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I Test If What People Say About HOLLAND AMERICA Is True
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Jan 28, 2025
I asked cruisers what they thought about Holland America Line and they had 3 big issues with the cruise line. So, I cruised with them again to find out of these 3 criticisms were valid. This is what I found out, along with a surprising fall out from the trip ABOUT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS: If you want to get cruising right, Tips For Travellers makes it easy to plan and have the incredible cruise experiences you dream of every time. All my Tips For Travellers advice, tips and tricks tips draw on everything that I have learnt on the 89 cruises I have done to date. BUY MY CRUISE-THEMED T-SHIRTs ————————————————- Check out my T-Shirt range: http://bit.ly/TFTStore SUPPORT TIPS FOR TRAVELLERS ————————————————————— Become a Channel Member and get perks: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/Join Become a Patron on Patreon and get perks: https://www.patreon.com/tipsfortravellers Make a donation: https://www.paypal.com/donate?hosted_button_id=V9STJGYSEMGLJ Buy my book “Cruise Traveler’s Handbook: USA Amazon https://amzn.to/2YVFmG4 and https://amzn.to/3tzIxBn UK Amazon https://amzn.to/3oXbzYc and https://amzn.to/3qawqIQ FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA ——————————————— TikTok: @garybembridge
View Video Transcript
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recently i asked viewers like you what
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they thought of holland america and i
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was surprised at the strength of
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negative views that came back so i
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decided that i should explore the three
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biggest and consistent criticisms upon
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america to see if they were still valid
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i've been on a number of honda america
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trips over the years but to see if and
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how things have changed i booked myself
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on an 11 night new statter damn cruise
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where i am now to specifically explore
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those three pressing issues
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i was surprised by what i've found as
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things have changed in ways i had not
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expected and as you'll discover there
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was an unexpected fallout from my trip
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if you're new here welcome aboard i'm
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gary bembridge and it's my goal to make
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it fun and easy to discover plan and
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enjoy unforgettable cruise vacations
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the first key criticism or observation
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that people had about holland america
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was that it's for old people now of
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course what is old depends on your
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definition
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and that too is changing i'm 62 years
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old i don't see myself as old i like
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popular music technology i'm very active
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and adventurous there is a reality about
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holland america that does need to be
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considered and explored holland america
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is definitely a classic and traditional
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cruise line they don't have resort ships
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with water parks rock climbing walls ice
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rinks and video game arcades they do
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have a more sober style cruise ships
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with familiar and long-standing cruise
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ship features and facilities like
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restaurants bars theater spa and pools
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the daily program probably hasn't
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changed that much over the last couple
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of decades it's structured around
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enrichment quizzes
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dancing live music dining bingo and
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production shows their focus is on a
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more i guess genteel and sophisticated
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rather than a party upbeat schedule
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holland america is a mid to large ship
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premium line which means it competes
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with lines like celebrity
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cunard and princess in terms of pricing
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anyway it's not as inexpensive overall
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as resort lines like royal caribbean
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carnival norwegian and msc cruises
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nor
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is it as costly as ultra luxury lines
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like seabourn silversea and region 7c
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it's also less expensive than the
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smaller ship premium to luxury lines
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like windstar azamara and oceania so
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that's kind of where it sits so that
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combination of ship style daily program
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and pricing is going to attract a
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certain type of cruiser
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honda america attracts people who like
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classic traditional and a laid-back type
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of cruising and want to avoid in fact a
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more energetic party resort atmosphere
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another thing that's important to note
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is honda america itineraries in my view
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also strongly affects the kind of people
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traveling on the cruise line
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so while they cover crowd-pleasing and
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popular sun and sea regions like the
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caribbean and the mediterranean they
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focus much more on destinations that are
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high on unique landscapes culture
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history art
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and appeal to travelers looking for a
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really clear
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distinctive destination experience for
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example they are the longest operating
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cruise line in alaska they've been there
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for over 75 years even when they go into
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the mediterranean they tend to focus a
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lot on ports that have cultural historic
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connections and their excursions also
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reflect that they cover the baltics
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south america and they skirt antarctica
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they also do world voyages taking
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travellers to exotic parts of the world
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in asia for example
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the bulk of their destination
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itineraries are going to appeal to
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travelers interested very much in the
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destination the places it's going to and
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what they can do once they get there
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rather than the ship and resort
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experience it's about going places so in
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my view the reality
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is they are going to attract that type
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of cruiser that group tend to be a bit
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more shall we say mature like me a
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combination of wanting those itineraries
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with that sort of pricing and a more
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laid back rather than party and resort
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on-board experience
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is the kind of traveler it appeals to
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though the reality is that things on
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board are changing for example
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on their newer pinnacle class ships
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which i'm actually on now which includes
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the conning stand the new staten dam and
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the rotterdam they have as they do on
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all their ships the club hal kids clubs
