Holland America Line the float out and transfer of the new Koningsdam from its drydock to the outfitting dock at the Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy.
“A ship’s construction has many key milestones, and floating it out and moving it to the outfitting dock is especially symbolic,” said Orlando Ashford, president of Holland America Line. “The float out represents that we are getting closer to welcoming Koningsdam to our fleet and seeing the ship in the water adds to the excitement among our loyal guests, travel agent partners and employees in anticipation of its arrival.”
A coin ceremony was also held on Feb. 26, 2015, during which Tineke Schröder, wife of the founder of Dutch airline Martinair and a member of Holland America Line’s Mariner Society, served as the ship’s madrina.
During the coin ceremony, observed as a tradition to bring good fortune, two gold coins were welded to the forward mast of the ship by Schröder; Antonio Quintano, director of Fincantieri Shipyard; and Keith Taylor, executive vice president of fleet operations for Holland America Line. The gold coins bore the image of His Majesty King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. The word koning means “king” in Dutch, and the ship’s name pays honor to the first king of the Netherlands in over a century.
