Holland America Line to start moving six ships for resumption of cruising in the U.S.A.

[Fatfish]

From Crew Center website... Nov 18

 

Holland America Line is getting ready for a big comeback in the United States. In a letter sent to the employees, Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha said that after CDC issued a framework for conditional sailing, which allows eventual resumption of cruising, the company will deploy six ships in the U.S. waters in the coming weeks.

"Following in-depth discussions with the CDC, other government agencies, and medical and science authorities, we have decided to start moving six Holland America Line ships toward U.S. waters over the next several weeks to begin completing the requirements for conditional sailing." Mr. Antorcha said in the letter.

The ships moving to U.S. waters for eventual resumption of cruising will be Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam, and Noordam. Specific arrival timing and locations are yet to be determined.

“While there is still much to be done, this is an important first step toward our goal of resuming cruise operations. Holland America Line will continue to work with the CDC on our eventual return to guest cruise operations. We are fully aligned with the CDC on our top priorities for compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety, and well-being of our guests, the people in communities we touch, our crew, and shoreside employees.” Gus Antorcha said. “Until we are able to communicate a specific date, we ask for, and appreciate your patience. We are committed to sharing more details as soon as possible.”

[0bnxshs]

Thanks for the info!

[NavArch64]

One important question for Gus ... when will HAL submit the Application for Conditional Sailing for each of the six ships to the CDC and will HAL provide a copy of each Application to the public. The date of the Application is of interest since it starts the 60 day clock defining possible dates of resumption of sailing for each of the six ships.

[travelhound]

54 minutes ago, Fatfish said:

From Crew Center website... Nov 18

 

Holland America Line is getting ready for a big comeback in the United States. In a letter sent to the employees, Holland America Line President Gus Antorcha said that after CDC issued a framework for conditional sailing, which allows eventual resumption of cruising, the company will deploy six ships in the U.S. waters in the coming weeks.

"Following in-depth discussions with the CDC, other government agencies, and medical and science authorities, we have decided to start moving six Holland America Line ships toward U.S. waters over the next several weeks to begin completing the requirements for conditional sailing." Mr. Antorcha said in the letter.

The ships moving to U.S. waters for eventual resumption of cruising will be Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Westerdam, Zuiderdam, and Noordam. Specific arrival timing and locations are yet to be determined.

“While there is still much to be done, this is an important first step toward our goal of resuming cruise operations. Holland America Line will continue to work with the CDC on our eventual return to guest cruise operations. We are fully aligned with the CDC on our top priorities for compliance, protecting the environment, and the health, safety, and well-being of our guests, the people in communities we touch, our crew, and shoreside employees.” Gus Antorcha said. “Until we are able to communicate a specific date, we ask for, and appreciate your patience. We are committed to sharing more details as soon as possible.”

This is very good news 🙂

[Mary229]

Thanks for posting this.  The first vaccine is rumored to be approved very soon and older folks are first up for the vaccination. Now they need to get approval from the islands.

[Hflors]

Where do I sign up for a cruise on one of these ships??????   Yay!!!  Very good news!!!!

[pms4104]

Restarting is about more than CDC ... the corporation needs to satisfy separate requirements due to their dnvironmental crimes ... CDC cannot negate that

[puppycanducruise]

Interesting.

Thanks for the info.

[Cruising-along]

Yippee!!  Our next booking is on the Koningsdam out of San Diego, so good to see the K on the list. 🙂  

[Hlitner]

Thanks for posting that letter.  It confirms my hunch that HAL will eventually cancel the Noordam's entire Asian cruise season (was supposed to be from Dec 20 into May).  It would make no sense to move the Noordam to the USA if it were going to start cruising out of Hong Kong in January.  If anyone at HAL sees this post I would add, It sure would be nice if HAL informed their paying customers of schedule changes and cancellations before final payments.

 

Hank

[iancal]

This is meaningless to us.   We need some basic 'givens' before we even consider booking a cruise.  

 

The very first will be the vaccination jab in our arms.  Not the announcement that testing is successful, not the announcement that the Health Authorities have passed it, not the announcement of how the vaccination roll out will proceed.   And certainly not the announcements of cruise lines as they close their fiscal year ends and prepare shareholders, investors, and creditors for the announcement of those results.

 

 But the actual jab in our arms.  Until then all bets are off for us.

 

Announcements have proven to be quite meaningless to us given all that have passed over the past 9 months.

