Holland America Line Wants You to Rethink Cruising… Maybe?
One of our most recent YouTube videos was about “5 reasons why we love Holland America Line — and you should too” — if you haven’t seen that video already, we certainly encourage you to give it a look. You can watch it here! And we won’t spoil the surprise by repeating all 5 of those reasons here now (!). However, as it happens, very soon after our video dropped, Holland America Line (HAL) went and announced a number of big changes to their cruising experience — changes which directly connect to numerous points we made in our previous video. In fact, if you’re someone who pays attention to cruise industry news, you may have noticed that HAL announced a series of incremental changes in close succession back in April-May-June. Many of these changes impact the onboard entertainment and the culinary experience (which so happened to be prime areas we highlighted amongst our “5 reasons”). It’s not being announced as a comprehensive “rebrand,” but add all the little alterations and revamps up and it does appear that HAL is implementing a brand refresh — a shadow rebrand, one might call it.
In our opinion, some of these changes are good and play into what we previously identified as HAL’s strengths, while other changes are, errr, not so good — and these shifts confirm a few of the suspicions and concerns we raised in that last “5 reasons why we love Holland America Line” video. So we thought we’d throw together a run-through here on the blog that outlines HAL’s recently announced changes, accompanied by our opinions and takeaways.
The shifts announced by HAL’s leadership team break down into roughly 3 categories: (1) launching new production shows; (2) modifying existing entertainment offerings; and (3) strengthening the brand’s commitment to localism and sustainability. Here’s a rundown of the headlines:
New Production Shows
Perhaps the biggest HAL news of late are the entertainment lineup changes, with new mainstage experiences including 4 new shows that put “a fresh spin on classic cruise productions” (in other words, song-and-dance style variety shows). These shows quietly began debuting on Eurodam in February 2024 (meaning, they’re already happening), and they were scheduled to be rolled out to Rotterdam, Zuiderdam, and Nieuw Statendam by end of June, with more ships to follow. Each of HAL’s ships will now have a production cast with 3 leads, or ”headliners,” backed by an ensemble of singers and dancers. The 4 new production shows are (as described in HAL’s announcement): (1) "Song & Dance": “set on a studio backlot, two leading men front a concert of musical numbers from Broadway, Hollywood and more; (2) "Class Act": “Las Vegas goes to sea in this elaborate production, celebrating iconic female performers of the concert and nightclub stage”; (3) "All That!": “be a part of our studio audience as we present our take on the classic TV variety shows of the '60s, '70s and '80s. Headliners share the spotlight combining singing, dancing and a bit of comedy”; and (4) "Hey, Mr. DJ": “iconic radio DJs introduce songs from the '60s through today in this concert of pop hits.” Also, absent from the press release but present in other new marketing materials is Cantare, a revival of a review-style show fronted by a quartet of male singers performing “decades of pop hits and amazing harmonies.” All of these are performances offered on HAL’s World Stage venue.
Not a production show, but another new addition to HAL’s onboard activities that’s worth a quick mention is a virtual book club in partnership with Amazon’s Audible, dubbed Holland America Book Club. The idea here is that guests can read e-books onboard, as well as listen to audio content like audiobooks and podcasts, taking advantage of a 2-month free Audible trial and exclusive content delivered via their stateroom’s interactive television. HAL will offer “curated destination-focused collections” of books. And the “virtual book club” will take place via HAL’s social media channels, with guests convening around one select audiobook or Audible Original. In addition, HAL is pledging to refurbish the physical library spaces onboard its fleet (which on most of its ships can be found in the Crow’s Nest or Explorations Cafe area), updating the decor and adding a rotating “Feature Section” display.
