She is named Nieuw Statendam
The new 99,500-ton Pinnacle Class ship is set to launch in November 2018.
At the beginning of December, Holland America Line held the ship's coin ceremony at Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard in Italy. Following Italian shipbuilding tradition, Anne Marie Bartels, a member of Holland America Line's esteemed President's Club, served as the ship's Madrina and participated in the festivities.
During the coin ceremony, observed to bring good fortune, a Dutch guilder was welded to the forward mast of the ship by Bartels; Antonio Quintano, director of the Fincantieri Marghera Shipyard; and Keith Taylor, executive vice president, fleet operations for Holland America Group, followed by speeches and a blessing by the shipyard chaplain.
The Dutch Guilder brings sentiment and history to the newbuild — it is from 1898, the year Holland America Line's first Statendam came into service.
Bartels first sailed with Holland America Line on the s.s. Nieuw Amsterdam from Rotterdam, the Netherlands, to New York, New York, when she was 21 years old. She has since been on 79 Holland America Line cruises, including 12 Grand Voyages. Bartels has more than 2,500 cruising days with the line, which gives her elite President's Club status for guests with more than 2,500 days on board.
Nieuw Statendam is the second Pinnacle Class ship for Holland America Line, joining ms Koningsdam, which launched in April 2016 from the same shipyard in Marghera. A third Pinnacle Class ship will set sail for the cruise line in 2021.