Edited November 18, 2020 by iancal

[ontheweb]

27 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

Thanks for posting that letter.  It confirms my hunch that HAL will eventually cancel the Noordam's entire Asian cruise season (was supposed to be from Dec 20 into May).  It would make no sense to move the Noordam to the USA if it were going to start cruising out of Hong Kong in January.  If anyone at HAL sees this post I would add, It sure would be nice if HAL informed their paying customers of schedule changes and cancellations before final payments.

 

Hank

That would defeat the whole strategy of getting final payments to keep the cash flow ongoing.😉

[Sir PMP]

3 hours ago, NavArch64 said:

One important question for Gus ... when will HAL submit the Application for Conditional Sailing for each of the six ships to the CDC and will HAL provide a copy of each Application to the public. The date of the Application is of interest since it starts the 60 day clock defining possible dates of resumption of sailing for each of the six ships.

April 1st..

[Hlitner]

The logistics of resuming operations (without even having any itineraries to sell) must be a daunting project in Seattle.   Moving ships back to the USA means, in some cases, getting them out of warm or cold layup, and coordinating ship movements to pick-up crew as each ship moves towards the USA.  Just notifying crew members, getting them to the nearest place where they can join a vessel, staffing each ship with adequate medical personnel, coordinating the necessary supplies, etc. is complex.  The good news is by picking up crew along the way the line will have everyone (onboard) isolated for several weeks.  By the time the vessels arrive at a USA port the ship will be able to certify that all onboard are COVID free (if not they will have bigger problems).  It sounds like HAL expects to have a group of ships doing 7 day (or shorter) cruises by late winter.  Whether this happens is still a big question but at least there is some movement towards restarting operations.

 

Hank

[Cruising-along]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

at least there is some movement towards restarting operations.

Hank thank you for the positive post.  We all realize the problems and hurdles that are ahead, but we don't have to be Debbie Downers either.  😉  

[KirkNC]

Carnival lines has just canceled their US cruises through January but are also gathering ships for the eventual restart.  I think we need to be realistic (some say negative) and set our expectations accordingly.

[Cruising-along]

6 minutes ago, KirkNC said:

I think we need to be realistic (some say negative) and set our expectations accordingly.

Of course! 

[Hlitner]

1 hour ago, KirkNC said:

Carnival lines has just canceled their US cruises through January but are also gathering ships for the eventual restart.  I think we need to be realistic (some say negative) and set our expectations accordingly.

Not surprising if you carefully read the CDC Guidelines.  They seem to be carefully drafted to guarantee significant delays in any restart.  Compliance will likely take at least two months considering all the various hoops that must be negotiated by the cruise lines before they can even dream of getting a CDC certification.   Add to this the surge in COVID and the transition to a new administration.

 

Hank

[Sue from Canada]

7 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Thanks for posting this.  The first vaccine is rumored to be approved very soon and older folks are first up for the vaccination. Now they need to get approval from the islands.

Forget the islands.  I just want to get on a ship and sail away.

[Mary229]

Just now, Sue from Canada said:

Forget the islands.  I just want to get on a ship and sail away.

I only mentioned the islands as I assume that is the first destinations planned. I feel your pain!! I just want to go somewhere besides the grocery store

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for the info ....

[NavArch64]

Is anyone interested in seeing the applications to the CDC when they are filed?

[kazu]

37 minutes ago, NavArch64 said:

Is anyone interested in seeing the applications to the CDC when they are filed?

 

Yes, please

[drowelf]

7 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Thanks for posting that letter.  It confirms my hunch that HAL will eventually cancel the Noordam's entire Asian cruise season (was supposed to be from Dec 20 into May).  It would make no sense to move the Noordam to the USA if it were going to start cruising out of Hong Kong in January.  If anyone at HAL sees this post I would add, It sure would be nice if HAL informed their paying customers of schedule changes and cancellations before final payments.

 

Hank

We cancelled our March 28 day B2B on the Noordam a couple of weeks ago. I figured that ports might not be open and even with the promising Vaccine news on the horizon, we did not feel comfortable travelling (24+ hours each way) that far from home. 

[drowelf]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Not surprising if you carefully read the CDC Guidelines.  They seem to be carefully drafted to guarantee significant delays in any restart.  Compliance will likely take at least two months considering all the various hoops that must be negotiated by the cruise lines before they can even dream of getting a CDC certification.   Add to this the surge in COVID and the transition to a new administration.

 

Hank

And doesn't Carnival also have to jump through some environmental hoops, resulting from some court actions. I believe they have to present that plan 60 days before they restart too.