As promised in this post:
https://www.theqe2story.com/forum/index.php/topic,7479.msg85594.html#msg85594 I contacted the ss Rotterdam, and was actually really surprised with the detailed response I got
To basically translated the complete response, as some might know the ship is connected to shore with five gangways. What almost everybody knows is that the ship is connected on the water side to a pair of pillars that actually have hinges (if not done, this would create big problems of course).
The ships does move up and down with the tide with a difference of around 1.8 meters, ore around 6 feet. This is without fluctuations in the high and low tide that does happen from time to time.
Concerning the ballast, in the forward part of the ship there are big bags of gravel stores, big bags are here in The Netherlands around 1000kg, don't know the exact that are stored, but this does add up when storing 10 of those things. Although not specified in the response, so this is pure speculation from me, but I believe the ship has a forward cargo hold, so this would be the most logical option.
At the rear of the ship in the former sea water tanks are currently filled with water from the river Maas, and are actually almost full.
Although I did did expect that this was still the case, much like the Queen Mary, was came as a surprise to me is that they actually move the contents around. For example if they notice see is sitting on a angle after for example a storm (currently one is going on at the moment), ore something was changed with a room configuration.
I did not expect that to happen, but it really makes sense to me, since she is very much a ship that is alive still, even in retirement.
Given the very lengthy response that I have got this time around, does any of you have any question that you still need a answer from regarding the ss Rotterdam? If there is any intrest I can mail them if they are interested in responding to them all.