Worth Waiting For

Holland America's new Rotterdam was named by Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of the Netherlands on Sunday (May 30, 2022). 

The complete story appeared in the May 31 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photos courtesy of Holland America Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Rotterdam Rides Again

The seventh Holland America ship to bear the Rotterdam name (named in honor of the line's very first ship) was delivered today by Fincantieri at their Marghera shipyard. 

   The 99,800-ton ship is the third Pinnacle-class ship delivered, and the 17th Fincantieri has constructed for Holland America Line. 

The ship will enter service with a transatlantic crossing from Amsterdam to Ft. Lauderdale on October 20, 2021. 

The complete story appeared in the July 30 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Sea Trial Video:
This is raw video from the sea trials earlier this month. It's b-roll that's meant to be cut up and used in other productions and in news stories, so there is no sound, but it does give you ariel views and a look at construction of the ship from every angle. 

Please note: Fincantieri knows how to build wonderful ships, but from the titles on each section of the video, they don't seem to understand the importance of getting the letters in the right order in English. Yes, we know it's "sea trials." Those i's and a's can be tricky. Maybe that's why they call these "prove a mare."

Interior Walk-Through Video:
This is b-roll, showing many of the public areas of the ship just before delivery to Holland America, so there is no sound.

Construction video:
Again, this is b-roll, so again, there is no sound: Note that in the early scenes of putting the bow in place, it has the ship's original name, Ryndam, on it before it was redesignated as Rotterdam. 

Rotterdam completes sea trials

Holland America's new Rotterdam is set for delivery on July 30 (2021). This B-roll was shot during the second set of sea trials in the Adriatic which were completed on May 6. At the completion of the sea trials, Rotterdam returned to Fincantieri's Marghera yard near Venice for interior outfitting. There is no sound in the B-roll and it is just raw drone footage, but it gives you a good look at the ship from all angles. If you get bored, just skip ahead - don't leave it - because some of the more interesting angles come later in the video.  

Rotterdam Passing Milestones

Holland America's new Rotterdam has marked a couple of important events in its construction at Fincantieri's Marghera yard. The first was the flooding of the dry dock last week which was held in conjunction with the coin ceremony where two ceremonial coins were welded to the ship's hull on an outside deck. This week, the ship was towed to the finishing dock where interior construction will continue, and where Rotterdam VII will remain until it goes on sea trials early next year. 

Photos courtesy of Holland America Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Ryndam Won't Be “Nieuw”

Another dam ship is on the way. Fincantieri laid the keel for Ryndam at their Marghera yard today and announced they will reuse the name “Ryndam” for it, the previous ship by that name having left the fleet in 2015. This ship will be the third in the Pinnacle-class series and a sister to Koningsdam and to Nieuw Statendam which was delivered last year. Ryndam is scheduled to be delivered in May 2021.

The first block that was lowered into the dry dock at the ceremony today will be a 500-ton part of the ship's midsection that measured 14 meters long by 35 meters wide. There will be a total of 85 blocks that make up the ship.

The complete story appeared in the November 21 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Photo courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

The Salmon Are Running on Holland America

Last week the first catch of Copper River king salmon from Alaska arrived in Seattle and Holland America took delivery of it to supply the Pinnacle Grills on Eurodam, Oosterdam and Amsterdam, their three ships sailing to Alaska.

The complete story appeared in the June 21 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Not Your Grandfather's Igloo

Holland America Line officially opened the new 99-room wing of their McKinley Chalet Resort hotel on Friday in Alaska.

Fifty-four of the rooms in the new Ridge View building are junior suites, the first at the hotel.

The complete story appeared in the June 17 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - June 10, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• A passenger going overboard from Norwegian Epic
• A protest that delayed Zuiderdam
• A behind-the-scenes-look at Royal Caribbean's new helium balloon ride.

Details appeared in the June 10 edition of Cruise News Daily.

An E-Z-er Way to Pay for Your Cruise

For most people, the most painful part of their cruise is making the final payment. Holland America has a new program to take some of the pain out of it.

Their new EZpay program allows passengers to make interest-free payments so that they're paid up when final payment date comes.

Details appeared in the May 16 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Overboard from Amsterdam

A 69-year-old woman went overboard from Holland America's Amsterdam early Wednesday morning as the ship was sailing from Glengarriff, Ireland (on Ireland's west coast), to Ft. Lauderdale, the last leg of its 113-day world cruise.

Details appeared in the May 9 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - May 6, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• A fender bender in Vancouver that damaged Oosterdam and Nieuw Amsterdam
• Norwegian Cruise Line choosing 30 teacher-winners in their Teacher Appreciate contest
• A bookkeeper allegedly embezzles from Silversea

Details appeared in the May 6 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

“Navigating” Your Holland America Cruise

Holland America Line has joined the club, and they now have an app for passengers to use aboard their ships to provide conveniences such as dining reservations, shore excursion reservations and free passenger-to-passenger communications. It's called Navigator.

The complete story appeared in the May 2 issue of Cruise News Daily. 

Custom Refreshment

Happy Koningsdag! Saturday is the biggest national holiday celebration in the Netherlands - King's Day, celebrating His Majesty King Willem-Alexander's official birthday, and the entire country celebrates and wears orange (the national color). Holland American, too, celebrates their heritage by observing the holiday and asking everyone to wear orange (and supplying some things passengers may not have packed, like orange wigs).

You know that you've really arrived, however, when your beer supplier, Dutch brewer Heineken, supplies you with custom-labeled bottles for the occasion. The orange-wrapped bottles have the Holland America logo and the King's Day date.

Details appeared in the April 26 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Photo courtesy of Holland America Line. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Ryndam 4

Holland America said today their third Pinnacle-class ship will be named Ryndam. It will be the fourth Holland America ship bear that name.

Fincantieri began cutting steel for the ship last month at their Marghera yard, and when it's delivered in May 2021, it will be very similar to its sisters, Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam, carrying 2,662 passengers and sized at 99,500 tons.

The complete story appeared in the April 8 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - March 25, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Power failures are better in the Bahamas
• MSC stretches (and twists) it out to 1,000 

Details appeared in the March 25 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - March 13, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Seabourn naming their new purpose-built expedition ship Seabourn Venture. 
• Fincantieri cut the first steel for Holland America's next Pinnacle-class ship. 

Details appeared in the March 13 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Fincantieri cuts the first steel for Holland America's third Pinnacle-class ship

Photo courtesy of Fincantieri. All rights reserved. May not be copied or used without express permission. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - February 4, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Carnival's Mardi Gras already breaking records
• Oprah dedicates Nieuw Statendam (video below)
• Carnival having a relationship with Michaels

Details appeared in the February 4 edition of Cruise News Daily.

Other Things You'll Want to Know - January 30, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Holland America is going live-stream Oprah dedicating Nieuw Statendam.
• Royal Caribbean says they are seeing strengthening in the China market.
• New chairman for CLIA Europe

Details appeared in the January 30 issue of Cruise News Daily.

Food & Wine Goes Hawaiian

Holland America's unique series of shore excursions in conjunction with Food & Wine magazine is expanding to Hawaii and Tahiti, bringing the total of the special class of excursions to nearly a hundred.

The complete story appeared in the January 24 edition of Cruise News Daily. 

Other Things You'll Want to Know - January 23, 2019

CND subscribers also read about:

• Holland America own premium brand of coffee
• The Russians have come to NCL and Celebrity
• The US Coast Guard medevaced a 40-year-old woman from Carnival Pride on Monday when it was 50 miles southeast of Cape Hatteras, NC. Video is below.