HAL in ‘good place’ amid fly-cruise booking surge

Holland America Line’s newest flagship has been officially named in its namesake city Rotterdam as the line’s international sales vice president insisted the Carnival Corporation brand was in “a good place”.

Nico Bleichrodt delivered an upbeat message before Princess Margriet of the Netherlands christened the 2,668-passenger Rotterdam today (May 30) by smashing a bottle against its hull.

He confirmed Westerdam, the final HAL ship to resume operations, would come back into service next month and the line had extended its flexible booking promise until January 1, 2023.

Speaking to Travel Weekly on board Rotterdam (pictured), he said: “I think we’re in a good place. The UK market is performing well, mostly Alaska and the Mediterranean [bookings].

“We’ve seen some UK guests sailing from the Netherlands.”

Bleichrodt said it was “absolutely the case” when asked if the UK was currently one of the best-performing markets.

“The UK is the second largest market in Europe, it’s very close to the German market,” he added.

“Unfortunately, Holland America Line is not sailing out of the UK, so we will be focused on the Exotic [regions], Alaska and other deployment such as the Mediterranean.”

He added that Holland America Line’s UK and Ireland managing director Lynn Narraway and sales director Wendy Lahmich were promoting the line’s fly-cruises “perfectly” in the UK.

Narraway, who is set to take up an expanded role at Seabourn later this summer, said: “We haven’t got a ship out of the UK so we’re all fly-cruise.

“We had our best year ever in the UK in 2019, so that’s what we’re striving for again.”

She confirmed that Alaska and European bookings were currently up versus 2019, but added: “You can’t look at it per year. You need to look at what [destinations] you can sell.”

Bleichrodt vowed to focus on sailings in South America and Asia in 2023-24. “Westerdam was supposed to be based in Asia but will now be based in Australia and New Zealand,” he added.

Asked about the line’s wave performance, he said the line was experiencing high booking volumes now akin to the sector’s peak sales period.

“Many of the countries lifted the protocols in mid-March,” he said. “We have seen a significant uplift in bookings since then. You can see this in all countries.”