Oprah Winfrey to christen a Holland America cruise ship, Nieuw Statendam
Gene Sloan
Add Oprah Winfrey to the list of celebrities christening cruise ships.
Holland America today announced the media mogul would serve as godmother for its next vessel, the 2,666-passenger Nieuw Statendam. The ship is scheduled to debut in December.
The christening, on a date that has yet to be set, will be just the latest event at Holland America to involve Winfrey, who sailed on an O, The Oprah Magazine-themed cruise organized by the line in 2017.
The magazine-themed cruise was the first of a series that Holland America and O, The Oprah Magazine have been rolling out in a partnership that also has brought O, The Oprah Magazine-inspired activities to hundreds of other Holland America sailings. The activities include new meditation classes, tai chi, healthy cooking demonstrations and on-board book clubs.
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As part of today's announcement, Holland America also revealed that Winfrey would sail on a three-day "girls' getaway" cruise on Nieuw Statendam that departs Fort Lauderdale, Fla. on Jan. 30, 2019. The trip will feature a stop at Holland America's private island in The Bahamas, Half Moon Cay.
Passengers on the January sailing will have the chance to attend one of three live “Conversations with Oprah.” In addition to Winfrey, editorial staff from O, The Oprah Magazine will be on board hosting events. Participants will include Editor-in-Chief Lucy Kaylin, Creative Director Adam Glassman, Beauty Director Brian Underwood and Books Editor Leigh Haber.
Currently under construction at a shipyard in Italy, Nieuw Statendam will be a sister to Holland America's one-year-old Koningsdam.
Measuring 99,500 tons, Nieuw Statendam will be similar in structure to the earlier ship but feature some new public spaces and its own style created by well-known hospitality designer Adam Tihany and architecture Bjorn Storbraaten, the line has said.
Nieuw Statendam's first voyage, scheduled to begin Dec. 5, is a trans-Atlantic sailing from Civitavecchia, Italy (near Rome) to Fort Lauderdale. Nieuw Statendam then will spend the winter sailing to the Caribbean out of Fort Lauderdale before moving to Europe for summer voyages to the Norwegian Fjords, Norway's North Cape, the Baltic and Iceland.
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