What does Holland America Line do Better Or Worse Than Other premium Cruise Lines? I explore the 5 things that Holland America Line does differently and the 5 things they do the same as other premium cruise lines they compete with like Princess Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Cunard and P&O Cruises. I look at things like the on-board experience, facilities, dining, entertainment, fares and cabins.
SUPPORT THE CHANNEL BY:
Buying my Cruise T-shirts: http://bit.ly/TFTStore
Booking your next cruise with CRUISEDIRECT.COM: http://bit.ly/TFTBookCruise
WATCH THESE POPULAR RECENT VIDEOS:
10 Cabins to Avoid: https://youtu.be/PgTGLma919A
European River Cruise Watch-Outs: https://youtu.be/oqhz54wStyk
5 Cruises To Avoid: https://youtu.be/CNiPzK4IRWA
Alaska Cruise Need-to-Knows: https://youtu.be/Tn7dpNw5kSI
Things Cruise Lines Don’t Want You to Know: https://youtu.be/cs5UKha9ALc
Rules Passengers Break Most: https://youtu.be/djZLZ3XV_f0
Things You Can’t Do On A Cruise Any More: https://youtu.be/zas6F4wMD0Q
Should You Pay Cruise Gratuities: https://youtu.be/QBYzqxXjEXQ
Gary Bembridge’s Tips For Travellers aims to help you make more of your precious travel time and money on land and when cruising the oceans or rivers of the world. To help you, in every video I draw on my first-hand tips and advice from travelling every month for over 20 years and 77 cruises at time of making this video.
Follow Tips For Travellers on:
– Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/garybembridge
– Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/tipsfortravellers
– Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/garybembridge
#HollandAmerica #HollandAmericaTips #HollandAmericaLine
00:00 Start
00:47 Destinations
01:19 Music
02:55 Excursions
04:43 Partners
06:00 Fares
07:24 Cruise Experience
09:01 Passenger Types
10:08 Dining
Hello , we're contemplating our first HAL cruise (28 night Westerdam Asia) but are concerned about the lack of good entertainment and perhaps the lack of sparkle around the ship. Am I worried about nothing? I'm generally a Celebrity Cruises fan . Is the jump too wide? Cheers Steve
just returned from an eastern med cruise on the Oosterdam which i believe is one of the older ships , picked mainly for the ports of call with only one day at sea which is perfect. could not fault the dining in the main restaurant the food was superb one of the head chefs coming to our table every night to ask for our comments ,the waiters excellent, cabin stewards were amazing i could not ask for better. Also for $100 the laundry service was excellent everything you could put in the laundry bag (which quite a bit) returned on hangers the next day for the duration of the cruise(no brainer) not a "Butlins on sea experience" will cruise again with them
So helpful. Thank you!
The new Sun Princess’s furtive cruise area is now the same as NCL.
HAL doesn't continuously nag you with announcements all day. They have an actual promenade with seats. They have quiet places.
So much of the first half of this video needs to be updated for 2024. A lot has changed.
@tipsfortravellers Great staff and musicians, no question. Sadly HAL, has been cutting corners and cheaping out lately. E.g. The wonderful BB Kings band is now only on their 3 Pinnacle Class ships (as of April, 2024) and not on the remaining 8 ships! Also their main stage entertainment is definitely less than that of other cruise lines in the same price range – E.g. the Main Stage entertainment should be more than say a documentary film about HAL's history, or a lone standup comedian in a theater of 800 people
We would like to add Holland America to the cruises we have been on. I wonder how their Australian cruise is?
LOVE HAL!
Gary, just say it..!!! They have NO SHOWS. Why dance around it? No comedians. No Broadway-type shows. No jugglers. No big-name singers. The World Stage is huge show room BUT THERE ARE NO BIG SHOWS. Come on, Gary, just say it. The ONLY thing different about HAL is no shows. I had to go on the new Rotterdam to find out that they have no shows. My experience on HAL was that if your idea of entertainment is getting drunk in a bar, HAL is perfect for you.
62 years young. I love HAL. Main reason no
kids or at least very few. I don't pay for kids doing cannonballs in the pool.
Hello sir good morning 🌄
They were the absolute worst ship line that I have ever traveled upon. I will NEVER SAIL WITH THEM AGAIN!
Not a fan after sailing on the new Rotterdam as my first HAL cruise. The music walk is pretty much all there is for entertainment in my opinion. Their new world theater was beautiful but a waste of space. The opening night show was literally a movie projected on the screen that was a documentary about how great HAL has been for 150 years. Snooze fest. Another night had a barbershop quartet which was very talented but more suitable to a small lounge on a normal cruise ship. One night was a small modern dance troupe. Great dancers but not even close to a big "show.". I recommend HAL for people who like to sit in a bar and drink all night and listen to music. I'm not a fan of the "bar scene" so HAL was pretty boring for me. If you want entertainment and, especially, a real "show" such as a production show or a notable comedian or singer, HAL is not for you.
we love Holland America, long cruises and places other cruise lines dont go, Sips are small customer service is great, our favorate cruise line
going in 11 days on my first HAL cruise im 37
Thank you so much for putting out these videos. Your channel has become my go to for all things cruising and I’ve learned an enormous amount from your videos. You do an awesome job and I cannot imagine how long it must take you to make these videos. They’re so informative! I have only sailed on three cruises but I have become hooked on it. My last cruise was with NCL Star recently. I wasn’t all that impressed but they do seem to have more destinations or leave from more ports than HAL. I’m planning my next cruise on HAL. From what I’ve learned about them from you, they would fit me very well.
My wife and I along with 4 others in our party got Covid 2 weeks ago on a HAL cruise to Alaska
I took a week-long cruise with HAL this past June to the Norwegian Fjords, it was my first cruise ever. And as first impressions go HAL was amazing. The staff, the food, the excursions. Everything was top-notch. We somehow lucked out and got a bunch of extras for free when we booked: the wifi, a drinks package (for all drinks sub 11 usd, max 15 a day I believe but we never hit that limit), a credit for specialty dining, a 100usd credit to be used at our convenience on anything except the shops and the casino.
I've always been hesitent to go on a cruise because most of them look so 'loud'. Loud parties, water slides, massive casinos, … More a floating themepark really. And I was very happy that HAL couldn't be farther from that if they tried. Much more classy and aimed at experiences than partying which I absolutely loved.
Everything was kept meticulously clean as well, to an honestly impressive and borderline obessive degree.
The fact their ships aren't that huge is a big plus as well, we could sail through all the tiny fjords and just dock at the pier. Didn't need to use a boat once to get to land.
I literally only have one minor gripe and that's about the included sit-in dining experience. The food wasn't bad in any way, it was just very average compared to the specialty restaurants. Like most of the food was cooked in massive batches and just reheated as opposed to cooked on demand. Which makes sense given the volume they got each day.
The buffet and all the specialty restaurants though? Top notch, so we opted to eat at the specialty ones every evening except for 2 nights. One just to give the included restaurant a try and the second because it was the last evening and they were all fully booked! Ate some amazing foods and had an overall amazing time.
4.5 stars easy, honestly closer to 4.9. I'll gladly recommend anyone to take a cruise with them.
And piano bar is a big let down, not much fun & when they purposely change words as reading them because they don't like the original words. NOT FUN.