If you have a nearly empty passport and the time to spend more than four months at sea, a new sailing from Holland America Line is calling. The cruise line recently announced a 133-day voyage to both the North and South Poles, visiting 28 countries and stopping at 68 ports along the way.
The sailing is slated to start on January 25, 2025, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It will set sail for the Dominican Republic, Colombia, and Costa Rica before transiting through the Panama Canal. From there, the ship will hug the western coast of South America, making stops in Ecuador, Peru, Chile, and Argentina before spending four days in Antarctica and one day in the Falkland Islands.
Then it’s north to Uruguay, Brazil, and French Guiana before hanging a hard right toward Africa. Along the continent, the ship will visit ports in Cape Verde, Gambia, Senegal, and Morocco (with a stop in Spain’s Canary Islands along the way). Then it’s onward to Gibraltar, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Scotland, Norway, Iceland, and Greenland, where the ship will cross the Arctic Circle, before cruising along Canada and the United States, wrapping up in Fort Lauderdale on June 7.
Passengers’ home away from home for four months will be the 1,432-passenger Volendam, which has numerous lounges, restaurants, two pools, a spa, pickleball and basketball courts, a kids club, shops, and theaters.
Courtesy of Holland America Line
The entirety of the trip will be aboard the Volendam, which can accommodate up to 1,432 passengers across its 781-foot length. Cabins range from 160 square feet to 940 square feet. The smallest offering is the Interior Cabin, which includes two twin beds that can be converted into a single queen-size bed, a seating area with a TV, closets, and a bathroom with a shower. The largest is the 940-square-foot Pinnacle Suite, with a king-size bed, a dining table, a large seating area, two bathrooms (one with a whirlpool tub), a walk-in closet, and an outdoor patio.
Amenities aboard include five lounges, an array of dining choices (including a steakhouse and an Italian restaurant), two outdoor pools, a casino and video arcade, a spa (offering hair and nail services plus facials and massages), a fitness center equipped with cardio and weight machines, pickleball and basketball courts, a kids club, shops, and a handful of theaters.
Pricing, which includes meals (with the exception of specialty dining), 24-hour complimentary room service, nightly entertainment, nonalcoholic beverages, daily housekeeping, and port fees, starts at $31,200 per person.
