5 Reasons We Love HOLLAND AMERICA LINE - And YOU Should Too!

We’ve taken a number of cruises in the last year or so, on mainstream to ultra-luxury lines. And while we’ve taken some fantastic cruises, we keep wanting to book another one on Holland America. Watch this video and learn the 5 reasons why we love HAL.
If you want to see more about Holland America, watch these videos next:
HAL Nieuw Amsterdam ship tour: • Holland America NIEUW ...
HAL Nieuw Amsterdam cabin tour: • Why You Should Choose ... .
HAL Nieuw Amsterdam embarkation day: • We Boarded a Cruise to...
HAL Koningsdam cabin tour: • Holland America Koning...
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Music from Blue Dot:

[@sheshaw6277]

Great video. Completely agree with this assessment. Loves the classic vibe, the crow's nest and the promenade. We a huge Disney cruise fans but took our first HAL cruise last year and really enjoyed it. We are booked for Alaska in 2025 on the Nieuw Amsterdam.

[@callingallports]

Thank you so much! We love Nieuw Amsterdam and it will be a fantastic ship to explore Alaska, hope you enjoy it! (But then again, it's Alaska, you'll have a fantastic time. 😀)

[@Tom-pw2ni]

I love this, HAL is my favorite cruise line and has been since I was 30 years old, their old slogan was gracious and comfortable, and it still applies. For me the food and the crew are the best part of the experience. I think HAL gets mislabeled as being for older people instead of being labeled as for people of a certain mindset. Thank you for this update!

[@callingallports]

We think you state it perfectly, HAL is definitely for people of a certain mindset! Thank you so much for watching and commenting on our vid - we're glad to know that we're not the only ones who love HAL!

[@marvinabugov4579]

Well done! One aspect that I think you failed to note is that the “super ships” such as Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas or Wonder of the Seas is totally oriented to FAMILIES particularly if you have - young children. Our grandchildren are aged 3, 5 and 10 and I was amazed at how the focus was on the young. The staff dote on them ensuring that the kids / adults are “happy!”. At the end, we had to give the whole experience a 10/10 for the whole experience on the ship! We never got off the ship for two weeks. The kids just wanted to be in the kiddy pool or on the slides. Meanwhile, it is not a cruise for couples WITHOUT - kids! As such, My wife and I without grandkids would use a cruise line such as Holland America or Oceania for example.

[@callingallports]

Yes, you are right. Royal Caribbean and the other super ships are great at catering to families. But there were a number of families onboard Nieuw Amsterdam for our Spring Break cruise, and plenty on for our Alaska sailing. They all seemed to have a great time. Based on recent advertising, Holland America seems to want to get more families sailing with them, so I'm sure we'll see a lot more kids in the future. (We have also seen a lot more families on Oceania, as well.) With that said, we really wanted to focus on what we enjoyed about Holland America, not so much where they are lacking in comparison to other ships. So that's why we didn't really discuss the family element of the larger ships.

[@brianmccarthy1322]

Fifteen HAL cruises so far. It is our preferred line. We love them and based on the way we are treated they love us too. I agree fully with your Promenade deck comments. Niew Amsterdamn has that wide unobstructed experience we love but Koningsdamn does have the Royal Dutch cafe and the larger venue rooms. Thanks for this video, I will refer it to newbies needing more information on all HAL has to offer.

[@callingallports]

Fifteen cruises, how lovely! Frankly, if Nieuw Amsterdam had a Grand Dutch, we'd have our new favorite ship! Small size, great eating options.... Thank you so much for watching and commenting! (And also passing our video along to others!)

[@desteptul777]

Great video!

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much!

[@amybradley5821]

HAL is my only line now. Love the Neptune suite!

[@callingallports]

We almost upgraded to a Neptune for our last cruise. Why do you love it?

[@amybradley5821]

@@callingallports the room is huge. Veranda has two lounge chairs and a table with 4 chairs so can eat outside. Have a lounge just for Neptune folks with a concierge, snacks, coffee, juices. Can eat in one of the paid restaurants( forgot the name) for breakfast every morning free. Free laundry.

[@michelemccoy3795]

We have cruised HA and love it as well. We take a 45-day cruise out of NY to the Mediterranean and back next fall. We excited to be back with them!

[@callingallports]

The Ultimate Med on Volendam? That is a fantastic itinerary! Thanks so much for watching and commenting - we really do appreciate it!

[@diannebrideson2368]

First cruise on Holland America Nieuw Amsterdam in November. Can't wait!

[@callingallports]

Fantastic! We hope you enjoy it! Caribbean itinerary?

[@diannebrideson2368]

@@callingallports Yes, Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas. I slurged for Club Orange, Have it all, and Thermal Spa. Can't wait since I have always been on RCL.

