HAL-Holland America Line's ms Nieuw Statendam departed Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades, Florida) on November 21 on her first voyage since the industry-wide pause due to COVID.
Nieuw Statendam is the 5th HAL boat to restart service, joining ms Rotterdam, ms Koningsdam, ms Eurodam, and ms Nieuw Amsterdam.
To commemorate the occasion, HAL held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the ship terminal to open embarkation. HAL team members greeted passengers with flag-waving fanfare as they boarded.
MS Nieuw Statendam set sail on a 7-day Western Caribbean roundtrip that will visit Half Moon Cay (Bahamas, Nov 22), Ocho Rios (Jamaica, Nov 24), Kingston Jamaica (Nov 25), Nassau (Nov 27).
MS Nieuw Statendam will spend the time from November 2021 through April 2022 in the Caribbean on sailings ranging from 7 to 11 days, all round-trip from Fort Lauderdale’s Port Everglades.
Each Caribbean voyage visits Half Moon Cay - the Carnival Corporation-owned private Bahamian island.