Everything about The Holland America Line totally explained
The
Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the Dutch-America Steamship Company, a shipping and passenger line. Because it was headquartered in Rotterdam and provided service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line (HAL).
Within 25 years, HAL owned a fleet of six cargo and passenger ships, and operated between the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies via the newly constructed Suez Canal. The line was a principal carrier of immigrants from Europe to the United States until well after the turn of the century, carrying 850,000 to new lives in the New World.
Though transportation and shipping were the primary sources of revenue, in 1895 the company offered its first vacation cruise. Its second leisure cruise, from New York to the Holy Land, was first offered in 1910. In 1971, HAL suspended its transatlantic passenger trade and, in 1973, the company sold its cargo shipping division.
In 1989, HAL became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp., the largest cruise company in the world. Today, the premium cruise leader operates 13 ships to seven continents and carries nearly 700,000 cruise passengers a year.
History
Holland America Line produced some noted ships from the 36,000 gross ton
Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938, probably the only large passenger liner at the time that wasn't completed with any expectation of serving for the
military, and the beautiful
Rotterdam of 1959, one of the first ships on the North Atlantic to be equipped for two class transatlantic crossing and one class luxury cruising. By the late sixties, the golden era of profitable trans-Atlantic ships was over, and the remaining routes were siphoned off by the airlines. The early seventies saw the end of the trans-Atlantic service, leaving the North Atlantic for
Cunard's
Queen Elizabeth 2.
In 1971, Holland America abandoned its passenger transportation service and switched to running
cruise ships full time. Since then, the company has become known for wide variety of destinations it sails to. After obtaining government approval to visit
Antarctica in the 1980s, the line now visits all seven
continents. Its
ms Prinsendam makes annual "Grand Voyages" that usually last more than 60 days. These explore and circle more exotic destinations such as South America and Africa. Due to the increasing popularity of the exotic and rarely-visited ports of call featured on Grand World Voyages, the
ms Amsterdam will offer the Grand World Voyage in addition to the Prinsendam's Grand Voyages in 2007 and 2008. 2008 is also the 50th anniversary of Holland America Line's Grand World Voyage and will feature a true circumnavigation of the globe. In 2009, the sister-ship to the ms Amsterdam, ms Rotterdam will complete the Grand World Voyage.
Current
As of 2006, the line operates thirteen ships, ranging from the smaller and older S-Class vessels; the mid-range R-Class; the line's newest and largest vessels, the Vista-Class; and the small 793-passenger
Prinsendam (originally the
Royal Viking Sun, then
Seabourn Sun until HAL's purchase of the vessel in 2002). The line has also announced that work has begun on its new line of vessels, the Signature-Class, with one firm order for a ship named the
Eurodam to be delivered in mid-2008, and an option for an additional as of yet un-named vessel to be delivered in 2010. Like most of HAL's recent ships, the new Signature-Class will be built at the
Fincantieri shipyards outside
Venice. All HAL ships have a dark blue hull with white superstructure, with the line's logo featured prominently on the functional smoke stacks.
In addition to its fleet of cruise ships, Holland America also owns the
Westmark hotel chain which operates in
Alaska and the
Yukon, the bus companies Gray Line of Seattle and Gray Line of Alaska, and Worldwide Shore Services, which provides warehouse and logistical support for the company. HAL shares its
headquarters in Seattle's
Lower Queen Anne district with the above mentioned subsidiaries. Finally, HAL owns "Half Moon Cay" (its own private island in the
Caribbean, officially known as
Little San Salvador Island); nearly all of the line's cruises through the region spend at least a day there.
On
3 April 2008 Mickey Arison, the chairman of Carnival Corporation & plc, stated that due to the low value of the
US dollar, inflation and high shipbuilding costs, the company wouldn't be ordering any new ships for their US-based brands (Holland America,
Carnival Cruise Lines and
Princess Cruises) before the economic situation improves.
Fleet
S-class:
R-class
ms Rotterdam - 1997 - SOE Upgrades occurred in April 2005
ms Volendam - 1999 - SOE Upgrades occurred in December 2005
ms Zaandam - 2000 - SOE Upgrades occurred in January 2005
ms Amsterdam - 2000 - SOE Upgrades occurred in October 2005
ms Zuiderdam - 2002 - SOE Upgrades occurred in December 2005 - Aft expansion will take place in April 2008.
ms Oosterdam - 2003 - SOE Upgrades occurred in October 2006 - Aft expansion will take place in 2009.
ms Westerdam - 2004 - SOE Upgrades occurred in April 2005 - Aft expansion took place in May 2007.
ms Noordam - 2006 - Built with SOE standards already in place - Aft expansion on other Vista class ships is designed to mimic the Noordam.
In 2006, the Vista-Class cruise ships were awarded the 2006 Green Planet Award for outstanding environmental standards by Kuoni Switzerland.
ms Eurodam - Under construction for delivery Summer 2008.
A second Signature Class ship was announced on 6/11/07. Slated for a 2010 delivery.
"The Elegant Explorer"
ms Prinsendam - 1988 - Obtained by Holland America Line in 2002 - SOE Upgrades occurred in January 2005Further Information
Get more info on 'Holland America Line'.
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