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these are ramped up they're bigger they
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cater for kids from early ages through
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to teens they also have family rooms on
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board these new ships
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so they're starting to cater more for
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families particularly in destinations
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like the caribbean and the mediterranean
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during school holiday time this means
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that more multi-generational groups and
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to lesser grief families by themselves
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are starting to appear on board during
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those times
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they're also focused more than ever on
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solo travelers although they do only
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have limited amounts of solar cabins on
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the newer ships
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but they do cater across all their ships
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with programs for solo travellers solar
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travelers who tend to be a little bit
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more mature
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due to the holland america mix and
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appeal they're not solo is looking for a
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party despite these moves honda america
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does still offer travelers cruises where
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they can be fairly sure there'll be no
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or relatively few kids on board most the
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time so again that appeals to a certain
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type of traveler
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hopping back to my point about people
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demographically being more mature on the
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older side they do act and behave very
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differently
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and that's changing fast over the last
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few years to cruise on holland america
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you need to be pretty sharp with
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technology the navigator smartphone app
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has become fundamental to the cruise
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experience you use it to check in
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there's a daily program on your book can
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manage shore excursions dining
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reservations you review your statement
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and so on you can manage without it but
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most travelers are tech savvy and use it
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i had so many people coming to say to me
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they watch my youtube videos showing
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people coming on board holland america
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are tech savvy and confident remember
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this is the facebook generation now i
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guess so it's definitely evolving
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holland america is i could argue for
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people who are a little bit on the older
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side probably
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but it's more about what they offer
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and that appeals to people who seeking
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what they offer and at the moment they
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perhaps tend to be a little bit older so
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whilst the average age is possibly a
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little bit higher than some of the other
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premium lines like celebrity
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in reality it's not that different to
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princess cunard and those other premium
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lines
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does it mean it's fuddy-duddy and boring
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as that was the second big criticism
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though that people had is that true
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again i've seen some significant changes
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over the last couple of years on holland
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america and certainly on these pinnacle
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class ships even more so let me talk
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about some of those things first of all
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probably the biggest change is the music
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walk this is a big innovation and this
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has changed the on-board experience a
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lot the music war consists of a series
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of themed and partnership music venues
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close to each other on one deck which is
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deck 2 on the pinnacle class ships
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there's the lincoln center stage
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offering live classical music in
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partnership with the famous lincoln
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center in new york
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there's billboard on board with two
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pianists playing themed dueling piano
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sets again in partnership with the
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famous billboard organization then
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there's the rolling stone rock room on
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the pinnacle class ships in partnership
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with the famous magazine again obviously
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playing rock music
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probably the most popular is bb king's
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blues club again in partnership with the
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famous bb kings organization they have
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an eight piece band playing here every
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night finally there's now the high tech
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world stage which is the main theater
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which focuses very much on music and
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dance shows
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if you are into music holland america
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definitely isn't boring as there's a
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constant and very diverse range of life
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music right throughout the evening
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every single evening the other thing
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that i think has shifted to become
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trendier is the day call while the decor
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was still fairly classic many people
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called out and remarked to me that the
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artwork has changed significantly
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here on holland america
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it's now quirkier it's more unusual for
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example on new stattendam it's very much
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music themed with some pretty innovative
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unusual and definitely not boring and
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stuffy artwork they're also reinventing
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some of the classic parts of the program
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for example their port to table cooking
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demonstrations are now a multimedia
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experience instead of just a chef
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basically standing in front of you
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chatting away which you're going to see
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on other cruise lines the enrichment
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talks have also gone that way with big
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screens and multimedia presentations so
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although the program is traditional it
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is shifting from becoming far from
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boring and standard and probably most
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important of all though
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it's not boring because of the
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destinations if you're going on board
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honda america you're going to pretty
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interesting and exciting destinations
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with excursions which tend to explore
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culture history and cuisine as i've
