Gearing up for a banner 12 months in cruise tourism, the UK’s Port of Dover is celebrating the return visits of two Holland America Line ships in 2024, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam. The cruise line has a protracted historical past with the port and is dedicated to a homeport schedule for one ship in 2025.
Rotterdam, Nieuw Statendam to Name at Dover in April
The month of April 2024 can be a particular one for the Port of Dover, as Holland America Line’s Rotterdam makes her first name for the reason that ship sailed a particular cruise to mark the road’s a hundred and fiftieth anniversary in April 2023. The Pinnacle-class ship is ready to name on the port on April 26, 2024, as a part of her transatlantic crossing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Rotterdam is the road’s latest ship, having debuted in 2021.
Nieuw Statendam, additionally a Pinnacle-class ship, made her maiden name at Dover on September 8, 2023, and can return on April 20, 2024, additionally throughout her transatlantic voyage from Fort Lauderdale.
Each ships are repositioning for his or her summer time seasons in Europe. Rotterdam can be homeport in Rotterdam, Netherlands, crusing 7- to 21-day voyages across the British Isles and to Scandinavia. Nieuw Statendam will sail 7- to 25-day cruises between Copenhagen, Denmark, and Reykjavik, Iceland, calling at all kinds of ports within the British Isles and Northern Europe.
The Port of Dover is celebrating the return visits of each ships, notably Nieuw Statendam, since she can be based mostly at Dover throughout the summer time of 2025 for the primary time.
“Nieuw Statendam can be a daily fixture subsequent 12 months, as she is going to spend a full season crusing out of Dover, offering our company with an excellent higher selection of locations and the choice to sail with us with out the necessity to fly. So the go to provides us the best alternative to arrange for 2025 and all the advantages and alternatives it is going to convey,” stated Karen Farndell, director of gross sales and advertising at Holland America Line.
Each ships accommodate as much as 2,700 company in double occupancy, making their port calls a boon to the native financial system. The port loved a strong 2023, and is anticipating the identical in 2024. It sometimes welcomes about 200,000 cruise arrivals from ships operated by greater than 20 cruise strains.
The 2 ships are each crusing 14-day repositioning cruises that embrace the cease in Dover. Rotterdam departs Fort Lauderdale on April 13, 2024 and calls at Ponta Delgada, Azores; Brest, France; Portland, England; Le Havre, France; and Dover earlier than concluding in Rotterdam.
Nieuw Statendam leaves Fort Lauderdale on April 7, 2024 and visits Kings Wharf, Bermuda; Cork, Eire; St. Peter Port, Guernsey; Le Havre, and Dover, and in addition ends in Rotterdam.
Port Attracts Ships From A number of Main Traces
The Port of Dover, simply over an hour’s prepare journey from London, additionally operates a busy ferry terminal. Apart from Holland America Line, different cruise strains with ships slated to name at Dover embrace AIDA Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Carnival Cruise Line, Saga Cruises, Viking Cruises, Seabourn Cruise Line, and Superstar Cruises.
Learn Additionally: A Cruise Newbie’s Information to Shore Excursions
“It’s all the time a pleasure to welcome Holland America Line and their company again to Dover. The upcoming return of Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam will give us one other implausible alternative to rejoice our distinctive historical past collectively, while including one other chapter to the story,” stated Peter Wright, head of cruise on the Port of Dover.
“We’re excited for the longer term and sit up for presenting the perfect of Kent alongside Dover’s much-loved surroundings and heritage when Nieuw Statendam sails in for a lot of extra port of name visits,” Wright added.
Dover’s rising cruise business mirrors the success of different UK ports. In 2023, 2,499 ships referred to as at ports throughout the UK, exceeding the pre-pandemic quantity from 2019, and the variety of cruisers embarking on a voyage from a British port broke the 1.5 million mark for the primary time.
