Frommer's Cruise Spotlight: Holland America Line

The Frommer's Cruise Spotlight showcases a different cruise line each month, from ultra-luxe to ultra-adventurous and everything between, along with special deals just for Frommer's readers. This month, we'll take a look at Holland America, one of the leading premium cruise operators, offering outstanding service and dining aboard mostly traditional-feeling ships, and for a lower price than you'd think.

September 5, 2003 -- Holland America Line was founded in 1873 as the Nederlandsch-Amerikaansche StoomvAart Maatschappij (NASM, or Netherlands-American Steamship Company). Its first ocean liner, the original Rotterdam, took her maiden, 15-day voyage from the Netherlands to New York City in 1872. By the early 1900s, the company had been renamed Holland America Line and was one of the major lines transporting immigrants from Europe to the United States, as well as providing passenger/cargo service between Holland and the Dutch East Indies via the Suez Canal. During World War II, the company's headquarters moved from Nazi-occupied Holland to Dutch-owned Curaçao, then the site of a strategic oil refinery, and after the war the company forged strong links with North American interests.

The line continued regular transatlantic crossings up until 1971 and then turned to offering cruises full-time, expanding its fleet greatly in the mid-1980s and 1990s. In 1989 it was acquired by Carnival Corporation, which improved onboard entertainment and cuisine while maintaining the line's traditions, overall character, and sense of seafaring history. All the line's vessels are named for other classic HAL vessels of the past -- Rotterdam, for example, is the sixth to bear that name -- and paintings of older HAL ships by maritime artist Stephen Card adorn the stairways of almost all its vessels.

Aside from the new, 1,848-passenger Zuiderdam and Oosterdam, HAL's well-maintained vessels are midsize and cozy, carrying 1,200 to 1,400 passengers. All have excellent (and remarkably similar) layouts that ease passenger movement. Decor tends toward classic, though the newer ships have been getting much bolder with their colors and references -- Zaandam, for instance, has funky touches like a display of electric guitars signed by Iggy Pop, Queen, Eric Clapton, and the Rolling Stones, and pianos throughout are all painted wildly: the one in the Lido restaurant totally psychedelic, the one in the piano bar designed to look like it's made of scrap lumber and rusty nails. Throughout the public areas on all the ships you'll see flowers that testify to Holland's place in the floral trade, and seafaring memorabilia that often harks back to Holland America's own history. Cabins are among the largest in the industry, and lounges are generally warm and refined. A light-classical trio performs during high tea in the Explorer's Lounge, and jazz combos lend an elegant touch to evenings in the Ocean Bar.

Among the line's strongest suits is service, with dining and hotel staff recruited primarily from the Philippines and Indonesia, where the line maintains a dedicated training facility. These staffers suffuse HAL with a real sense of Southeast Asian courtesy, a feeling reinforced by touches of regional art and textiles sprinkled among the vessels' Dutch design elements. Once per cruise, a Crew Talent Show allows crewmembers to present songs and dances from their home countries, sometimes folk songs, sometimes pop, and sometimes a little of both: On one 2002 cruise, I saw a performance of "My Way" by 14 Indonesian crewmembers wielding tuned bamboo angklung rattles. It was one of the most thoroughly bizarre things I'd seen in recent memory (and that's saying something...), and lots of fun.

For years, HAL was known for catering to an almost exclusively older crowd, with most passengers in their 70s on up. Today, however, following intense efforts to attract younger passengers, about 40% of the line's Caribbean guests are under age 55, with younger families beginning to pepper the mix as well, especially in summers and during holiday weeks. Passengers tend to be amiable, low-key, better educated than their equivalents aboard sister line Carnival, and much more amenable to dressing up -- you'll see lots of tuxedos and evening gowns on formal nights.

Cuisine-wise, HAL is much improved over the years and now offers some of the best fare in the mainstream segment of the industry, with well-presented menus that mix classic seafood and meat entrees with various ethnic traditions, plus healthy and vegetarian options. (In addition to standard vegetarian items on each menu, there's also a separate menu of other veggie options, but you have to ask for it.) Appetizers may include Sevruga caviar, prawns in spicy wasabi cocktail sauce, deep-fried hazelnut brie, and duck and black-bean quesadillas; the soup-and-salad course always includes several options, from a plain house salad and minestrone to Bahamian conch chowder and chilled watermelon soup; and main courses are heavy on traditional favorites such as broiled lobster tail, grilled salmon, beef tenderloin, roast turkey, seared tuna steak, grilled pork chop, and filet mignon.

In addition to dining in the main restaurant, guests aboard the line's newer vessels can also make reservations in the small specialty restaurants: Italian aboard Rotterdam, Volendam, Zaandam, and Amsterdam and Pacific Northwest on the newest ships, Zuiderdam and Oosterdam.

Itineraries and Rates

Holland America's vessels sails worldwide, visiting Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, Asia, Australia and the South Pacific, Canada and New England, the Caribbean, Europe, Hawaii, Mexico, the Panama Canal, and South America.

The line is particularly prominent in Alaska, where its land operation (encompassing hotels, attractions, domed trains, and custom touring motorcoaches) allows guests to pair a cruise with a multi-day trip to Denali National Park, Fairbanks, and Canada's Yukon Territory.

Like the industry as a whole, HAL has been offering some astounding deals lately, with per-person prices in Alaska this summer dipping as low as $550, with some starting at $400 as the season came to a close. Recent prices for weeklong Caribbean and Mexican Riviera sailing have started in the $500-$600 range.

Exclusive Deal for Frommers.com Readers

Frommer's readers reserving an outside or veranda cabin with HAL between now and September 30, 2003, are entitled to an onboard credit of $50 (7- to 11-night cruises, outside cabin), $100 (7- to 11-night cruises, veranda cabin; or cruises of 12-nights of longer, outside cabin), or $150 (12-night cruise or longer, veranda cabin). When booking, mention Promo 261, booking code 252. Contact Holland America Line at 800/426-0327 or www.hollandamerica.com.

Frommer's readers are also eligible for a $50 shipboard credit on HAL subsidiary Windstar Cruises, on any of its sailing ships, for any sailing. All conditions of the HAL offer apply.

Offer excludes "flat-rate" categories W, X, Y, and Z. Offer is combinable with the following promotions: Early Savings, Mariner Savings, Mariner Recognition, Single Partner Programs, GAP and Standard Groups, American Express Platinum promotion, and select promotions including 30-Day Early Savings. Other promotions may or may not be combinable. This promotion is not available to third and fourth guests in a cabin, and may be combined with other shipboard credit offers. This offer is subject to availability and may be modified, withdrawn, or sailing dates substituted without prior notice. Other restrictions may apply.

Sailings covered by the Holland America/Frommer's promotion are: