Holland America Line ms Zaandam

Introduction

A venerable cruise line with a lineage dating back 14 decades, Holland America is not quite a luxury line but the fleet incorporates a number of amenities that carry them a cut above their mass-market competitors. Launched in May 2000 and carrying 1432 passengers, Zaandam is typical of Holland America’s comfortably midsized ships. A vague musical theme inhabits the Zaandam, most notably the giant Dutch pipe organ sitting in the lobby. But a number of the ship’s features will be familiar from other Holland America vessels, including the Explorations Café, the Pinnacle Grill steakhouse, and the Culinary Arts Center, where cooking shows transpire in a show kitchen. Sailing most of the year in Pacific waters, Zaandam summers in Alaska and spends winters in Hawaii, Mexico and points south. We hopped on to take the pulse of the ship.