Showing the “staying power” of oceangoing travel, Holland America Line celebrated its 149th birthday on April 18 with onboard grand desserts, special champagne toasts and festivities for guests and crew. Celebrations will continue through early June with the restart of Oosterdam, Zaandam and Westerdam, as the line brings all 11 ships back into service.
On the restart front, two more big ships have restarted cruise operations with guests. Norwegian Cruise Line's Norwegian Bliss began sailing again—kicking off its 2022 Alaska season. The vessel is the 16th of Norwegian's ships to return to cruising (the fleet in total is 17).
In addition, Holland America's Noordam began cruising for the first time in more than two years. That ship sailed from Port Everglades, FL, to the Panama Canal and on to the West Coast.
Also on the fleet side, as reported by our sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor, Seabourn reached a milestone in construction for its second expedition ship, Seabourn Pursuit. The ship's hull was moved to the T. Mariotti shipyard in Genoa, Italy, for final outfitting. It will enter service in 2023.
On the Road Again
On the trade support side, Carnival Cruise Line unveiled its 2022 Agentpalooza bus tour, the third such tour it’s operated; the first was in 2017, the second in 2018. Hosted by Carnival’s Adolfo Perez, the fun, advisor-focused, live events will visit Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk and Charlotte. For the first time, there will also be live virtual events of the programs.
From the product side, sister publication Luxury Travel Advisor took a look at French cruises, one focused on ocean cruises, while a separate looked at France's three major river regions and the trend of back-to-back river cruises.
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