Captain Kevin Beirnaert

Ship: Oosterdam

Born in Gent in Northwest Belgium, Kevin Beirnaert moved to Antwerp to attend the Maritime Academy, and spent his cadetship on Container Reefers, ships with a large cooling or freezing capacity. After graduating in 2004, he was employed for the world’s largest dredging company, “Jan de Nul,” and worked on the dredger Alexander von Humboldt in Dubai to build a new city, now world famously named Palm Island.

Captain Beirnaert joined Holland America Line in 2006 and rotated on several ships, including Rotterdam as third officer, Rotterdam VI through 2011, as first officer and was promoted to chief officer / staff captain in 2012, after having sailed on Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, and Veendam. On Eurodam for three years, he met his now-wife, Amber, who was vacationing with friends but had also been a cast member with the 2010 Holland America Line Revue shows, performing on Zuiderdam and Prinsendam.

Captain Beirnaert’s experience on Eurodam propelled him to the supervisory team of the company’s first Pinnacle Class ship, Koningsdam, then the second in the class, Nieuw Statendam V, and finally as staff captain to oversee the building of the third ship, Ryndam IV.