First Time on Holland America Line: Pros, Cons & Advice from a Millennial Aged Cruiser
- Dara
- Feb 3
- 20 min read
Updated: 2 days ago
Researching cruise lines and thinking about trying Holland America? If you’re anything like I was prior to my trip, the only thing you may vaguely know about Holland America is that it has a reputation for being a cruise line for old people - but is this fair, or even accurate? My partner and I did a 14 day Caribbean cruise on board their newest ship, the Rotterdam. This was my 6th cruise overall and my very first on Holland America.
We were definitely a little apprehensive going into the trip. It was the most we'd ever spent on this type of vacation, and at 39 and 43 years old (at the time of cruising), we weren’t sure if this was going to be the best cruise line for where we were in life. The itinerary we found was great though, it fit our scheduling needs perfectly, and the on-board facilities looked quite nice, so we decided to give the Rotterdam a shot to see if it was a good fit for us as elder millennials.
I’ll go through the pros and cons of the line for younger cruisers, providing you with the advice to keep in mind if you're considering giving Holland America a try. I'll start off with what we liked and who we think Holland America is a good fit for, before finishing up with the dislikes and who might want to avoid this line - and spoiler alert - the dislike list is the shorter one! I've also got a video version of my review - that link is here, along with a vlog on the cruise itself - both links can also be found at the bottom of the post.
Table of Contents
The Likes
Traditional Cruise Experience
Holland America Line is going to be a good fit for anyone who prefers a more "traditional" cruise experience. What does that mean exactly? Holland America has a long, rich history, dating back 150 years, and their vessels have maintained that classic looking ship aesthetic. A Holland America ship looks like a modern version of a vintage style passenger vessel.
Left: Holland America Volendam circa 1922 | Right: The Volendam today
Nearly 100 years later, the silhouette hasn't changed much!
Photo Credit for Volendam: 663highland - Own work, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7401271
They don’t look to reinvent the wheel with activities and gimmicks, they just focus on doing the basic things well - think good food, good drinks, good entertainment, and good service. So if you’re someone who is more interested in the basics done well versus how many laser-black-light-upside-down waterslides can be crammed onto one boat, then you will enjoy Holland America’s entire fleet. Now of course well done basics and classical cruising is going to appeal to an older demographic, but if this kind of cruising is your taste, then Holland America will appeal to you regardless of your age. Holland America cruise ships are exactly that - cruise ships. Not theme parks at sea.
You will not find things like this on Holland America Don’t get me wrong, I have been on a few theme parks at sea and loved them! There is something about putting a water slide on a boat that is just next level awesome, but I also really enjoyed this type of experience, where things are a bit more relaxed, calmer, and less overstimulating.
Ship Sizes
Many of the newest ships on the resort lines are huge - thousands and thousands of passengers and crew crammed onto crowded, maze-like vessels. They’re almost like floating cities at sea, where at times you may forget you’re in the middle of the ocean and feel instead like you’re just at a fancy mall or wandering through a Las Vegas hotel. Now, Holland America ships aren’t small either - they range from a double occupancy passenger capacity of about 1400 at the smaller end to 2700 at the larger end, so they’re kind of in that sweet spot.
Holland America's Zuiderdam (left, 1964 capacity) and Rotterdam (right, 2668 capacity) docked at Half Moon Cay in the Bahamas They're big enough to have plenty going on and lots to explore, but small enough that you always feel like you’re on a ship and don’t experience that tricked out, shopping mall vibe. Again, don’t get me wrong, I’m still super curious to check out Icon of the Seas one day too, but I really liked the happy medium that Holland America offers with their ship sizes. The Rotterdam felt big and busy without feeling overwhelming, and that was really nice. If you want to see a full tour of the Rotterdam I do have a video on that as well. The link is here, and can also be found at the end of the post.
Partial maps of the Plaza and Promenade decks - lots to do, but not too big to get lost in Long Itineraries
Holland America does have plenty of standard length cruises, in your typical 5 -10 day range, but they specialize in longer voyages, which is part of the reason they are popular with the retired demographic. Most working people, or those with young families, can’t get the time away to do many of these lengthier cruises. So if you like extended voyages and plenty of time out at sea, Holland America might be a good fit for you. They are also set up to connect consecutive itineraries. Our 14 day cruise was actually two 7 day cruises back to back, and we could have even added a third week on board had our schedule permitted.
