| Holland America Cruise Line When Carnival Cruise Line acquired Holland America Line some years ago they were smart enough to leave all the operations in the hands of Holland America's management instead of just repainting the cruise ships with the Carnival logo. Holland America Cruise Line has established quite different from Carnival Cruises image, targeting completely different sort of passengers (more mature folks) and offering more formal and stylish cruises and service. The majority of Holland America Cruise Line passengers do not even know that the company is owned by Carnival Corporation. The line originally started out as The Netherlands-America Steamship Company, but soon became known as the Holland America Line because it carried great numbers of immigrants from Holland to America. The company concentrated on the trans-Atlantic passenger trade, as well as the commercial freight shipping business until the 1970's. Its first purpose-built passenger ship was built in 1973, and since then, the line has concentrated on cruise vacation travel. In 1978, Holland America Cruise Line moved its headquarters from Rotterdam to Stamford, Connecticut. The company's headquarters moved to Seattle, Washington in 1983, in order to consolidate operations with an Alaska tour company, Westours (Holland America Cruise Line had purchased a controlling interest in Westours in the early 1970's). In 1988, Holland America purchased Windstar Sail Cruises, operator of four- and five-masted computer-guided sailing ships. A year later, the behemoth Carnival Corporation acquired the Holland America Cruise Line, which remains headquartered in Seattle, Washington.
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