Holland America Line, the luxury subsidiary of cruise industry leader Carnival Corporation, says it will hire some 400 Filipino seafarers for the company’s newest cruise ship named Nieuw Statendam. Set to debut in December this year the Pinnacle Class vessel Nieuw Statendam, will have a capacity of 2650 guests and 1300 crew.

According to HAL President Orlando Ashford who have visited the training facilities in the Philippines, they are very pleased by the work of the seafarers coming from this country. Therefore the company has decided to hire some 34% of the crew for their latest luxury cruise liner.

"What we've found is that our Filipino partners is they're smart, energetic, they have a great sense of humor, and we really want that in connecting with our guests," Ashford said in an interview for ABS CBN News.

Holland America Line operates two training facilities in the Philippines, at Antipolo and Intramuros. Hiring of Filipino crew members has fallen due to competition from other countries, HAL President believes his company will continue to recruit more employees from this country.