We returned to Fort Lauderdale at the halfway point - about 300 of us stayed on board for the second week of the itinerary Food
The older I've gotten the more sophisticated my palette has become, and the more I have grown to appreciate high quality, well prepared food. As I mentioned earlier, Holland America is all about doing the simple things well, and food is definitely one of those. Food on the bigger resort lines can be great too - I’ve had lovely meals on board other ships - but the quality is going to be more hit or miss, with more misses than hits depending on which resort line you’re on. With Holland America, you don’t have to worry about that. Not every dish is going to appeal to every palate, but you never have to worry about poor ingredients or low quality - and that is something that should appeal to all ages.
A tasty steak dinner at the Pinnacle Grill We were very pleased with the quality of food in both the buffet, the main dining hall, and in the specialty restaurants. For the specialty offerings, we ate at the Pinnacle Grill, their signature steakhouse, and Tamarind, the asian fusion restaurant. Both restaurants were excellent, and we were pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to both get and change the specialty dining reservations. On other lines I've found that the specialty restaurants are much harder to book and sometimes impossible to change. Much easier experience here.
We ordered nearly every appetizer on the Tamarind menu! Drinks
Holland America knows how to make a cocktail, and that is something that should appeal to all ages, 21 and up of course! One thing I particularly appreciated on board the Rotterdam were the drinks at the pool bars. On other cruise lines I’ve found that while the drinks at the interior bars were decent, the poolside beverages were often sickly sweet - the kind of cheaper, overly saccharine mixed drinks that at my age I just don't enjoy anymore - half a drink in and I feel gross from all that sugar. But the poolside drinks on the Rotterdam were lovely - the kind you can slowly nurse while spending a day relaxing by the pool, without worrying about what you’re doing to your blood sugar levels and teeth.
Making a poolside cocktail at the Panorama Bar The quality level is maintained throughout the interior of the ship as well, with several specialty bars featuring a variety of unique cocktails to quench your thirst. They also had a nice selection of good caliber inexpensive wines by the glass, which as a wine drinker is something I’ve struggled with finding on other cruise lines.
Loved the wines by the glass options on board! On the non-alcoholic side of things, this was also my first experience on a cruise line that offered afternoon tea! This was so delightful and such a pleasant way to spend an afternoon at sea. Truly excellent overall experience with drinks on board the Rotterdam.
Christmas themed Nutcracker tea Service
Excellent service ties in to the line's philosophy of simple things done well. You’ll interact with a lot of cruise staff during the course of a voyage, and I never saw anyone miss a beat. Our cabin steward was lovely and accommodating, guest services handled the few needs we had, bartenders and servers were friendly and efficient, and the wait staff was excellent - our waiter at Pinnacle Grill actually talked me out of buying a more expensive wine fleet, as he thought a different lower priced option would go better with my dish choice. If you expect and appreciate good service, Holland America will not let you down.
Staff on the Rotterdam were delightful Entertainment
Entertainment is where preferences definitely get more tied in to age. Everyone loves good food and drinks whether you’re 21 or 91, but entertainment is more of a personal preference, and chances are that while that 21 year old and 91 year old may be enjoying the same tasty glass of sangria, what keeps them amused and having fun on vacation is likely quite different. First off, Holland America’s entertainment offerings do focus heavily on music. The music venues take up a fair bit of common area space, and many of the decks on the Rotterdam have musical themes. So if you aren’t particularly interested in music as a form of entertainment, then regardless of your age I wouldn’t have Holland America at the top of my recommendation list for you.
Staircases and lobbies throughout the ship have unique music themed decor
As for the music itself, it’s top notch. You can certainly find wonderful musicians on other cruise lines - I’ve heard many talented artists play on my previous voyages on the resort lines - but I’ve also heard some music and singing on past cruises that was… well… not stellar. You will not find that situation here. Music is the focus of the entertainment offerings, so all the musicians are vetted and talented performers. Honestly, I was blown away by everyone. We spent most of our time at the Billboard Onboard venue, home to the dueling pianos, but there was also a rock venue and a blues club, and we did attend multiple performances at each. When you think of cruise ship entertainment you may not expect top of the line performers, but let me assure you that Holland America truly delivers on this aspect of its entertainment offerings. So, so impressive!
Dueling pianos in action at Billboard Onboard There is also a theater on board, the World Stage. Taking up the front of decks two and three, it features a two story LED screen with a wraparound display - pretty impressive tech! During our cruise the World Stage hosted a comedian, a magician, and some additional musical performers. It also served as the on board movie theater. That said, a lot of the programming scheduled at this venue were informative talks and presentations - still fun and entertaining, but with more of an educational and enrichment focus than what you’d find on the resort lines.
