Holland America Line unveils 'pole-to-pole' grand voyage

The new 133-day Grand Voyage onboard the 1,432-passenger Volendam will depart on January 25, 2025, and visit five continents on a journey that travels south to north.

Setting sail from Fort Lauderdale, Volendam will travel through the Panama Canal, then down the west coast of South America to Antarctica for four days of scenic cruising, and then up along Argentina and Brazil to the heart of the Amazon River.

The ship then crosses the Atlantic Ocean to Africa, sails north to Europe, and up to the North Cape before heading west across the northern Atlantic Ocean via Iceland and Greenland, and finally down the eastern shores of North America back to Fort Lauderdale.

Holland America Line’s ‘pole-to-pole’ itinerary also includes overnights in eight ports – Fuerte Amador (Panama); Callao (Peru); Buenos Aires (Argentina); Rio de Janeiro (Brazil); Barcelona (Spain); Lisbon (Portugal); and Reykjavik (Iceland) – for deeper immersion.

Paul Grigsby, vice president for deployment and itinerary planning for Holland America Line (HAL), said: “Detailed planning went into this voyage to ensure we’re visiting destinations when the weather is favourable, and we included locations that are sought after like the Amazon River, Greenland, and Iceland, in addition to Antarctica and the Arctic.”

Alongside this north-south cruise, HAL will also be sailing a 124-day east-west Grand World voyage.

"We've created two voyages that linger in ports for memorable moments and several overnight stays. We even timed it so the two voyages will meet up to share an overnight experience in Barcelona," said Grigsby.

HAL’s president, Gus Antorcha, added: “This will be a truly historic pair of voyages. Our Grand World Voyage travels east to west and our other Grands focus on one region, so designing this first-of-its-kind-route that explores south-to-north roundtrip from the US is an incredible way to allow our guests two different choices to travel across the world.”

The cruise line hasn’t announced the pricing for either voyage as yet but interested passengers can call 1-800-522-3399 or contact their travel advisor to make a deposited future cruise request.

Anyone with a deposited future cruise request will receive priority booking confirmation prior to the two voyages officially opening to the public on May 24, 2023.