MS Nieuw Amsterdam

Learn how technology can make your voyage more meaningful and memorable with our complimentary small-group courses at the new Microsoft Studio. Designed for all abilities using the latest Surface Laptop 2 devices, our Microsoft-trained hosts will show you everything from creating photo albums and movies to using 3D effects and staying safe online. Drop in during scheduled times for courses or join our Creative Studio Time every day to work on your projects.

Learn New Skills

Days at sea are the perfect time to explore new skills. Learn how to design postcards with 3D effects, create incredible videos, paint a landscape with a digital pen, build a trip journal and organize your life, photos and files online.

Available Classes

Choose from an array of travel-centric workshops offered multiple times and days throughout your cruise or stop in during our Creative Studio Time to work on all the content you’ve created and make it into something special.

Take It Home With You

Take digital course handouts with you and continue your cruise experience on your home device. They’re sure to come in handy when you use all the newfound skills you learned in the Microsoft Studio!

Each voyage brings a guest chef on board to guide you through the culinary traditions of your destinations. Try local flavors at a food & wine tasting, add a new recipe to your repertoire at a live cooking demonstration or indulge your senses at a fine dining event.

For those looking to continue their epicurean immersion on shore, guest chefs lead select shore excursions*, exploring local cuisines while sharing their gastronomic expertise in the field.

Explore On Board

Savor the region through cooking demonstrations and tastings on board. Learn to make Malaysian roti with curried chicken. Discover which wines pair well with coconut. Enjoy a lavish feast featuring the cuisine of Western Australia.

Explore On Shore

Take a culinary tour with the guidance of a chef’s palate. Shop for French pastries in one of Tahiti’s open-air markets. Scour the Thai countryside for the perfect pad Thai. Compare world-class rieslings at a Tasmanian winery.

*Shore excursions and fine dining events require an additional cost.

We have partnered with BBC Earth to bring you unforgettable new ways to experience the world's natural wonders. Through the innovative and breathtaking programming, guests will be taken closer to the ocean and the natural world through groundbreaking concerts and films.

Planet Earth II In Concert

Experience sensational footage from the natural world and get closer to the animals, landscapes and wildlife dramas on our planet than ever before. With a stunning score by award winning musicians Hans Zimmer, Jacob Shea and Jasha Klebe.

Alaska In Concert

Celebrate Alaska, one of the last great wildernesses. With footage from the TV series, Wild Alaska, audiences will enjoy the Alaskan seasons and will see this place is as unforgiving as it is beautiful. Music by world leading composer Timo Baker.

Inside Earth

Inside Earth is a series of films that provide insight into how the BBC’s extraordinary content is captured. Each episode includes stories from different television series and locations.

Blue Planet II: Underwater Adventure

A 25 minute film experience based on BBC Earth’s multi-award winning Blue Planet II television series. This film will take you on a breath-taking submarine journey of our vast oceans.

BBC Earth Experiences is brought to you by BBC Studios and licensed by Holland America Line

The BBC is a trademark of the British Broadcasting Corporation and is used under license. BBC logo © 1996

Explorations Central™ (EXC®), Holland America Line’s exclusive destination programming, is designed to deepen your understanding of the places you visit. Its indispensable travel resources and opportunities to engage with experts and local insiders, make exploring each port of call more vivid and meaningful. Enjoy the programs listed below and visit our Explorations Central discovery center on board.

EXC Talks

Get an insider’s perspective at these informative onboard talks. In select regions, EXC Talks feature multimedia presentations that bring each destination to life with captivating storytelling and expert commentary.

EXC Culture

Start your immersion in a destination’s culture and history before you even step on shore, with help from local experts, artists and performers.

EXC Port To Table

Food is the gateway to understanding a culture. Delve into each region’s culinary traditions through onboard cooking demonstrations, and food and wine tastings (fleetwide Jan. 1, 2020).

EXC Photography

Learn to capture your most memorable travel moments with expert photography instruction and unique opportunities to use your newfound skills in port.

Unique Shore Excursions

Choose from our award-winning shore excursions and immerse yourself in authentic, engaging travel experiences—easily, comfortably and conveniently.

The Ocean Bar surrounds the central Atrium on deck 3 and features a small stage and dance floor. It provides a good venue for pre dinner drinks and dancing.

The Piano Bar on the Lower Promenade Deck provides guests with a venue to have a drink and sing along to requests played by the pianist.

