…ion ship; AIDAcosma and Sea Cloud Spirit. In the second half there will be Virgin Valiant Lady, Holland America Rotterdam, MSC Seashore, Silversea Silver Dawn; Princess Cruises Discovery Princess, Seabourn Venture expedition ship and Costa Toscana. So the second big good cruise news is that we will have many more new ships than ever before to try out. The shutdown makes the first year back at sea when it happens quite remarkable for the amount of…
…ne specific to Holland America. Cruise Cabin Upgrades – Upgrade on Holland America Holland America has something called Club Orange, which anybody can buy, from Inside cabin upwards. Club Orange costs around about US $15 a day per person. And one of the key perks is a guaranteed stateroom upgrade to the next available grade. I am arranging a Group Cruise in 2026 on Holland America and the Travel Agent I am working with to do the bookings discovere…
…friendly face to chat with and join for drinks, dinner or tours. Sam (RoadKing79) explains the tours he has co-ordinated to Cruise Critic Meet and Mingle Declaration: I travelled as a guest of Holland America on the Nieuw Amsterdam on a 7-night “Mediterranean Adventure”. All opinions expressed are my own. For more on my experiences visit Tips for Travellers on Holland America….
Holland America Mediterranean Barbeque by Gary Bembridge I wrote an article for the Holland America Blog about the amazing Mediterranean Barbeque we had when I was on board the Nieuw Amsterdam. In the article I also talk about the other events and features on the “On Location” program they run. Read the article on their blog, and take a look at the amazing food like that below they had on offer in the photographs I took that appear with the artic…
…cost of the regular carriages. It costs over $300 per person to travel in it, and it does get sold out fast so make sure you book as early as you can. For more on my experiences on the cruise: https://www.tipsfortravellers.com/holland-america-alaska Note: I travelled as a guest of Holland America on their 7-night Alaska Inside Passage cruise on the Niuew Amsterdam. I paid for this excursion myself and was not covered by the cruise line. SaveSave…
What is the best thing about Holland America? Watch my short 60-second video, which is one of the series now running on YouTube using their new #SHORTS video platform. https://youtu.be/Q4Muida9UyE Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/Q4Muida9UyE For me, it’s the Music Walk. A series of up to five dedicated music venues on their ships. Every evening they run shows staggered by venues so you can, with drink in hand, breeze from show to show all night…
…one, and the comedy gigs were more PG. We didn’t get a traditional Holland America experience. Another consequence of the passenger mix was that many things that I would normally expect on a Holland America cruise didn’t happen. There weren’t enrichment and destination speakers. The only things they ran were the standard lectures, which are written at head office and delivered by the Cruise Director. These were often about the Holland America Orig…
…it was a key reason I booked the 31-night South America cruise on Holland America, as the ship stayed in Lima for 2.5 days making it possible. I went all in on Holland America’s most expensive “Gold” Machu Picchu Excursion option. Because that one included travelling on what’s considered one of the most luxurious trains in the world, the Belmond Hiram Bingham, run by the same company behind the Orient Express and Royal Scotsman. But was this a go…
…hrough to Easter time is large. And so, what some of the airlines do, like Virgin Atlantic and British Airways, is that you can check in away from the actual airport. So Virgin, for example, checks in as many of their passengers as possible at the hotels and take away their luggage. So when people arrive at the airport, they can just basically go through to a holding pen, if you’d like, to get onto the airport. Another growing way, is to get there…
…ne needs to scrap that thought! Terminal 3 at Heathrow was jam packed. The Virgin lounge was heaving. Luckily as we were flying Upper Class we could fly through security as Virgin has this cleaver dedicated security lane that I wrote about in an earlier posting. The flight left a bit late, and was very full. The Upper Class was totally full with an eclectic bunch of travellers. There were the rich Americans with brat kids, pre the credit crunch I…
…nd the world in rapid succession. What did I learn at the event? VHip is a Virgin Holidays venture with the Hip Hotels group. These are a selection of the more up-market and trendy hotels all around the world. Vhip have elected a range of hotels from the portfolio covering the main regions that Virgin (and their partners) fly to. They have hotels to book almost everywhere except Australia, New Zealand and Canada from what I can see. They gave us a…