Comedy show at the World Stage I went to one lecture discussing different aspects of the ocean, one was a detailed behind the scenes look at how the Rotterdam is run, and one that examined the line’s storied 150 year history. They were all great! Really interesting and visually stimulating, as they make great use of that two story screen - but these kinds of things are not going to appeal to everyone. Not everyone is going to want to attend an educational presentation while on vacation, and that’s OK. But this is the kind of programming that Holland America offers, so the line is going to attract people whose interests align. Holland America is perfect for people who love culture, history and enrichment - and that does tend to skew toward an older demographic, but if you’re younger and these things are right up your alley, then you’re going to feel very at home on board as well.
Learning about the ocean on a sea day The final aspect of entertainment I’ll touch on is the daily programming. Every cruise ship has a daily program with activities throughout the day, but the kinds of activities are going to vary greatly across the different cruise lines. Holland America’s activities are more lower key than what you’ll find on the resort lines. You can take knitting basics, learn modern brush lettering, practice origami, do adult coloring, try pickleball, or meet up with others for trivia. You’re not going to find raunchy game shows, poolside belly flop competitions or late night karaoke contests.
Typical daily activities program While they do host a big Orange party on every cruise, there’s no nightclub on board. That’s not the Holland America Line style. So again, it come down to personal preference. While I still like to have fun and go out on occasion, now that I'm in my 40s I’m finding more joy in lower key things. Would I have been pumped at this daily activity list when I was 20? No, definitely not. The daily activity list is a great way to get a sense of what Holland America is all about. It’s not that they are purposefully catering to the older demographic, but what they offer is a relaxed atmosphere with lower key activities. That can appeal to anyone, but passengers who are seeking out this style of cruising are definitely going to skew older.
Every cruise has an Orange Party to celebrate the line's Dutch heritage Kids
I had a more atypical introductory experience to Holland America, in that my first sailing was over the December holidays, so there were plenty of kids on board. However, overall this is not a line that is going to appeal to families with small children. They’re not adults only or anti-kid, but this is definitely not a kid-centric cruise line. Nothing in the daily activities program is geared toward children, there’s no kids pool or outdoor kids activity area. There is a small indoor kids club, which I’ve read actually does a pretty good job at keeping the little ones entertained, but its hours are a bit more limited than the larger resort style ships and there aren’t going to be as many kids on board to make friends with as there would be on more family-geared lines.
Indoor kids club, wasn't open when I walked by - hours are more limited than the more family-oriented cruise lines Holland America is kid-friendly, but families with kids are not at all their target customer base. The crew members I chatted with during my time on board mentioned that if you sail when school is in session, there are hardly any children on board at all. This makes Holland America a great choice if it’s a high priority for you to be on a ship that is mostly just adults.
Miscellaneous Logistics
A multi-parter! There were a few logistical things about Holland America that differed from my previous cruise experiences that I really liked, so wanted to point those out.
Their app. Cruise line apps vary from incredibly useful to hot garbage, and Holland America thankfully has a good one. There’s really no excuse for a poorly designed, buggy and useless app in 2025, but some lines don’t seem to think it’s much of a priority.
Holland America Navigator - make sure you download the app for your cruise I also greatly appreciated their pool towel policy. Need one? Grab one. Need five? Grab five. Put them in the dirty bin when you leave and you’re done. Other lines are strangely stingy and possessive of their usually very basic and worn pool towels. They act as if they’re lending you a gold bar when you sign one out. I’m guessing there’s a reason behind the policy, but honestly, it’s really nice to be trusted to just take a towel as needed and put it away when I’m done.
My first time not having to sign out pool towels! Inside the staterooms, everyone is provided with a reusable tote bag, and we used ours a ton during the course of our 14 day voyage. It was useful to take when we were off the ship in ports, or even just to throw some things in when heading to the pool deck. They also make a nice souvenir, and now I know for the future that I don’t have to pack an extra bag for odds and ends. Nice little touch.
Good quality as well - I've continued to use it long after the cruise Cabins are also stocked with umbrellas! Also a thoughtful amenity that I haven’t seen on my prior cruises, and one less thing to remember to pack.
I would still pack a poncho or a rain jacket, but definitely no need for the umbrella! We usually book balcony cabins when we sail, and I always struggled with wanting to put my feet up while I’m outside reading. It's just more comfy that way! These balconies come with footrests for the balcony chairs. It’s a small thing, but made such a difference!
A much comfier balcony reading experience than I've had in the past I loved these cute little passports they provided in the cabin as well. At the end of each sailing you get a sticker to commemorate your journey and “stamp” the book. So fun! I absolutely adored this as a small touch, and of course now I’m motivated to fill that book with more stickers - so good job on that hook, Holland America!
