It’s going to be an epic cruise of a kind by no means seen earlier than.
Holland America president Gus Antorcha on Thursday revealed plans for an unprecedented 133-day voyage out of Fort Lauderdale that will enable U.S. vacationers to go to each Antarctica and the Arctic in a single journey with out ever getting on a global flight.
Kicking off on Jan. 25, 2025, the Grand Voyage: Pole to Pole, as the road is asking it, is actually a world cruise that goes “up and down” as a substitute of facet to facet.
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As an alternative of touring around the globe on its horizontal axis, as is typical for a world cruise, the Holland America ship working the voyage, the 1,432-passenger Volendam, will span chunk of the globe in a round movement from its high to its backside.
After beginning in Fort Lauderdale, Volendam will first head southward via the Panama Canal to the west coast of South America and on to Antarctica — getting about as far south as a Holland America ship ever will get.
After hitting its southernmost level alongside the Antarctic Peninsula, Volendam will then circle northward alongside the east coast of South America and the west coast of Africa and Europe on its solution to the Arctic.
Following the go to to the Arctic (the place the northernmost level reached can be Norway’s North Cape), Volendam will proceed on a round routing down the east coast of Canada and the U.S. again to Fort Lauderdale.
It is an itinerary so on the market on the planet of super-long cruises that Holland America’s itinerary planning workforce nonetheless is not solely certain if it’s going to be a success or not.
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“I am actually desperate to see how the market responds to it,” Holland America vp for deployment and itinerary planning Paul Grigsby instructed TPG in an unique interview prematurely of the announcement.
“I feel there’s a little bit experimentation [going on] on our half, [to] see form of how this works,” added Grigsby, who oversees the road’s itinerary planning workforce.
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No matter occurs, Grigsby tells TPG that the crusing was a pleasure to plan. “It was enjoyable to actually put some artistic thought into it,” he stated.
One of many nice challenges that Grigsby had in crafting an itinerary that would come with each the Arctic and Antarctica in a 133-day stretch is that every vacation spot has a really slender window of when it may be visited.
Because of the harsh circumstances on the Earth’s poles, Antarctica is often solely accessible to ships from round November to March, and the Arctic is de facto solely viable as a vacation spot for a couple of months in and round summer season.
That is one cause why Grigsby did not begin the cruise till late January. Most world cruises and lengthy voyages from North America to South America begin in early January.
“There was actually solely a curve of time that we may do that,” Grigsby defined. “We needed to get to South America earlier than fall turned to winter, after which we needed to stand up to the North Cape (in Arctic Norway) after winter turned to spring. So, we form of have been taking part in with the seasons.”
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Whereas a handful of expedition cruise operators, reminiscent of Hurtigruten Expeditions, have operated pole-to-pole voyages prior to now, they’ve been one-way journeys from one polar area to a different that required long-distance flights to achieve. They weren’t round-trip voyages or voyages out of U.S. ports that have been simple to achieve, they usually weren’t almost as in depth within the variety of international locations and ports visited.
The brand new itinerary will mark the primary time in historical past {that a} U.S.-based vacationer can journey commercially to each Antarctica and the Arctic on the identical journey with out boarding a global flight.
Antorcha introduced the brand new itinerary on Thursday to passengers who have been within the midst of a 128-day world cruise of the extra conventional sort aboard Holland America’s Zuiderdam. The ship was crusing between Amsterdam and Copenhagen on the time.
It was the primary world cruise that Holland America had operated for the reason that begin of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, and Antorcha wished passengers on the crusing — a number of the line’s most loyal prospects — to be the primary to listen to concerning the new pole-to-pole itinerary.
2 epic Holland America cruises directly
Along with the brand new pole-to-pole cruise, Antorcha introduced on Thursday that Holland America additionally would function a 124-day world cruise in 2025. It’s going to circle the globe in a extra conventional horizontal method.
Additionally beginning and ending in Fort Lauderdale, the crusing will deliver a westward circling of the globe, with stops in South America, the South Pacific, Australia, Asia, Africa and Europe. The journey will start on Jan. 4, 2025, and happen on Zuiderdam, which holds 1,964 passengers at double occupancy.
The operation of each the 133-day pole-to-pole voyage and the 124-day world voyage on the identical time will mark the primary time in Holland America’s 150-year historical past that the road has operated two simultaneous voyages of greater than 120 days.
In a twist, the 2 ships working the brand new super-long sailings in 2025 — Volendam and Zuiderdam — will meet for an in a single day celebration in Barcelona on April 24, 2025. The celebration remains to be being deliberate.
“We could not assist however have a little bit enjoyable and intersect these two sailings,” Grigsby stated. “Hopefully, we’ll have a giant to-do as the 2 ships meet up.”
Grigsby stated he took specific pains to make the Zuiderdam’s world cruise as thrilling because it could possibly be, “in order that it might stand as much as” the pole-to-pole cruise as an possibility for cruisers who love lengthy voyages. As an illustration, he labored in visits to such little visited locations as Easter Island and Pitcairn Island within the Pacific — the latter of which is famously house to descendants of mutineers from the Royal Navy’s HMS Bounty. The story of the 1789 “Mutiny on the Bounty” is the topic of many books and flicks.
The voyage may even embrace visits to French Polynesia islands reminiscent of Moorea, the Nice Barrier Reef of Australia and locations on the east coast of Africa — all of which needs to be highlights for the world cruisers on the crusing.
Grigsby famous that Holland America makes use of surveys of its passengers to hit on locations that they most wish to go to. The entire locations above rank excessive on their lists.
