HAL-Holland America Line’s newest ship ms Rotterdam departed on Friday, November 5, at 5 pm EST from Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades (Florida USA) on her inaugural Caribbean voyage - a 5-day roundtrip visiting Bimini Bahamas, and spending 2 days at Half Moon Cay, HAL’s private Bahamian island.
The 2021-built Rotterdam arrived at Port Everglades on November 3 following a Transatlantic crossing out of Amsterdam (Netherlands) on October 20.
The vessel is HAL's 2nd to return to Florida and the Caribbean since the industrywide pause that began 20 months ago. During November, Rotterdam will be joined at homeport Fort Lauderdale/Port Everglades by the fleetmates Nieuw Statendam and Eurodam, which also start their Caribbean programs.
Nieuw Amsterdam started Caribbean voyages out of Port Everglades on October 23.
Gus Antorcha (HAL's President) said they had been awaiting their return to the Caribbean for a long time, and having ms Rotterdam and their other ships restart operations from Fort Lauderdale was an incredible moment for their company.
“Rotterdam’s maiden voyage from Europe was a huge success and we’re getting a lot of positive feedback from guests about the ship.”