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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.
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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.
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0:00
what does Honda merica do differently
0:02
and the same to other premium cruise
0:05
lines
0:05
I'm Gary Bainbridge this is another of
0:08
my cruising tips for travelers Holland
0:09
America is one of the longest
0:11
established cruise companies in the
0:13
world it's been going for well over 140
0:17
years it's part of the Carnival Group
0:19
now it operates 14 ships with many more
0:22
on order it operates in the premium
0:24
sector so it competes with lines like
0:27
Celebrity Cruises Princess Cruises and
0:30
probably also brands like P&O Cruises
0:32
out of the UK so I want to look at four
0:35
things that I think hond America does
0:37
differently better and four things that
0:39
they do broadly the same so let's start
0:42
by taking a look at what they do
0:43
differently the first thing I think that
0:46
Holland America really does differently
0:48
is they definitely have a much more
0:50
classic maritime look and feel to their
0:54
desire celebrity is moving more and more
0:56
modern more contemporary princess I
0:58
guess is probably sort of more Resort
1:00
Hotel like in terms of design but
1:02
Holland American because of its
1:04
long-established heritage in the whole
1:07
world of cruising in the maritime I feel
1:09
they do have a much more traditionally
1:11
maritime link design and I really think
1:13
that sets them aside from other cruise
1:16
lines in their category the second thing
1:19
that they do differently which i think
1:20
is a fantastic innovation is the music
1:22
walk now depend on what ship you're on
1:24
they have all over some of these in
1:27
place but the entire music walk which is
1:29
on their newer ships consists of the
1:30
following you have Lincoln center stage
1:33
this is a partnership with the famous
1:34
New York Center so it's classical music
1:38
classical concerts then you have one of
1:40
the really popular of the music booked
1:42
venues and SSBB
1:44
Kings Blues Club so linked to the famous
1:47
musician it plays kind of jazzy funky
1:49
music and it's a really really popular
1:52
place and they have an eight piece band
1:54
really fantastic musicians great great
1:57
venue another really popular part of the
2:00
music walk is billboard onboard this is
2:02
two pianists sitting opposite each other
2:05
and they have different themed sessions
2:07
it might be 90s it might be requests it
2:10
might be Beatles it might be Brit
2:12
Invasion whatever it is
2:13
they play really high-energy sets really
2:16
really popular fine
2:17
whatever set they're playing it's really
2:18
busy and crowded a really good fun one
2:21
of the newer venues on telling the new
2:22
ships is the rolling stone rock rooms
2:25
this is a partnership with the magazine
2:27
and as an anti jesters is much more rock
2:29
music based and then you have the main
2:31
theater which is now called the world
2:33
stage and here you have the traditional
2:35
production shows song dance shows you
2:37
have guest artists of course and some of
2:39
the newer ships it's very high-tech
2:41
almost in the round type theater but
2:44
definitely without a shadow of a doubt
2:45
the music walk is one of the things that
2:46
they do differently real big focus on
2:49
music which i think is fantastic and the
2:51
venues are really really popular the
2:53
third thing that I think they do
2:55
differently and in many areas uniquely
2:58
is their real focus on excursions what
3:01
they've done on those ships is the old
3:03
Crowsnest
3:03
area has been converted into
3:05
explorations central or exc this is
3:09
where they really focus on destination
3:11
so you have your shore excursions up
3:13
here but you have your exe guides of
3:16
course that can help you and of course
3:17
they have all their tours as well but
3:20
what they do also have up here is these
3:23
interactive tables where you can go and
3:25
you can interact with your itinerary you
3:27
can look at facts and figures look at
3:30
the excursions look at maps of the place
3:32
they have an interactive wall as well
3:34
here they have some library area we can
3:36
get books and then also up here you also
3:39
have sort of a cafe area as well where
3:42
you can get during the day coffees teas
3:44
and also in the evenings of course you
3:46
can get drinks also linked to the whole
3:48
EXC experience there's a couple of other
3:50
things which they've done so on your
3:52
television channel in your stateroom you
3:55
have the exe channel where you can learn
3:57
and watch documentaries about where
3:59
you're going and you also watch various
4:01
videos about the different tours etc
4:03
that they have they've also created a
4:04
couple of other really interesting
4:05
things so they now have what's known as
4:08
the exe port to table so these are
4:11
cooking demonstrations which are linked
4:13
to different destinations where you can
4:14
learn how to cook different dishes from
