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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

Holland America News

Culinary Arts 2012 Lineup

Posted Feb 3, 2012

In 2012 Holland America Line’s Culinary Arts Center Program will host an all-star lineup of more than 60 celebrated chefs, cookbook authors and television personalities from the culinary world, including YouTube culinary sensation and “The Next Food Network Star” personality Serena Palumba, “Top Chef: Just Desserts” participant Zac Young and Chef Tony Maws, winner of the 2011 James Beard Award for “Best Chef: Northeast.”

The Culinary Arts Center, presented by Food & Wine magazine, enables guests aboard the line’s 15 ships to experience culinary demonstrations in a full show kitchen, tastings, question-and-answer sessions and hands-on classes conducted by top chefs, wine experts and leading cookbook authors.

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.

Holland America Line

Holland America Line's Half Moon Cay riding horseback

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.

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Fleetwide Amenities

Children's Programs

HAL for Kids

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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