Fans of long cruises will love Holland America's latest move

31.07.2024 - 12:39 / thepointsguy.com / Holland America

Get ready to go long with Holland America in the Mediterranean.

The Seattle-based cruise line on Wednesday announced a significant overhaul of its Mediterranean itineraries starting in 2026 that will offer more longer sailing options.

Holland America has traditionally offered lots of 10- and 11-night sailings in the Mediterranean during the summers. But starting in 2026, it'll switch to offering more seven-night sailings, with a twist that allows for the creation of a much wider range of longer sailings.

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Unlike as is often the case with shorter sailings in Europe, the new seven-night itineraries will vary in their routings from week to week in a way that will allow Holland America fans to string together three of them in a row on the same ship without repeating a single port.

The new lineup of sailings will allow customers to create longer "collector's voyages," as Holland America is calling them, that extend up to 21 nights without repeating ports. Even longer sailings of up to 27 nights can be created that have almost no repeats in ports.

"It allows more flexibility in combining sailings," Paul Grigsby, Holland America's vice president for revenue planning and deployment, told TPG in an exclusive interview in advance of the announcement. "Guests can kind of build their own sailing, their own vacation that way."

All of the sailings will take place on Holland America's 1,964-passenger Oosterdam, which will be the line's only vessel in the Mediterranean for the summer of 2026.

Related: Holland America unveils another epic cruise — with a twist

Typical of the seven-night itineraries on the ship that can be combined to create longer voyages will be a seven-night sailing from Barcelona to Piraeus, Greece (the port for Athens) beginning July 12, 2026. It'll be followed by a seven-night sailing from Piraeus to Civitavecchia, Italy (the port for Rome) starting July 19, 2026, and a seven-night sailing from Civitavecchia to Barcelona starting July 26, 2026.

The first sailing will bring stops at the islands of Malta, Crete and Santorini, and Kusadasi, Turkey (for a visit to the famed ruins of Ephesus). The second sailing will bring stops in Montenegro; the island of Corfu; Messina in Sicily; and Naples, Italy. The third sailing brings stops at Livorno, Italy (for a visit to Pisa or Florence); Portofino, Italy; Marseille, France; and Gibraltar.

Strung together, the three sailings allow for a 21-night voyage with stops spanning the full width of the Mediterranean and visits to eight countries without repeating a single port.

"What we've noticed is that guests like that kind of survey [of all of the Mediterranean] where they start in the