4:17
around the world they also started
4:19
introduced some Exe photograph classes
4:21
to help you when you go out on tour to
4:24
take even better pictures so the real
4:27
focus
4:27
on excursions is a big part of what I
4:29
think makes it different they've
4:30
converted this whole area into a special
4:33
excursion destination focused area and
4:35
they create all these various sort of
4:36
products around the whole excursions
4:38
processes I do you think that is
4:40
different to the other lines the fourth
4:42
thing that I think they do different is
4:43
they have a range of partnerships which
4:45
are very different to the other
4:47
competitors in the premium area one of
4:49
those is with afar which is a Travel
4:52
Magazine and afar have created lots of
4:55
destination guides the port guides and
4:56
various different port related
4:59
information around the places that
5:01
you're going so all the stuff you watch
5:02
on the exc channel for example the
5:04
television is developed in partnership
5:06
with afar they also have a partnership
5:08
with Oprah Winfrey of course she is
5:10
actually a godmother to one of the ships
5:13
and they have a whole wellness program
5:15
and a book club program linked to oh by
5:18
Oprah Winfrey they have a partnership
5:20
with Microsoft where they run digital
5:22
workshops and there's a lot of digital
5:24
workshops taking place on board and
5:26
these are really popular - really nice
5:27
high tech venue with lots and lots of
5:30
different classes
5:31
another great partnership they have
5:33
which is also very popular is with the
5:35
BBC planet Earth so they have various
5:38
documentaries they run but one of the
5:39
really popular innovations they've
5:41
created are concerts around some of the
5:43
big BBC Earth programs with our show
5:46
footage
5:46
sometimes exclusive footage and the
5:48
music that goes with it so live music
5:51
concerts using the BBC earth programming
5:54
so what does Holland America do broadly
5:57
the same as the other premium lines well
5:59
first of all when we take a look at the
6:01
fairs they are pretty similar so both in
6:03
terms of the kind of the level of the
6:04
fairs but also importantly what is
6:05
included and what's excluded in the
6:07
fairs so if you take a look at most the
6:09
premium lines and and you take a look at
6:11
Holland America accommodations included
6:13
Dining's included all the most the
6:15
entertainments included access to pretty
6:17
much all of the facilities like the
6:19
fitness center pools all those kind of
6:22
things are included the key exception
6:24
all the cabanas which are the premium
6:25
little cabanas that you can rent out on
6:27
sea days or even on port days which is a
6:30
little private area away from the main
6:32
swimming pools
6:32
north speciality teas coffees water ice
6:36
tea is available in all of the
6:39
restaurants and the
6:40
buffet areas and also the club house
6:43
program so they have a whole kids
6:45
Clubhouse area which is also included
6:47
within the fair so what does the fair
6:49
exclude well it excludes gratuities
6:52
which are Auto added on to your bill on
6:55
board or you can also find rays of
6:57
prepaying those before you go on board
6:58
excursions are not included drinks are
7:01
not included they do offer drinks
7:03
packages specialty dining is not
7:05
included so within your fear you're
7:06
going to get the main dining room you're
7:08
going to get the Lido buffet you're
7:10
going to get some of the other more
7:10
informal dining venues especially a
7:12
dining is not included Wi-Fi is not
7:15
included that's an extra charge and of
7:17
course if you do things like shopping or
7:18
use the Medical Center that's very
7:20
consistent with the other premium cruise
7:22
lines the second thing they do the same
7:24
is they offer a pretty traditional
7:25
cruising experience so if you look at
7:27
the premium lines first of all you'll
7:28
find there's pretty classic cruise ships
7:30
you're not gonna find water slides and
7:32
theme parks and ice skating rinks and
7:34
all that kind of stuff it's very much
7:35
focused on a more traditional cruising
7:37
experience with the real focus on dining
7:39
and bars and some of the enrichment side
7:42
and of course fitness and sports so
7:44
you'll find there's a pretty traditional
7:45
ship that you're going to be
7:47
experiencing which is consistent across
7:48
the other lines secondly you'll find
7:50
that the entertainment off it is very
7:52
similar to the daily program in terms of
7:54
activities is fairly similar so you have
7:56
those production shows you can have
7:57
quizzes you're gonna bingo you will have
8:00
a casino so all the entertainment is up
8:03
is pretty traditional I'm pretty similar
8:05
to the other lines terms of dress code
8:07
it's also very similar as well so you
8:09
have your Garlin ayats where you're
8:10
encouraged to dress up but it's not as
8:13
formal as some of the lines like unite
8:15
for example where you have to make
8:16
tuxedos you can if you want to you find
8:19
even on Golan Heights a lot of people
8:20
just wear long sleeve shirts and smart
