Thanks for watching and your comment! The drinks on board were overall excellent. If you haven’t already, please watch our bar crawl video - it talks about some of the best cocktails we had during our cruise.
Thank you for producing an informative video of HAL. I’ve cruised with Holland America exclusively since 2006. I took one cruise each with Carnival and Royal Caribbean before that. Although I’m a Four Star Mariner who enjoys free laundry and half priced specialty dining and specialty coffees, I’m becoming disenchanted with this cruise line and I’m looking at luxury and ultra luxury lines. Have you cruised on Explora, Atlas, Emerald, Scenic, Ritz-Carlton, or Viking? I’ve watched your videos about Regent Seven Seas.
Thanks so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts! We are so pleased you enjoyed our video. We're curious though, why are you so disenchanted with HAL these days? Apart from Regent and Oceania (which we love), we haven't sailed on many luxury lines (for a variety of reasons). We are looking at Atlas for a potential Antartica cruise in 2026. But we do have two Explora sailings planned for December 2024 & January 2025. Ritz-Carlton we've ruled out though, we just don't think the high costs are personally worth it.
Although their crew continues to be their strength, Holland America has quality control issues regarding food, entertainment, and ship conditions. I also don't want to be on ships with casinos and children.
@@l.a.rivasesq.8841 Viking may be the line for you! We did actually take a Viking River last year. Although we missed the casino, we really appreciated to all-adult environment.
Great video - I really enjoy your reviews. I’ve only sailed on HAL once but I really enjoyed it, especially the Music Walk, the Dutch Cafe, and all of the specialty dining. We’re sailing HAL again for a 16-night cruise over the winter holidays. Query: would love a review comparison between a suite on Celebrity (HAL or Princess) vs Regents. Prices can be very similar and I tend to think I’d prefer the “ship within a ship” setup with more entertainment options. Looking forward to your Oceania review.
Thanks so much for your wonderful words. Stay tuned for comparison videos on the multiple lines. Not sure if we will cover the ship within a ship, as we like to book similar size cabins, but we’re discussing that now. And our Oceania videos will be out (hopefully) soon!
Will be sailing on the ship in early spring 2024. Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver (22 days) Looking forward to it. Only have sailed 1 other time on HA. Does the ship have night lights in the bathroom?
That sounds like a fantastic voyage! I don’t recall any bathroom night lights, but the floor lights at the bottom of the closet were fantastic. If you haven’t seen our cabin tour, we highlight them here: Why You Should Choose THIS CABIN on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam th-cam.com/video/jKE5LYn-r4A/w-d-xo.html Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
I wouldn't say you should abandon Regent, and the two lines are hard to compare apples to apples. But I'll offer a few reasons why I really enjoy Holland America after our recent sailings. And why people should give it a try. One is the entertainment. We're not big fans of the variety, Broadway-style shows, so we truly appreciate HAL's music walk - the different venues are fantastic, offer a great opportunity to listen to different types of music. The second is something we loved on our Nieuw Amsterdam cruise. The cruise director, Clare, did a fantastic job creating a community between the passengers and the officers and crew. There were daily "Coffee with Clare" and "Cocktails with Clare" sessions, an "Ask the Captain" and parties that created nice bonds between everyone on board. And the crew has guest privileges, so it's nice to see everyone walking about. It was a very different vibe from Regent. Certainly the inclusiveness of Regent, the ship size, and the accommodations cannot be beat, but Holland America is pretty fantastic - and we had some food onboard that topped what we had on Regent. We'll be putting together a blog post and video comparing our premium, luxury, and ultra-luxury experiences in a couple of weeks, once we return from next week's Oceania Cruise.
@@callingallports great looking forward to it Oceana bothers me with O class. Too many choices my wife does not drink wine with meals. Requires a Diet Coke instead of coffee in the morning Excursion prices are not listed in advance to evaluate taking that option Included air is not business class ( I’m spoiled) So, I’m sticking with Regent for now Unless I find a place where they don’t go. Like the Northwest Passage
@@warrenwolf4690 The O Class seems to be uneven - we were only offered two included excursions, other sailings have four. We had to choose between one of O class options, others have all three included. And yes, our air to Malta is economy, which will make for a very exhausting first day onboard. I'm looking forward to the ship though, I do love a good R class. And if the food is as good as Oceania claims it to be, I think we will be very happy. Will report back!
We have cruised HA 3 times now. The downside is lack of evening entertainment or things to do. HA does have plusses, like service and maybe quality of food (slowly fading) however, that doesn't wash with little planned in the evening or on sea days. Too bad.
Thanks for watching and your comment! We love the entertainment options, but we love live music. Are you more into theater shows or would you like more of a disco? We’re always curious about what people like. Our last Holland America cruise showed their still in the culinary days, even on sea days. Maybe that’s ship specific? What HAL ships have you sailed on?
Very good video. Thank you for your honesty and for capturing the true essence of the ship.
Thank you so much! We really appreciate your view and your feedback!
That Manhattan looked awesome! Cheers!
Thanks for watching and your comment! The drinks on board were overall excellent. If you haven’t already, please watch our bar crawl video - it talks about some of the best cocktails we had during our cruise.
Will do !@@callingallports
Thank you for producing an informative video of HAL. I’ve cruised with Holland America exclusively since 2006. I took one cruise each with Carnival and Royal Caribbean before that. Although I’m a Four Star Mariner who enjoys free laundry and half priced specialty dining and specialty coffees, I’m becoming disenchanted with this cruise line and I’m looking at luxury and ultra luxury lines. Have you cruised on Explora, Atlas, Emerald, Scenic, Ritz-Carlton, or Viking? I’ve watched your videos about Regent Seven Seas.