The Crow's Nest, located on the Deck 11, features a small stage, dance floor and bar and in the evening becomes a nightclub.

Offering 270 degree views, trivia and mixology classes take place here during the day.

The Lido Bar serves the Lido Pool, midship on Deck 9, and the Seaview Bar serves the Sea View Pool towards the end of the deck. From either, you can enjoy a refreshing beverage poolside in shaded seating around the bar or delivered to your sunny chaise lounge.

The Casino Bar on Deck 2, serving the casino, also doubles as a sports bar with overhead screens airing sporting events.

The Northern Lights on deck 2 is the ship's nightclub which hosts various themed nights.

Drop by after dark as the ship's dance club revs up...

The Explorer's lounge, located on Deck 2, is an intimate lounge convenient for pre dinner cocktails.

Featuring the ships' Adagio Strings classical quartet playing a range of classical and contemporary music, Explorer's lounge is also the ships premium wine tasting lounge.

2 pianos - 60 Years of Chart Toppers - 100s Of Songs. Sing along, test your music trivia skills or just sit back and enjoy as the hits fill the room each night.

World Stage, the largest theatre on board is home to a variety of performances day and night. Our exclusive EXC® Talk lecture series features captivating regional stories told by local experts and narrated by your Cruise & Travel Director. In the evenings, Step One Dance Company, vocal sensation Cantaré, BBC Earth in Concert and more take the stage. Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam bring the World Stage experience to the next level by surrounding you in spectacular sight and sound with a two-story, panoramic LED screen.

Your Holland America Line ship’s Casino offers a wide array of gaming options. Whether you prefer slot machines or want to try your hand at blackjack or poker, our dealers and staff are available to provide complimentary instruction — and we offer many engaging tournament options. The Casino is only open at sea.

Screening nightly in the movie theatre (on select ships) are recent-release films and perennially popular classics. You can also watch movies any time in your stateroom or suite. And aboard Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam, watch your favourite stars light up the night on a giant outdoor LED movie screen by the Lido Pool.

Holland America Line is known for the extensive art collections onboard each of its ships. Now, fine art goes high tech. The line invites you to enjoy the self-guided walking tour for each ship which highlights the art onboard an eclectic collection that is valued at tens of millions of dollars.

Narrated by well-known radio hosts Paul Lasley and Elizabeth Harryman, the 30-40 minute tours include walking directions, interviews with artists, background music and thumbnails of some of the artwork. Download the ship-specific art tour onto your personal iPod, MP3 or portable media player before you embark on your Holland America Line cruise. Pre-loaded art tours are also available on board.

As a guest onboard Holland America Line, you are invited to indulge your inner art connoisseur by immersing yourself in the ship’s exclusive onboard gallery and fine art experience. Through exciting live auctions, dazzling gallery exhibitions, enriching educational programs and intimate champagne-sipping enthusiast events, you are destined for a memorable artistic encounter that will ignite your passion for fine art.

Representatives from Park West Gallery bring their expertise to Holland America Line and afford the art novice to seasoned aficionado access to an extensive array of paintings, prints, drawings, watercolours, mixed-media, sports memorabilia and animation art. Park West engages guests in a way that is sure to surprise and delight every level of collector.

Vibrant works of art by world-renowned contemporary artist Peter Max, quiet cottage scenes by Thomas Kinkade and collectable sports memorabilia from favourite athletes are but glimpses of the broad range of exquisite items offered by Park West Gallery to guests on board Holland America Line. Be sure to visit the gallery on embarkation day to pre-register for the art activities and ensure a space in one of the educational programs and champagne events. Gallery event guests also have the opportunity to take home a complimentary gift of art and enter raffle drawings for special art prizes.

Founded in 1969, Park West Gallery has brought fine works of art to more than 1.3 million clients worldwide through events at sea, at its gallery locations in Michigan and Florida, and by select auctions in major metropolitan areas. Every purchase from Park West Gallery comes with a certificate of authenticity, assuring that each is subjected to the highest level of artistic and critical scrutiny. The gallery also offers convenient shipping and framing services so you may easily enjoy your new work of art at home.

It all begins with a great photo taken at embarkation -- the first of many photo opportunities. Your onboard photographers, called "Image Creators" will be with you throughout the cruise, ready to capture that special moment at the Bon Voyage Party, Formal Night, Scenic Cruising and more.

The Photo Gallery on board offers print and digital photos, photo packages and DVDs of your cruise itinerary and voyage. Be sure to take home memories of your voyage that will last a lifetime.

