Construction
On 19 January 2017, Carnival Corporation announced that it had signed a memorandum with Fincantieri for HAL's third Pinnacle-class vessel.[3] The ship was planned to be designed in line with the features and dimensions offered on her sister ships, Koningsdam and Nieuw Statendam, at 99,500 GT and with a guest capacity of approximately 2,660 passengers.[4][3]
Construction for the then-unnamed ship inaugurated with the steel-cutting on 13 March 2019 at Fincantieri's shipyard in Marghera.[5][4] On 7 April 2019, HAL announced the third Pinnacle-class ship would bear the name Ryndam in honor of the name's history with the cruise line.[4] On 3 October 2019, HAL marked a milestone in the construction of Ryndam, when the first hull block was floated out to sea from Fincantieri's shipyard in Palermo.[6] She had her keel laid on 21 November 2019 in Marghera, where the rest of the ship's hull blocks would be assembled.[7]
On 30 July 2020, HAL announced that Ryndam would be renamed Rotterdam in honor of the 1997-built Rotterdam, which had been sold earlier that year, and the name's legacy within the company's history.[8] A coin ceremony was performed on 2 October 2020 ahead of the ship's float-out in Marghera on 5 October, marking the end of the ship's exterior construction and the beginning of the interior's outfitting.[9] On 25 April 2021, Rotterdam began her sea trials after sailing out from Marghera for the first time. The process took 11 days, including a trip to Fincantieri's dry dock in Trieste for hull maintenance and painting, as well as five days sailing on the Adriatic Sea, before the ship returned to Marghera on 6 May after successfully undergoing the trials.[10]
On 29 July 2021, Fincantieri held its handover ceremony in Marghera to deliver Rotterdam to HAL the following day.[11] The delivery came two months later than planned after the cruise line first announced in July 2020 that the COVID-19 pandemic had forced construction delays that extended the project's timeline.[8] In October 2021, HAL named Princess Margriet of the Netherlands as the ship's godmother for the christening ceremony in Rotterdam. By naming the ship, she would become a five-time godmother for HAL after most recently christening MS Oosterdam in 2003.[12][13] Princess Margriet christened the vessel on 30 May 2022.[14]
