawaiian Islands the same day. The United States Lines cruise venture proved to be short-lived. The 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks caused a slump in US tourism and on 18 October 2001 American Classic Cruises declared bankruptcy due to massive debts owed to the US government. Following the bankruptcy of her owners, the PATRIOT was laid up in Honolulu.

2002 onwards: NIEUW AMSTERDAM/SPIRIT/THOMSON SPIRIT /SPIRIT/MARELLA SPIRIT.
Wind Surf LTD (Holland America Line) Nassau, Bahamas repurchased their old ship on 27 January 2002 and she reverted to her old name NIEUW AMSTERDAM. She did not re-enter service with HAL, but remained laid up, first in Honolulu and later in Charleston, South Carolina. In May 2002 the NIEUW AMSTERDAM was chartered to the Cyprus-based Louis Cruise Lines, renamed MS SPIRIT, and sailed to Perama, Greece for a refit.
Following a lengthy refit at Perama, Louis Cruise Lines sub-chartered the SPIRIT to Thomson Cruises from 3 May 2003 onwards. Upon entering service with Thomson the ship's name was amended into MS THOMSON SPIRIT. She was initially used on Western Mediterranean cruises out of Palma, Majorca, and continued making cruises on the Mediterranean during the northern hemisphere summer seasons and cruises on the Red Sea during the winter seasons.

15 May 2008 Sold to Bella Shipping Co. Ltd, Limassol, Cyprus, charter continued with Thomson Holidays.
18 February 2010 Sold to Spirit Holding Ltd., Valletta, Malta, charter continued with Thomson Holidays.
27 April 2012 sold to Spirit Trading Opco L.L.C. Valletta, Cyprus, charter continued with Thomson Holidays.
Throughout summer 2012, the THOMSON SPIRIT operated a variety of cruises to northern Europe from Harwich and Newcastle (North Shields), England. Throughout autumn 2012, she sailed the Western Mediterranean until she was laid up at Limassol, Cyprus for the winter, and restarted sailing in March 2013. From 2014 certain cruises in the spring would operate from Liverpool.

2014 Olympics
During the February 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, she was used as a floating hotel. Alongside her on hotel duty were the GRAND HOLIDAY and LOUIS OLYMPIA.

Rebranding and retirement
Following the announcement on the 9th October 2017, that Thomson Cruises would be renamed Marella Cruises, TUI Group also announced that THOMAS SPIRIT would adopt the Marella name and the ship became MARELLA SPIRIT. In October 2018 the charter for the MARELLA SPIRIT concluded. She was replaced by the MARELLA EXPLORER. On 29 October 2018, the ship was sold for scrapping. After she was renamed MARE S, she left Piraeus under Palau flag and registry with homeport Malakai Harbor for her last voyage under the name LA SPIRIT, She was beached in Alang for scrapping on 5 December 2018. Scrapping began on 19 December 2018 by G.K. Steel Shipbreakers.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Marella_Spirit https://www.faktaomfartyg.se/nieuw_amsterdam_1983.htm and internet.
Cayman Islands 1991 $2 sg 735, scott 646.
Attachments
Nieuw-Amsterdam. 1983 jpg.jpg
1991 NIEUW AMSTERDAM Harbor-Scene.jpg

Post Reply