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Holland America Line is one of the most popular cruise lines. Discover the things you need to now about cruising with Holland America before you go. I share tips and advice on everything from what to budget for (what the fare does and does not include), dress code and passenger type and mix.
Every week Gary Bembridge's Tips For Travellers Channel posts a video to help you make the most of your precious travel time and money on both land and at sea. First-hand travel inspiration, advice and tips based on the over 20 years I have been travelling every month.
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Show More Show Less View Video Transcript
0:00
hi I'm Gary beverage of tips for
0:02
travelers in this video I'm going to
0:03
tell you the six things that I believe
0:05
you absolutely need to know about the
0:07
hund America line before you cruise with
0:09
them first of all who is Holland America
0:12
Line best suited for it does tend to
0:14
have a reputation for attracting a
0:16
slightly older cruiser and that's partly
0:18
because it has a very traditional
0:19
cruising experience so if you're looking
0:21
for a fairly traditional Cruise and
0:23
onboard you're not looking for ice rinks
0:25
bowling rinks and climbing walls but
0:28
you're just looking more for bars
0:29
lounges some enrichment so entertainment
0:33
cooking classes and a fairly traditional
0:35
approach to dining Holland America is a
0:38
great line for you
0:39
most cruises are like to be there 50 60s
0:41
and above saying that there are a lot of
0:44
families who's gotten home in America
0:45
particularly in the summer vacations
0:47
they are very used to catering for solo
0:49
travelers they're also used to taking on
0:51
people who might be in a wheelchair so
0:53
they have accessible cabins they have
0:55
tours which are wheelchair friendly
0:57
you're going to find onboard most of the
0:59
people are likely to be American and
1:01
you'll find the whole body experience is
1:02
the US focus but certainly if you're
1:04
looking for a traditional cruising
1:05
experience Holland America is a great
1:07
line for you so the second thing you
1:09
need to understand about Holland America
1:10
is their fare what does it include and
1:13
importantly of course what does it
1:14
exclude first of all of course it
1:16
includes your accommodation so whether
1:17
you've booked an inside cabin through to
1:19
a suite second thing it includes is
1:21
meals breakfast your lunch your dinner
1:23
can either be taken in the main dining
1:25
room or it can be taken in one of the
1:27
other complimentary venues such as the
1:30
Lido market or the pizza place or the
1:34
burger place in the dining room in the
1:36
afternoons they have afternoon tea which
1:38
is included within the fair the other
1:39
thing that's included when it comes to
1:41
drinks are the followings regular te
1:42
regular coffee hot chocolate lemonade
1:45
iced tea and of course water you also
1:48
get access to basically all of the
1:50
facilities with one key exception which
1:52
are the cabanas which are an area you
1:54
pay to have access now if you have kids
1:57
the access to the kids club is also free
1:59
so between the ages of 3 and 17
2:01
they have club power entertainment is
2:03
also included in the fair and there's a
2:05
couple of things that I really wanted to
2:06
draw your attention to on Holland
2:08
America one of the big innovations and
2:09
things that are
2:10
running across the fleet is what's known
2:11
as the music walk for different and
2:14
varied venues first of these is known as
2:17
Lincoln center stage this is a
2:19
partnership with the Lincoln Center
2:21
which is one of the world's leading
2:23
centers for Performing Arts
2:25
here you have classical concerts and
2:27
various recitals a little bit further
2:28
along is BB Kings
2:30
Blues Club you have the BB King's
2:32
all-stars ban it and every single night
2:34
they have a number of shows the third
2:37
one and probably the most popular is
2:38
billboard onboard here you have two
2:41
pianists and singers facing each other
2:43
at each evening they do a series of
2:45
shows around different theme then of
2:48
course you have what's known as the
2:49
mainstage this is the big theater where
2:52
they hold the production shows and have
2:55
guests entertained during the day they
2:57
may have some enrichment lectures here
2:59
as well other really important things
3:00
that I wanted to note that are included
3:03
within the fair is if you have digital
3:05
workshops which are on partnership with
3:08
Windows Microsoft also a partnership
3:11
with America's Test Kitchen where you
3:13
have there is cooking demonstrations and
3:15
displays right throughout the cruise
3:18
they also have a partnership with a
3:20
magazine so the Oprah Winfrey magazine
3:22
where they have various wellness
3:23
activities like meditation the book club
3:25
they also have a partnership with BBC
3:27
Earth so they'll have lots of activities
3:30
and programs or shows featured around
3:33
the wildlife the nature so what's not
3:36
included within your Holland America
3:37
fair the first of these are gratuities
3:40
so gratuities at the time of recording
3:42
are $13 fifty per person if you're in a
3:46
balcony or inside cavern or if you're in
3:48
a suite that goes up to $15 per person
3:51
per day
3:51
15% will be added to all drink spills
3:54
and 50% will be added to any treatments
3:57
that you have within the spa and also in
3:59
the casino if you want to tip you need
4:01
to tip separately the second cost are
4:03
drinks alcoholic beverages and specialty
4:06
teas and coffees are not included in
4:08
your fare now what's important to know
4:10
is you can bring basically one bottle of
4:12
wine on board and there's no charge that
4:14
if you drink it within your cabin when
4:16
you come back from excursions if you do
4:18
bring on board any alcohol it's taken
4:20
from you
4:21
and it's kept to one side until the end
4:22
of the cruise there's a whole range of
4:24
drinks packages available and they range
4:26
from very simple soft drinks packages
4:29
right through to ultimate drinks
