What does Holland America do differently to
and the same as other premium cruise lines?
I'm Gary Bembridge, this is another of my cruising tips for travellers. Holland
America is one of the longest established cruise companies in the
world. It's been going for well over 140 years. It's part of the Carnival Group.
It operates 14 ships with many more on order. It operates in the premium
sector, so it competes with lines like Celebrity Cruises, Princess Cruises and
probably also brands like P&O Cruises out of the UK. So I want to look at four
things that I think Holland America does differently, better and four things that
they do broadly the same. Let's start by taking a look at what they do
differently. The first thing I think that Holland America really does differently
is they definitely have a much more classic maritime look and feel to their
ships. Celebrity is moving more and more modern, more contemporary. Princess I
guess is probably sort of more Resort Hotel like in terms of design, but
Holland American because of its long-established heritage in the whole
world of cruising and maritime feel. I feel they do have a much more traditionally
maritime linked design, and I really think that sets them aside from other cruise
lines in their category. The second thing that they do differently, which I think
is a fantastic innovation, is the Music Walk. Now depending on what ship you're on,
they have all or some of these in place, but the entire Music Walk which is
on their newer ships consists of the following: you have Lincoln Center Stage,
this is a partnership with the famous New York Center and it's classical music,
classical concerts. Then you have one of the really popular of the Music Walk
venues the BB King's Blues Club, so linked to the famous
musician. It plays kind of jazzy funky music, and it's a really popular
place and they have an eight-piece band, with really fantastic musicians. Great great
venue. Another really popular part of the Music Walk is Billboard Onboard. This is
two pianists sitting opposite each other, and they have different themed sessions.
It might be 90s, it might be requests, it might be Beatles, it might be Brit
Invasion whatever it is. They play really high-energy sets, really
really popular whatever set they're playing. It's really
busy and crowded, really good fun. One of the newer venues on the newer
ships is the Rollingstone Rock Room. This is a partnership with the magazine,
and as the name suggests it is rock music based, and then you have the Main
Theatre, which is now called the World Stage and here you have the traditional
production shows, song and dance shows, you have guest artists of course, and on some of
the newer ships it's very high-tech in the round type theatre, but
definitely without a shadow of a doubt the Music Walk is one of the things that
they do differently. A real big focus on music which I think is fantastic, and the
venues are really really popular. The third thing that I think they do
differently and in many areas uniquely is their real focus on excursions. What
they've done on those ships is the old Crow's Nest
area has been converted into Explorations Central or EXC, this is
where they really focus on destinations You have the shore excursions up
here, but you have your EXC guides of course that can help you and of course
they have all their tours as well, but what they also have up here are
interactive tables where you can go and you can interact with your itinerary, you
can look at facts and figures, look at the excursions, look at maps of the place.
They have an interactive wall as well here, they have a library area with guide books and then also up here you have a cafe area as well where
you can get, during the day, coffees and teas and also in the evenings you
can get drinks. Also linked to the whole EXC experience, there's a couple of other
things which they've done. On the television in your stateroom you
have the EXC channel where you can learn and watch documentaries about where
you're going, and you also watch various videos about the different tours etc
that they have. They've also created a couple of other really interesting
things, so they now have what's known as the EXC Port-to-table. These are
cooking demonstrations which are linked to different destinations, where you can
learn how to cook different dishes from around the world. They also started
introducing some EXC Photography classes to help you, when you go out on tour, to
take even better pictures. The real focus
on excursions is a big part of what I think makes it different. They've
converted this whole area into a special excursion destination focused area and
they create all these various products around the whole excursions
processes. I do you think that is different to the other lines. The fourth
thing that I think they do differently is they have a range of partnerships which
are very different to the other competitors in the premium area. One of
those is with Afar, which is a Travel Magazine and Afar have created lots of
destination guides, the port guides and various different port related
information around the places that you're going, so all the stuff you watch
on the EXC channel for example on the television is developed in partnership
with Afar. hey also have a partnership with Oprah Winfrey, of course she is
actually a godmother to one of the ships, and they have a whole wellness program
and a book club program linked to O by Oprah Winfrey. They have a partnership
with Microsoft where they run digital workshops, and there's a lot of digital
workshops taking place on board and these are really popular - really nice
high tech venue with lots and lots of different classes.
Another great partnership they have which is also very popular is with the
BBC Planet Earth. They have various documentaries they run, but one of the
really popular innovations they've created are concerts around some of the
big BBC Earth programs with the show footage,
sometimes exclusive footage and the music that goes with it. So live music
concerts using the BBC earth programming. So, what does Holland America do broadly
the same as the other premium lines? Well first of all, when we take a look at the
fares they are pretty similar. So, both in terms of the kind of the level of the
fares but also importantly what is included, and what's excluded in the
fares. If you take a look at most premium lines, and and you take a look at
Holland America: accommodation is included, Dining is included, all the
entertainment is included, access to pretty much all of the facilities like the
fitness centre, pools, all those kind of things are included. The key exception
all the Cabanas, which are the premium little cabanas that you can rent out on
sea days (or even on port days) which is a little private area away from the main
swimming pools, non-speciality teas, coffees, water, ice
tea is available in all of the restaurants and the
buffet areas and also the Club HAL program. They have a whole kids'
Clubhouse area, which is also included within the fare. So, what does the fare
exclude? It excludes gratuities, which are Auto-added on to your bill on
board or you can also find ways of pre-paying those before you go on board.
