Founded in 1873, the Holland America Line provided services carrying
passengers and freight between the Netherlands and North America. When
the Second World War ended, only nine of Holland America Line's
twenty-five ships had survived and the company set about rebuilding. The
pride of HAL's post-war fleet was SS Rotterdam, completed in 1959, which
was one of the first ships on the North Atlantic equipped to offer
two-class transatlantic crossings and single-class luxury cruising.
However, competition from the airlines meant that in the early 1970s
Holland America ended their transatlantic passenger services; in 1973
the company sold its cargo-shipping division. Now owned by the American
cruise line Carnival, Holland America offers round-the-world voyages and
cruises in the Mediterranean, the Caribbean and Asia. In this book,
renowned ocean liner historian and author William H. Miller takes a look
at the Holland America Line and its post-war fleet up to 2015.