Some Holland America cruise company might be kicking off the weekend on a bitter notice after studying that their upcoming transatlantic cruise has been cancelled.
Certainly, booked passengers had been knowledgeable that Nieuw Statendam’s one-way crusing from the Netherlands to Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida, scheduled for October 2026 has been cancelled – with no cause given for the abrupt change.
“Nieuw Statendam canceled for the 2026 transatlantic crusing October 31, 2026!,” one impacted cruiser shared.
“Simply obtained an e mail from cruisesonly.com that my transatlantic cruise subsequent yr has been canceled! Further OBC for altering to a different crusing. No rhyme or cause talked about as to why it was canceled…Would possibly wish to verify your e mail,” they continued.
Notably, this voyage had two separate embarkation dates – each of which had been cancelled. An extended 29-day crusing would have embarked from Rotterdam on October 17, with extra passengers becoming a member of the ship throughout one other go to to Rotterdam on October 31 for a 15-day voyage.
“HAL cancelled our cruise (Nieuw Statendam J665A 29-Day Northern Lights Cultural Crossing Collectors’ Voyage – Rotterdam to Fort Lauderdale October 17, 2026) yesterday and gave us a complete $50pp credit score to rebook,” one other cruiser posted.
Each of the voyages would have featured calls on Zeebrugge (Bruges), Belgium; Portsmouth, England; Cherbourg, France; Brest, France; and Falmouth, England.
The longer model additionally included calls all through Norway on locations like Alesund, Trondheim, Tromso, Gravdal, Alta, Andalsnes, and Bergen – in addition to a day in Lerwick, Shetland Isles.
Curiously, it looks like the transatlantic portion of the voyage was the sticking level – as different sailings which might be speculated to be operated by the two,666-guest ship in the identical timeframe haven’t been cancelled at this level.
For instance, the 14-night crusing that was additionally scheduled to set sail on October 17, 2026 – which is a particular Arctic Journey & Northern Lights Cruise that’s a part of a partnership with the Historical past Channel – is up to now going forward as deliberate.
The Theories Abound
For the passengers who simply realized that their crusing is cancelled, one thing that makes the information sting slightly bit extra is that Holland America didn’t give a transparent cause as to why.
Nevertheless, the cruise neighborhood has been having a discipline day brainstorming the probabilities.
For instance, some thought the Historical past Channel partnership was a constitution crusing – that means booked company obtained the boot so the corporate might safe a full ship for his or her themed voyage.
Whereas this does occur every now and then – with information breaking simply this week of a 2026 crusing onboard Carnival Liberty getting cancelled in favor of a constitution cruise – the Historical past Channel partnership was by no means meant to be a constitution state of affairs.
If one other group did do a constitution, it doubtless wouldn’t be a full ship constitution because the October 17 Historical past Channel crusing stays unaffected – at the very least up to now. The distinctive voyage is out there to e book as of the time of this writing.
Learn Additionally: What Is a Transatlantic Cruise?
Some additionally theorized that the cruise line added a go to to dry dock for the 2018-launched vessel whereas she remains to be in Europe – as her final go to was to the Fincantieri Trieste Shipyard in Italy on the finish of 2023.
“It nearly seems like a dry dock timeframe, however who am I to guess,” one cruiser puzzled.
As cruise ships are required to go to dry dock at the very least as soon as each three to 5 years for routine upkeep and inspections, this wouldn’t be exterior of the realm of chance.
Additional supporting this concept, there’s a hole within the 99,902-gross ton vessel’s service for the whole month of November 2026 and most of December.
The primary voyages out there to e book after the break are a simultaneous 7-night and 14-night Western and Jap Caribbean cruise that each embark from Fort Lauderdale on December 20, 2026.
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