Holland America Line

The first ships sailed between Rotterdam and New York in 1872. Until scheduled transatlantic passenger transport ended New York (Hoboken) remained the main American terminal. Other services were started later that century to South America and Baltimore. A pure cargo service to New York was added in 1899. In the early years of the 20th century other North American ports were added to the service. In the first 25 years of its existence the line carried 400,000 people from the old to the new world.

In 1989, HAL became a wholly owned subsidiary of Carnival Corp., the largest cruise line in the world. Today, the company operates 14 ships to seven continents and carries nearly 700,000 cruise passengers a year.

source: wikipedia