Model Boat Mayhem
Mess Deck: General Section => Full Scale Ships => Topic started by: Bryan Young on July 31, 2008, 03:10:28 pm
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Can't let Southampton get all the glory. Taken this morning (July 31st) at the Royal Quays, North Shields. Getting quite a few of these thingsin the Tyne nowadays. It struck me that one of the things I don't like about these "ships" is the lack of "proper" promenade decks. All that can be seen are seperated balconies. Wouldn't mind a look around the thing though.
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Damn. Pushed the wrong button again!
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Should never try doing things in a hurry.
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The boat deck is the nearest you get to a promenade deck nowadays and that is only open below the boats. The top decks are usually arranged for viewing but not in the same sense as the old covered in promenades of the old queens.
There again of course we are now back to the old story that these are cruise ships and not liners so there is not the demands for the same sort of facilities.
Eurodam is basically yet another Vista Class hull with Holland America funnels on it as opposed to the previous one with a Cunard funnel on it.
Nice shots though.
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The lack of promenade decks is something that has been bemoaned in a number of quarters. A lot of the more modern ships only have communal open deck space on the very top deck and much of this is hemmed in by 6 ft+ tinted screens so the opportunities for communing with nature are strictly limited. As Bunkerbarge says, where there is a "promenade" deck it is often only confined to beneath the lifeboats and is not a "wraparound" deck. A notable exception is P&O's latest Oriana which has an external promenade on the top deck (roof?!) outboard of the ubiquitous tinted glass screens. She was designed for the British market and apparently Brits still like to feel the salt air on their faces. This was one of the reasons we chose to cruise on Thomson Celebration, ex Noordam, lots of traditional teak external decks including a "proper" wraparound promenade deck.
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A perfect example Colin. Makes all the difference between a block of flats and a ship.
In my pics (todays) I have shown Eurodam at the same quay as the semi-submersible with that ice-breaker thing on its deck. The more observant among you will have noticed that the quay "furniture" is different. Simple reason being that for the heavy lifter I had to remove a lot of it to show the ship. With Eurodam I didn't need to. The funny looking red tripod thing at the end of the quay is one of these modern conceptual art gizmos that councils are so keen on wasting tax payers money for. It's horrible. I think it is meant to symbolise a dockyard crane. It does swing around in the wind...or it will until it rusts up. I really should have been a conceptual artist and be thick skinned enough to rip off gullible councillors!
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I don't think we do too badly for a modern ship. Nowadays you simply don't find teak decks anywhere but at least we have a teak deck on the boat deck and on some of the upper decks.
A few "steamer" chairs and we have quite a nice outside deck area.
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Yes, that's not bad at all.