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May 8, 2025
Back in 1994, during the wild west days of the Internet, I launched several travel-related websites-including TravelPage.com and CruisePage.com.
TravelPage.com had one of the first online forums about cruise ships and cruise travel and at its peak we had more than 100,000 registered users.
One of those users was a young man from Eindhoven in the Netherlands named Onno Heesbeen (www.onnozone.com) who would post pictures of scratch built models he created from nothing but cardboard, glue and paper.
Even then, his work looked like something you'd find in a maritime museum.
I always admired the precision and realism in his models, but never imagined owning one.
They were delicate, personal projects-and frankly, I doubted a paper model would survive the 4,000-mile journey.
Well, fast forward a number of years and Onno is now an established artist, photographer and model creator - and in 2023 he announced he was taking commissions for 1:400 scale models of the SS Rotterdam V.
The SS Rotterdam also holds a special place in my heart.
It entered service in 1959 as the flagship of the Holland America Line and now operates as a hotel and museum ship in Rotterdam.
My family traveled on that very ship many times-through Alaska, the Caribbean, even the Panama Canal.
So when the chance came to commission a model from Onno, I didn't hesitate.
By now, he had moved past paper and cardboard and was making the models from professional-grade resins with the help of a 3D printer.
The finished piece arrived safely yesterday, and I'm thrilled to share photos of this new addition to my collection of maritime artifacts.