[@brookwithnoe97]

Love this video, so glad I found it. Going on my first HAL cruise soon. This was very helpful

[@callingallports]

Thank you so much! What ship will you be on? What is your itinerary?

[@brookwithnoe97]

@@callingallports I’ll be on the Volendam

[@callingallports]

@@brookwithnoe97 we’re on Volendam in a few weeks - can’t wait!

[@donnaclancy3731]

I like your content. Thank you so.

[@callingallports]

Thank you! We have a lot more coming, so stay tuned! 😀

[@francesgill8621]

I was on the Zaandam in August which had a classical duo who were wonderful so i hope they retain some classical music.

[@callingallports]

We're sailing on Volendam in mid-May - hoping to see a classical music presence onboard.

[@francesgill8621]

@@callingallports I am booked on the Eurodam next March. Me too !

[@jhollie8196]

Did the midship’s organ work? We did 14 days on her through the Panama Canal and it was not work. We did not care for this ship and we were in a Neptune suite. Old, no entertainment and only 1 main store. It’s the only HAL ship we would not sail on again. Thanks for sharing

[@francesgill8621]

@jhollie8196 The organ was not working. I likedcthe Zaandam but I am disappointed that classical music on Holland is going away.

[@user-rp6en1hs8w]

Great reporting. Food is so important. Thank you.

[@callingallports]

Thanks! Would love to know how many people consider food when booking a cruise - it’s a critical factor!

[@peggyschall9323]

ty for your content

[@callingallports]

Thank you! And thanks for watching and commenting!

[@marthas.5092]

I really enjoyed your video!! We are going to Alaska next month. Sad the Lincoln center stage is gone but your video has me excited for the other music too!!

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much! What ship are you on for your fantastic Alaskan voyage?

[@timmoore3666]

Hey Andrew & Diane Thanks for the detailed video on Holland America. We have been on the fence on giving them a try.. Cheers 🍻🥃🍻 Thanks Tim

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much for watching! HAL is definitely worth a try. Report back if you ever sail with them!

[@christineE9301]

The BB kings band was fantastic, but I personally enjoyed the Rollings Stone band and billboard online more. I was sad that Lincoln Center Stage was no more, I was really looking forward to it. Holland America fits my style well, but I would love to try other lines too.

[@callingallports]

Thank you so much for your comment! Hopefully HAL will bring back Lincoln Center State more consistently across the fleet, it's nice to have a wide variety of music options while sailing.

[@lesleywaghorn1627]

Thanks for the comprehensive review. You've basically answered all my questions and sadly finished by expressing some of my concerns. I know your academic calendar makes it difficult to sail out of school holidays but I wonder if you have had the opportunity to compare HA across high/low seasons?

[@callingallports]

Thanks, Lesley! We're hoping our Canada cruise in early May will be a better example at low season cruising. But with cruising's popularity these days, we wonder - will there ever be a low season?

[@johnharper2016]

Nice video. Booked on Volendam November/December 2024 for 42 day cruise. Just our 2nd cruise. Trip of a lifetime. Learning a lot from all the videos about HAL and Volendam.

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much! A grand voyage for your 2nd cruise - how fantastic! What is your itinerary? Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it top our 7-day Canada New England voyage next month! We'll be on Volendam in just a few weeks. Looking forward to trying out a new ship. Thanks for watching and your comment!

[@davidwilliams4865]

Love HAL, particularly the Pinnacle class ships and private Club Orange dining areas on those three vessels.

[@callingallports]

We have yet to try Club Orange - on any class. What do you love about those dining areas?

[@carinolsson5544]

Peasoup on Fridays is a very old tradition in Sweden! As a dessert you eat thin Swedish pancakes with whipped cream and jam. Its believed that the Vikings brought the peasoup to Sweden.

[@freden9234]

My family are Swedish American. I remember Friday night pea soup dinners fondly. 😊

[@kellykellykelly8744]

Thank you for sharing. Do you know if you can decorate the cabin door? ⚓🚢

[@callingallports]

We’ve seen lots of doors decorated on all of our HAL ships!

[@kellykellykelly8744]

@@callingallports Thank you for your quick response. So great to hear. On some of the ship tours I've watched, I didn't see any decorated. Looking forward to an awesome cruise!

[@callingallports]

@@kellykellykelly8744 when is your cruise? And to where are you sailing?

[@kellykellykelly8744]

@@callingallports Mid June. Flying to our port in Denmark, England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Isle of Man and back to Denmark. 14 days.

[@callingallports]

@@kellykellykelly8744 that will be a fabulous cruise! Enjoy the ports and have fun decorating your cabin door!

[@gurley0419]

Great video and i agree with all of your list! We sail HAL in November (7 day Tropical Caribbean) and looking forward to it. This will be our 2nd time sailing with HAL (Alaskan Cruise that was awesome!!). I was truly looking forward to the BB King Blues Club and sad to hear that they may have gotten rid of it. I agree with you it is THE BEST music venue, and hope they bring it back.