Existing Entertainment Modifications
To bring in the new, they must take out the old... or at least modify the ongoing “old” entertainment to accommodate these new priorities. For instance, BBC Earth has been a long-popular performance series on the World Stage, and it now appears to have been discontinued. These performances have been a staple on HAL ships since 2016-2017. In recent months, the BBC Earth Experiences (BBC Earth, BBC One Planet, BBC Planet Earth) have disappeared from HAL’s ships and from their website, and there is no mention of the BBC Earth affiliation in HAL’s recent entertainment lineup announcements. The termination of BBC Earth is very likely related to the departure of the Lincoln Center Stage musicians, who provided the musical accompaniment to these audio-visual performances. The closing down of the Lincoln Center Stage venue is widely known by now, and the subject of much consternation amongst loyal HAL guests. The line began removing the classical music venue from its ships in early 2023 — though at the time HAL announced it would continue Lincoln Center Stage classical music performances on the World Stage mainstage. However, Lincoln Center Stage is completely absent from HAL’s latest press releases — it appears that relationship has ended and the previously announced plan to move the Lincoln Center Stage classical music performances to the World Stage has been scrapped. The only classical music onboard HAL’s ships will be on European voyages with a chamber music trio (Chordial Chamber Trio), plus there’ll be classical performances in the Explorer’s Lounge during select Grand Voyages and Legendary Voyages sailings... but no more Lincoln Center Stage, sadly.
The Music Walk has for years been HAL’s signature onboard entertainment offering, consisting of 4 distinct live music venues: B.B. King’s Blues Club, the Rolling Stone Rock Room, Billboard Onboard, and the aforementioned Lincoln Center Stage (RIP). HAL’s recent entertainment lineup announcements also included a few notable adjustments to the Music Walk as it’s been known. To start, HAL is adding Rolling Stone Lounge to more ships: Rolling Stone has officially replaced B.B. King’s Blues Club on the Eurodam and Nieuw Amsterdam. (And FWIW, HAL seems to be re-branding the “Rolling Stone Rock Room” as the “Rolling Stone Lounge” — or more confusingly, calling it the “Lounge” on newly added ships but still retaining the “Rock Room” name on its 3 Pinnacle Class vessels.) That expands the Rolling Stone 7-piece rock band to 9 ships in the fleet. HAL is also “enhancing” Billboard Onboard with an “updated piano bar concept,” which seems to mean there’ll be an increased focus on current chart-topping hits, as well as a different musical theme for each night of the cruise (though this isn’t exactly new — it’s been common practice already). These 2 venues — Rolling Stone and Billboard Onboard — appear to be the main focus of the Music Walk for HAL moving forward.
If you’ve watched any of our Holland America Line videos on Calling All Ports, you’ll know that we’re big fans of the B.B. King’s Blues Club venue and band. There has been chatter online that HAL’s contract with the B.B. King’s organization is ending soon, and that HAL does not intend to renew it. Notably, HAL’s recent entertainment lineup announcements declare that B.B. King’s Blues Club will remain on the Pinnacle Class ships (Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, and Rotterdam), at least for the time being. Nevertheless, it seems to be a diminished priority for HAL; for instance, B.B. King’s receives only a 1-line mention in the press release. And it’s obviously being scaled back while Rolling Stone is being ramped up (with Rolling Stone taking over B.B. King’s on multiple ships). And there aren’t any changes or new investments being made in the venue’s future.
RIP Music Walk? What’s even more concerning to us is that the entire Music Walk concept appears to be gone. HAL is no longer using that term in its marketing or on the website. That name “the music walk” has disappeared completely from HAL’s branding.
We reached out to Holland America Line with a number of questions intended to confirm some of these apparent changes, as well as clarify the brand’s vision forward. These included whether the Music Walk concept is being sunsetted completely, what happened to the Lincoln Center Stage partnership, and whether the B.B. King’s relationship is also nearing its end. However, at the time of this writing, Holland America Line had not responded to our multiple requests for comment.
Localism and Sustainability
HAL has increasingly used localism as a marketing focus, highlighting both destination immersion and a commitment to localized, sustainable practices, in particular with their dining. Their Global Fresh Fish Program, for example (which we’ve previously talked about in a few of our videos), is a promising initiative that emphasizes HAL’s commitment to high-quality, fresh food and environmental sustainability by creating a network of 60 ports to source and serve over 80 varieties of fresh fish onboard all the restaurants across HAL’s 11-ship fleet — with the goal of bringing locally sourced fish from port-to-plate in under 48 hours. They’ve also recently become the first global cruise line receive internationally distinguished seafood certifications, from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) and Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC). The rollout of MSC and ASC Chain of Custody certified sustainable seafood started in May 2024 on 5 of HAL’s ships, including onboard the Volendam during its spring Canada/New England sailings — which we were actually on back in mid-May.
