tell you the six things that I believe you absolutely need to know about Holland

America line before you cruise with them. First of all who is Holland America Line

best suited for? It does tend to have a reputation for attracting a slightly

older Cruiser, and that's partly because it has a very traditional cruising

experience. So if you're looking for a fairly traditional cruise, and onboard

you're not looking for ice rinks, bowling rinks and climbing walls - but you're just

looking more for bar, lounges, some enrichment, entertainment, cooking

classes and a fairly traditional approach to dining then Holland America is a

great line for you. Most cruisers are likely to be in their 50s 60s

and above. Saying that there are a lot of families who go on Holland America,

particularly in the summer vacations. They are very used to catering for solo

travelers. They're also used to taking on people who might be in a wheelchair, so

they have accessible cabins and they have tours which are wheelchair friendly.

You're going to find on board most of the people are likely to be American, and

you'll find the whole on-board experience is US focused, but certainly if you're

looking for a traditional cruising experience Holland America is a great

line for you. The second thing you need to understand about Holland America

is their fare. What does it include and importantly, of course, what does it

exclude? First of all, of course, it includes your accommodation. So whether

you've booked an inside cabin through to a suite. Second thing it includes is

meals. Breakfast, lunch or dinner can either be taken in the main dining room

or it can be taken in one of the other complimentary venues - such as the Lido

market or the pizza place or the burger place. In the dining room in the

afternoons they have afternoon tea, which is included within the fair. The other

thing that's included, when it comes to drinks, are the following: regular tea,

regular coffee, hot chocolate, lemonade, iced tea and of course water. You also

get access to basically all of the facilities with one key exception - which

are the Cabanas which are an area you pay to have access. If you have kids

then access to the kids club is also free. So between the ages of 3 and 17

they have Club HAL. Entertainment is also included in the fare, and there's a

couple of things that I really wanted to draw your attention to on Holland

America. One of the big innovations and things that are

rolling across the fleet is what's known as the Music Walk. Four different and

varied venues. First of these is known as Lincoln Center Stage. This is a

partnership with the Lincoln Center, which is one of the world's leading

centers for Performing Arts. Here you have classical concerts and

various recitals. A little bit further along is BB Kings

Blues Club. You have the BB King's all-stars band and every single night

they have a number of shows. The third one, and probably the most popular, is

Billboard Onboard. Here you have two pianists and singers facing each other

and each evening they do a series of shows around different themes. Then, of

course, you have what's known as the Mainstage. This is the big theater where they

hold the production shows and have guests entertainers and during the day they

may have some enrichment lectures here. The other really important things

that I wanted to note that are included within the fare is you have Digital

Workshops, which are on partnership with Windows Microsoft. Also a partnership

with America's Test Kitchen where you have cooking demonstrations and

displays right throughout the cruise. They also have a partnership with O

magazine, so the Oprah Winfrey magazine, where they have various wellness

activities like meditation and the book club. They also have a partnership with BBC

Earth, so they'll have lots of activities and programs or shows featured around

the wildlife and the nature. So what's not included within your Holland America

fare? The first of these are gratuities. Gratuities at the time of recording

are $13.50 per person if you're in a balcony or inside cavern and if you're in

a suite that goes up to $15 per person per day. 15% will be added to all

drinks and 15% will be added to any treatments that you have

within the spa, and also in the casino if you want to tip you need to tip

separately. The second cost are drinks. Alcoholic beverages and specialty teas

and coffees are not included in your fare. Now what's important to know is you

can bring basically one bottle of wine on board, and there's no charge if

you drink it within your cabin. When you come back from excursions if you do

bring on board any alcohol it's taken from you and it's kept to one side until

the end of the cruise. There's a whole range of drinks

packages available and they range from very simple soft drinks packages right

through to ultimate drinks packages. The third thing that's not included in your

fare is excursions. You can either book with Holland America Line and go on their

tours which they do guarantee then if there's any problems and they're running

late the ship will wait for you. There are independent providers who will sell

similar tours but they don't have that guarantee. You then of course you could

use things, which I often like to do, in some ports which is hop-on hop-off buses

because they often call it the port where the Holland America ship is

calling. Although a lot of dining is included within the fare, there are a

number of specialty dining options and depending on the ship they vary

slightly. The ones that you should be aware of is Pinnacle Grill, this is

their steak and seafood restaurant it's something that Holland America are very

proud of, and you pay at the time of recording $35 per person to dine in

there. One of my favorites, which is on many of the ships, is Tamarind. This is an