Thanks so much for commenting and sharing your thoughts! We are so pleased you enjoyed our video. We're curious though, why are you so disenchanted with HAL these days?
Apart from Regent and Oceania (which we love), we haven't sailed on many luxury lines (for a variety of reasons). We are looking at Atlas for a potential Antartica cruise in 2026. But we do have two Explora sailings planned for December 2024 & January 2025. Ritz-Carlton we've ruled out though, we just don't think the high costs are personally worth it.
Although their crew continues to be their strength, Holland America has quality control issues regarding food, entertainment, and ship conditions. I also don't want to be on ships with casinos and children.
@@l.a.rivasesq.8841 Viking may be the line for you! We did actually take a Viking River last year. Although we missed the casino, we really appreciated to all-adult environment.
Great video - I really enjoy your reviews. I’ve only sailed on HAL once but I really enjoyed it, especially the Music Walk, the Dutch Cafe, and all of the specialty dining. We’re sailing HAL again for a 16-night cruise over the winter holidays.
Query: would love a review comparison between a suite on Celebrity (HAL or Princess) vs Regents. Prices can be very similar and I tend to think I’d prefer the “ship within a ship” setup with more entertainment options.
Looking forward to your Oceania review.
Thanks so much for your wonderful words. Stay tuned for comparison videos on the multiple lines. Not sure if we will cover the ship within a ship, as we like to book similar size cabins, but we’re discussing that now.
And our Oceania videos will be out (hopefully) soon!
Looks like a great embarkation day. Nice cabin!! New friend here.
Thanks so much!
Will be sailing on the ship in early spring 2024. Ft. Lauderdale to Vancouver (22 days) Looking forward to it. Only have sailed 1 other time on HA. Does the ship have night lights in the bathroom?
That sounds like a fantastic voyage!
I don’t recall any bathroom night lights, but the floor lights at the bottom of the closet were fantastic. If you haven’t seen our cabin tour, we highlight them here:
Why You Should Choose THIS CABIN on Holland America's Nieuw Amsterdam
th-cam.com/video/jKE5LYn-r4A/w-d-xo.html
Thank you so much for watching and commenting!
Which ship are you traveling on. We are doing Ft Lauderdale to Vancouver in the spring 2024 as well.
Upstate Ny , Buffalo here.
Greetings fellow Upstate NYer! Nice to see a Buffalo resident in this space!
Ok. Now you have been on HAL. Please tell me if I should abandon Regent and give HAL a try
I wouldn't say you should abandon Regent, and the two lines are hard to compare apples to apples. But I'll offer a few reasons why I really enjoy Holland America after our recent sailings. And why people should give it a try.
One is the entertainment. We're not big fans of the variety, Broadway-style shows, so we truly appreciate HAL's music walk - the different venues are fantastic, offer a great opportunity to listen to different types of music.
The second is something we loved on our Nieuw Amsterdam cruise. The cruise director, Clare, did a fantastic job creating a community between the passengers and the officers and crew. There were daily "Coffee with Clare" and "Cocktails with Clare" sessions, an "Ask the Captain" and parties that created nice bonds between everyone on board. And the crew has guest privileges, so it's nice to see everyone walking about. It was a very different vibe from Regent.
Certainly the inclusiveness of Regent, the ship size, and the accommodations cannot be beat, but Holland America is pretty fantastic - and we had some food onboard that topped what we had on Regent. We'll be putting together a blog post and video comparing our premium, luxury, and ultra-luxury experiences in a couple of weeks, once we return from next week's Oceania Cruise.
@@callingallports great looking forward to it
Oceana bothers me with O class. Too many choices my wife does not drink wine with meals. Requires a Diet Coke instead of coffee in the morning
Excursion prices are not listed in advance to evaluate taking that option
Included air is not business class ( I’m spoiled)
So, I’m sticking with Regent for now
Unless I find a place where they don’t go. Like the Northwest Passage
@@warrenwolf4690 The O Class seems to be uneven - we were only offered two included excursions, other sailings have four. We had to choose between one of O class options, others have all three included. And yes, our air to Malta is economy, which will make for a very exhausting first day onboard.
I'm looking forward to the ship though, I do love a good R class. And if the food is as good as Oceania claims it to be, I think we will be very happy.
Will report back!
@@callingallports thanks for being our travel scouts. Best of luck
We have cruised HA 3 times now. The downside is lack of evening entertainment or things to do. HA does have plusses, like service and maybe quality of food (slowly fading) however, that doesn't wash with little planned in the evening or on sea days. Too bad.
Thanks for watching and your comment! We love the entertainment options, but we love live music. Are you more into theater shows or would you like more of a disco? We’re always curious about what people like.
Our last Holland America cruise showed their still in the culinary days, even on sea days. Maybe that’s ship specific? What HAL ships have you sailed on?
Where is up state New York to you?
We’re in the Cooperstown area! Not too far from Albany.
@@callingallports I went to college at Alfred University on the western tier. West of Ithaca, Near Hornell
@@callingallports home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Cooperstown
@@warrenwolf4690 yes, the one and only Hall of Fame Cooperstown!
@@warrenwolf4690 We know Alfred, we’re actually professors at a SUNY campus. Didn’t realize you had upstate roots!