Holland America Line released the details of their 2010 Alaskan program today. The line previously warned that it would mean a reduced number of berths in the market for 2010, and if pricing didn't increase, there would be further reductions in 2011.
The 2010 program will see four ships based in Vancouver, two operating 7-day round trips and two operating 7-day one-way itineraries. In Seattle, there will be three ships operating 7-day round trip cruises, but the change came in the fourth.
As CND earlier reported, Amsterdam will relocate from Vancouver to Seattle and change from 7-day one way itineraries to a new 14-day program. This effectively takes Amsterdam's 1,380 berths out of the market every other week. Even more important to the Alaskan economy, on the one way itineraries, the vast majority of the passengers spend several days touring in Alaska either before or after the cruise, an opportunity which doesn't present itself if traveling round trip from Seattle.
In the Cruise News Daily article, which appeared in the April 15 edition, we looked at where the cuts were likely to come in 2011 and why.