We got two stickers for our back to back cruises! This was from the first 7 day portion The final two things to mention tie in to the larger concept of good service, but I wanted to point them out specifically. When returning to the ship from ports, Holland America has little tents set up with water, lemonade, cold towels and a place to sit if you need it. Some other lines offer similar services too, but just wanted to make mention. It's a nice touch.
Ah, a refreshing lemonade and chilled towel you say? Yes please! I also liked that they looked out for us when we made a mistake. We pre-booked clamshell shades for our beach day at Half Moon Cay, Holland America and Carnival’s private island (my full video tour of the island can be found here!). We misread the online description and booked two shells, thinking it was one per person. The shore excursion desk caught that we booked shades for four people and were only a cain of two, so they reached out and asked us if perhaps we made a mistake? We did indeed, and got a refund for the extra clamshell we didn’t need. Very much appreciated.
I really appreciated that they caught my mistake. I booked the clamshells online in advance and clearly was not reading carefully!
The Dislikes
Demographics of Fellow Passengers
Back to the big question on age! Who is this cruise line for? Who will your fellow cruisers be? Well, if you’re like us, and are in the millennial or younger Gen X range, then you are not likely going to find yourself amongst a lot of fellow cruisers who are in your age demographic. Your fellow cruisers are very likely going to be older. If you’re traveling with your partner or spouse or a group of friends, then you may not care. However, if you want to get on board and socialize with others in your rough age bracket, that might not happen on Holland America. It’s something to keep in mind. I was hoping that we’d maybe find another couple or two in our peer group to chat and hang out with, but that didn’t end up happening. It was a bit of a bummer.
We mostly hung out with each other - there weren't many other kid-free couples our age Itinerary Structure
As I mentioned above, you can book back to back cruises to build longer trips, which is exactly what we did. There are some catches though that we didn’t know about in advance with this, and didn’t love. For one thing, while you may treat your cruise as a continuous 14 day trip, in some ways Holland America does not. Once you’re on board, you can’t easily book things for the second leg of your trip. I was hoping to book two spa appointments, as the good slots book out quickly on embarkation day, but was told I couldn’t book anything for the second half of our trip. I had to come back on the second embarkation day, which for us was the mid point, to battle the newly arrived crowd to get the slot I wanted - exactly what I thought I’d avoid having to do.
I wish I had captured the spa reception area on either embarkation day - a complete mad house! The second embarkation day also isn’t really the full free day on board we thought it would be. We had to be out of the cabin early in the morning and meet in the World Stage theater for a head count to fully disembark the ship, go through customs in the cruise terminal, and then re-board. It's the law, not Holland America's choice here, but it did eat up a decent portion of that morning.
There is a separate customs line for those staying on board. So while you do have to be processed, once you are escorted off the ship it's pretty quick. I also wish that requirement had been made a bit clearer. They do drop off a letter in the stateroom the night before discussing it, but the letter itself was long and a bit confusing. It was directed at all passengers, not specifically the few who were remaining on board and continuing on, so the instructions for us were kind of buried in the middle. We weren’t expecting this mid-voyage disembarkation process at all, so we didn’t fully comprehend the instructions as we should have - and that’s partially on us. This process definitely could have been made clearer though, so just be aware that if you book back to back cruises to build a long itinerary, make sure you know what you need to do when you're continuing on for the next leg of the voyage!
Food
I’ve sung the praises earlier on the food, but I did have one small qualm. The Rotterdam buffet style is not all self service, many food stations are staffed with servers. There’s a lot of glass and partitions, which is great for hygiene and food safety, but the result is a much slower buffet system than what you'd find at a 100% self-serve buffet. There’s a lot of waiting on lines, and sometimes I chose food just based on what was quickest to get served, not on what I actually wanted to eat.
Calm before the lunchtime storm. These tongs are easily reachable, but if they face away then they are meant for the server to use. The buffet is combination of self service and staff service, and sometimes it wasn’t completely clear which was which. I found that just because you could easily reach tongs to serve yourself, didn’t mean you were supposed to. I very much appreciate this setup in terms food safety and health standards - especially in a post covid world - and I've witnessed people do some gross things at all self-service buffets that you can't as easily do here - but I think there could perhaps be some efficiency improvements.
Drinks
There were a couple of drink related things we didn’t love, though nothing related to the quality or variety of what was offered. Part of what we experienced was perhaps just bad timing, but it did end up being really annoying. Our sailing coincided with a price increase on many of the commonly ordered bar drinks, but the beverage package hadn’t changed to compensate. So we were constantly having to sign bills for tiny amounts every time we got a drink.
