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In our JJ Cruise News today, I tell the top things you MUST know before trying Holland America Line after my first cruise on the Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam Cruise Ship, the new Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam cruise ship Pinnacle class! Join us as we walk all decks of Holland America Line cruise ship, Nieuw Statendam! The Holland America Line Cruise Ship I sailed on is part of the Biggest Cruise Ship Class for HAL, Pinnacle Class, Holland America Line’s Largest cruise ship class. I was so excited to be able to climb onboard my first Holland America Cruise! However, there are things I wish I would have known regarding Holland America’s Passengers when it comes to age, demographics, the vibe onboard, what it is like onboard a Holland America Cruise Ship and a Cruise Hack that saved me from having a horrible start to my cruise! I sailed on my first Holland America Line Cruise out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida Cruise Port onboard Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam Cruise Ship for my Caribbean Cruise.
In the cruise news latest I was onboard Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam Cruise Ship 2023. Recently released and a best cruise ship by many Holland America Line Passengers, this is one of many of Holland America Lines cruise ships! With the latest cruise news comes a lot of changes to cruising on cruise ships in 2023. I discuss our sold out, spring break cruise ship! The Holland America Line Nieuw Statendam includes many venues including Main Dining Room, Pinnacle Grill, Orange Club, Tamarind, Nami Sushi, Canelleto, World Stage, Buffet, Dive In Restaurant, Rolling Stone Rock Room, Ocean Bar, B.B. Kings Blues Club, Billboard Onboard, the Grand Dutch Cafe, the Retreat cabana deck, Neptune Lounge, Explorations Observation Lounge, Thermal Suite, the Spa, Casino, Lincoln Center Stage, Pool Deck, Lido and MORE! What are your thoughts on Holland America Line Cruise Ships? Would you sail on Holland America? This is the latest cruise news allowing cruising to restart in the US! We are talking about what this cruise ship news means for the major North American cruise lines, Royal Caribbean International, Norwegian Cruise Line, Carnival Cruise Line, MSC Cruises, Virgin Voyages, and Disney Cruise Line and how it ties into the US Cruise Restart this summer.
We are thrilled to bring you the latest cruise news and information about the future of the cruise industry in 2023.
Don’t miss important information about upcoming Royal Caribbean Cruises, Celebrity Cruises, Norwegian Cruises, Disney Cruises, Virgin Voyages and Carnival Cruise Line cruises, and cruise news latest about the future of cruising.
Comment and tell us what you think! What are your honest thoughts on Holland America Line? Do you like Holland America Line’s Rotterdam, Nieuw Statendam and Nieuw Amsterdam as Holland America’s Largest Cruise Ships 2023? Do you prefer Holland America Line’s Biggest Cruise Ship to other classic Holland America Cruise Ships? What are other Cruise Tips and Cruise Hacks to sailing Holland America Line?
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40 Comments
My multigenerational family cruised on HAL forThanksgiving& Christmas cruises for almost 15 years. My grandson was 7 years old to start and he loved the kids club which was busy during the holidays. We all love the outstanding food and service. The internet service was not good most of the time. We are so happy to learn they are bringing back the library. For avid readers, it is great and a fav spot on sea days. We recently took a Celebrity cruise and thought their entertainment was better than HAL. Food and service similar. One big difference was the shops. HAL shops would get a lot of purchases from us, not so on Celebrity. Celebrity used their shop area for high $ ticket items. I Ought Chicos clothing on HAL for example, but no $$$ designer bags or watches on Celebrity.
We are 5 star mariners on HAL but recently fell in love with Celebrity. HAL has great food! They also do Alaska very well.
Love the ship, it’s one of my favorites
Like your posts, but do not exaggerate too much. A non working app might ruine your Cruise in advance? Come on! Besides the Navigator app worked fine on my iPhone.
Thank you for sharing we booked our first Holland America cruise for December and my husband is teasing me constantly about the "demographic". It's nice to hear that a 7 day Caribbean cruise is going to be a larger demographic. Thanks again for the tips!
Appreciate the insights Jared! All booked for our first cruise ever this July on Nieuw Statendam. Some of the tips you provided are definitely not promoted by the line and knowing them can only help us out. Thanks!
New subscribers here.
I think you’re right, the demographic changes on HAL depending on length of cruise and destination.
Cunard is definitely the more formal cruise line.
We were on the Niuew Statendam the week after you for our first Holland America cruise. We weren't sure what to expect but really loved it. The food was very good and we thought our cabin was great too. The bed was more comfortable than most and the shower is large with great water pressure. The music venues are wonderful! We enjoyed the exc talks they do also. There was a wide variety of ages on our cruise. Their head entertainment person was a lot of fun! Really the only negative we had was the size of the hot tubs. Most only hold 2 people comfortably so it can be difficult to get one.
