Thanks to Jerrol Golden, HAL’s manager of international public relations, for this fun post.

As part of the 140th Anniversary celebrations, a group of Holland America Line VIPs and media participated in a walking tour of Rotterdam between ss Rotterdam and the Hotel New York along the Wilhelminapier and Katendrecht with 13 stops along the way.

Here is where the tour passed and visited:
1. Koninginnenhoofd/Holland Amerikakade: On the quay you can see the artwork “lost luggage depot’
2. Cruise Terminal
3. HAL’s head office (1901), now Hotel New York
4. Rijnhaven Bridge: connects the pier with Katendrecht
5. Deliplein: an area that was inhabited until about 1900
6. Belvedere: during Word War II jazz music was played at ‘Negro Palace Belvedere’
7. Linker Veerdam: first significant crossing across the Maas by sailing ferry
8. EErste Katandrechtse Hoofd
9. Ketelbinkie: Bronze statue of ‘ship boy’ or Ketelbinkie (1973) by Huib Noorlander carries a coffee kettle for us aboard a ship
10. Viewpoint Maastunnel: View of the ventilation structures belonging to the Maastunnel which is a 1,373-meter tunnel underneath the Maas. It was the Netherlands first car tunnel and lies 20 meters below sea level
11. Kaappark apartment buildings
12. Maashaven: Maas Harbour (1905). Was built for the transportation of grain
13. ss Rotterdam: Christened in 1958 and as is permanently moored at Maashaven since Aug 4, 2008. It is now a hotel/multi-purpose facility as of 2010. (The ship is not owned by Holland America Line.)