Holland America’s ms Nieuw Amsterdam arrived in Seattle today, marking the beginning of the city’s summer Alaska cruising season. The cruise line upped their Seattle calls to 55 this year, and three of their ships will be doing roundtrip Seattle routes. Westerdam will arrive May 7, Amsterdam will arrive May 22, and Maasdam will arrive May 23 to begin their voyages to the last frontier. Nieuw Amsterdam is new to the Alaska cruising scene, and she’s doing a one-day repositioning cruise to her homeport of Vancouver.
In addition to the Alaska cruises this season, three cruises to Australia & New Zealand or Hawaii & the South Pacific will begin or end in Seattle. This will include Amsterdam‘s 53-day south Pacific voyage, and Maasdam‘s 23-day south Pacific crossing. All in all, five ships will call in Seattle during this year’s season, welcoming more than 86,000 guests to the port.
Each time a ship calls in Seattle, provisions cost about $300,000 per visit. Holland America works with over 600 vendors in Washington, from food suppliers, office supply stores, marine suppliers, piano tuners, and countless more companies and businesses. For example, ms Westerdam uses over 23,000 eggs and 1,375 gallons of milk each week. That’s a whole heck of a lotta milk and eggs! The best part is, it all comes from local farmers – including the 147,550 pounds of fresh produce the ship requires weekly as well.
In the coming year, Holland America expects to contribute $389 million to Seattle’s economy, and $547 million to Washington state overall. They employ 1,170 people at their Seattle headquarters alone as well.
