Westerdam, Amsterdam and Statendam will all homeport at the Washington, US, port this summer
By
Rebecca Gibson |
Three Holland America Line (HAL) ships are to homeport in Seattle and offer Alaska sailings this summer.
Westerdam will arrive at the port in Washington, US, on 2 May, while Statendam and Amsterdam will start their 2015 Alaska sailings on 18 and 31 May respectively.
This season, HAL will offer 47 roundtrips from Seattle to Alaska, while four cruises to the Panama Canal or Hawaii and the South Pacific will either begin or end at Seattle. This includes one departure onboard Volendam. In addition, Noordam will offer a three-day Pacific Northwest cruise that calls at Seattle in September.
In total, five HAL ships will make 52 calls and bring around 82,996 guests to Seattle this year.
“As a Seattle-based company, we always get excited to welcome our ships back to Seattle to begin the Alaska cruise season,” said Orlando Ashford, HAL’s president. “We live and work in the Puget Sound area, so we’re extremely proud of the significant contribution we make to the region and to the local and state economies.”
This year, HAL expects to contribute US$422 million to the Seattle economy, US$577 million across Washington State and employ around 1,263 people at its Elliott Avenue headquarters in Seattle.
Each call in the city will generate around US$275,000 in provisioning costs, while HAL will contract around 600 Washington vendors to supply its ships. Passengers and crew will also spend money in local shops, restaurants, hotels, museums, attractions and taxis. Other expenditures include maintaining its ships, plus port fees, charges and taxes.