Excursions are not included, drinks are not included, they do offer drinks
packages, specialty dining is not included. Within your fare you're
going to get the main dining room, you're going to get the Lido buffet, you're
going to get some of the other more informal dining venues but speciality
dining is not included. Wi-Fi is not included, that's an extra charge and, of
course, if you do things like shopping or use the Medical Center that's very
consistent with the other premium cruise lines. The second thing they do the same
is they offer a pretty traditional cruising experience, so if you look at
the premium lines, first of all you'll find there's pretty classic cruise ships.
You're not going to find water slides and theme parks and ice skating rinks and
all that kind of stuff, it's very much focused on a more traditional cruising
experience with the real focus on dining and bars, and some of the enrichment side,
and of course fitness and sports. So you'll find there's a pretty traditional
ship that you're going to be experiencing, which is consistent across
the other lines. Secondly you'll find that the entertainment offered is very
similar in the daily program, in terms of activities it is fairly similar: you have
those production shows, you can have quizzes, you're going to have bingo, you will have
a casino, so all the entertainment is all pretty traditional. Also pretty similar
to the other lines terms of dress code. It's also very similar as well so you
have your Gala Nights. where you're encouraged to dress up - but it's not as
formal as some of the lines like Cunard for example where you have to wear
tuxedos. You can if you want to, but you find even on Gala Nights a lot of people
just wear long sleeve shirts and smart slacks. If you go to the
specialty dining, you're encouraged to dress up more smartly, but the dress code
is pretty relaxed. On casual nights although you can't wear things like
shorts, you can wear smart jeans into the dining room - so pretty similar to the
other lines these days. You'll also find the range of itineraries very similar.
They have, as I mentioned, 14 ships and growing. They pretty much
cruise all around the world but their itineraries are pretty similar, all the
destinations that you can go to on the other lines you can also go to on
Holland America. And then of course on the ships you'll find that the range of
cabins is this very similar. You can choose from
inside cabins right through to Suites, Ocean View, balconies - so a wide
range of cabins as you do on the other lines. Holland America I would say
appeals large to the same audience as the other premium Cruise Line. You'll
find the bulk of passengers are American, although you'll find quite a diverse
range of find lots of Brits onboard, Australians onboard and increasingly
more and more nationalities as cruising does become more kind of diverse - but
it's very much American focused. You'll find that the profile is a little bit on
the older side you'll find 50, 60, 70 s and above normally. Of course during the
more peak holiday time you'd likely find more families, more
multi-generational groups but it tends to be slightly older, and has a reputation for having
a slightly older profile probably 50s 60s at its kind of core. It does also
tend to have lots of couples on board, so it's not necessarily a big family Cruise
Line although it does have the clubhouse facilities. You'll find lots of couples
on board. In terms of solos, they're starting to cater more to solos, on some
of the newer ships they do have solo cabins, but you won't find a lot of
solo facilities although solo travellers do like Holland America. They do
have programs once you're onboard, but did you end up having to pay often the
premium for traveling solo. They have a good range of accessibility
cabins which the other cruise lines in this category do as well. The other thing
they do relatively similar, is the range of dining options. Although of course
they are slightly different across all of those lines, so let me talk a little
bit about dining because I think the quality of the food is consistent with
those premium lines which are of a high standard and diverse with lots
and lots of choice, and they do cater for all different types of dietary needs whether it's gluten, vegetarian or whatever. They have the main dining room, which all of the others do
at this point of time and they offer you early seating, late seating or you can go
for anytime dining. They have a buffet option which, of course, is always very
popular, they have 24-hour room service which is included within the fare and
they have a couple of other more informal dining options. For example
you have Dive In, which is around the pool which is the more burger place, also
on some of the ships around the pool area also have a pizza option which
is called Slice Pizza. When it comes to specialty dining,
again does differ slightly by ship but they have a couple of really core
offerings that they have. Pinnacle Grill which is sort of a flagship which
is their Steakhouse option that is on pretty much all of the ships, you'll also
find that they have Rudi Sale der Mer which takes place in the Pinnacle. It's a pop
up it's their big seafood night. They have on some of the ships Tamarind, which
I really love, which is like an Asian fusion option. They have Canaletto which
is an Italian, which actually takes over part of the buffet restaurant area -
that's also really really popular. They also offer a great afternoon tea, which
normally takes place in the main dining room and that's also included within
your fare. So dining options are very similar although each of
the cruise lines do have slightly different speciality restaurants and
those are the ones that you have on Holland America. Holland America a very
well-established, well-loved line with people very passionate about Holland America. I've
had great great trips on Holland America. Those are the four things that I see as
being very different and those are the four things are seeing being very
similar. I have loads more videos about Holland America and cruising in general
so why don't you watch another one of those right now?
