Onlookers at the keel-laying ceremony for Holland America Line's Nieuw Amsterdam didn't just have an unidentifiable lump of steel to look at, but also the front section of the ship, which was constructed in Fincantieri's Sestri year near Genoa and floated around Italy to Fincantieri's Marghera yard near Venice.
The section of keel was lifted into the dock and joined to the front section. A few more such building blocks and they will have an 86,000-ton, 2,106-passenger ship, which is scheduled for delivery in late June 2010.
The interior design of the new Nieuw Amsterdam - a sister to Eurodam, which launched last year - will refect the glamour and history of New York, called Nieuw Amsterdam in the 16th century when it was a Dutch colony.
It will be the fourth Holland America ship to carry the name. The first was launched in 1906, the second served as a troop ship in the Second World War. Nieuw Amsterdam number three launched in 1983, weighed 33,930 tons, carried just over 1,200 passengers and now sails for Thomson Cruises as Thomson Spirit.
Jane Archer