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much! Fortunately BB Kings is not 100% gone from all HAL ships, but any removal of the venue/band is a bad move in our opinion! That 7 day Tropical Caribbean looks fantastic - hits two ports we haven't gotten to yet. Enjoy it! Thanks so much for watching and your lovely comment - we really appreciate it!

[@achevres]

First HAL cruise this July, and I think it’s going to be a great fit for me.

[@callingallports]

First cruises are exciting! What are you looking most forward to experiencing?

[@petshopgirl39]

Thank you - a great video. We're sailing on the Koningsdam to Alaska in September. Our second ever cruise, our first with HAL. Your 5 reasons are our 5 reasons. We're really looking forward to it. We like good food, quality entertainment but also to be able to just relax, read a book, and enjoy the views. We don't need or want the go karts and waterslides.

[@callingallports]

Thanks so much. We are curious. What cruise was your very first? While the go karts and waterslides have their place in the world, they're not really for us. Glad you agree. And we hope you like HAL as much as we do. Koningsdam in Alaska - fantastic ship, great itinerary! We loved our Koningsdam cruise to Alaska last year.

[@petshopgirl39]

@@callingallports we’re in 🇬🇧 so our first cruise was last September with P&O Cruises - on Iona - to the Norwegian Fjords. It was a great cruise, we loved the fjords. Iona was a megaship (5,000 +). I’m not sure we’d cruise again with P&O again for various reasons - the included food was poor quality (we pretty much did speciality dining every evening) and the entertainment was a bit like Britain’s Got Talent so we passed on all of that. The “enrichment” talks on offer were thinly disguised sales presentations - be it whisky, jewellery or second hand designer handbags. Definitely not our thing! We had already booked flights to Vancouver in September this year to visit our daughter who lives there. I was in Vancouver last September and saw the Koningsdam down at Canada Place, which planted the idea of doing a future cruise to Alaska. We were mulling over what to do by way of a trip during the second half of our stay when I remembered my original idea of a cruise to Alaska! We were very lucky to find a cruise with dates that fitting very nearly into that second week. So that was that and we booked a balcony cabin. I did note that the cruise was considerably more expensive than our Norwegian fjord cruise (we paid £2,000 more for HAL - both week-long cruises in balcony cabins). So I’m hoping we get what we paid for!

[@callingallports]

@@petshopgirl39 Alaska is a pricey itinerary overall, but we think you'll love Alaska on Koningsdam. Holland America has been sailing Alaska for a really long time, so they have it down pat. Make sure to go out on the bow during Glacier Bay day - can't beat the views!

[@cptsuits8038]

We may need to try them again. We had family along on our first go that were an irritant to my wife 😅

[@callingallports]

Yeah, it seems like you need to take an irritant-free cruise on HAL. 😂 Thanks for watching!

[@planesandbikes7353]

thanks for the info! We just did our first cruise, it was Celebrity to Alaska. The Edge is very trendy and beautiful adult oriented cruise ship but they took the form over function aspect too far with the seating. We found only 1/3 of the seats comfortable and I mean we are avid backpackers and mtn bikers into fitness. HA looks to have their priorities more aligned with us, and I noticed HA had much better port locations than Celebrity did, with us having to schlep a couple km from the ship into town in driving rain and sleet lol.

[@callingallports]

Holland America has priority in Alaska due to their history sailing there, so it’s our top line in Alaska. What are your main priorities you feel Holland America most aligns with?

[@carinolsson5544]

Fries = fritjes Order them at the Dutch Cafe.

[@MicheleTennant]

Really disappointed if BB Kings (or equivalent) disappears from the ship. On our March 2023 voyage we were there every night and the band was phenomenal. Not so concerned specifically about the affiliation with BB King - just want to see bands that talented with incredible range in that space. Losing that could be a dealbreaker for us (although we too love the vibe and the food - so much Asian food onboard and Dutch night in the buffet is spectacular!)

[@callingallports]

Thank you so much for your watching and your comment! We do think the affiliation is what made that March 2023 Nieuw Amsterdam band so absolutely phenomenal. We know that BB Kings has a rigorous audition process and it is quite difficult to get a gig. And the setlist BB King's provides is truly second to none. If they steer away from BB's, we do hope they keep their standards high. We're looking forward to our May cruise for many reasons, but primarily for the music walk - and the changes they are making with it.

[@richsack]

According to an online article by The Points Guy back in early 2023, HAL is only getting rid of BB King’s Blues Club on the smaller ships and BB’s remains on the Pinnacle class ships. Is that still correct or am I missing something?