My wife are celebrating our 25th anniversary in June by taking our first cruise – Double Denali on the Nieux Amsterdam. Can't wait!
Thanks for doing this!
Ohh, you spend 3000 dollars on gambling and get a few drinks for “free”, great deal…
Ever since we discovered the Neptune suite, we have booked it ever since. The perks are good and access to the Neptune lounge and Pinnacle Grill for breakfast is awesome. Thanks for sharing.
Great timing as we are going on our first Holland America cruise next month.
Our very first cruise was on HAL. The bars closed at 10pm. There were no activities to do. We were so disappointed. But the service was impeccable, and after all was said and done, we became "avid" cruisers. Would you say that things close relatively later now? Would you say they have more activities for cruisers, especially during the evening and sea days? I would love to know. We would love to try them again.
Never had a problem with my iphone.
I used the Navigator app on every HAL cruise I have taken on my iPhone with no problems.
HAL cruises before covid had a slightly more dressed up vibe for gala nights especially at the later seatings. One cruise there was a group of Japanese women wearing beautiful kimono. You would see the older couples in tuxes and formal dresses. It was great to see but at the same time you didn’t feel uncomfortable when you weren’t as dressed up! I love HAL!
We are going on our first HAL cruise in 2024 to Alaska. We were booked on another brand ship with all the bells and whistles but decided to go for a smaller ship where we can enjoy what we are going to Alaska for…the scenery and the beauty of Alaska. We are going on the Eurodam. Any advise to us on this ship and/or cruise??
We have cruised many times on Carnival…this is our first cruise on anything other than Carnival.
Thank you for your review. I love watching your channel..always a smile and always informative!! <3
On my last cruise with Holland America Line which was last year, I had my some of my belongings (clothes) stolen in my stateroom, and it could only be my room steward who was very friendly and he liked making a lot of small talk. I will never go on another HAL cruise in my life and I will tell all my friends, family, and coworkers to avoid it due to room stewards who steal from their guests.
I just booked my 3rd cruise with HAL and it never dissapppointment. Great food , entretainment and specially destinations
We love HAL! However, it is the only cruise line that we have cruised. This is our 5th cruise and love the calmness of HAL.
Good info. Sounds like the dinner dress code is similar to Celebrity's
I am on the Hal Eurodam in 2 weeks to Alaska an wondered how the ave age you came up
Weird that Apple device doesn't work right. Oh well. What did you think about the new Have It All package? It seems if you like higher end wine, for instance, you may have to add another package? Curious how it works.
"Watch out for all the walkers" is pretty ableist, TBH. Sneering at disabilities is pretty repellant behaviour.
I'm young and disabled, and if some snotty stranger has a "problem" with my equipment – rollator, or wheelchair, or hearing aids or a white cane or WHATEVER… the problem is THEM. THEY are a bigot.
THEY are a monster.
We just got off the Koningsdam 18-day Hawaii cruise, and the mean age on board had to be 65-70.
It was overwhelmingly OLD.
There were exactly three families with kids under 15 on board.
There were two families with teens.
There were only a handful of couples without entirely grey hair (although a few elderly ladies dyed their hair).
HAL was OLD.
REALLY, REALLY OLD.
It was also completely overrun with Covid.
While there were announcements every morning, every all-aboard, every evening, and in the (abysmal) app… to wear masks, wash & distance constantly… at least 150-200 cabins were locked in with positive Covid or gastro infections before we even got to Hawaii.
Plus a LOT of crew were sick.
There was constant worry we would be denied ports because we were so diseased.
Crew were mandated to mask with N95s very early on, as some passengers obviously brought infection on board.
But it was already too late.
This was the FIRST cruise after drydock, there was no existing infection in the crew.
It was entirely infected passengers spreading disease.
A LOT of people flat out refused to report their obvious symptoms, neglected to being a test kit, and they refused to wear masks, regardless how sick they were, they just proudly spewed snot and spit everywhere.
There were plenty of entitled types making speeches about their "right" to infect others.
So many just sat in public areas, coughing, spewing, smearing everything, not even covering their mouths, let alone cleaning up after themselves.
The Lido pool & area became known as "Plague Central", with zero masks on people who were simply lounging, not swimming, eating, or anything else.
The Lido pool and hottubs were just… gross cesspools of infection.
The Spa ended up having to be decontaminated, the Lido pool & hot tubs too, repeatedly.
Still, the infected continued refusing to be responsible.
