The 60,906gt ship, dating from 1999, is currently listed to keep calling here until April, 2012. It will then be replaced in the 2012-13 cruise ship season by the larger, 81,709gt "Vista" class Oosterdam, built in 2003.
HAL cruise ships started calling here with a visit by Maasdam on October 21, 1994, followed by a call from Rotterdam on February 11, 1997, then by four from Nieuw Amsterdam in the 1998-99 season. Then, after a break of three years, HAL vessels returned to the port in February 2002.
Since then, the line has been represented here on 54 occasions by Amsterdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Prinsendam, Statendam and Volendam.
Volendam's visit last week was the 545th by an overseas cruise ship to Dunedin. The first of these was by the 12,575gt, 15-knot Seven Seas, which berthed in Dunedin on December 23, 1961.
In comparison to today's purpose-built cruise ships, this was a more austere but very popular vessel. It was registered in Bremen and was owned by the Europe-Canada Line.
And this is interesting because this company was jointly owned by Royal Rotterdam Lloyd and the Holland America Line. So, in a way, HAL's links with this port and cruise ships go back further than the above-mentioned visit by Maasdam.
Seven Seas' eventful career started when it was laid down at the Chester, Pennsylvania, yard of the Sun Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. Ordered by the Moore-McCormack Lines Inc, of New York, it was built in 1940 as the 7886gt, 16-knot, C3-type motor cargo ship Mormacmail.
In March 1941, it was taken over by the United States Navy, which sent it to the Newport News Shipbuilding & Dry Dock Company. This yard converted it into the prototype escort carrier Long Island. It was commissioned on June 2, 1941, and, depending on their size, the class could carry 16 to 21 planes.
Laid-up in a reserve fleet after the war, it was sold for scrapping in April, 1947, but somehow managed to survive this fate. In 1948, the vessel was purchased by the Geneva-headquartered Caribbean Land and Shipping Corporation. It had the vessel converted into an emigrant carrier and renamed it Nelly under the flag of Panama.
It started this role in 1949, having been rebuilt with accommodation on somewhat utilitarian lines for around 1300 passengers.
Over the next four years, the ship operated from Bremen to Melbourne, via Suez, until it was transferred to the Bremen-Montreal run. The following year, still under the same owners and flag, the ship was rebuilt to carry nearly 1100 passengers in two classes. At the same time it was renamed Seven Seas.
As for the Europe-Canada Line, this company started operations on April 30, 1955. It originally chartered the vessel, which had been transferred to the German flag, for its North Atlantic service. In bought the ship in July, 1956.
To break the monotony of a regular run, the ship also ventured further afield on cruises from time to time, more so in its twilight years. In 1965 it undertook its last round-the-world cruise, followed by shorter voyages in the northern hemisphere.
On one North Atlantic voyage the ship was damaged by fire on July 17, 1965, and had to be towed to St Johns, Newfoundland, for repairs.
The ship started its last passenger-carrying voyage on September 13, 1966. At the end of this it was sold to the Verolme United Shipyard. It was moored at Parkhaven, Rotterdam, and employed as a floating hostel for foreign workers.
Finally, on May 4, 1977, Seven Seas left there, bound in tow for a Belgian shipbreaking yard.
