18 April 2018; At Sea.

Today we have our 2^nd day at sea as tomorrow we will arrive in Bermuda. And a beautiful day it was, a perfect sea day. The sun was shining all day and a low North Atlantic swell was running but it was so low that it hardly affected the ship.  A perfect day and thus a perfect birthday. As today our Holland America Line is 145 years young. What started out as an emigrant carrier back in 1873 (although our roots go back to 1871) has grown into one of the foremost cruise ship company’s in the world. And from all those old company’s which were founded in the later part of the 19^th. century only three of the bigger ones have survived.

The ss Rotterdam I. The first ship of the company entered service in 1871. With her 1500 tons she would have fitted 40 times in the current Rotterdam VI

And they have all ended up under the same Carnival umbrella.  The other two Companies, Cunard and P&O were never really our competitors and thus we can be very friendly with them. P&O was mainly focused on the Far East and even in their cruising days they did not really get involved in our focus market. Same for Cunard, their home base was mainly in England and East coast of the USA. While Holland America’s heartland is in middle North America.  (Although we also have a lot of guests from everywhere else)

The ss Rotterdam II. This ship made the first cruise for Holland America in 1895 to the opening of the Kieler Kanal in Germany.

145 years is an important milestone but not as impressive as 125 years was and 150 years will be. Thus the company is keeping the celebrations on the ships low key but active planning is already going on for the 150 years, in 2023. But 145 years is something special as well, as the big boys such as Carnival and Royal Caribbean were founded around the time that Holland America was celebrating its 100 birthday.

The ss Rotterdam III. This ship did not sail very long for Holland America as she was sold and made way for a newer Rotterdam.

What fascinates a lot of our guests the most is our naming policy and the recycling of names. They love it and at the time they can be confused by it. Sometimes because they do not realize that we handed over the name to the next ship, sometimes because they come back on the same ship and do not realize that the company keeps updating the interiors and that can make it look like a different ship. I came across guests who had made the Eastbound crossing of the Westerdam last year and then came back this year and when they walked on board they thought they were on a different ship as the whole atrium had completely changed.  (The staircase was gone and replaced by the Rijksmuseum Enrichment center) But they were glad that their favorite cabin was still in the same location.

The ss Rotterdam IV. Here seen painted white during cruising in the 1930’s. She sailed for us from 1908 to 1939.

Today I gave my Holland America lecture……………. Something I could not resist……………… a HAL history lecture on the birthday of the company onboard the Flagship of the company………… and I had something similar. At the end a lady came over who had sailed in the 60’s on board the Nieuw Amsterdam and could not work out which Nieuw Amsterdam it was as several editions had appeared on the screen. (We had a N.A in 1906, one in 1938, one in 1983 and our latest one in 2010) She never realized when she was on board as a small child that she was sailing on a ship that had been built before the 2^nd world war, had been a troopship during that war, and then went back to being a luxury liner for the North Atlantic service. Now she saw the photos on the screen but still needed confirmation that THAT was her ship.

The ss Rotterdam V. She was called the Grand Dame of the Seas as she survived all her contemporaries, well into the modern cruise age.

But the repeating names do dictate the history, even my own career. I joined Holland America in 1981 as 4^th. officer on the Statendam IV. I was captain on the Statendam V and I will probably retire as Fleet Support Master sometime after the (Nieuw) Statendam VI has come into service. Three Statendam’s in one 40 year career. There are not many other companies out there who can create history in such a way.

The ms Rotterdam VI. She joined our company the day after the Rotterdam V retired on 30 September 1997.

Tomorrow we are in Bermuda and we are going to Kings Wharf; the old navy dockyard which has been completely re-developed through the years. If nothing has changed we will be in port together with the Royal Princess, docked somewhere next to us.

Weather: Sunny with temperatures at noon around 73oF / 23 oC with a light to moderate breeze blowing through the port.

Note: All the paintings shown here were painted by Captain Stephen Card who after sailing as a Deep Sea captain turned his hobby and talent into a full time occupation. His ships paintings can be found on all the Holland America Line ships. All of the above are hanging in the forward guests staircase of the ms Rotterdam VI.

Happy Birthday Holland America Line.