It was *gross*.
The big problems were all on HAL.
This cruise had at least 50% new, poorly trained staff.
They had no clue how to do anything.
HAL was also abysmal at handling food allergies. My "Special Needs" form was sent in on time, with no problem (we thought). But in reality, some HAL employee "accidentally" erased it internally, and did not admit it.
We only found out DAYS prior, by accident, which required repeated long phone calls to attempt to fix HAL caused issues.
I ended up having to contact the Accessibility team to straighten out what HAL messed up.
The MDR dining room staff were appallingly clueless and negligent about serious, life threatening food allergies.
I ended up having a serious reaction and neededed treatment because staff were just CLUELESS and CARELESS.
Those with severe food allergies are supposed to get a MDR menu a day early to arrange "safe" food prep, but STAFF had no idea. After two nights of it taking 1.5 HOURS to be served any food, we gave up on the MDR in Utter DISGUST.
We ended up only having the Buffet for all meals.
Sitting in the MDR, with nothing but ice water, watching all others seated at the same time order, get appetizers, mains, dessert, coffee and leave BEFORE WE EVEN GOT DRINKS was just disgusting and humiliating.
My allergic reaction, though, was in the Crowsnest area, of all places. A coffee bar/excursion lounge by day.
I, like millions of others, am allergic to peanuts. I avoided all nuts on board as we did not/cannot trust HAL.
But we never dreamed the Crowsnest would put out containers of PEANUTS, every day, at 4 PM.
There were NO SIGNS, no warnings in the (really awful, useless) app.
I had no idea why I was suddenly choking while simply reading a book – until my husband spotted someone behind us eating peanuts.
Peanuts in a HAL dish.
We reported my reaction to staff, and they shrugged and said "Don't come here then".
Not, "I'll pass it on."
Not to mention the 18 minute complete power outtage/engine failure we had in the middle of the Pacific. Yeah. Very confidence inspiring.
Or that the cabin hallways on 5, 6, and 7 absolutely reeked of sewage for the ENTIRE VOYAGE.
Or that the entertainment programming was… very sparse, with repeats. There is no "Lincoln Center" programming. The tiny bars with music were terrible, and VERY inappropriately loud (and that was from a Sound Engineer). There was no library. The movies on deck were indecipherable because the speakers were blown.
The new craft program was "taught" by ONE crew member, who was completely new to everything she was told to "teach". For a FEE, mind you.
Major construction and renos were still continuing after their drydock was unfinished, and done while on our trip, which was VERY disruptive.
No way would we sail on a HAL garbage scow again.
It was so disappointing.
We would not recommend HAL to anyone, it wasn't just awful, it isn't even *safe*.
We always cruise on HAL. Always get Neptune . This does not mean you need to upgrade to have the same beautiful experience
Casino perk programs are a joke. Doesn’t matter which casino or type of casino that are all a ripoff. 3000 bucks in a machine to get a few free drinks. Not really much of an incentive is it?
I went on a Holland America 15 day cruise in March/April around New Zealand and Australia. Admittedly, it was not school holidays in Australia or New Zealand. But EVERYONE on that cruise was 70 plus. They were young at heart, civilized, well to do, wealthy retirees.
TIP 1:: book your cruise excursions early because they all sell out. TIP 2: You can step outside the ship and there are a multitude of places waiting for you to book an excursion with them on the spot and they are less than half the price of booking through the cruise line.
I'm a HAL fan, because I cruise for the ports. I want to see the world, and I love how HAL emphasizes learning about the ports.
We have cruised on over 15 HAL and have been on most of their Ships. One thing to check into is the Orange Club a lotbof good perks for the additional price.
I'm about to go on my first HOL cruise and found their website and app very glitchy and frustrating. I am happy to hear it doesn't reflect the experience onboard.
I use the Navigator app on my Apple iPad with no problems.
Did you really just say an app can "ruin your cruise experience???" Let that comment soak in awhile.
I've sailed several times and never knew about the dry sauna!!
Hey, great videos. I am a new subscriber. Can you recommend a overnight hotel in Fort Laudsrdale that offers airport and cruise ship shuttles. Also what is he earliest you can get on HAL cruises. Thanks
We're so grateful to have found your channel and your reviews. Thank you! Found you after having already booked HAL for Fjords in the Neptune for August. Celebrating our honeymoon 31 years later. 🙂
My husband and I LOVE HAL! We are addicted to the Neptune Suite and benefits that come with it. We went on a cruise in Feb 2023 and already have another booked!
Do you pay extra to use a travel agent?
Does Holland America have a special party night where all the guests wear orange?