PHOTO: Holland America Line's Koningsdam will be delivered on March 31, 2016. (Courtesy of Holland America Line)
Holland America Line said its new Koningsdam will be delivered on March 31, 2016, a little later than originally expected.
The first of the line's 99,500-ton Pinnacle class, the 2,650-passenger ship was originally set for delivery Feb. 16, 2016. The delay forced the cancellation of several "Premiere" cruises before the official christening voyage scheduled to depart May 9, 2016, with the naming ceremony set for May 21 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The first cruise, a seven-day round-trip from Civitavecchia, Italy, is scheduled to depart on April 8, 2016. Between the March 31 delivery and April 8, the ship will be used for company events.
Holland America Line said it is notifying travel agents and booked guests about the canceled sailings. Guests booked on the cancelled voyages will receive a shipboard credit ranging from $50 to $500 per person depending on the cruise length and stateroom category to reschedule to similar cruises departing April 8 through May 9, 2016.
The announcement came as the Koningsdam met water for the first time and moved to an outfitting dock at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Italy. The ship now is undergoing final construction.
"A ship's construction has many key milestones, and floating it out and moving it to the outfitting dock is especially symbolic," Holland America President Orlando Ashford said. "The float-out represents that we are getting closer to welcoming Koningsdam to our fleet and seeing the ship in the water adds to the excitement among our loyal guests, travel agent partners and employees in anticipation of its arrival."
The Koningsdam will feature several innovations, including solo-occupancy cabins and staterooms purpose-built for families. New alternative restaurants include a French seafood brasserie named Sel de Mer, a re-designed casual Lido Market with themed serving stations, and a Dutch café. The Culinary Arts Center also will host a new farm-to-table dinner experience.
Earlier, on Feb. 26, a traditional coin ceremony was held. Tineke Schröder, wife of the founder of Dutch airline Martinair and a member of the line's Mariner Society, served as madrina.
During the ceremony, which is a tradition designed to bring good fortune, two gold coins were welded to the forward mast of the ship by Schröder; Antonio Quintano, director of Fincantieri Shipyard; and Keith Taylor, Holland America's executive vice president-fleet operations. The gold coins bear the image of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The word "koning" means "king" in Dutch, and the ship's name pays honor to the first king of the Netherlands in over a century.
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