MS Nieuw Amsterdam (1983)
MS Thomson Spirit at the Canary Islands in April 2005. Note the all white-funnel.
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| Builder: | Chantiers de l'Atlantique, Saint Nazaire, France |
| Cost: | $150 million |
| Yard number: | V27 |
| Launched: | 20 August 1982 |
| Christened: | by HRH Princess Margriet |
| Acquired: | July 1983 |
| In service: | July 1983 |
| Identification: | IMO number: 8024014 |
| Status: | In Active Service |
| General characteristics (as Thomson Spirit) | |
| Type: | cruise ship |
| Tonnage: | 33,930 GT |
| Length: | 214.66 m (704 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 27.26 m (89 ft 5 in) |
| Draught: | 7.52 m (24 ft 8 in) |
| Decks: | 10 |
| Installed power: | 2 × Sulzer RLB66 diesel engines, combined 22,400 kW |
| Propulsion: | 2 propellers |
| Speed: | 21 knots (38.89 km/h; 24.17 mph) |
| Capacity: | 1350 in 627 staterooms |
| Crew: | 520 |
MS Thomson Spirit is a cruise ship owned by Holland America Line and operated under charter by the United Kingdom-based Thomson Cruises. She was built in 1983 at the Chantiers de l'Atlantique shipyard in France for Holland America Line as MS Nieuw Amsterdam. Between 2000 and 2001 she sailed for United States Lines, a subsidiary of American Classic Voyages, as MS Patriot. In 2002 she returned under Holland America Line ownership and reverted to the name Nieuw Amsterdam, but was not used in active service. During the same year she was chartered to Louis Cruise Lines, who in turn sub-chartered the ship to Thomson Cruises, with whom she entered service under her current name in 2003.
The Nieuw Amsterdam was the first in a pair of identical cruise ships built by Chantiers de l'Atlantique at St. Nazaire, France for the Holland America Line (HAL) with North-American cruising in mind. Her sister ship is now the MS Thomson Celebration. She was launched from drydock on 20 August 1982. While in final stages of construction a fire destroyed the ship's main switchboard on 24 June 1983, which delayed her delivery to her owners by three weeks. She was delivered to HAL in July 1983.
The Nieuw Amsterdam entered service with Holland America Line in July 1983, doing a transatlantic crossing from Le Havre to New York. Following her maiden voyage she was used for cruising in the Caribbean during the northern hemisphere winter seasons and cruises out of Vancouver to Alaska during the summer seasons. In April 1984 she was joined in service by her sister MS Noordam (1984), which operated similar iteneraries. As the HAL fleet grew from the late 1980s onwards, the Nieuw Amsterdam's iteneraries widened to various destination around the world. In 1989 the Holland America Line was acquired by the Carnival Corporation, but HAL remained a separate entity.
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