Crown Princess and Norwegian Breakaway

Norwegian Breakaway set off on her maiden voyage from Southampton this evening, so I went to East Cowes to photograph her passing by on her way to New York. I missed her arrival yesterday due to laziness and, in any case I overslept, as she was arriving at 0715, which meant me having to get up at 0500 to get to a suitable vantage point.
Before the Breakaway departed from Southampton, Crown Princess slipped away first, her time of 1600 having been changed to 1630, which suited me as I would have missed her because I couldn't leave for East Cowes before 1630.

Norwegian Breakaway wasn't far behind. Unfortunately it was this moment that the yachts chose to appear in droves in their usual irritating fashion, seemingly materialising as if by magic from thin air.

Bloody yachts.

I know the art work on the hull and the design are not everyone's cup of tea - and I can hear the traditionalists spluttering into their beards 'not a ship, doesn't look like a ship, grumble' - but I like this ship, a lot, and I didn't think I would. I wouldn't give the art house room but I think it looks good on her.

Before the cruise ships appeared, Hoegh Trooper arrived from the east, on her way up to the docks. She took me by surprise as I was putting the dogs back into the car and my camera was still in its bag.

A tale of two ships

We docked at Amsterdam on Friday morning and me and Patsy caught an early afternoon train to Rotterdam to see the new Norwegian Breakaway and hopefully watch her sail at 7pm. In the end we didn't hang around because the weather was vile, with almost constant rain, and it was cold. Of course, I'd left my waterproof coat in my bag on Aurora, so I was wet through and shivering as my light jacket didn't quite cut it and my longish hair was hanging in rats tails!

The photos were taken from the Erasmus Bridge, where the ship was attracting quite a lot of attention.

Norwegian Breakaway - awful name, by the way! - is a nice ship, externally, and I like the artwork on the hull, although I'll be interested to see how long it lasts when faced with the ravages of an Atlantic crossing, especially if it's a rough one. The position of the lifeboats is also an interesting one, surely having them positioned as they are is inviting storm damage; the ship is designed for cruising in nice exotic locations but she will run into storms, especially as she will be cruising between New York and sunnier climes further south.

Afterwards we went to find SS Rotterdam which is permanently moored about half an hour's walk away, and it was interesting to compare the two ships built 55 years apart (Rotterdam was launched in September 1958). No balconies on Rotterdam, of course, as she was built as a liner and not a floating resort, which is essentially what Norwegian Breakaway is.

We went aboard, which is free if you don't want to take a tour - we didn't have the time on this occasion - and had a look round those parts of the ship which are open. There was a conference on and she's used as a hotel, too, so she was busy. I have some deck and interior shots which I haven't processed yet and I'll add when I get round to it.

Because of the appalling weather, we decided not to watch Norwegian Breakaway sail and headed back to Amsterdam on a very crowded train, which fortunately largely emptied at Den Haag (The Hague) and Schiphol.

Typically the sun came out as we walked back to Aurora from the station, creating some lovely golden early evening light, so I photographed Aurora from the dockside (so that's really a tale of three ships!). From what I've heard, the weather down at Rotterdam only slightly improved, so we didn't miss a lot.