Cruise Company Overview - HAL
Company Overview and Ship Fleet
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Holland America Line Contact Info
Holland America Line
300 Elliott Ave. West
Seattle, WA 98119
Holland America website
Email
Holland America
Smoking Policy
Holland America Line has a new smoking policy that will take effect January 15, 2012. Presently, all indoor areas are designated non-smoking with the exception of the Casino, Northern Lights Disco, Seaview Bar, Sports Bar, and Crow's Nest. All showrooms are nonsmoking during performances. There are selected areas of the outside decks where smoking is allowable. Cigar and pipe smoking is only permitted on the outside decks.
As of January 15, 2011, All staterooms will be non-smoking areas, in addition to the other areas that were already defined as non-smoking. Smoking will continue to be permitted outside on stateroom verandahs. There are designated areas available for smoking both inside the ships and on outside decks as detailed above.
ships > HAL
Holland America Line
Aboard ship, Holland America Line’s Signature of Excellence activities provide relaxing and inspiring options while allowing the freedom and time to make choices. For more than 137 years, Holland America Line has been a recognized leader in cruising, taking our guests to exotic destinations around the world.
Fleet
R Class |
S Class |
| Amsterdam | Prinsendam |
| Rotterdam | Maasdam |
| Volendam | Veendam |
| Zaandam | Ryndam |
| Statendam | |
Vista Class |
Signature Class |
| Noordam | Nieuw amsterdam |
| Oosterdam | Eurodam |
| Westerdam | |
| Zuiderdam |
Holland America Line has a long and proud history of delivering extraordinary vacation experiences, and with the ongoing $566-million Signature of Excellence® commitment, that experience is now better than ever. Signature of Excellence enhancements encompass virtually every area of our ships and range from new facilities and public spaces to added services and amenities.
Holland America Line has earned the prestigious Five Star Diamond Award from The American Academy of Hospitality Sciences and one of the highest rates of repeat guests in the industry.
Fleetwide Amenities
Programs
Early Embarkation
Boarding as early as 11:30 a.m. Guests are welcomed aboard with live music and invited directly to the Lido Restaurant for lunch or to explore the public areas until staterooms are ready – when white-gloved stewards show the way.
Vegetarian-Only Menu
Holland America Line has introduced a new alternative, vegetarian-only menu, as well as 30 new vegetarian dishes to their main dining room menu.
The alternative menu includes a full range of appetizers, salads, soups and main entrées, and is available upon request at no extra cost for lunch and dinner in the main dining room aboard all 15 ships in the fleet.
For a full listing of Holland America Line’s culinary offerings, visit www.hollandamerica.com/cruise-vacation-onboard/Dining.action.
The Culinary Arts Center
Holland America Line’s industry trend-setting Culinary Arts Centers are featured on each of the line’s 15 ships. A “world class show kitchen at sea,” the Culinary Arts Centers presented by Food & Wine magazine resembles the elaborate show kitchens used by celebrity chefs on television cooking programs. The facilities are used for cooking shows, wine tastings, hands-on cooking classes and mixology presentations. All events are taught by highly-skilled culinary and beverage staff during every Holland America Line voyage.
Each facility features a theater-style venue with two large video screens and a large cooking display counter. In partnership with Food & Wine magazine, Holland America Line has schedule approximately 60 celebrated chefs and wine experts to sail in 2012. Holland America Line also offers a youth Culinary Arts Center activity program on select sailings to teach kids and teens how to cook. The program incorporates dishes from breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks in complimentary 45-minute-long classes.
Special Dining Experiences
Onboard the ms Eurodam and ms Rotterdam, the Pinnacle
Grill is transformed one night during the cruise into a unique high-end
dining experience. Featuring the cuisine of Culinary Council member and Michelin Star Chef
Jonnie Boer and named after Boer’s restaurant in the Netherlands, the menu
showcases a selection of starters, soups, entrees and desserts from De
Librije.
Once per cruise the Pinnacle Grill will be transformed into De Librije. The service staff will wear the livery uniforms and tables will replicate that of the land-based eatery. The wine list will highlight a selection of labels from the Lady De Librije collection.
The five-course menu starts with North Sea Scallops served to all diners. From there, guests can select among three appetizers, two soups, four entrees and three desserts. The tantalizing dishes include Oysters on the Beach with foie gras, oysters and micro greens; Chilled Tomato Gazpacho with black olive and celeriac mousse; Venison Loin and Beef Tenderloin with bulgur wheat and smoked olive oil foam; Duo of Lamb Loin and Crusted Lamb Neck with lentil sprouts, watercress, carrot coulis and lamb jus reduction; Deconstructed Apple Pie with vanilla gelato and Chantilly-style cream, and Rice Chocolate Stones with tuile and strawberries. A $69 per person surcharge applies.Greenhouse Spa & Salon
Treatment rooms, including couple’s massage rooms, dry float suite with massage option and thermal suites with hydro-therapy pool, steam and aromatic room, heated ceramic lounges and in-suite showers. Unique new offerings include Acupuncture and Tai Chi.Onboard Art Tours
Holland America Line is known for the extensive art collections onboard
each ship. Now, fine art goes high tech when you sail with Holland America
Line. Enjoy the self-guided walking tour for each ship
which highlights the art onboard an eclectic collection that is valued at
tens of millions of dollars.
Narrated by well-known radio hosts Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harryman, the
30- to 40-minute tours include walking directions, interviews with artists,
background music and thumbnails of some of the artwork. Download the
ship-specific art tour onto your personal iPod®, MP3 or portable media
player before you embark on your Holland America Line cruise. Pre-loaded art
tours are also available on board.
Digital Workshops Powered by Windows
Guests on Holland America Line cruises can learn how to display and share
their vacation memories through the Digital Workshop powered by Windows®.
This enrichment program, which is now available on all ships, offers free,
informative sessions that are led by a Microsoft-trained techspert on a
variety of relevant topics such as:
Explorations Café
Powered by The New York Times, where guests can sip coffee, browse one of the most extensive libraries at sea, enjoy diverse music at one of several listening stations or surf the Internet.
WiFi
Holland America Line vessel offers wireless internet service in most public lounges throughout the ship. Guests may use their laptop computer or other wireless internet enable device to connect to the wireless internet service on board. IPhone and Android phone users will enjoy our easy-to-navigate mobile friendly login. Internet Plans vary in price to accommodate individual needs and are interchangeable between the private computer terminals available 24-hours a day in the Explorations Café and your wireless device.
The Explorations Café, powered by The New York Times offers a comfortable, coffee house environment where you can access the internet via the onboard computers or via your own wireless internet device, such as a laptop computer, iPad or iPhone.
Explorations Café or Internet Café pricing below is subject to change without prior notice. Please inquire on board for current prices.
One-time Activation Fee of $3.95 applies to each user.
Basic time charge $0.75 per minute, pay as you go, or purchase a Discounted Time Plan
250 minutes for $100.00, $0.40 per minute
100 minutes for $55.00, $0.55 per minute
Time Plan minutes can be used anytime throughout the cruise.
Holland America Line History
While the undisputed premium cruise leader today, Holland America 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.
Within 25 years, Holland America owned a fleet of six cargo and passenger ships, and provided shipping and passenger services 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.
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 in 1910.
In 1973, the company sold its cargo shipping division. Cruise vacations became the line's full time focus.
In 1989, Holland America Line Inc. became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corporation & plc., the largest cruise company in the world. Today, HAL operates 13 ships carrying more than 700,000 cruise passengers a year.
