 Seattle-based Holland America Line retired its 38-year-old flagship, ss Rotterdam V, following its final port call at Port Everglades on Tuesday, September 30, 1997, where sentimental passengers and crew bid farewell to one of the world's oldest cruise ships. The 38,645-gross-ton, 1,114-passenger oceanliner completed 1,000 cruises, 29 world voyages and carried 1.2 million guests since entering service in 1959, according to cruise line officials. The venerable Rotterdam V was the largest passenger vessel ever built at a Dutch shipyard and was only the line's fifth flagship since Holland America was founded in 1873. The ship was sold to Miami-based Premier Cruise Line for an undisclosed amount and is slated to be renamed Rembrandt and home-ported at Rio de Janeiro in December. Replacing the current Rotterdam as the line's flagship is ms Rotterdam VI, a 62,000-ton, 1,316-passenger vessel in the final stage of construction in Italy. The new Rotterdam is scheduled to arrive at Fort Lauderdale in early December for a series of inaugural events. "There's something about old world ships you can't duplicate with new ships," said Sydney Parish, a Brooklyn, N.Y., passenger who has chalked up 35 Rotterdam cruises. "I booked this cruise a year-and-a-half ago. We knew we wanted to say good-bye."
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