Two More Norwegian Ships Restart Operations

27 April, 2022

Two more ships of major cruise lines restarted service over the weekend. Both are now back sailing with guests after more than two years.

On April 23, 2022, Norwegian Bliss returned to service, kicking off the 2022 Alaska cruise season from the Port of Seattle. The Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) vessel will operate voyages from Seattle to the “Great Land” through October 2022.

NCL has a long history of cruising from Seattle to Alaska, having pioneered the route in 2001. In conjunction with Port of Seattle, Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (NCLH), NCL’s parent company, recently invested $30 million to upgrade Seattle's Pier 66. Smoothing the cruise embarkation process, the update increased the cruise check-in area by 300 percent and also expanded two new passenger boarding bridges.

"We have nearly three decades of history cruising Alaska, pioneering voyages to 'The Last Frontier' from Seattle more than 22 years ago,” said Harry Sommer, president and CEO, Norwegian Cruise Line, adding that Norwegian Bliss was christened in Seattle in 2018. Throughout the 2022 season, NCL will operate its most-ever Alaska sailings—five, seven-, nine- and 10-day itineraries on Norwegian Bliss, Norwegian Encore, Norwegian Sun, Norwegian Spirit and Norwegian Jewel.

"The Port of Seattle is excited to welcome cruise back to our region for the first full season since 2019," said Steve Metruck, the port's executive director. Cruise operations in Seattle provide nearly $900 million in economic benefit supporting 5,500 jobs.

Norwegian Sun will also restart sailing from Seattle on May 5, 2022, becoming NCL’s 16th ship (in a 17-ship fleet) to return to cruise operations. For more information on Norwegian Cruise Line, visit www.ncl.com

Sailing to Alaska

Separately in South Florida, Holland America Line's Noordam returned to service on April 24, 2022 from Port Everglades (Greater Fort Lauderdale). The ship embarked passengers for a 21-day Panama Canal transit to Vancouver, B.C., Canada.

From Vancouver, Noordam will operate seven-day cruises to Alaska between Vancouver and Whittier, AK, as well as one 14-day “Great Alaska Explorer” itinerary roundtrip from Vancouver in September. The line will have four ships operating from Vancouver throughout the summer, and a fifth making one visit there in September.

To celebrate the ship’s restart of cruises from Port Everglades, Holland America held a ribbon-cutting ceremony in the terminal to open embarkation. The ship’s captain and senior officers participated. Flag-waving crew members lined up to greet guests as they boarded the ship.

“We are excited to welcome guests aboard Noordam once again as we continue the pace of having all 11 of our ships back in service by June,” said Gus Antorcha, president of Holland America Line. “With each relaunch we are able to bring more of our team members back on board and into the Holland America Line family. They have been waiting for this day to welcome our guests and get back to cruising.”

Since Holland America Line restarted cruising in July 2021, Eurodam, Koningsdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Nieuw Statendam, Rotterdam, Zuiderdam and now Noordam have returned to service. They'll sail to Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe, Mexico, the California coast and South Pacific.

Volendam currently is under charter by the government of the Netherlands, accommodating Ukrainian refugees while docked in Rotterdam.For more information on Holland America Line visit www.hollandamerica.com.