Providing Passage to the
New World
Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the
Netherlands-America Steamship Company (NASM), a shipping and passenger line.
Because it was headquartered in Rotterdam and provided service to the Americas,
it became known as Holland America Line. The company's first ocean liner was the
Rotterdam, which sailed its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York City
on Oct. 15, 1872. The one-way voyage took 15 days. Following that first voyage,
Holland America Line has seen a series of benchmark moments in its history.
- By its 25th anniversary, Holland America Line owned a
fleet of six cargo and passenger ships, and also provided service between
Holland 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.
- In 1895, the company offered its first vacation
cruise; its second leisure cruise, from New York to the Holy
Land, was in 1910.
- In 1971, Holland America Line suspended its
transatlantic passenger trade and turned to offering cruise vacations full
time.
- In 1989, Holland America Line Inc. became a wholly
owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp., the largest cruise company in the world.
Compelling Worldwide
Itineraries
Holland America Line's fleet of 14
ships offers nearly 500 cruises to 314 ports in more than 100 countries,
territories or dependencies. Two- to 108-day itineraries visit all seven
continents, and highlights include Antarctica, South America, Australia/New
Zealand and Asia voyages; a Grand World Voyage; and popular sailings to ports in
the Caribbean, Alaska, Mexico, Canada/New England, Europe and Panama Canal.
Guests will
have more destination choices in every corner of the world that will bring them
not just to new and exciting locations but into the culture and heart of each
place to create a truly memorable and unique
experience.
Club HAL
Club HAL, a special program that offers oceans of fun for guests kids ages five through 17, allows the entire family can have the vacation of their dreams. There is snorkeling in crystal blue waters and the kids building sand castles on the beach. Club HAL activities are captivating enough to engage youngsters ages five to eight, cool enough to attract "tweens" and teens. Holland America's Ryndam, Rotterdam and Zaandam offer have enchanced children's programs that start as young as age three.
It all begins with a special Welcome Aboard meeting the first night of the cruise with our full-time youth coordinator and continues throughout the cruise with a dedicated daily youth program filled with fun: storytelling, crafts and candy bar bingo for the little kids; miniature golf, pool parties and video games for "tweens" and teens. The fun continues into the night with movies, pizza and disco parties, so adults can enjoy your evening knowing the kids are having a good time properly supervised.
Half Moon Cay
Half Moon Cay is Holland America's private island. This tropical destination featuring a comprehensive high-quality development that offers more facilities, services and activities than any other cruise line's private island. Half Moon Cay became operational in January, 1997. The island is shared with Holland America's sister company, Carnival Cruise Lines, for a select number of Carnival Caribbean sailings. The private island is located on 2,400-acre Little San Salvador Island, Bahamas. The island, purchased by Holland America Line in January 1997, is less than 100 miles southeast of Nassau between southern Eleuthera and Cat Island. Half Moon Cay is built on 45 acres along a crescent-shaped white sand beach more than a mile in length that fronts on a protected bay leading west to Exuma Sound. Half Moon Cay accommodates up to 1,750 guests per day in three handicapped-accessible areas joined by hard-surfaced pathways. The Landing and Welcome Plaza offers a sheltered tender landing marina, an information/orientation kiosk, bar and restrooms. The West Indies Village features shops, an art gallery and straw market. Also on the island are a first aid/nurse station, post office, Spanish-style chapel, ice cream shop, soda bar, frozen drink bar and restrooms.
The Food Pavilion encompasses a buffet and kitchen facility with six service lines, 15 tropical, open-air dining shelters, each seating a minimum of 48 guests, large bar seating 30, three satellite bar stations, two fresh fruit and condiment shelters, restrooms, and a bandstand with an island-style steel drum band.
Holland America Tours
The company's Holland
America Tours subsidiary, serving Alaska and Canada's Yukon, was founded in 1947
in Fairbanks as Arctic Alaska Tours. The company originally arranged tours for
passengers arriving on Alaska Steamship Co. vessels at Seward and Valdez by rail
and bus to the Interior and by air to the Arctic. Westours became a subsidiary
of Holland America in 1979. Now known as Holland America Tours, the company also
owns Gray Line of Alaska, Gray Line of Seattle and several other Gray Line
franchises. The company also owns Westmark Hotels and Inns, the largest hotel
group in Alaska and Yukon Territory with 11 hotels in 10 communities. In May
2006, Holland America Line completed a new 135-room lodge in Denali to service
CruiseTour, Gray Line of Alaska guests and others.
Holland
America Line offers cruise and CruiseTour packages ranging from adventure shore excursions to full itinerary land tours of Alaska and the Yukon.
Most CruiseTour itineraries combine a land tour and a Holland America Line
luxury cruise. Rail tours have been offered since 1987 on board the McKinley
Explorer full-domed luxury rail cars, featuring first-class service between
Anchorage, Denali National Park and Fairbanks. In 2007, Holland America Tours bought three new MCI LX coaches and retrofitted, updated and improved 36
existing vehicles to the standards set by the new coaches, creating a new fleet.
In
conjunction with its cruises, Holland America Line introduced exclusive land
tours to Canada's spectacular sub arctic Tombstone Territorial
Park and Kluane National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site encompassing
pristine wilderness and having five of the seven highest peaks in North America.
