Promenade Deck
4 Public rooms on the Promenade Deck
Auditorium / Theatre:
Design: C. Elffers, Rotterdam
Execution: De Nijs Meubelfabriek, Rotterdam.
From brochure HAL 1960
The auditorium is 24 meters long (including ancillary rooms), 20 meters wide, and 5.6 meters high. The main auditorium provided seats for 444 tourist class passengers. The main floor is level, while that of the balcony is carried out in an amphitheater-like arrangement. The walls are covered in a pressed plaster-impregnated linen with a design by the linen-presser Jan van der Berg of Scheveningen. T-shaped plaques of white anodized aluminum are placed on the walls. An earthenware open-work screen, designed by Dick Elffers and made by the famous De Porceleyne Fles in Delft, stands near the door. The screen incorporates all sorts of figures in a multitude of poses and is called, simply, “Leven” (Life).
Picture Klaas Krijnen (2004)
Queens Lounge:
Design: H.P. Mutters, Den Haag
Execution: Kon. Meubelfabriek H.P. Mutters & Zn., Den Haag
From brochure HAL 1960
The ground plan of this large tourist class hall is deliberately asymmetrical and covers the entire width of the ship, some 28 meters. To port and starboard the deck is raised two steps, the raised area to starboard being bordered by a railing with bronze figures by the sculptor Bram Roth, and made possible with the cooperation of the Ministry of Education, Arts and Sciences. The dance floor is carried out in strips of jarra wood (a dark West Australian type of wood) and peroba with a raised stage adjoining.
Picture Klaas Krijnen (1996)
The wall of the Captain’s staircase is made of aspen wood enlivened with strips of inlay work carried out in various types of light wood and giving the impression of a fishnet. The fore- and afterwalls contain glass panels set in anodized aluminum frames. The sidewalls contain tall windows of slightly bowed form, set directly in the ship’s skin. The ceiling is carried out in white panels with small Swiss crystal lamps in a free arrangement. The room has a capacity of 467 persons.
Picture Jan-Willem Koene
Picture Jan-Willem Koene
Ocean Bar:
Design: H.P. Mutters, Den Haag
Execution: Kon. Meubelfabriek H.P. Mutters & Zn., Den Haag
From brochure HAL 1960
The Ocean Bar is directly connected to the Queens Lounge on the port side and was originally the tourist class bar. A portion of the ceiling is lowered and carried out in fishscale-shaped paneling. The wave-shaped bar is fronted by about 20 bar stools. The sidewalls copy the Queens Lounge form of tall, slightly bowed windows set in the skin of the ship. An abstract metal decorative piece by Aart van den IJssel is placed against the rear wall.
Picture Klaas Krijnen (1996)
The Ocean Bar now picture Jan-Willem Koene
Picture Jan-Willem Koene
Former the Tourist Class Library:
Design: Mutero NV, interieursarchitecten, Rotterdam
Execution: H.P. Mutters & Zn., Kon. Meubelfabriek, Den Haag
Picture Klaas Krijnen
Adjacent to the starboard side of the Queens Lounge, this room’s windows were a continuation of those which were provided in that room. This room is the former Tourist Class Library and has been used as video room during the nineties. Now the room has been rebuilt to lavatories and pantry.
Club Room (Formerly the Tourist Class Club Room):
Design: J.F. Semey, Den Haag
Execution: H. Pander & Zn. NV Meubelfabriek, Leidschendam
Picture Jan-Willem Koene
This is a large hall (25 x 23 meters) that used to be the Tourist Class Club Room. In the corners are four curved wall panels covered with tapestries inspired by the classical legends of Ovid. They were designed by Gisele van Waterschoot van der Gracht and made by the atelier De Uil, Amsterdam. The ceiling is covered in gold-colored Vynide with ceiling fixtures of Venetian Murano glass. Ornaments of the same material were introduced in the places where the wall and ceiling supports met. There was a fireplace in the room containing an imitation fire in onyx. Above the fireplace was a bas-relief of servants from the “Lof der Zotheid”(Praise of Folly) by Erasmus, sculpted by Herbert Semey. The tabletops were furnished with glass mosaics by Haro Op het Veld.
Picture Jan-Willem Koene
Gobelin tapestry Poseidon and Koronis picture Jan-Willem Koene
Gobelin tapestry Dionysos picture Jan-Willem Koene
In May 2020 a parquet floor has been laid in the Club room (picture Klaas Krijnen)
Lido Restaurant (Formerly the Cafe de la Paix):
Created in 1969 in the former the Cafe de la Paix, this room was refurbished in 1989 and decorated with pastels depicting Dutch motifs by the artist M. Rees of the USA.