Holland America Liners 1950-2015

by William H. Miller

Overview

Founded in 1873, the Holland America Line provided services carrying passengers and freight between the Netherlands and North America. When the Second World War ended, only nine of Holland America Line’s twenty-five ships had survived and the company set about rebuilding. The pride of HAL’s post-war fleet was SS Rotterdam, completed in 1959, which was one of the first ships on the North Atlantic equipped to offer two-class transatlantic crossings and single-class luxury cruising. However, competition from the airlines meant that in the early 1970s Holland America ended their transatlantic passenger services; in 1973 the company sold its cargo-shipping division. Now owned by the American cruise line Carnival, Holland America offers round-the-world voyages and cruises in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Asia. In this book, renowned ocean liner historian and author William H. Miller takes a look at the Holland America Line and its post-war fleet up to 2015.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781445658834
Publisher:	Amberley Publishing
Publication date:	05/01/2017
Pages:	128
Product dimensions:	6.40(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

William H. Miller writes extensively on ocean liners, and is known as Mr Ocean Liner. He lives in New Jersey when he is not aboard a cruise ship lecturing about ocean liner history.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements 4

Foreword Dirk van Husen 5

Introduction 6

Veteran Sisters: Veendam and Volendam 8

The Darling of the Dutch: Nieuw Amsterdam 10

Club-Like Travel: Noordarn and Westerdam 20

North American West Coast Service 25

Tulips, Cheeses and Beer: Freighters 28

Economy Twins: Ryndam and Maasdam 33

The Handsome Statendam 42

On a Budget: Low-Fare Sailings to and from Europe 51

Flying the Dutch Colours: Affiliate Passenger Ships 56

Ship of State: Rotterdam 64

Cruising Sisters: Veendam and Volendam 75

Pacific Cruising: The Prinsendam 77

New Sisters: Nieuw Amsterdam and Noordarn 78

Addition to the Fleet: Westerdam 81

Statendam and Her Sisters 83

New Flagship: Rotterdam 87

Unique and Special: Another Prinsendam 90

The Spotless Fleet: A New Generation 92

Bigger and Bigger: Zuiderdam and the Vista Class 93

Biggest of All: Koningsdam 94

Bibliography 95