Posted! New comprehensive info on HAL fleet.

[johnnyswitzerland]

On HAL's wikipedia page, I've updated the History section, added a new section on the ongoing Signature of Excellence initiative and - most importantly - revamped the fleet section to provide a lot more information, including the latest on ship upgrades.

 

Check it out here.

 

Like the HAL fleet info sticky, I hope this will be of use to folks who are interested in (or confused about) the ships of Holland America Line. I'll do my best to keep it up-to-date!

 

John

[Cruizer Bill]

Very nice job John! Thanks a lot! Very well organized and a wealth of information.

[kazu]

Very nice and well done. thank you bery much :)

[HamburgAvonLady]

:) Thank You !!! Very interesting.

[johnnyswitzerland]

Thank you! I owe a shout out, though, to dougnewmanatsea, whose sticky An Introduction to the Ships and Classes of the HAL Fleet got the ball rolling. Credit where credit is due!

 

The info on wikipedia before was pitiful. Here's a pic of what was up there...

 

[Krazy Kruizers]

very nice

 

thank you

[johnnyswitzerland]

My pleasure! Thank you! I learned a lot while doing the research so it was fun and interesting. There's more to add, I'm sure. Isn't Eurodam getting new teak decking around the Lido pool? Did that happen as part of the April drydock? I'm not sure where I heard that!

 

John

 

Edit: Oh, it was on the HAL blog, of course! That is a reputable enough source for wikipedia, I am certain.

[CruiseAdict218]

Very nice job, I like it alot!

[RuthC]

Nice work. Easy to read, and very easy to make comparisons. I was amazed to read the very different GRTs, even within the same class. Somehow seeing it presented in table format struck me as previous presentations had not.

[johnnyswitzerland]

Nice work. Easy to read, and very easy to make comparisons. I was amazed to read the very different GRTs, even within the same class. Somehow seeing it presented in table format struck me as previous presentations had not.

 

Hi Ruth! I must admit, I'm wary of the figures. They are legit for wikipedia as they're sourced directly from the HAL website, but I wonder if they're completely up-to-date with all the aft expansions and refits across the S, R and Vista class ships. Still, they do seem to make sense given the information at hand. They should be the current GRT numbers rather than the ones at initial launch. I wonder if there's a technical person at HAL who would be willing to offer some input...

 

Anyway, thanks for looking! I wanted to do this since this information seemed hard to come by all in one place. I wanted to know the details!

 

John

[KirkNC]

Great job John!

 

Kirk

[johnnyswitzerland]

Thank you, Kirk and CA218. Next step is to begin updating each individual vessel page to reflect similar info. Some of these pages don't seem to get a ton of attention/maintenance.

 

John

[CruiseAdict218]

Thank you, Kirk and CA218. Next step is to begin updating each individual vessel page to reflect similar info. Some of these pages don't seem to get a ton of attention/maintenance.

 

John

 

I saw that and I touch up Statendam's & Maasdam's page but my internet start acting weird and couldn't finish the other ships

[CruiseAdict218]

@johnnyswitzerland I have a question for you I notice on some of the ships pages the owner of the ship is HAL but on some it says Carnival Corp, which is it?

[johnnyswitzerland]

@johnnyswitzerland I have a question for you I notice on some of the ships pages the owner of the ship is HAL but on some it says Carnival Corp, which is it?

 

Hi CA218. Good question! I'm afraid I don't have a complete answer... Since HAL is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCL, it seems to me that the answer would be "both". But I'm sure it's more complex than that. Maybe has to do with regulations, accounting, etc. Some pages say CCL is the owner and HAL is the operator. Interesting.

 

Anyone able to shed some light? Thanks!

 

John

[docksider21]

Hi CA218. Good question! I'm afraid I don't have a complete answer... Since HAL is a wholly owned subsidiary of CCL, it seems to me that the answer would be "both". But I'm sure it's more complex than that. Maybe has to do with regulations, accounting, etc. Some pages say CCL is the owner and HAL is the operator. Interesting.

 

Anyone able to shed some light? Thanks!

 

John

 

The ships are owned neither by HAL nor by Carnival Corp.

 

You can find ownership information in the brochures

or in the cruise contract. Usually you will find that

 

Ship is owned by Entity 1 (not HAL but related to HAL)

Ship is chartered to Entity 2 (again not HAL, but related to HAL)

You book your vacation through HAL.

 

For example, here is info from HAL's 2010-2011

e-brochures for exotic voyages:

 

The ms Amsterdam, ms Prinsendam, and ms Volendam

are owned by HAL Antillen N.V. and chartered to

Holland America Line N.V. The ms Veendam and ms Rotterdam

are owned by HAL Nederland N.V. and chartered to

Holland America Line N.V. All of these entities are affiliates of

Holland America Line Inc. Transportation aboard the ship

is provided solely by the Shipowners and Charterers and

pursuant to the Cruise Contract you will receive prior to

embarkation.

 

Ibid. at 103.

[TiogaCruiser]

Just curious- what does N. V. stand for?

[johnnyswitzerland]

Wow. Thanks so much for the interesting, enlightening info, Docksider!

 

John

[Himself]

Thank You for the post.

[SwissMyst]

Very nice set-up. Thanks for your volunteer efforts.

 

How about adding that pronunciation guide for HAL ship names too, since many of the spellings look "funny" to English speaking eyes and I have known customers do not order things they cannot pronounce or worry they will pronounce it wrong. They will pick Emerald Princess over HAL Zuiderdam just because they know what to ask for. :(

 

You are off to a very good start. I wonder if Joanie would like to have you link to her excellent collection of photos of HAL ships as well as peeks into the real life onboard that go well beyond the HAL marketing imagery. (Real people having real fun compared to fake people having fake fun)

[johnnyswitzerland]

Hi SwissMyst! I think linking to Joanie's site is a great idea! I've used it as a resource myself and agree that it's tremendously helpful... and will only grow more helpful with time and further contributions. Will have to check wikipedia's terms. I hope we can get her great site some more exposure.....

 

As for pronunciation, I like that too. Do folks really take HAL out of the running over pronunciation intimidation??? I've never heard that!

 

John