8:23
slacks you know if you go to the
8:24
specialty dining you're encouraged to
8:26
dress up more smartly but the dress code
8:28
is pretty relaxed so on casual nights
8:30
although you can't wear things like
8:31
shorts you can wear smart jeans into the
8:33
dining room so pretty similar to the
8:36
other lines these days you'll also find
8:38
the range of our tenders very similar
8:39
they have as I mentioned 14 chips and
8:41
growing they pretty much
8:43
cruise all around the world but there
8:44
are 10 Rees are pretty similar all the
8:46
destinations that you can go to on the
8:47
other lines you can also go to on
8:48
Holland America and then of course on
8:50
the ships you'll find that the range of
8:52
cabins is
8:53
this very similar so you can rent from
8:54
inside cabins right through to Suites
8:56
here of Ocean View balconies so a wide
8:58
range of cabins as you do on the other
9:00
lines Holland America I would say
9:02
appeals large to the same audience as
9:04
the other premium Cruise Line so you'll
9:06
find the bulk of passengers are American
9:08
although you'll find quite a diverse
9:10
range of find lots of Brits onboard
9:12
Australians onboard and increasingly
9:14
more and more nationalities as cruising
9:16
does become more kind of diverse but
9:18
it's very much American focused you'll
9:19
find that the profile is a little bit on
9:22
the older side you'll find 50 60 70 s
9:24
and above normally of course during the
9:27
more peak holiday time you'd like to
9:29
find more families more
9:30
multi-generational butters tend to be
9:32
slightly old has a reputation for having
9:33
a slightly older profile probably 50s
9:35
60s at its kind of core it does also
9:38
tend to have lots of couples on board so
9:40
it's not necessarily a big family Cruise
9:41
Line although it does have the clubhouse
9:44
facilities you'll find lots of couples
9:45
on board in terms of solos they're
9:47
starting to cater more to solos on some
9:49
of the newer ships that don't to have
9:50
solo cabins but you won't find a lot of
9:52
solar facilities all those solo
9:54
travelers do like : American they do
9:56
have programs once you're onboard but
9:58
did you end up having to pay often the
10:00
premium for traveling solar and again
10:02
they have a good range of accessibility
10:04
cabins which the other cruise lines in
10:06
this category do as well the other thing
10:08
they do relatively similar is the range
10:10
of dining options although of course
10:12
they are slightly different across all
10:14
of those lines so let me talk a little
10:15
bit about dining because I think the
10:17
quality of the food is consistent with
10:19
those premium lines which are or other
10:21
high standard operative diverse and lots
10:24
and lots of choice and they do cater for
10:26
all different sort of you know types of
10:28
no dietary needs whether it's gluten
10:31
vegetarian or whatever so or do they
10:33
actually offer so they have the main
10:35
dining room which all of the others do
10:37
at this point of time and they offer you
10:39
early seating late seating or you can go
10:41
for anytime dining they have a buffet
10:44
option which of course is always very
10:45
popular they have 24-hour room service
10:48
which is included within the fair and
10:52
they have a couple of other more
10:53
informal dining options so for example
10:56
you have dive in which is around the
10:57
pool which is the more burger place also
11:00
on some of the restaurants around the
11:01
pool area also have a pizza option which
11:03
is called slice of pizza when it comes
11:05
to specialty dining
11:07
again does differ slightly by ship but
11:09
they have a couple of really core
11:10
offerings that they have so pinnacle
11:12
grill which is sort of a flagship which
11:13
is their Steakhouse option that is on
11:17
pretty much all of the ships you'll also
11:19
find that they have broody Salome which
11:22
takes place in the pinnacle it's a pop
11:25
up it's their big seafood night they
11:28
have on some of the ships tamarind which
11:29
I really love which is like an Asian
11:31
fusion option they have Canaletto which
11:34
is an Italian which actually takes over
11:36
part of the buffet restaurant area
11:40
that's also really really popular they
11:42
also offer a great afternoon tea which
11:44
normally takes place in the main dining
11:46
room and that's also included within
11:47
your fare so dining options are very
11:50
similar to have you included but each of
11:52
the cruise lines do have slightly
11:54
different speciality restaurants and
11:55
those are the ones that you have on
11:56
Holland America on America a very
11:59
well-established well-loved line people
12:01
very passionate about her America I've
12:02
had great great trips on her America and
12:05
those are the four things that I see as
12:07
being very different and those are the
12:10
four things are seeing has been very
12:11
similar I have loads more videos about
12:13
Holland America and cruising in general
12:16
so why don't you watch another one of
12:17
those right now
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