Pan Am’s “flying boat” Clipper planes have all been retired, but Holland America Line will offer the next best thing in 2027.
The cruise line is partnering with Pan Am to take guests to destinations visited by the aircraft, which were popular in the 1930s and '40s, and had boat-like hulls that enabled them to land on water. The 28-Day Pan Am 100th Anniversary Legendary Voyage will spend nearly a month exploring the Caribbean.
“Originally designed as ‘ships of the air’, Pan Am’s Clipper service offered passengers an extraordinary level of elegance and comfort,” Craig Carter, CEO of Pan American World Airways, said in a news release. “From multi-course meals served on fine china to lounges for socializing, these flying clippers were a pinnacle of travel’s golden age. We’re thrilled to partner with Holland America Line to bring that experience back to life at sea – 100 years after our first flight.”
The cruise will depart from Miami, a home base for Pan Am, on October 30, 2027, on the line’s 1,988-guest Zuiderdam ship.
This won’t be the typical Caribbean cruise. Eight of its 18 ports of call will be historic Pan Am destinations such as Nassau in the Bahamas; Charlotte Amalie in St. Thomas; Castries in St. Lucia, and San Juan, Puerto Rico. The latter “first linked Pan Am’s Caribbean network to both North and South America,” according to the release.
