ms Veendam at Black Falcon Pier, Boston
All summer long, until she makes the Voyage of the Vikings on July 12, the Holland America Line cruise ship ms Veendam travels back and forth between Boston and Quebec City. By looking up the schedule, we discovered we could go to South Boston and take a look at the ship every two weeks while it is docked in the harbor.
May 17 was a gorgeous day. First, we took pictures of the ship at its berth at the Black Falcon Cruise Terminal from a nearby bridge on Summer Street. The passengers had already embarked early for their sailing time, so we could hear the sounds of the required pre-sail safety drill, and see all the passengers in their life jackets on the Lower Promenade Deck, below the lifeboats.
Then we drove to Castle Island (a pennisula park, not really an island), so we could watch the ship set sail through Boston Harbor on her way to the Atlantic. Having already viewed the ship at the dock, we thought we knew what to expect, but when she finally appeared— by backing out of the Black Falcon channel— we were absolutely amazed at how much she towered over the Boston skyline and dwarfed everything in the harbor.
Veendam Sailing Past Boston Logan Airport
Then, with Boston Logan Airport in the background, the Veendam majestically turned around under her own power in the center of Boston Harbor, and headed out to sea.
We won’t have this view of our ship when we take our Voyage of the Viking cruise this summer, so it was an excellent way to imagine our own leave-taking. We can only hope we have such glorious weather.
Photographs of the ms Veendam, © 2014 P.J. Gardner. All rights reserved.