Holland America Line took delivery of the Rotterdam on July 30, the 11th ship in its fleet, after a handover ceremony at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy.

Jan Swartz, president of Holland America Group, and Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line, attended via video stream.

“Rotterdam looks stunning and will certainly live up to bearing such an iconic name as the new flagship of our fleet, carrying on a tradition of excellence that our guests have loved for nearly 150 years,” Antorcha said.

Holland America Line’s first ship was named Rotterdam; it sailed its maiden voyage from the Netherlands to New York on Oct. 15, 1872, just before the company was founded on April 18, 1873. The most recent Rotterdam, VI, was introduced in 1997 as the first ship in the R Class. It was sold to U.K.-based Fred. Olsen last year, one of the four ships Holland America sold in 2020, along with the Amsterdam, Maasdam and Veendam.

The 2,668-passenger Rotterdam VII will remain in nonguest operations until its transatlantic crossing Oct. 20 from Amsterdam to Fort Lauderdale, where it will begin its maiden season in the Caribbean.

Naming details have not been finalized. They will be announced at a later date.

The third vessel in the Pinnacle Class series and the seventh ship to bear the Rotterdam name for Holland America Line, it will have features its sister vessels do, such as the music venues Rolling Stone Rock Room, Lincoln Center Stage, Billboard Onboard and B.B. King’s Blues Club. Specialty restaurants include Rudi’s Sel de Mer, a French seafood brasserie; Tamarind, a Southeast Asian eatery; Nami Sushi; the Pinnacle Grill steakhouse; Canaletto family-style Italian; and Club Orange, exclusively for guests in the Club Orange program.

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