ROTTERDAM (ANP) – The new cruise ship Rotterdam is expected for the first time in mid-October at the quay of home port Rotterdam. According to the Port of Rotterdam Authority, the new flagship of the Holland America Line will probably arrive on October 14.

This is the seventh ship with this name from the Rotterdam shipping company. The ship has only just started sailing. At the end of July, the official handover took place at the Fincantieri shipyard near Venice.

The intention is that the Rotterdam will only stay in the port of Rotterdam for a short time. According to the schedule, the ship, which can carry 2668 passengers, will return to Amsterdam on 15 October. There, the ship will prepare for its first transatlantic crossing to Fort Lauderdale in Florida on October 20.

The company’s first Rotterdam was launched in 1872. This sailing steamship was used for passenger navigation to New York. It was the second Rotterdam to make a cruise for the first time in 1895.

Since 2008, a museum ship has been docked at Katendrecht in Rotterdam, which also bears the name Rotterdam. That 1959 ship was the fifth Holland America Line ship to bear this name. The second Rotterdam was employed by the company from 1997 to last year. That ship was then sold to Fred Olsen Cruise Lines and now sails under a different name.