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already mentioned however there was
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another really big criticism that is
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fundamental to a cruise that people did
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criticize holland america about i've
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spoken to many people on the cruise
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about it and they agree with me though
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this is one key area that has
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changed
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past travellers told me that while home
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america used to have great food many
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years back in recent years they felt it
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to become weaker and certainly weaker
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versus some of the other premium lines
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it just wasn't as good
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on the trip
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all the travelers i spoke to
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spontaneously commented
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on the food
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they all noticed things had changed but
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how
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first let me tell you what i experienced
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and then why this has happened
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let's take a look at what i experienced
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starting with one of the areas that can
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be pretty average on many cruise lines
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and many ships and that's the buffet the
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leader market here on holland america
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they have changed the lido significant
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the big plus on holland america is even
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pre-pandemic shutdown they had largely
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served all the dishes and now it's
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entirely served by the crew so that's a
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plus but even more significantly is
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they've done a big revamp and they now
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have specific and themed stations they
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have a series of nine different stations
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that are counted which include distant
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lands distance from regions love the
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world like asia roasting pan which has
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kind of classic you know joints of meat
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like beef joints wild harvest great
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salad bar sweet spot desserts and other
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sweet treats bread board which is
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different sandwiches and rice which is
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baked good
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the latter rise is where i saw a really
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dramatic change in the range and quality
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of their pastries i think that was a
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huge change i actually ate in the leader
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much more than usual compared to their
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closest premium competitors because i
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think this area has really improved and
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the food was really really good the main
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dining room they've revamped design-wise
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it looks pretty impressive again
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although possibly the menu i feel like
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might be slightly smaller from what i
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remember but the quality again has
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definitely improved
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an area they have ramped up a lot is
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specialty dining there is the pinnacle
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grill their steakhouse which is probably
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their most famous especially dining it
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is actually not one of my favorites but
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most people seem to love that as a
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steakhouse
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my favorite is tamarind which is their
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asian fusion restaurant which i think is
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pretty unique the food there is is
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outstanding they also have a nami sushi
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restaurant which is within tamarind this
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again is excellent if you like sushi
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which i do
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they've also spun out rudy's sal de mer
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on their pinnacle class ships now rudy
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saldamere is named after the celebrity
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chef rudy soderman who designed the menu
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on the older smaller ships it runs as a
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night within the pinnacle grill but on
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the newer ships as i mentioned it's a
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standalone restaurant this has amazing
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seafood caneletto it's their italian
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restaurant which from a venue
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perspective it's not great in my view
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because it's kind of within the lido
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market restaurant in a dedicated area
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but the food is really good good italian
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food it's one of the better italian
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restaurants i've been to
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then of course
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you have some of the other included
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informal dining like the new york
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italian pizza and the very popular dive
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in which is burgers that's always a big
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hit the other key thing which they do
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is something i'm really obsessed with
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and that's afternoon tea on holiday
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america it's definitely one of the
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better afternoon teas at sea and i would
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rate it as one of the highest up there
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with things like viking and cunard
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everyone i spoke to agreed that the
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quality of food is improved but
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how
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and why well i discovered with a bit of
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investigation that they'd formed a
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seven-person culinary council of a
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series of famous chefs who run leading
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restaurants it's chaired by rudy
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soderman who i mentioned earlier they've
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reviewed designed they monitor the menus
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and they've changed the dishes across
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the fleet and this has definitely made a
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difference and it explains why things
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have improved
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i was actually so impressed with my
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holland america trip and the changes on
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board that whilst i was on board i
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convinced my partner who had been on
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hold america previously and was pretty
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ambivalent about it that he should give
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them another chance
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so whilst on board i actually booked a
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conning stam mexican riviera cruise as i
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want my partner to experience this
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improved hot in america it's not old
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it's not boring and it doesn't have
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lousy food was my experience if you want
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to know a little bit more about hon
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america and the ship i cruised on watch
13:54
this video where i tore and review the
13:56
ship including covering some other
13:58
changes that may surprise you that i did
14:00
not mention in here see you over there
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