The Avid Cruiser

Editor’s Note: This interview (recently updated) originally appeared in the winter 2006 issue of The Avid Cruiser.

On the day before Valentine’s Day, during staff introductions to an audience of Holland America Line passengers, the 39-year-old captain of the Oosterdam went down on his knee to propose to the ship’s guest relations manager, the soon-to-be Pam van Donselaar.

In a true “Love Boat” moment, the captain says, “I compared myself to Captain Stubing and compared Pam with Julie (McCoy, the ‘Love Boat’s’ Cruise Director) and said that because officers and crew spend so much of their year on a ship that this was very likely the environment where they would meet their future partners in life.”

She said yes, the audience applauded, and in July the couple married in Vancouver. Ah, “Love … exciting and new.”

Now at the helm of Holland America Line’s new Eurodam, Jeroen van Donselaar is one of the cruise industry’s youngest captains.
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Next week, Holland America Line introduces Eurodam, the first of its new Signature-class of vessels. In anticipation for the event — and this new class of vessel for Holland America Line, this story looks back at a similar introduction five years ago. Be sure to tune in next week for inaugural events from the new Eurodam.

Rotterdam, July 2003 — Holland America Line designed a ship for me. I’m not kidding, and I could hardly believe what I was hearing as I sat at a press conference and listened to company executives talk about their new Vista-class vessels. This series broke the mold for the venerable company whose ships have been so popular among the line’s alumni that there had not been a major design change for a decade. Continue Reading »

At current exchange rates, US$800 would bring only 515 Euros, but Regent Seven Seas Cruises is offering a 1:1 exchange rate to guests on its 28-night Autumn Sojourn in The Mediterranean voyage slated to depart from Istanbul on October 18. 

Guests who opt for the full 28-night voyage on the 700-guest Seven Seas Voyager receive two-for-one pricing, free Business Class air (or $3,000 cruise credit), special shipboard events, and a commemorative gift.

These guests will also have the option to purchase up to 800 Euros per suite from Regent Seven Seas at a 1:1 exchange rate.  Per-person prices for the 28-night voyage range from $14,495 to $44,543.

Ship: Noordam

Maiden Voyage: February 22, 2006

Best Of Class: Noordam is a “perfect ship,” said a young Filipino steward as I boarded. Perhaps she’s “perfect” because Holland America Line had the experience of building three sister vessels that preceded Noordam: Zuiderdam, introduced in 2002, to Oosterdam (2003), to Westerdam (2004) and finally Noordam. Continue Reading »

Given the skewed the valuation between the U.S. dollar and the Euro, it’s unusual to hear the words “Europe” and “good value” mentioned in the same sentence. But those words were in frequent use on a recent 14-night Mediterranean cruise on Azamara Quest.

The reason was twofold: First, a cruise represents a bargain proposition when compared to other modes of travel and accommodations within Europe. The cruise lines’ oft-repeated mantra is that paying in U.S. dollars for goods and services onboard isolates travelers from the higher costs in Euros ashore.

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Crystal Symphony anchored off the coast of Taormina, on the island of Sicily, Italy.