The world as our playground

“In 1968, I was taken on as a clerk on the Holland America Line’s SS Maasdam; that was the lowest-ranking position in the Purser’s Office. My fellow clerk and I were the first female members of staff in the Purser’s Office. We had a lot of migrants from Eastern Europe on board and they often spoke only their mother tongue. We couldn’t understand them, so we communicated using gestures and body language. They had their migration documents with them, and it was quite a job to check that everything was in order. In 1970, I met Stanley Aleksandrowicz. By then, I was working as an Assistant Front Office Manager on the SS Rotterdam. I checked the guests in. Stanley was the bandleader of a quartet on the SS Nieuw Amsterdam. He was transferred to my ship, and I checked him and his bandmates in. That was in New York. We saw that we were both wearing a ring with the same stone and it turned out that we’d both bought it in Hong Kong. Quite a coincidence! We spent a lot of time together on board. After work, I went to listen to the band in the evenings. In our spare time, we’d have a drink together or go out on the town in the various ports. Our love blossomed, and in 1972 we got married in Zwolle. In 1973, we weren’t offered a new contract because Holland America Line didn’t want married couples working on the same ship. For us, that was a reason to give up going to sea. In 1976, Stanley and the band were hired to play on the SS Statendam. A few months later, Holland America Line purchased the SS Volendam and the SS Veendam. Staff were needed, and I was taken on again in my previous position. We travelled all over the world, from the Mediterranean to the islands of the Caribbean, and up to Alaska. By 1979, we’d pretty much seen the world. What’s more, the value of the dollar was low. We had an American contract and were paid in dollars. That’s when we stopped, but we were left with lots of lovely memories.” ←