Holland America Repositioning Cruises: Grand Voyage Segments, Pacific Coast Runs and Crossings

Holland America repositioning cruises come in more lengths than any other mainstream line’s. Our finder lists 45 one-way Holland America sailings from October 2026 to December 2027, each checked on hollandamerica.com in late September 2026, and they run from 4-night hops down the Pacific coast to 35-night segments of the line’s 2027 Grand World Voyage. The typical voyage is 15 nights. San Diego and Fort Lauderdale are the busiest ports, with nine departures each.

That range is what sets Holland America apart. Other lines reposition a ship and move on. Holland America sells long ocean voyages as a product in their own right, and many of its one-way sailings are legs of those voyages. The current list appears below this guide, and you can filter it in the repositioning cruise finder.

Holland America’s one-way sailings by route

Eleven ships appear in the list. Zaandam and Volendam, two of the smaller ships in the fleet, carry the most sailings, eight and seven, because they do most of the long-voyage work.

Grand Voyage segments: the long way across

Holland America’s 2027 Grand Voyages are a 129-day Grand World Voyage on Volendam, round trip from Fort Lauderdale from January 5, 2027, with 53 ports in 28 countries, and a 70-day Grand South America and Antarctica Voyage on Zaandam from January 3, 2027. Both are sold in one-way segments, and seven of those segments are in our finder:

• Fort Lauderdale to Sydney, 35 nights on Volendam, via Manta, Papeete, Fiji and New Caledonia.
• Sydney to Singapore, 18 nights, via Airlie Beach, Darwin and Bali.
• Singapore to Cape Town, 22 nights, via Malaysia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Port Elizabeth.
• Cape Town to Rotterdam, 35 nights up the west coast of Africa, via Luderitz, Cape Verde and Casablanca.
• Rotterdam to Fort Lauderdale, 19 nights in late April 2027, via Oslo, Copenhagen and San Juan.
• Fort Lauderdale to Buenos Aires, 41 nights on Zaandam, down the west coast of South America via Chile and Punta Arenas.
• Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale, 29 nights up the coast of Brazil.

A segment is a way to sail part of a world cruise without the four-month commitment. The trade-off is flights: Cape Town or Singapore is a long, expensive one-way ticket from the US. For the South American legs, our guide to South America repositioning cruises covers seasons and routings.

Holland America also has long one-way voyages outside the Grand Voyages: a 34-night Westerdam sailing from Seattle to Sydney in September 2027 via Kauai, Kiritimati, Tonga and Wellington, a 29-night Noordam voyage the other way, and a 47-night Volendam voyage from New York to Fort Lauderdale in October 2027 by way of the Azores and the Mediterranean.

San Diego, not Los Angeles: the West Coast moves

Where Princess and Norwegian use Los Angeles, Holland America uses San Diego. Ten of its sailings in our finder are coastal runs between Vancouver and San Diego, and most are just four nights, southbound in October and northbound in April, as Eurodam, Zaandam, Koningsdam and Nieuw Amsterdam move to and from the Alaska season. A four-night run is the cheapest way to see whether you like the line, and it pairs naturally with a Panama Canal voyage. In our data, Zaandam, Zuiderdam and Eurodam all link San Diego with Fort Lauderdale or Miami through the canal in 14 to 17 nights.

Two longer West Coast options stand out. Koningsdam’s 17-night Vancouver to San Diego voyage in October 2026 detours via Hilo, Kauai and Honolulu, and Westerdam’s 15-night Tokyo to Vancouver crossing in April 2027 calls at Kushiro, Kodiak, Juneau and Ketchikan. Our Vancouver repositioning guide lists the other lines on the coast.

Atlantic crossings to Rotterdam and Amsterdam

Holland America’s Dutch roots show in its Atlantic schedule. Of the nine transatlantic sailings in our finder, six start or end in Rotterdam or Amsterdam, usually with calls at Falmouth or Portland in England, Le Havre and Zeebrugge on the way. Eastbound crossings leave Fort Lauderdale or Miami in late March and April and take 13 to 15 nights via Bermuda. Westbound voyages mostly come back between October and December, plus the April Grand World Voyage leg from Rotterdam.

The most unusual is Zuiderdam’s 21-night voyage from Amsterdam to Boston in August 2027, via Lerwick in Shetland, Isafjordur in Iceland and Qaqortoq in Greenland. That’s a summer northern route with scenery most crossings don’t offer, and it lands in New England rather than Florida. Our guide to westbound transatlantic repositioning cruises covers the more common fall routes.