Black Label Photography

Whether the look he captures on film is thoughtful, irreverent or joyous, Joe Craig believes a successful photograph reveals the soul of its subject. He has spent his life perfecting his craft and teaching it to others. See what his approach can show you.

Joe Craig Black Label creates images that blend innocence and sophistication. It’s a great opportunity for you and your friends, family or special someone to capture the memory of your voyage in interpretive photography.

All Black Label artists on board are personally trained by Joe, and studio sessions are complimentary, with no obligation to buy and no sitting fee.

Discover a world-class shopping experience only steps away. The Signature Shops onboard offer a great selection of fine jewellery, watches, fragrances, premium liquor, exclusive Holland America Line souvenirs and more all at tax and duty free savings. You’ll find many famous brands with designer names specially selected with you in mind. Knowledgeable specialists will gladly answer all your questions and are dedicated to providing you with excellent service, helping to make your cruise vacation, relaxing and enjoyable.

The Pinnacle Bar serves the Pinnacle Grill as well as being the ship's champagne bar, and is located on the Lower Promenade Deck.

Silk Den is an Asian inspired bar serving the Tamarind Restaurant on Deck 11.

Surrounded by panoramic ocean views, it specialises in Saketinis - cocktails made using sake as the mixer.

Enjoy classical cruise ship music and onboard entertainment. In an exclusive partnership with the world’s leading centre for the performing arts, music virtuosos perform familiar classics and twists on contemporary favourites.

When you’re in the mood to move, it’s time for live music on your cruise. Direct from Beale Street in Memphis, B.B. King’s All-Star Band cooks up a rich southern heritage of classic soul and rock & roll to get you dancing.

Our partnership with BBC Earth brings their innovative and breathtaking programming to the World Stage. Award-winning soundtracks are performed live as BBC Earth’s incredible wildlife footage fills the big screen. It’s an unforgettable experience that will leave you with a new perspective on the planet.

Refresh, Relax and Rejuvenate

During a leisurely day at sea, few places help you refresh, relax and rejuvenate like the Greenhouse Spa & Salon®. This heavenly retreat nurtures every aspect of your well-being with renowned spa rituals and healing touches. In the spa, pamper your skin with facial treatments featuring premium, naturally sourced ingredients. Nurture your body, too, with massage treatments employing time-honored, hands-on massage techniques gleaned from around the world.

Stop by the professionally staffed Fitness Center equipped with the latest cardio and weight machines. Try one of our classes on indoor cycling, Pilates and more or work out at your own pace. You can also head out for fresh air and exercise on deck, where you'll find basketball and volleyball courts, and two refreshing pools (available on select ships). Some classes may have a nominal fee.

The Sea View Pool on Deck 9 is the ship's open air pool featuring two whirlpools and served by the Sea View Bar and Slice the pizzeria.

The pool itself has a shallow area around the edge of it for sitting in to cool down. This pool is designated for adults only.

The Lido Pool is also located midship on deck 9. It has 3 hot tubs and is protected by a retractable glass dome cover during inclement weather. It is served by the Lido Bar and Trident Grill for light meals and has a bandstand for live entertainment. 

Play the fastest-growing sport in the U.S. with Holland America Line, the exclusive cruise line partner of the Professional Pickleball Association. All our cruise ships feature pickleball courts with amazing top-deck views. The equipment and courts are available for a match anytime, so long as the weather allows. Frequent pickler? Join a pickleball tournament at sea and put your dink shot to the test. Hesitant amateur? Learn the basics at complimentary beginner’s lessons, starting in spring 2023. Commemorative starter kits will soon be available in our retail shops — purchase as gifts for avid players or as souvenirs, so that you can always look back on your pickleball cruise memories.

Highlights for kids ages 3 to 6 include a variety of activities, crafts, games and theme parties, such as “Dino-Mite Night” and “Ships Ahoy Pirate Treasure Hunt Adventure.”

From arts & crafts and sporting events to gaming tournaments and theme parties, tweens will have plenty to enjoy.

During the day, teens meet up for sports challenges and group games while our Hosts provide exclusive teen events like Poker Night and Video Game Tournaments at night.

Kids Club activities are available from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. on port days*. Lunch is not offered as part of this service. Children must be registered and signed into and out of programming by a parent or guardian.

*Hours of operation may change to better serve our guests.

Children with special needs are invited to attend Kids Club activities based on their chronological age. In some cases, parental supervision may be required. Please let us know when booking your reservation.