Category: Holidays

To al HALbloggers: HAPPY NIEUW AMSTERDAM YEAR!! Greetings Ben. Ben van Zeijl is a Holland America Line fan and historian who lives in Rotterdam.

We’d like to wish all of our readers and contributors a very happy new year! See you next year with fresh content.

Here’s the last batch of photos from the holiday festivities aboard Zuiderdam.

Douglas Hernandez, Ryndam’s hotel manager, shared with us this note and photos from the ship’s holiday gift program in Costa Maya, Mexico. Ryndam hosted the Florida Caribbean Gift Program while in Costa Maya, Mexico, bringing the joy of Christmas to 234 under-privileged children in foster homes or institutions where holiday gifts would not ordinarily be…   read more of “Ryndam Spreads…”

The housekeeping department served dinner to the officers in the lido on Christmas Eve. They took a great group shot. Happy New Year! Melissa Searle is Eurodam’s human resources manager.

The transformation of the Eurodam’s marshalling area was like holiday magic. With the help of every department on board, we were able to host a Weihnachtsmarkt (German Christmas Market) for our crew members on December 22nd. The exceptionally-talented technical department turned our luggage bins into quaint light-filled huts which created a postcard-like picture of a…   read more of “Eurodam’s…”

Our Santa this year was a guest lecturer. His little elves were DJ, Jason Apps and Life Stylist Meagan Drury. Helping out with the kids were Youth Program Coordinator Cheryl Johanson and Youth Staff Cameron Johnson. Happy Holidays! Geene is Rotterdam’s human resource manager.

Douglas Hernandez, Ryndam’s hotel manager, shared this note and photos from the ship’s ‘ultimate Christmas village at-sea’ and dazzling holiday decorations. Our vision for the Christmas village was to replicate a small village in Konstanz near the border of Austria and Germany. Our village consists of 13 houses, two churches, one tunnel, one lake, one…   read more of “Ryndam’s…”