After eight sea days we arrived at Ponta Delgada, Azores, May 9. It was great to see land again! In the late morning the tour operator took us on a site inspection of some of the main sites. After leaving Ponta Delgada, we drove up to the view point from where we had a stunning… read more of “Marco’s…”
Thanks to HAL Facebook fan Judy Isphording for sending us a great photo of her parents during their last trans-Atlantic cruise. My Mom and Dad introduced me to cruises and Holland America in 2006. We went on a wonderful trans-Atlantic cruise at that time. I loved it and have been hooked ever since. We recently… read more of “Facebook Fans Share…”
Saturday, May 4, at 6:50 p.m. (UTC-2), Nieuw Amsterdam received a call from the U.S. Coast Guard Rescue Coordination Center at Norfolk, Va., regarding a mayday signal it had received from sailing yacht Embla, which was disabled and adrift. Nieuw Amsterdam immediately diverted from its course and arrived on the scene at 9 p.m. local… read more of “Nieuw Amsterdam…”
Special thanks to HAL guest James Ogden for sharing this touching story with our blog. My great grandparents were the first generation of my family to sail with Holland America Line, in the 1950’s. They sailed with HAL four times between 1954 and 1960, on transatlantic voyages, between various cities in Europe and New York…. read more of “Recounting Family…”
Here’s a crazy discovery. My mother found this from her voyage to the U.S. in 1953. Kinda cool. She sailed from Rotterdam to Hoboken. She was a little girl in Germany in WWII and some relatives in Kansas took her in. Pretty cool. – Sam Slishman
Noel Bell, HAL guest and frequent blog contributor, sailed aboard Rotterdam from Piraeus, Greece, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Here is a special highlights video he created from his Ancient Discoveries voyage. Enjoy! Here is the video from my Rotterdam 12-day Ancient Discoveries cruise visiting Athens, Piraeus, Rhodes and Gythios in Greece, The Pyramids of Egypt,… read more of “Video: Ancient…”
Special thanks to Noel Bell, a HAL guest and frequent blog contributor, for sharing these videos taken while cruising on Rotterdam’s 12-day Ancient Discoveries cruise in October 2011 and Rotterdam’s Spanish Charms 15-day voyage in November 2011. As promised, here are the completed video highlights of the recent 27 day cruise featuring the back-to-back Ancient… read more of “Video: Rotterdam…”
During the Atlantic crossing a family inquired if it was possible to christen their daughter on board as the parents and child lived in the Middle East while the grandparents lived in Australia and this was the first time they had all been together since the child’s birth. We immediately said yes and that we’d… read more of “Captain’s…”