Asian fusion restaurant and you pay $25 per person at the time of recording to

go. There's also an Italian option which is called Canaletto

you pay $15 to go to Canaletto. Rudy's Sal De Mar option is held about

once every seven days on a cruise within the Pinnacle Grill, and this is a

big seafood fest and that costs around about $45 per person.

The third critical thing you need to know is the dress code. Basically they

have, in the evenings anyway, a smart casual approach - which means that

actually jeans (as long as they're not ripped and torn) are actually fine in the

main dining room and even you can get away with t-shirts. Shorts and tank tops are

not allowed in the dining restaurants at all in the evening. Roughly two

nights out of every seven on a cruise are Gala Nights, where they do ask people

to dress up a little bit more. So what I often do is just take some

smart trousers and some long sleeve button-up shirts. Some people do

like to wear jackets. Some people like to dress up even more. So for ladies what

ladies would wear is dress as similar to what you might find at a sort of daytime

wedding - so quite dressy but not massively dressy. On Gala nights you can

wear jeans in the casual dining restaurant. So the dress code is smart

without being very formal and so you shouldn't worry if you don't like

particularly dressing up a lot. Holland America have relooked

extensively the way that they deal with excursions and they've created a new

umbrella which is called Explorations Central. They have taken over the crow's

nest and converted it to what's known as EXC Central. You have the tour desk there,

then you have the EXC guides (which are the staff that man the desk that help

you understand the destination and give you tips if you want a self explore). You

have some interactive tables where you can find out more about the ports and

what's going on. You'll find leaflets about the different excursions and

attractions. You'll also find there's various books

about the destinations. You have EXC Talks which are about the destination or

the history of the destination. You also have EXC Encounters where they'll often

bring local entertainers or craftsmen on board so you get as some immersion into

the port that you're calling on. Then on the television there's an EXC Channel

which will have highlights of the different ports on or

documentaries linked to the destination or area that you're traveling through. So

if you've booked a cruise on Holland America's two critical things that I

recommend you do before you go. Log in to on the website and the cruise

personalizer. You can download your luggage tags, you can download your

documents that you need to check in -but very importantly you can start to book

things like your drinks packages, spa treatments, all your excursions and you

can also book your speciality dining. The second thing I'd recommend you do is go

to Cruise Critic and look for the roll call for Holland America and look for

your cruise and find out if there's going to be a Cruise Critic Meet and

Mingle held on board, as that's a great way at the beginning of

the cruise and there's normally free drinks and free snacks and it's a chance to

meet other people. Now my sixth tip is how do you make the most of your time on

board? The one tip that I would have that will really help you maximize your time

on board is the app, which is called the Holland American Navigator app. It's

completely free to use. It does work through Wi-Fi but you're not going to pay

any Wi-Fi charges. On this you can do a number of things. It has the daily

program and the great thing about that is you can create your own personal daily

program by selecting the items you want, and it'll just show your daily program for

the day. It also lets you book excursions. It also

lets you book some of your dining options (your specialty dining options).

Another great feature is you can also look at your account balance, you don't

go to the front desk, and you can keep a track day by day of what you're spending. If

you plan to travel on Holland America I hope these tips have really helped you.

As I mentioned it's a traditional cruising experience, it's a premium

experience. I think the ships and the decor are beautiful and I like its link

back to its old maritime heritage. If you enjoyed this video I'd love it if

you watched many more of my videos because you'll get much more travel

inspiration, advice and tips.