For more than a century, Holland-America was headquartered in a 19th-century building at the Rotterdam waterfront in the Netherlands, where our ship parked to enjoy all the hoopla. The distinguished old structure is still there, although ironically enough, it is now a hotel named the New York. The hotel has kept the old “;Holland-Amerika Lijn”; sign atop the building, however, along with the twin clock and weather vane towers, all of which managed to survive Rotterdam's heavy bombing raids in World War II.

The Dutch feel strongly attached to their old shipping company, even if it is now entirely a cruise ship operation, and an American-owned one at that. Its world headquarters these days are in Seattle.

Many cruise companies who competed with each other over the years are now owned by large U.S. conglomerates. Holland-America's profits feed the coffers of Miami-based Carnival Cruises, a firm which also embraces such well-known operations as Princess, Costa, Seabourn, and even the former British companies, Cunard and P&O. In fact, Carnival is now the largest cruise corporation in the world.

Carnival's main competition, at least in the United States, is Royal Caribbean, which has also swallowed up some distinguished companies, notably Celebrity (formerly Chandris), Pullmantur, and Azamara.

To Carnival's credit, its Holland-America division has kept the old Dutch flavor in its fleet of mostly mid-sized cruise ships. By and large, HAL eschews loud decorations and such flamboyant facilities as water slides, boxing rings and rock walls found on some cruise vessels, opting for a more dignified atmosphere. Even its hulls are still painted a basic black, and thus are not lumped in with the “;white bottoms”; as other modern cruise ships are known.

Up to now, Carnival and other cruise lines seem to have been grinding out new ships like sausages over the past several years. At one time, Carnival is said to have presided over as many as five launches in a year. But, along with every other industry leader, the company's leaders exhibit less certainty about the future when it comes to effects from the skyrocketing cost of fuel. Mickey Arison, Carnival's CEO (and the son of its founder) acknowledged that his company has awarded no new ship contracts for the coming 12 months. (Others under construction will come arrive as scheduled.)

At the same time, cruise fares generally have been holding steady as she goes.

“;The prices we're charging for cruises today are about the same as 20 years ago, even though the whole experience has improved immeasurably,”; said Stein Kruse, Holland-America's top executive.

As a general guide, sample cruise fares for the 10-day Baltic Sea cruise from Copenhagen currently begin at about $2,000 for an inside cabin and about $2,500 for an outside cabin, per person, based on double occupancy (not including air fares).

In contrast to many other travel-related businesses, activity has been brisk among American travelers who want to beat the tyranny of unfavorable dollar exchange rates by using a cruise ship as their hotel and transportation, often combined with such practices as taking all or nearly all their meals on board, especially in Europe, where dining out can be two or three times the cost of a comparable dinner in many U.S. restaurants.

While on shore in Amsterdam on this trip, I paid three euros (almost $5) for a modest vanilla ice cream cone. I vowed to take all further ice cream indulgences here aboard the Eurodam, where they are, in effect, free. For the same reason, I took no meals on shore, except for those included in shore excursions sponsored by the ship.

Another effect which is becoming apparent in the cruise world: While the industry enjoys a reputation as a solid choice for American vacationers, it is even more of a bargain for Europeans, who live on a euro-based economy. Already, languages other than English are heard much more often in the common areas of this and other ships. The percentage of U.S. citizens aboard these vessels is likely to be lower now while citizens of the European Economic Community receive even greater value for their money, and are increasingly choose cruising as a vacation opportunity.