NASSAU, Bahamas, February 2, 2019 — Prime Minister the Hon. Dr. Hubert Minnis and Minister of Tourism and Aviation the Hon. Dionisio D’Aguilar were among the dignitaries who attended the dedication ceremony for Holland America’s MS Nieuw Statendam, on Saturday, February 2, 2019, at Port Everglades, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
MS Nieuw Statendam was officially dedicated by Ms. Oprah Winfrey—philanthropist, film star, TV icon, founder and editorial director of O, The Oprah Magazine— in a ceremony that was live streamed beginning at 2 p.m.
The time-honored maritime dedication tradition is “believed to bring good luck and protection to a new ship and all who sail on board,” Holland America noted on its website.
In his opening remarks at the start of the ceremony, the Master of Ceremonies announced that Prime Minister Dr. Minnis and Minister D’Aguilar were among those attending the event.
Included in the Prime Minister’s delegation that traveled to Fort Everglades were Mr. Josh Minnis; Mr. Joshua Sears, Senior Policy Advisor in the Office of the Prime Minister; Mrs. Viana Gardiner, head of the Deliverables Unit in the Office of the Prime Minister; Mrs. Erica Wells Cox, Director of Communications in the Office of the Prime Minister; and Sgt. Kirk Bastian.
“MS Nieuw Statendam cruise ship is the second (newest and largest) Holland America vessel from the Pinnacle-class — with sistership ms Koningsdam (launched May 2016),” the Holland America website stated.
The website added: “Initially there were some speculations about the ship’s deployment in the world’s booming cruise travel destinations — Australia and Asia. However, HAL decided to operate the liner in the Caribbean and Europe, with seasonal Transatlantic repositioning cruise crossings.
“MS Nieuw Statendam itinerary program is based on Caribbean roundtrips from homeport Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades, Florida) on 7-day Western Caribbean and Eastern Caribbean itineraries. Most voyages can be combined (booked together) as B2Bs (back-to-back cruises). All Caribbean itineraries visit HAL’s private island in Bahamas, Half Moon Cay.”
The website notes that in Europe, the ship operates “seasonally (during summer) Norwegian Fjords and Baltic Sea cruises (to ports in Norway, Scandinavia and Russia) leaving roundtrip from homeport Amsterdam Holland. From Amsterdam are offered some voyages to British Isles and Iceland. The ship also operates Western Mediterranean and Greek Islands cruises leaving from homeport Civitavecchia (Rome, Italy).”
MS Nieuw Statendam has passenger capacity of 2,650.
