Holland America took delivery of ms Nieuw Statendam on Thursday, November 29, officially making it the fifteenth cruise ship in the fleet.
The handover ceremony was held at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard, and ms Nieuw Statendam set sail for Venice the next day, November 30, en route to Civitavecchia-Rome for her Premiere Voyage with passengers departing on December 5.
The delivery was attended by Holland America Line's president Orlando Ashford, Carnival Corporation's chairman of the board Micky Arison, and president and CEO Arnold Donald; and chief executive officer of Holland America Group & Carnival UK Stein Kruse. CEO of Fincantieri Giuseppe Bono, along with a number of other executives from both companies also attended the ceremony.
Following her transatlantic crossing from Rome, ms Nieuw Statendam will spend a full Caribbean season sailing roundtrip from Fort Lauderdale FL. Ship's official naming ceremony is planned to take place in Fort Lauderdale on February 2.
The cruise ship will head to her summer homeport of Amsterdam in May and sail on a series of northern Europe, Iceland and Baltic cruises before making her way to the Mediterranean in September for sailings from Rome.