Info on HAL's new ships?

[happy cruzer]

Anyone have any details about HAL's new ships? all I know is that they are supposed to be big!

 

Anyone know how big? How many passengers? Will they go through the Panaman Canal, what itenaries they might do or allow other ships to do? When are they scheduled to build/complete?

 

Is the idea to provide new services or stay traditional HAL?

 

thanks.:rolleyes:

[Krazy Kruizers]

I don't know too much. But like you said - they are to be bigger than anything that HAL has done in the past. From what I understand arounf 2000 passengers double occupancy - which means that there will be more on board when the ships come out.

 

The first Signature Class ship is due to come out in the summer of 2008 - one would immigation that the ship will be European - Med itineraries.

 

The other ship is due out in the pring of 2010.

 

There is to be another specialty restaurant added to the ships -- up high with a view.

 

Others can probably add more as some people are more in the know here that I am.

[RevNeal]

What details we currently have can be found in HAL's press release on the subject. Cruse Critic has done a report on it (WAY back on Jan 9)

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/news/news.cfm?ID=1487

 

HAL Introduces ... Signature Class!

With the launch of Noordam, the last Vista-class new-build, just one month off, Holland America is already hard at work on its next big project. The line has announced that it will call its next pair of ships the Signature class, inspired by its $225 million "Signature of Excellence" program ... and has trickled out the few first details on ship design and onboard amenities.

 

How will the Signature class differ from the line's recent Vista-class models?

 

Innovative top-deck restaurant. The 144-seat eatery and 50-seat lounge will provide panoramic views of the ocean and the Lido pool.

 

Additional decks and cabins. The Signature class will feature 63 additional staterooms; 47 of the added accommodations will be verandah cabins, and 10 of them will be...

 

...a new style of stateroom. These 10 cabins, exclusive to the Signature class, will feature ceiling-to-floor and wall-to-wall windows.

 

Other additions include an Explorer's Lounge Bar, a premium wine-tasting lounge, a jewelry boutique, an atrium bar area and reconfigured show lounge, and a new photography center. Staterooms will be equipped from day one with premium "Signature of Excellence" amenities such as Euro-top beds, Egyptian cotton towels, flat-screen televisions and massaging shower heads. Favorite "Signature" features such as the Culinary Arts Center, Explorations Cafe and Pinnacle Grill are also on the blueprints.

 

One Signature-class ship is on order for delivery in the summer of 2008, with an option for another in the spring of 2010; the ships will be constructed at Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri's Marghera shipyard. Both are as yet unnamed, but will be the largest vessels ever constructed for the line at 86,000 tons -- each carrying 2,044 passengers and a price tag of $450 million.

 

Additionally, they are based upon the Vista class design and are upgraded models of that design. Hence, they WILL be capable of transit through the Panama Canal. HAL has no intention of building any ships that cannot transit the canal.

[Copper10-8]

Just a quickie; the second one is still only an option. No firm order as of yet for that one

[bepsf]

The new grillroom is expected to be similar to what is on P&O line's Arcadia - located on the roof midship and accessible via the exterior glass elevators overlooking the Lido.

(A very good cut-away drawing is located at this link)

http://www.cruiseweb.nl/images/dwarsdoorsnede/Arcadia.jpg

 

The new glass staterooms and perhaps many of the additional verandah staterooms are expected to be on the current Observation Deck in the location of the current Crow's Nest/Oak Room, with the new Crow's Nest shuffled one deck up - perhaps a similar arrangement to the Spa Deck staterooms aboard Carnival Triumph and the suites on MSC's Musica.**The profile of the forward superstructure may end up looking somewhat like MSC's new Musica