Holland America Line is upping our game thanks to an exciting new partnership with the fastest growing sport in the U.S. Imagine a pickleball court where the vast ocean or an Alaskan glacier is the backdrop for your match. As the exclusive Official Cruise Line of the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA), that\u2019s what you can find on Holland America Line.<\/p>\n
All ships in our fleet feature pickleball courts with amazing top-deck views that will be refreshed by February 2023, including adding new PPA Tour partner logos. Beginning in February and rolling out fleet-wide by April 2023, complimentary beginner lessons will be offered by shipboard instructors who will teach guests the rules and basics of playing pickleball, including where the \u201ckitchen\u201d is and what it means to hit a \u201cdink\u201d shot.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to say that travel unites us, but sports do that as well, and Holland America Line is proud to be the first and exclusive cruise line partner of the PPA. We\u2019re proud to offer our guests an elevated pickleball experience as they travel to spectacular and scenic cruise destinations,\u201d said Kacy Cole, vice president of marketing for Holland America Line. \u201cMirroring its rapid growth as the fastest growing sport in the U.S., pickleball is the most popular sport on our ships. It\u2019s wonderful to see guests bond over their shared love of the game \u2014 and the ever-changing scenery makes the perfect pickleball backdrop.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to live instruction, \u201cHow to Play Pickleball\u201d tutorial videos will be featured on in-stateroom TV programming. Guests will be able to purchase branded pickleball starter kits in the shipboard retail shops starting in 2023.<\/p>\n
\u201cPickleball has become immensely popular among travel and leisure business categories, because it is uniquely accessible, compatible with a variety of brands, and transcends a wide spectrum of age groups and lifestyles,\u201d said Connor Pardoe, commissioner and CEO of the PPA Tour. \u201cHolland America Line has embraced and committed to pickleball in a very exciting way and will bring engaging, 360-degree collaborations between its cruise line and the sport we all love.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with the shipboard activations, Holland America Line will be featured on branded signage at land-based PPA tournaments across the U.S., PPA merchandise and tour promotional materials.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>
![](\"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/PB_Guests-Play-Pickleball-on-Nieuw-Statendam-1.jpg\" "\\"PB_Guests")
<\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Holland America Line shares a deeper connection with PPA beyond the game \u2014 pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island in Washington state, a short ferry ride from Seattle where Holland America Line is headquartered.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo play pickleball is to make new friends, from around the neighborhood or around the world. This ageless sport welcomes players young and old, fast or slow,\u201d said Theresa Haynie, a founding board member of Seattle Metro Pickleball Association and an International Pickleball Teaching Professional Association instructor. \u201cIt\u2019s a fun game to teach and even more fun to learn. Now with pickleball on board ships with this wonderful partnership, cruisers and players have one more adventure to experience and take home with them.\u201d<\/p>\n
If you are a pickleball fan, you\u2019ll be able to take your land-game to the sea \u2026 and if you\u2019re new, we look forward to introducing you to this exciting sport!<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1876,"featured_media":68735,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-68719","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fleet-features","category-whats-new"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=68719"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":69052,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/68719\/revisions\/69052"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=68719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=68719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=68719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}