Holland America Line

Title: Holland America Line Category: H Clicks: 0 Listing added: Mar 1, 2009 PageRank: 6/10

Holland America was founded in 1873 as the Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), a shipping and passenger line. Because it provided service to the Americas, it became known as Holland America Line. The company's first ocean liner was the original Rotterdam, which sailed its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City on October 15, 1872—a crossing that took 15 days.

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 passengers to new lives in the New World. The line offered its first cruise in 1895; Three years later, HAL owned a fleet of six cargo and passenger ships that also provided service between Holland and the Dutch East Indies via the Suez Canal.

With the growing preference of the public for jet travel to Europe, HAL suspended in 1971 its trans-Atlantic passenger trade and turned to offering cruise vacations full time. It introduced two radically designed vessels-the ‘ new’ Nieuw Amstersdam and Noordam-in the 1980s, which allowed for more space for leisure-cruising activities. HAL, along with Seattle-based Westours and Windstar Cruises, was acquired by Carnival Corporation in 1997.

SHIPS:
MS Amsterdam 1,380 p Netherlands Registry
MS Maasdam, 1,266 p Netherlands Registry

MS Noordam 1,214 p Netherlands Registry

MS Oosterdam 1,848 p Netherlands Regi

MS Prinsendam 793 p Netherlands Registry

MS Rotterdam 1.316 p Netherlands Registry

MS Ryndam 1,258 p Netherlands Registry

MS Statendam 1258 p Netherlands Registry

MS Veendam 1,266 p Bahamas Registry

MS Volendam 1,440 p Netherlands Registry

MS Westerdam 1,848 p Netherlands Registry

MS Zaandam 1,440 p Netherlands Registry

MS Zuiderdam 1,848 p Netherlands Registry

Address:
300 Elliott Avenue West
Seattle, Washington 98119
Tel: 1-877-724-5425
Fax: 1-206-301-5282