4:31
packages the third thing that's not
4:33
included in your fare is excursions in
4:35
either book with Holland America Line
4:37
and go on their tours which they do
4:38
guarantee then if there's any problems
4:40
they're running late the ship will wait
4:42
for you there are independent providers
4:43
who will sell similar tours but they
4:46
don't have that guarantee you then of
4:47
course you could use things which I
4:49
often like to do in some ports which is
4:50
hop on hop off buses because they often
4:52
call it the port where the Holland
4:55
America ships calling now although a lot
4:57
of dining is included within the fare
4:58
there are a number of speciality dining
5:00
options and depending on the ship they
5:01
differ slightly the ones that you should
5:04
be aware of are the Pinnacle Grill this
5:06
is their steak and seafood restaurant
5:07
it's something that whole America are
5:08
very proud of and you pay at the time of
5:11
recording $35 per person to dine in
5:13
there one of my favorites which is on
5:15
many of the ships is tamarind this is an
5:17
Asian fusion restaurant and you pay $25
5:21
per person at the time according to go
5:22
there's also on many other ships an
5:24
Italian option which is called Canaletto
5:27
you pay $15 to go to Cal Mehta Rudy's
5:30
seldom air option it's held about once
5:32
every seven days on a cruise is within
5:34
the Pinnacle Grill and this is a big
5:36
seafood fest and that costs around about
5:39
forty five dollars per person
5:41
now the third critical thing you need to
5:42
know is the dress code so basically they
5:45
have in the evenings anyway as smart
5:47
casual approach which means that
5:49
actually jeans as long as they're not
5:50
ripped and torn are actually fine in the
5:52
main dining room and even you can get
5:54
away with t-shirts shorts tank tops are
5:57
not allowed in the dining restaurants at
5:59
all in the evening now roughly two
6:02
nights out of every seven on a cruise
6:04
are garland nights where they do ask
6:06
people to dress up a little bit more you
6:08
know so what I often do is just take
6:09
some smart trousers and some long-sleeve
6:11
you know button-up shirts some people do
6:14
like to wear jackets some people like to
6:15
dress up even more so for ladies your
6:18
ladies would wear these dresses similar
6:20
to what you might find at a sort of
6:22
daytime wedding so quite dressy but not
6:24
massively dressy on Golan Heights you
6:26
can wear jeans in the cash
6:28
dining restaurant so the dress code is
6:30
smart without being very formal and so
6:33
you shouldn't worry if you don't like
6:35
particularly dressing up a lot
6:36
now her America have re looked
6:38
extensively the way that they deal with
6:41
excursions and they've created a new
6:43
umbrella which is called explorations
6:45
central they have taken over the crow's
6:48
nest and converted to what's known as
6:50
exe central you have the tour disk there
6:52
then you have the exe guides which are
6:54
the staff that man the desk that help
6:57
you understand the destination and give
6:58
you tips if you want a self explore you
7:00
have some interactive tables where you
7:03
can find out more about the ports and
7:04
what's going on you'll find leaflets
7:06
about the different excursions and
7:08
attractions
7:09
you'll also find there's various books
7:11
about the destinations you have exe
7:14
talks which are about the destination or
7:16
the history of the destination you also
7:18
have exe encounters where they'll often
7:19
bring local entertainers or craftsmen on
7:22
board so you get as some immersion into
7:24
the port that you're calling on then on
7:27
the television there's an exe channel
7:29
which will have highlights of the
7:30
different port recording on or
7:32
documentaries linked to the destination
7:34
or area that you're traveling through so
7:36
if you've booked a cruise on Holland
7:37
America's two critical things that I
7:39
recommend you do before you go log into
7:41
on the website the cruise personalize
7:44
you can download your luggage tags you
7:46
can download your documents that you
7:48
need to check in but very importantly
7:50
you can start to book things like your
7:52
drinks packages bar treatments all your
7:55
excursions and you can also book your
7:56
speciality dining the second thing I
7:58
recommend you do is go to cruise critic
8:00
and look for the roll call 400 America
8:04
line and look for your cruise and find
8:06
out if there's going to be a cruise
8:07
critic meet and mingle held onboard
8:09
again that's a great way to tell at the
8:11
beginning of the cruise there's normally
8:12
free drinks and free snacks and it's a
8:15
chance to meet other people now my sixth
8:18
tip is how do you make the most of your
8:20
time on board the one tip that I would
8:22
have that will really help you maximize
8:25
your time on board is the app which is
8:27
called the Han American navigator app
8:29
it's completely free to use it does work
8:31
through Wi-Fi but you're not gonna pay
8:32
any Wi-Fi charges and on this you can do
8:35
a number of things that has the daily
8:36
program and the great thing about that
8:37
is you can create your own personal
8:39
daily Pro
8:40
by selecting the items you want it'll
8:42
just show you will daily program for the
8:43
day it also lets you book excursions it
8:47
also lets you book some of your dining
8:49
options your speciality dining options
8:50
another great feature is you can also
8:53
look at your account balance you don't
8:55
go to the front desk if you keep a track
8:56
day by day of what you're spending so if
8:59
you plan to travel on hundred America I
9:00
hope these tips have really helped you
9:02
as I mentioned it's a traditional
9:04
cruising experience it's a premium
9:06
experience I think the ships and the day
9:09
car are very beautiful I like its link
9:11
back to its old maritime heritage if
9:13
you're doing this video I love it if you
9:15
watched many more of my videos because
9:17
you'll get much more travel inspiration
9:19
advice and tips
9:21
[Music]
9:25
[Applause]
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