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

Get ready for a long cruise with Holland America in the Mediterranean.

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

Holland America has traditionally offered many 10 and 11 night cruises in the Mediterranean during the summer. But starting in 2026, it will switch to offering an additional seven-night cruise, with a twist that allows for the creation of a much wider range of long-haul cruises.

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Unlike what is often the case with short sailings in Europe, the new seven-night itineraries will change from week to week in a way that will allow Holland America fans to combine three in a row on one ship without repeating a single port.

The new cruise line-up will allow customers to create longer “collector cruises,” as Holland America calls them, extending up to 21 nights without repeating ports. Longer cruises with up to 27 night arrivals can cause almost no repeats in ports.

“It allows for more flexibility in cruise integration,” Paul Grigsby, Holland America’s vice president of revenue planning and distribution, told TPG in an exclusive interview ahead of the announcement. “Guests can build their own sails, their own vacation that way.”

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

Related: Holland America unveils another popular cruise – with a twist

A typical seven-night cruise that can be combined to create a longer cruise will be a seven-night cruise from Barcelona to Piraeus, Greece (port of Athens) starting on 12 July 2026. It will be followed by a seven-night cruise from Piraeus to Civitavecchia , Italy (port of Rome) from July 19, 2026, and a seven-night cruise from Civitavecchia to Barcelona from July 26, 2026.

The first trip will stop at the islands of Melita, Crete and Santorini, and Kusadasi, Turkey (to visit the famous ruins of Ephesus). The second cruise will stop in Montenegro; the island of Corfu; Messina in Sicily; and Naples, Italy. The third cruise stops in Livorno, Italy (visiting Pisa or Florence); Portofino, Italy; Marseille, France; and Gibraltar.

Taken together, these three sails allow a 21-night voyage with stops that cover the full width of the Mediterranean and visit eight countries without repeating a single port.

“What we have noticed is that the guests like this type of survey [of all of the Mediterranean] where they start in the west in Barcelona and go to Trieste [in Italy] or Athens,” Grigsby said. “This will allow them to do that.”

To make such a long journey possible, Oosterdam will sail out of a greater number of Mediterranean home ports than usual on one ship – five in total. Lisbon, Piraeus, Barcelona, ​​Civitavecchia and Trieste.

New short routes are not designed to be simply combined to create longer routes. They should also appeal to Europeans, especially families, who are looking for short vacation options, according to Grigsby.

Grigsby noted that Holland America regularly attracts customers from the Netherlands, where the company has its roots, as well as Belgium, Luxembourg and the United Kingdom, among other European countries.

He said that a European customer “can just decide to do seven days in Europe as if he were coming home.” [in North America] We do seven-night Caribbean or seven-day Alaska cruises.”

Related: Holland America ship types, explained

Grigsby said the brand will offer a seven-night cruise on the Norwegian fjords out of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, in 2026 in part to cater to a local market that wants such a short cruise in their backyard.

In addition to Oosterdam in the Mediterranean, Holland America will have two ships sailing regularly to Northern Europe by 2026: Nieuw Statendam with 2,666 passengers and Rotterdam with 2,668 passengers.

Both ships will return to port in Rotterdam, while Nieuw Statendam will also sail to Dover, England.

Among the cruises planned for the fleet in 2026 is an increase in the number of seven-day cruises to the Norwegian fjords, as well as seven-day open-jaw cruises between Reykjavik and Rotterdam.

The unusual new itinerary includes a 14-day cruise of the Baltic and Scandinavian Capitals that includes calls back to Germany at the ports of Kiel and Warnemunde. The tour includes one night in Oslo, two calls in Denmark, and stops in Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.

In addition, there will be a number of seven-night cruises in Northern Europe, similar to the short cruises that Holland America will offer in the Mediterranean.

The Northern European routes will include four new Holland America ports: Aberdeen, Scotland; Kalundborg, Denmark; and at Odda, Norway, they embarked at Rotterdam; and in Portsmouth, England, aboard the Nieuw Statendam.

More information about Holland America’s 2026 Europe sailings is available on the line’s website.

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