Holland America Line

It might surprise you, but cruise lines have been debuting new ships during the pandemic, including Carnival’s Mardi Gras, Celebrity Apex, and Royal Caribbean’s Odyssey of the Seas. Another newcomer, Holland America’s Rotterdam is on its maiden transatlantic crossing right now. On Friday I will board that ship’s first cruise from Fort Lauderdale – a five-night Bahamas sailing -- to give you all a first look at the brand-new ship.

Holland America has announced itinerary updates for 2022, including return-to-cruise dates for Volendam and Zaandam, and the cancellation of its 2022 world cruise. 

“We have been diligently planning and preparing to move our ships back into service, and after an extremely successful restart in Alaska and Europe we are thrilled to have return-to-service dates for Volendam and Zaandam,” said Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line, in a company statement. 

Holland America is ramping up its 2021 cruise schedule from U.S. homeports with newly announced cruises from San Diego and Ft. Lauderdale. The line previously opened bookings for summer Alaska cruises from Seattle, as well as Eastern Mediterranean cruises from Athens, Greece. It's another positive move as cruise lines slowly return to cruising from the U.S. and around the world.

Another cruise line has announced plans for a restart outside of the United States.

Holland America Line announced that it will restart cruises from Piraeus (Athens) in August with four departures aboard Eurodam.

The new sailings go on sale beginning May 6, 2021.

Update, 4/11/2021: On October 31, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention allowed its no-sail order to expire and issued a conditional sailing framework, to which all ships must adhere in order to resume cruising. Since that time, Holland America Line has pushed back its restart date for all ships through June 30, 2021, with sailings to select regions on select ships canceled into August.

All sailings that depart from or return to Canada ports have also been canceled.

A new Holland America Line cruise ship has been launched from the shipyard.

The HAL Rotterdam was launched by Fincantieri at a shipyard in Italy today.

Rotterdam will next have her drydock filled with water and floated out on October 7 to begin the next stage of construction at an outfitting pier.

Coinciding with the launch is the traditional and well-wishing “coin ceremony" which sees the yard welding a silver dollar on the last deck of the ship.

Holland America Line announced on Tuesday that it will extend its suspension of cruises until mid-December due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

All HAL cruises sailing to the Caribbean, Mexico, Panama Canal, Pacific Coastal, South America, Antarctica, Hawaii, South Pacific, Australia and Asia are cancelled through December 15, 2020.

Guests on affected cancelled bookings have the choice of a 125% Future Cruise Credit or a 100% refund.

If you're planning your next cruise vacation and have found yourself struggling with whether to choose Holland America versus Celebrity, you're not alone.

Below, we'll help you compare the two lines in several key areas, including food, cabins and things to do.

Choosing between Holland America or Princess cruises is no easy task, particularly because these two lines offer similar casual-but-elegant onboard vibes and levels of quality.

They compete fiercely with one another in all markets, but they're particularly well matched when it comes to Alaska sailings. But how do they compare in areas like dining, cabins and onboard activities? Read on to find out.