Doubling down on lengthy voyages
The brand new voyages come as Holland America doubles down on longer voyages out of U.S. ports, one thing that has lengthy been a trademark of the road. In current months, the road unveiled plans for an epic new Alaska itinerary out of Seattle that is 4 weeks lengthy and an unusually lengthy round-trip itinerary to the Caribbean out of Boston — a northerly port that usually would not see round-trip sailings to the Caribbean.
Even longer “legendary voyages” which can be new embrace a round-trip itinerary from Seattle to Japan that’s 53 days lengthy.
It is all a part of an ever greater focus at Holland America on epic cruises for U.S. vacationers that promise them the chance to “see the world out of your doorstep,” in accordance with Holland America chief industrial officer Beth Bodensteiner, who additionally sat in on TPG’s interview with Grigsby.
“I feel these two [new world] itineraries collectively are actually the grand consequence of that,” stated Bodensteiner. “There’s this one time period [in the first half of 2025] the place you actually will be capable of see a big a part of the world from Fort Lauderdale, which is fairly wonderful.”
Bodensteiner stated Holland America executives have positioned bets, all for enjoyable, on which of the 2 itineraries can be extra profitable.
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She stated the timing is true for such voyages as revenge journey within the wake of the COVID-19 lockdowns nonetheless exists. Individuals who did not get to go anyplace far off for a couple of years due to the pandemic need to make up for misplaced time.
“It is a distinctive alternative to supply two actually lengthy voyages on the identical time,” shared Bodensteiner.
If it is a hit, you’ll be able to count on extra.
“Who is aware of if [it’s] one thing that we’ll have the demand for 12 months after 12 months. I do not assume any of us know that at this level. However proper now, we do know that persons are simply actually hungry for distinctive experiences,” she stated.
The polar areas plus 28 international locations
Holland America’s new pole-to-pole itinerary is without doubt one of the most formidable sailings any line has ever provided.
That includes 68 port calls in 28 international locations, its first half brings many weeks alongside the coasts of South America, together with an in a single day keep in Lima, Peru, and a go to to Salaverry, Peru (the port for Trujillo); eight stops in Chile and cruising within the Chilean fjords; and two full weeks exploring Brazil that embrace a visit up the Amazon River. That is on high of 4 days in Antarctica and a number of stops in Ecuador, Argentina, Uruguay and French Guiana.
After a crossing of the Atlantic at certainly one of its narrowest factors, the voyage will proceed with stops in Cape Verde, Gambia, Senegal and Morocco, with a name within the Canary Islands woven in, adopted by three weeks of stops in Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, the UK and Norway because the ship works its manner north to the Arctic.
Locations above the Arctic Circle on the crusing will embrace the northerly elements of Norway, Iceland and Greenland.
Bodensteiner famous that Iceland and Greenland, specifically, have been “actually scorching” proper now with vacationers, which she instantly famous was a wierd solution to phrase a touch upon locations recognized for being in an icy and chilly a part of the world.
“They’re form of having a second,” she stated of the 2 locations.
The ultimate leg of the pole-to-pole journey will take passengers to St. Anthony and St. John in Newfoundland; the French island territory of Saint Pierre and Miquelon off the coast of Canada; Halifax, Nova Scotia; Bar Harbor, Maine; and Boston.
The journey will finish in Fort Lauderdale on June 7, 2025 — greater than 4 months after it started.
Along with the in a single day in Lima, the journey will embrace in a single day calls within the ports of Panama Metropolis, Panama; Buenos Aires, Argentina; Rio de Janiero; Manaus, Brazil (situated up the Amazon River); Barcelona; Lisbon, Portugal; and Reykjavik, Iceland.
Because of the operation of the pole-to-pole journey, which features a close to circumnavigation of South America, Holland America is not going to provide a stand-alone circumnavigation of South America in 2025 — an itinerary that it usually presents as soon as every year.
Early reserving advantages
Whereas the 2 new cruises have been introduced Thursday, they will not open to the general public for bookings till Might 24.
That stated, efficient Thursday, vacationers inquisitive about both of the 2 voyages can name Holland America’s World Cruise Reservations Desk at 800-522-3399 (Monday via Friday from 10 a.m. to eight p.m. EST) or contact their journey advisor to make a deposited Future Cruise Request. Would-be passengers who achieve this will get a precedence reserving affirmation previous to the voyages being formally opened to the general public for reserving.
As a part of the announcement, Holland America stated that passengers who e-book the pole-to-pole cruise by June 3 will get an early reserving bundle that features a free Wi-Fi bundle to be used on board the ship, a $500 credit score towards their airfare to fly to and from the ship in Fort Lauderdale and round-trip airport transfers.
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All three of the above are new perks for Holland America passengers reserving such lengthy voyages, primarily based on analysis the corporate did into what its long-voyage prospects would most need as perks for reserving.
Moreover, passengers who e-book by June 3 can qualify for as much as $2,000 per individual in onboard spending credit, relying on the kind of cabin they e-book. To get the utmost credit score, a passenger should keep in a Pinnacle suite.
Passengers staying in Neptune and Vista suites will obtain a $1,000 and $750 per individual onboard credit score, respectively, in the event that they e-book by June 3. Passengers in Lanai cabins and ocean-view cabins (marked class C to F) will get a $500 per individual onboard credit score. Passengers in lower-category ocean-view cabins and windowless inside cabins is not going to obtain onboard credit score.
The credit are all per individual primarily based on double occupancy. Solo vacationers paying further to remain in cabins meant for 2 individuals will get the next quantity of credit score.
Different early reserving perks embrace pay as you go gratuities for many cabin varieties, complimentary laundry and free excursions for high suites.
Comparable perks can be found to passengers who e-book the 124-day world cruise by June 3.
Pricing for each of the sailings has not but been introduced.
For extra info, go to the Grand Voyages web page on Holland America’s web site.
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