We\u2019re not the only ones celebrating King\u2019s Day on April 27. Holland America Line<\/a> is proud to introduce its loyal furry friend and mascot, Lewie! Donning his best orange tie and majestic mane, Lewie descends from a long line of Dutch lions living in Rotterdam, and he loves traveling by sea. In fact, he got a behind-the-scenes sneak peek of the festivities celebrating our 150th<\/sup> anniversary on April 18 in Rotterdam where he roared with excitement.<\/p>\n<\/div> Recognizing lions have been a national symbol of strength and courage to the people of the Netherlands for generations, Lewie takes great pride in his lineage. Passionate about traveling the world aboard Holland America Line\u2019s fleet, Lewie loves experiencing the rich cultures of the places he visits. He\u2019s also a modern traveler who enjoys making new friends, both on ship and in the wild. Today, in honor of King\u2019s Day, he\u2019s hosting an Orange Party with the other lions in his pride, but you\u2019ll see him late summer 2023 in gift shops (onboard only) across our fleet.<\/p>\n Please join us in giving Lewie two paws up as we prepare to welcome him aboard in the months ahead.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> About King\u2019s Day <\/strong><\/p>\n Recognized as a holiday on April 27 in the Netherlands, King\u2019s Day honors the birthday of the reigning Dutch monarch. The original holiday began on August 31, 1885, as Prinsessedag, or Princess\u2019s Day, in honor of the fifth birthday of Princess Wilhelmina. She was crowned as Queen in 1890 under the regency of her mother, Queen Emma, and the first Koninginnedag was celebrated in 1891 in the Netherlands. The date of the holiday then moved to recognize her daughter, Queen Juliana, when she assumed the throne in 1948. King\u2019s Day took on its current name, Koningsdag, on April 27, 2014, after His Majesty King Willem-Alexander, King of the Netherlands, Prince of Orange-Nassau, ascended to the throne the previous year.<\/p>\n At Holland America Line, we take great joy in celebrating King\u2019s Day each year, given our roots in the Netherlands and ties to its royal family. In fact, members of the Dutch Royal Family have launched 13 Holland America Line vessels \u2014 from Prince Hendrik naming Statendam III in 1929 to Princess Margriet christening Rotterdam in 2022. Most recently, Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha was joined by Princess Margriet for a 150th<\/sup> anniversary celebration at Hotel New York, home to Holland America Line\u2019s original headquarters from 1901 to 1977.<\/p>\n From concerts to street parties, the people of the Netherlands host big, orange-accented celebrations in honor of the royal House of Orange-Nassau.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll find that same spirit aboard all our ships<\/a> at the Orange Party, where Holland America Line guests and crew don their best orange attire for a night of music, dancing and specialty cocktails. Every cruise<\/a> year-round has an Orange Party inspired by King\u2019s Day celebrations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div> Proost (that\u2019s \u201cCheers\u201d in Dutch) to all our friends near and far this King\u2019s Day, including our lion, Lewie. May today and every day bring you joy and adventure.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1984,"featured_media":70396,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[48,41,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-70391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-whats-new","category-industry","category-whats-new"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70391","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\/1984"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70391"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":70398,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70391\/revisions\/70398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hollandamerica.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}