History

History

Holland America Line produced some noted ships from the 36,000 gross ton Nieuw Amsterdam of 1938, probably the only large passenger liner at the time that was not completed with any expectation of serving for the military, and the beautiful Rotterdam of 1959, one of the first ships on the North Atlantic to be equipped for two class transatlantic crossing and one class luxury cruising. By the late sixties, the golden era of profitable trans-Atlantic ships was over, and the remaining routes were siphoned off by the airlines. The early seventies saw the end of the trans-Atlantic service, leaving the North Atlantic for Cunard's Queen Elizabeth 2.
In 1971, Holland America abandoned its passenger transportation service and switched to running cruise ships full time. Since then, the company has become known for wide variety of destinations it sails to. After obtaining government approval to visit Antarctica in the 1980s, the line now visits all seven continents. Its ms Prinsendam makes an annual "Grand World Voyage" that usually lasts more than 150 days. Due to the increasing popularity of the exotic and rarely-visited ports of call featured on Grand World Voyages, the ms Amsterdam will offer its own World Voyage in addition to the Prinsendam in 2007.