If you’re looking to plan early, Holland America has released its 2012 European schedule and will be matching this year’s deployment of seven ships to Europe. From what I can tell from Holland America’s press release, it appears there will be more overnight stays and some longer itineraries mixed in with shorter cruises to Norway.
The schedule includes four new itineraries and five maiden ports of call.
The ships scheduled for Europe next year are ms Eurodam, ms Maasdam, ms Nieuw Amsterdam (above), ms Noordam, ms Prinsendam, ms Rotterdam and ms Ryndam.
Maiden and overnight ports include Durress (Albania) Fowey (England) and Eidfjord, Kirkenes and Ulvik (Norway)…plus overnight stays in 17 popular cities. Among them are Barcelona, Hamburg, Istanbul, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, Dublin, Mgarr (Victoria, in Malta), Reykjavik (Iceland), Amsterdam, Venice and Bordeaux.
Here are the new itineraries:
20-Day Portugal, Spain & Canary Islands
Departing April 16 on Ryndam, guests will sail from Rotterdam to Dover (London). The ship will visit tropical ports in the Canary Islands, and the itinerary also includes calls in Spain, Portugal and Morocco. Guests have the option of sailing for 19 days (round-trip Rotterdam on April 16) or 20 (round-trip Dover on April 17). Per-person fares begin at $2,999, based on double occupancy.
17-Day Spanish Rhapsody
If you’re seeking an itinerary with a Spanish flavour, you can spend more than two weeks sailing the Rotterdam roundtrip from — where else? — Rotterdam. The cruise departs May 2 with calls at Lisbon before making six stops in Spain: Cartagena, Valencia, Barcelona, Ibiza, Almeria and Cadiz (Seville). Before returning to the Netherlands, the Rotterdam will also visit Gibraltar and Civitavecchia (Rome). Per-person fares begin at $2,599, based on double occupancy.
7-Day Norwegian Fjords (Southern & Northern)
Cruisers looking to explore the glaciers and fjords of northern Europe can choose from two 7-day itineraries on ships sailing round-trip from Dover (ms Ryndam), Rotterdam (ms Rotterdam) or Amsterdam (ms Eurodam). The 7-day southern fjords cruise visits Oslo, Kristiansand and Stavanger. The 7-day northern fjords cruise visits Bergen, Alesund and Geiranger. Per-person fares begin at $1,199, based on double occupancy. You will find several of these through the summer months.
14-Day Venetian Empire
Also new for 2012 is the 14-day “Venetian Empire” voyage aboard the ms Prinsendam. Departure is October 17 and you sail round-trip Civitavecchia (Rome). In addition to cruising past the still-active Stromboli volcano, the ship will call at Dubrovnik and Split in Croatia, then make four stops in Italy — Ravenna, Sorrento, Venice (overnight) and Gallipoli. The ports of Valleta and Mgarr (overnight) in Malta, and Sousse (Tunisia) complete the itinerary. Per-person fares begin at $2,899, based on double occupancy.
You can get more details from your cruise agent or Holland America’s website.
All for now.
