Koningsdam 2016 delivery delayed

Posted on 10 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

Holland America Line is moving back the delivery date of the Koningsdam to “more fully leverage the new features, innovations and state-of-the-art technology to further enhance the guest experience.”

Originally scheduled to be delivered by shipyard Fincantieri on Feb. 16, 2016, the ship will now be handed over on March 31. HAL said the delay was a joint decision with Fincantieri.

The 99,500-gross-ton Koningsdam will be HAL’s largest ship and includes a new hull design and an array of new venues and innovations.

With the postponement, HAL is also moving back the date of the inaugural cruise. The seven-day roundtrip voyage from Civitavecchia, Italy, will now depart on April 8, 2016. The ship’s official naming celebration remains as scheduled on May 21, 2016, in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

HAL’s Koningsdam floats out at Fincantieri’s Marghera

Posted on 9 March, 2015 by Spacejunkie2

PHOTO: FILIPPO VINARDI

Coin ceremony – HAL’s Keith Taylor with Koningsdam madrina Tineke Schröder

Holland America Line’s Koningsdam was floated out of its drydock and transferred to the outfitting dock at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard.

Construction and interior furnishing will continue leading up to the delivery, scheduled for March 31, 2016.

A coin ceremony also was held in late February when Tineke Schröder, wife of the founder of Dutch airline Martinair and a member of Holland America Line’s Mariner Society, served as the ship’s madrina.

Two gold coins were welded to the forward mast of the ship by Schröder, shipyard director Antonio Quintano and Keith Taylor, evp fleet operations for HAL.

The gold coins bear the image of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. Koning means ‘king’ in Dutch, and the ship’s name pays honor to the first king of the Netherlands in over a century.

Koningsdam is scheduled to sail its premier voyage April 8, 2016.