Simon Douwes is the director of deployment and itinerary planning for Holland America Line. Appointed to this position in 2002, he has the responsibility of researching, developing and implementing new and existing itineraries and deployment for all ships in the Holland America Line fleet.

Douwes began his career at Holland America Line as an officer shortly after graduating from the Nautical Academy in Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 1978. He steadily rose through the ranks and was promoted to captain in 1993. He served as captain on many of the HAL ships between 1993 and 2002.