The line is also embracing other initiatives that highlight the regions they cruise to along with where they cruise from, namely the cruise line’s roots in the Netherlands. Playing up the angle of immersive and authentic travel experiences, Holland America Line’s new President Gus Antorcha has pronounced that HAL’s brand strategy is to focus on three main elements: fresh, regional, and local. HAL is well-known for its deep legacy cruising in Alaska, and one such “local experience” that’s being newly promoted is Glacier Day. The idea here is that on every one of HAL’s Alaskan itineraries there’ll be at least one glacier scenic sightseeing day (Glacier Bay, Hubbard, Dawes, or Tracy Arm), during which they’ll offer passengers with sighting times, scenic commentary, informational viewing stations, photo opportunities, an open bow for viewing and Dutch Pea Soup on deck, Glacier Ice cocktails, and enrichment presentations and talks by Glacier Bay National Park Rangers and Huna cultural interpreters. We say “promoted” rather than “added” because, in reality, HAL has offered this full slate of programs and activities for some time now — it just seems that now they’re branding and promoting it as a package experience.
Another one of the key ways that they’re delivering this strategy is through food, including the introduction of a Dutch Day on all sailings. Again, the idea here isn’t exactly brand new, simply refined and (re-)branded. This Dutch Day will occur in conjunction with the already popular Orange Party, which is HAL’s gala night onboard every itinerary. There’ll be adding a Dutch themed dinner in the Dining Room, along with some new touches like free stroopwafels (through a partnership with Daelmans). This one builds on 2 of the “reasons we love Holland America” from our previous video: the cruise line’s Dutch heritage and the food. And indeed, the Orange Party was already largely a culinary experience with Dutch themed cocktails and complimentary passed hors d'oeuvres.
HAL’s local focus also extends to quasi-local entertainment, or “unique programming for specific regions” — meaning entertainment productions that are tailored to the local cultures of the regions in which they’re cruising. That is, on each cruise there’ll be additional production shows that “complement” the previously mentioned 4 main shows, depending on whether you’re sailing in Alaska, the Caribbean, Europe, Canada & New England, et al. Caribbean cruises will have the Island Magic concert, featuring steel drum takes on well-known classical and pop songs. Canada & New England cruises will have the “Nova Scotia music experience” Breton Thunder. European sailings will feature classical string music from Chordial Chamber Trio and opera tenors in Pantheon. Alaska sailings will feature Major Fourth, a show with four singers performing a repertory of pop hits, plus a continuation of Step One Dance Company. Hmmm... nothing in Alaska seems particularly tailored to the local culture, except for a program they’re calling “Destination: Alaska,” which honestly sounds like a re-branding of the usual daily port talks that are already a staple of HAL’s Alaskan itineraries.
Adding It All Up
In conclusion, HAL has made a number of significant changes to their cruising experience so far in 2024, many already implemented or actively in the process of being rolled out as we write this. HAL leadership has stopped short of calling this a rebrand for the cruise line. But this is a shadow rebrand, we’ll claim, in so much as HAL has announced a number of small individual changes close together that cumulatively will make a big impact on the “product” the cruise line delivers and the experience that passengers like ourselves will encounter onboard in the future. While many of these so-called changes — like the Billboard Onboard “update,” Glacier Day, Dutch Day — are more a marketing refresh than anything else, they nonetheless reveal a desire on HAL’s part to refine the cruise line’s identity. And we welcome HAL’s continued embrace of its Dutch heritage, as well as its deep commitment to unique cruise regions like Alaska. Ultimately, though, the big, substantive changes are not entirely positive in our eyes. The diminishing, or even possible erasure, of the Music Walk is huge loss for HAL. If the Music Walk walks… well, we might too (away from HAL with our business, that is)! The shift toward variety shows with a “classic cruise production format” is boring and predictable — it’s simply offering a version of what every mainstream and premium cruise line is already doing (and frankly, HAL is unlikely to deliver the quality of big production shows and talent that the likes of Royal, NCL, and Carnival can deliver). These “popular hits” driven musical variety shows are a dime a dozen — and by choosing these over the likes of, say, BBC Earth, there’s simply less incentive to choose HAL over their competition. It’s a step backward, in our opinion.
This blog post is an addendum of sorts to our April 2024 YouTube video, “"5 Reasons We Love HOLLAND AMERICA — And YOU Should Too!” We certainly encourage you to watch (or re-watch!) that video, as it’ll help put the discussion in this post in fuller context. Thanks!