Holland America Line today announced a $500 million Evolution refurbishment program to upgrade six vessels across its fleet.

The initiative was announced by the company’s President and CEO, Beth Bodensteiner, during an industry event in Miami Beach.

According to Bodensteiner, the program will be the largest fleet update program in the company’s 153-year history.

The brand’s four Vista-class ships are scheduled to undergo the modernization project, along with the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Eurodam.

Bodensteiner added that the vessels will debut features that were introduced by Pinnacle-class ships, in addition to additional cabins and more stateroom choices.

The Oosterdam will be the first ship to undergo the Evolution refurbishment, debuting its new features in Fall 2027.

One of the features debuting onboard the ship is the Grand Dutch Café, which was previously available on the cruise line’ newest ships.

The ship will also introduce 76 new staterooms, including 30 solo verandahs, as well as new suites with panoramic ocean views.

Additional details of the project will be revealed at a later date, Bodensteiner said, noting that changes are being introduced in line with guests’ feedback.

The project aims to bring enhancements to the guest experience onboard the ships, as well as additional capacity and new features while maintaining a balanced guest-to-space and -to-crew ratio.

Holland America Line currently operates an 11-ship fleet that includes vessels built between 1999 and 2021.

The lineup includes mid-sized ships, such as the 61,215-ton Volendam, and larger vessels, including the 99,000-ton Rotterdam.

The Holland America Evolution program follows the AIDA Evolution program, which is currently being carried out by Germany-based AIDA Cruises.

As part of the initiative, the Carnival-owned brand is modernizing seven of its Sphinx-class ships, including the AIDAbella, which spent seven weeks in dry dock earlier this year.

Carnival Corporation’s CEO Josh Weinstein had previously said that the 2024-launched program was an early success.

He was also quoted as saying that the project was expected to drive “outsized returns” with investments being made where they can generate “incremental and outsized revenue.”