After 14 days at sea my folio was filled with these small drink charges, some as low as $1 Even the bartenders and servers found it frustrating that they were constantly having to give us receipts to sign for sometimes minuscule amounts, and of course the result is that after 14 days on board our folios had a million tiny charges on them that were impossible to reconcile. I hope the beverage package price cap has since been adjusted to compensate for the price increases they put into place.
The other thing we found frustrating was that our beverage package didn’t cover drinks on Half Moon Cay, the private island. A rum punch on the ship is part of the package - or at least most of it was, there may have been like a dollar charge on it due to what I just discussed - but when the staff brings that same rum punch onto shore, I have to pay $12 for it. It’s such a small thing, to just include the drinks on Half Moon Cay. It is their island and their own stock after all! It would have been a nice touch that doesn’t cost them anything extra. On a more upscale line like Holland America, I was a little surprised by this, but maybe that’s just my inexperience.
I ended up buying a Coke on Half Moon Cay, but waited until I got back on board to get a nice beachy cocktail, where most of the drink was covered by the drink package again. Entertainment
I do have one criticism of the entrainment that was provided, and maybe it’s not entirely fair. I wish the music had some more generational variety! The music was incredible and the musicians were all talented, well seasoned performers. But the music was kind of more what I’d expect my parents generation to enjoy. The rock bands at the Rolling Stone Lounge stuck to the classics, with very little deviation into anything as recent as like the late 80s. The music found in the piano bar and the B.B. King Blues Club also mostly skewed toward the tunes of decades past.
An evening at BB King In some ways this all makes perfect sense, they’re catering to their core audience, who isn’t going to cheer and dance and rock out to what I grew up listening to. But I do wish there would have been a bit more decade variety to appeal to adults of all ages. Don’t forget about us millennials! What I would have given for a couple of nice covers of some 90s alternative rock.
School Holiday Sailings
This is specific to sailing with Holland America over school holidays, and is almost contradictory to what I said earlier about one of the upsides of this line being it isn’t kid-focused and doesn't attract families. However, if you do sail over the holidays, there will be families and there will be kids. And what do kids do on a ship that isn’t at all designed to keep them entertained for a week straight? They take over the pool.
Lido pool ended up becoming the kids pool for Christmas week The Lido pool was basically unusable the second week of our cruise, which was Christmas week. It became a water playground for kids. There’s no lifeguard on duty either, so there was a ton of jumping and running and screaming and splashing. I can’t blame the kids either, they’re bored! If they’re tired of or just don’t want to use the kids club, then there’s nothing else really for them to do on these ships. So my advice if you’re looking for that classic, calm, relatively kid-free Holland America experience - do not sail over school holidays!
Gym
This last one is super nit-picky, but as someone who is approaching middle age and also works out a lot, when I exercise I need to take care of my body before and after. A gym on a cruise line that attracts an older demographic needs to be stocked with foam rollers to keep those muscles nice and loose after a hard workout! Again, very minor, but if you’re around my age or older and work out, then you know the importance of keeping those muscles stretched and loose before and after hitting the gym!
Just a few simple cheap rollers like this one would have made the Rotterdam gym perfect
Final Thoughts & Advice - Who is Holland America For?
So there you have it! Likes, dislikes and general observations on Holland America coming from a first time, millennial aged cruiser. So what’s the answer here? Is Holland America just for the old people? At this point you can draw your own conclusions. Some of you are probably saying yes, this sounds like a floating nursing home, hard pass. But some of you may be thinking hmmm… I’m a 80s or 90s baby and this sounds quite nice! It really just depends on what your priorities are for your vacation. And that’s exactly what this is - YOUR vacation.
So if this all sounds like a good fit for who you are and what you like, then go for it! If I had to sum up my advice in one sentence, I would say don’t let Holland America’s reputation stop you from experiencing what may be a perfect experience for you. At the end of the day, Holland America is going to please those who like the simple things done well and who enjoy relaxing and enriching activities. If that’s you, then give it a shot. Personally, I have a few mega resort ships that I’m curious to check out, but my partner and I will absolutely be on Holland America again. There were a few things I wished were different, but nothing is perfect. Overall, we had an incredible time.
The Videos
If you'd like to watch the video version of this post, check it out below!
The full tour of the Rotterdam, so you can see what she's like, deck by deck:
The full tour of Half Moon Cay, Holland America's private island:
Finally, the vlog on the full 14 day cruise experience:
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