Canada, New England and the Chile run

A few of Holland America’s one-way sailings don’t fit the usual categories but are among the easiest to plan from the US. Volendam sails Fort Lauderdale to Montreal in 14 nights on May 15, 2027, via Norfolk, Portland in Maine, Sydney in Nova Scotia and Quebec City, at the start of the Canada and New England season. Zuiderdam comes back the other way in October 2027, Quebec City to Miami in 14 nights via the Saguenay fjord, Charlottetown, Saint John and Norfolk.

On the Pacific side, Nieuw Amsterdam sails San Diego to San Antonio, the port for Santiago, Chile, in 21 nights from October 12, 2027, via Cabo San Lucas, Costa Rica and Lima, and Oosterdam sails the reverse, Santiago to Fort Lauderdale through the canal, in March 2027.

Linking two Holland America sailings

Many Holland America ships go straight from one one-way voyage into the next, so you can stay aboard for a longer trip without a hotel night in between. These pairs in our data leave from the port where the previous sailing ends, on the day it arrives:

• San Diego to Buenos Aires, 56 nights: Zaandam, San Diego to Fort Lauderdale through the canal on December 19, 2026, then the Grand Voyage leg to Buenos Aires on January 3, 2027.
• Chile to Spain, 30 nights: Oosterdam, Santiago to Fort Lauderdale on March 24, 2027, then Fort Lauderdale to Barcelona on April 9.
• Rotterdam to Montreal, 33 nights: Volendam’s last Grand World Voyage leg, Rotterdam to Fort Lauderdale on April 26, 2027, then Fort Lauderdale to Montreal on May 15.
• Vancouver to Chile, 26 nights: Nieuw Amsterdam, Vancouver to San Diego on October 7, 2027, then San Diego to Santiago on October 12.

The calendar shows the same pattern. Holland America’s one-way departures peak in April 2027 (11) and October 2027 (10), when the Alaska and Europe seasons start and end, and January to March is busier than on most lines because of the Grand Voyage segments.

The ships: promenades, music and mid-size hulls

Holland America’s ships are mid-size by current standards, and they are built around things that matter on sea days. The line describes its “wraparound teak Promenade Deck”, which on a gray mid-ocean morning is the best place on any ship to walk laps out of the wind. The Music Walk venues, including B.B. King’s Blues Club, Billboard Onboard and Rolling Stone Rock Room, mean live music in several rooms each evening rather than one theater show.

The older Vista-class ships (Oosterdam, Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Noordam) and R-class Volendam and Zaandam do most of the long voyages. The newer Pinnacle-class ships, Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam, appear mainly on Atlantic crossings and the coastal runs. Passengers are mostly older and the atmosphere is quiet, which on a 15-night crossing is the point.

Onboard costs: crew appreciation and Have It All

Holland America adds crew appreciation of $18 per guest per day in non-suite staterooms and $20 in suites, adjustable on board, according to its crew appreciation FAQ. Drinks, specialty restaurants and other purchases carry a 20% service charge, and spa services 18%. Our sister site explains how cruise gratuities work across the industry.

Have It All is the line’s bundle: the Signature drink package with bar service charges included, specialty dining, the Surf Wi-Fi package and a shore excursion credit that scales with voyage length. Holland America’s FAQ confirms that crew appreciation is included as well. On a crossing, the excursion credit is the weakest part, since a 14-night transatlantic may have only three or four ports. The drinks, Wi-Fi and gratuities are what carry the value.

Who Holland America suits, and who it doesn’t

It suits travelers who want a calm, mid-size ship, a promenade to walk and live music in the evening, and who don’t mind an older crowd. It suits people with time: few lines sell as many voyages over three weeks. It suits families and people who want a lively pool deck poorly.

If you’re deciding between Holland America and Princess, the two are close in price and atmosphere. Princess has more sailings and newer large ships; Holland America has the smaller ships and the longer voyages. Our line-by-line comparison covers the rest of the field.

One planning point specific to this line: look for back-to-back pairs. In spring 2027, Eurodam sails Fort Lauderdale to San Diego through the canal on April 3 (14 nights) and continues San Diego to Vancouver on April 17 (6 nights). Booked together, that’s 20 nights from Florida to British Columbia on one ship, with no hotel night or flight in the middle.