[@callingallports]

We think that may be the case, but with all the changes HAL is making right now, we're not sure if the club will be solely BB Kings, or if they'll be mixing it up with Rolling Stone. We have Volendam in a few weeks, Eurodam in August. We should have a better sense after that - unless they make more changes!

[@cynthiaschaeffer650]

True. You can see all the current entertainment and dining options for each HAL ship on this “Ships at a Glance” chart. www.hollandamerica.com/content/dam/hal/inventory-assets/ships/at-a-glance/hal-ships-at-a-glance.pdf

[@Matt.Jernigan]

I know everything is subjective, but what luxury cruise line would you recommend for a couple that’s in their early 50’s and mid 40's that are a more of a causal couple? Thanks.

[@callingallports]

Great question! Although we love Holland America, we really love Oceania. It’s a luxury, or premium plus, line. It’s laid back, the food is absolutely fantastic, and it’s a great small ship experience. The entertainment isn’t awesome, but everything else is top notch. We’re mid-, late-40s and it’s probably our favorite cruise line out there. We have a few Oceania videos on our channel, with more to come. Check them out if you are interested.

[@francesgill8621]

I plan to try Holland again, but if they dont continue some type of classical I'm switching to Oceania. I was not impressed with the dueling pianists which i understand they're keeping

[@callingallports]

We love Oceania for many reasons and yes, it's nice to have the string quartet play each night of the sailing. And there's a cocktail pianist, which we also prefer to the dueling pianists.

[@terrymattingly6843]

Just returned from a Westerdam Alaska cruise. We share your music concerns (and all your positives in other topics). Billboard was a MEH experience, with no true team piano material. Rock was good. Zero classical. A FINE jazz trio played in Ocean Bar on third level - but very early in the evening and with next to ZERO promotion. Tragic! HA really needs to make solid decisions here and PUBLICIZE them pronto

[@callingallports]

We just disembarked Volendam. Sadly the music options were seriously lackluster. One piano player, a solo guitarist, and a band we’d rather not publicly comment on. Wish there was a classic jazz trio on board. And it was sad to see the former Lincoln Center stage used for talks. Looking forward to our Eurodam cruise in August to have more music variety.

[@francesgill8621]

I've been on Holland cruises three times. I love them too but I'm very disappointed they dropped Lincoln Center Stage which I loved.

[@callingallports]

We really hope they keep some element of classical music onboard. As we suggested in the video, a music walk needs more than two types of music on offer.

[@thejokerspeaks]

My top 5: 1. Food 2. Cabin and mattress quality 3. Itineraries 4. Price 5. Low key passengers and atmosphere.

[@callingallports]

That’s a great top 5! Which lines have the best ratings for your top 5 items?

[@thejokerspeaks]

@@callingallports Holland America hits all 5. I think they come up short with show entertainment, activities, and beverage supply chain when in Asia, Europe, and South America. Still, these are not big issues for me personally. I used to like Celebrity food until 2019, when the buffet was terrible, and they had major shortages, including vegetables. Carnival hits the price target, and our first cruise in 2011 was great for the money, but they've really let their dining and maintenance go. You wouldn't believe how bad some 70 year olds can act on a fun ship, when they're not used to 14 night sailings, and they get bored and irritable. We look forward to trying the ultra premium market too, when prices make sense.

[@davidwilliams4865]

Removing Lincoln Center was a TERRIBLE move on the part of HAL even with a big negative response directed toward HAL via Cruise Critic.

[@callingallports]

It really is unfortunate. Can't have a proper music walk if multiple types of music aren't represented.

[@corner559]

While I agree with much of what you said, I strongly disagree on the service. Many of the staff didn't seem to care or were almost borderline rude.

[@callingallports]

That’s unfortunate. Although we feel staff is consistently strong on all of Holland America’s ships, we realize that is not the same experience for all. Thank you for sharing your perspective.

[@DigitalDestiny]

Lots of outdated information. Lincoln Center Stage was discontinued on ALL Holland ships last year. BB King's was removed from all ships except the Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam and Rotterdam. World Stage entertainment is VERY slowly changing, but on 3 of my last 4 HAL cruises in 2024, the entertainment was pretty much the exact same shows. We loved HAL too, but paying passengers expect more than just repeat mainstage shows, bad Billboard Onboard dueling pianos, and Rolling Stone Lounge bands who excel in playing, but hindered by horrible vocalists.

[@callingallports]

Agreed. We make these very same points in the video, that these are things that we’ve loved about HAL, though in this case (entertainment and the Music Walk, in particular) the line is making changes that are actually pulling away from what we - and many our loyal HAL cruisers like yourself - have most enjoyed. Some of these changes like Lincoln Center were “unofficial” at the time this video was produced, though there have been some public announcements in just the past few weeks that have confirmed HAL’s future direction. We may actually make another video soon to update all the recent changes.