Holland America Line’s new cruise ship ms Koningsdam has been floated out and transferred from its dry dock to its outfitting dock at Fincantieri’s Marghera shipyard in Italy.
At the outfitting dock, final construction and interior furnishing will take place until the ship is delivered March 31, 2016.
“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 also was held earlier on Feb. 26, when 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, which was followed by a blessing by the shipyard chaplain.
The gold coins bear 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.
This short video gives you a taste of the movement of the ship from the drydock:
On February 10, the ship’s funnel, displaying the Holland America Line logo arrived at the yard, which is another milestone for the ship’s construction.
The 2,650-passenger ship pertains to the cruise liner’s new Pinnacle Class and at 99,500 gross tons it is the largest ever built for the company.
Bookings for the summer 2016 European cruises of ms Koningsdam and the May 9 Christening Cruise are already open.
From May through the summer the ship will be sailing roundtrip from Amsterdam, the Netherlands, on itineraries to Norway, the Baltic, British Isles and Iceland.
Images: Holland America Line