Current
As of July 2008, the line operates 15 ships, from the smaller and older S Class vessels; the mid range R Class; the Vista class; the newest and largest Signature class and the small 793-passenger Prinsendam (originally the Royal Viking Sun, then Seabourn Sun until HAL's purchase in 2002). All HAL ships have a dark blue hull with white superstructure, with the company's logo featured prominently on the functional smoke stacks.
Holland America also owns:
- the Westmark hotel chain operating in Alaska and the Yukon
- Worldwide Shore Services, providing warehouse and logistical support
- Half Moon Cay, a private Caribbean island (known officially as Little San Salvador Island) with most Caribbean cruises spending a day there.
On April 3, 2008 Micky Arison, the chairman of Carnival Corporation, stated that due to the low value of the US dollar, inflation and high shipbuilding costs, they would not be ordering new ships for their US based divisions (Holland America, Carnival Cruise Lines and Princess Cruises) until the economic situation improves. Nevertheless, Carnival Breeze was ordered in 2010, and two Princess liners in 2011, one of which will be the new Royal Princess.
On October 26, 2012 it was announced a memorandum of agreement has been signed with Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri for the construction of a 2,660-passenger ship for Holland America Line scheduled for delivery in fall 2015. The Holland America ship, which will be a new class of vessel for the line, will enter service five years after the last Holland America ship, the ms Nieuw Amsterdam, delivered in 2010. Also noted was that the addition of new ships would maintain passenger capacity if some of the older Carnival Corporation ships are sold.
Read more about this topic: Holland America Line
Famous quotes containing the word current:
“Talent develops in quiet places, character in the full current of human life.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“The current of our thoughts made as sudden bends as the river, which was continually opening new prospects to the east or south, but we are aware that rivers flow most rapidly and shallowest at these points.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A reaction: a boat which is going against the current but which does not prevent the river from flowing on.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)