Holland America - Premium or Mainstream cruiseline?

[whogo]

I had not given the issue much thought, but found Holland America listed as a mainstream cruise line in a cruise article. I thought the common perception was that HAL was a premium line. Your thoughts?

[SilvertoGold]

I had not given the issue much thought, but found Holland America listed as a mainstream cruise line in a cruise article. I thought the common perception was that HAL was a premium line. Your thoughts?

 

In between. Some things are premium, some mainstream.

 

And the class of ship determines some of the feel, with the Signature more premium.

[OVgirl]

I think the article got it right. HAL is one of the mainstream cruiselines and I think they are trying to attract the younger,newer generation of cruisers.

For the price one pays for insides and oceanview cabins, I wouldn't call them premium.

Just my thoughts.

[Vict0riann]

I agree - mainstream. Friendly, too! :)

[RDC1]

I would classify HAL as mainstream. The premium lines tend to have far more items included in the main fare and fewer add-on. These tend to include drinks, no additional cost dining venues, etc. The premium lines also tend to be smaller ships, such as Oceanic, Regent, etc.

 

HAL tends to be structured similarly to the other mainstream lines. Though you can also stratify the main stream lines with Celebrity, HAL and Princess being similar, a notch above Carnival, Royal Caribbean and NCL.

[meterman2]

Imoh, I think HAL has been slowly drifting towards mainstream (from premium) for quite awhile.

 

Maybe it is now more of a "knockoff premium" cruise line, sort of like one of those Coach bags you can buy in Time SQ. for $30.

 

I love HAL but I'd say it is mostly mainstream with a nice splash of premium.

[OCruisers]

Some mainstream mass market cruise lines are better than others. ;)

LuLu

[shipfriend_max]

Interesting to read. Also Douglas Ward and many other media see HAL as a standard line.

Celebrity is a premium line - what are they doing better/other than HAL?

Apart from drinks you get on embarkation day and when returning to the ship...?

[Scrapnana]

I wouldn't consider Celebrity as a premium line either.

 

Of Carnival Corp. cruise lines, I would put Cunard and HAL at the high end of mainstream.

[kazu]

I don't know what the premium definition is exactly.

 

And, to me HAL is a mainstream cruise line - still up ahead a lot of the others.

 

The one exception to me is the P'dam. She may not be premium, but I would say she is pretty close (if I figure out what premium is).

[PathfinderEss]

I'm with SilvertoGold. I think Hal is somewhere lower then premium and a little higher then mainstream. How's that for being wishy washy.

[Hlitner]

We cruise on many cruise lines (14 to date) and would put HAL in about the middle of the mainstream mass-market cruise lines.

 

Hank

[Lizzie68]

Definitely mainstream. I haven't seen the article but why would Celebrity be listed as premium?:confused: I consider Cunard and Crystal to be premium, and HAL somewhere in the middle of the mainstream pack. A few years ago they would have been at the top.

[navybankerteacher]

Certainly for the last ten or so years of my experience, HAL has been mainstream rather than premium - I think they are superior to some of the other mainstream lines - along with Cunard and Celebrity, but certainly not above the mainstream category.

[ScriptOhio]

Definitely mainstream especially with all the cutbacks and implementation of "nickel and dime" charges for more and more stuff over the past several years. Which is typical with the other mainstream cruise lines too.

 

However, if you book in a Signature or Neptune Suite and get additional benefits/service, I can see how they might think it is still "higher mainstream".

Edited August 18, 2014 by ScriptOhio

[eandj]

I see Oceania and Azamara as "Premium". Then comes the luxury lines like SilverSea and Regent.

 

All the rest from NCL to HAL and everything in between are "mainstream". HAL doesn't do anything that Celebrity doesn't. And the fact that X has all the new S class ships with interesting categories of rooms and services puts it above the traditional HAL for many people.

Others like the older smaller ships of HAL. Just a matter of taste. And for many frequent travelers, the matter of itinerary choices becomes real important when comparing different ships.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Back in the 90's when we first started to cruise on HAL, I would have said that they were a premium cruise line.

But as the years have passed and the economy has made cruise lines change things and cut back on things, I would consider HAL a mainstream cruise line.

[Hlitner]

Definitely mainstream. I haven't seen the article but why would Celebrity be listed as premium?:confused: I consider Cunard and Crystal to be premium, and HAL somewhere in the middle of the mainstream pack. A few years ago they would have been at the top.

 

We would not consider Cunard as a premium product. The line is now operated by the Princess folks and our experience on the Queen Mary 2 was anything but premium. Friends of ours which recently cruised on a long Queen Mary 2 cruise in one of the top Queens Grill Suites were so disappointed that they immediately cancelled another long Queen cruise. That being said, we did enjoy the Queen Mary 2 and will likely try one of the smaller vessels at sometime in the future. But at this point we put this line in the same class as Princess. The bottom line is that just because a ship offers a handful of their cruisers a more premium experience....it does not make the ship a premium line. One can cruise on one of the new Oasis Class ships of RCI and get a huge multi-level suite...but this does not make that line anything more then a mass-market line with some nice cabins.

 

Hank

[shipfriend_max]

IMHO Celebrity is premium due to some nicities you get, compared to others (e. g. Princess):

-cold towel on warm days at sea

-cooked to order items at the buffet

-sommeliers in MDR

-welcome aboard drinks

-drinks and cold towels when returning to the ship

--> Princess does not offer those benefits, no idea whether HAL does.

Many other people I know say that even Cunard has not the same standard as Celebrity, and costs much more. Maybe HAL and Cunard are more classic.

(Nearly) all media consder Celebrity as a premium product, while some media see HAL as premium, some as standard.

[solocanadian]

Mainstream. No need to elaborate.

[avalon1025]

We would not consider Cunard as a premium product. The line is now operated by the Princess folks and our experience on the Queen Mary 2 was anything but premium. Friends of ours which recently cruised on a long Queen Mary 2 cruise in one of the top Queens Grill Suites were so disappointed that they immediately cancelled another long Queen cruise. That being said, we did enjoy the Queen Mary 2 and will likely try one of the smaller vessels at sometime in the future. But at this point we put this line in the same class as Princess. The bottom line is that just because a ship offers a handful of their cruisers a more premium experience....it does not make the ship a premium line. One can cruise on one of the new Oasis Class ships of RCI and get a huge multi-level suite...but this does not make that line anything more then a mass-market line with some nice cabins.

 

Hank

 

Over the past 6 months i've been lucky enough to sail Crystal, Cunard, Celebrity (Aqua Class), Princess (Balcony) and HAL (Neptune Suite). There is no way Princess is anywhere near the overall quality of Holland America, Celebrity or Cunard Grills (though I think QM2 is an exception as many go on board thinking its a traditional casual cruise and its not, its formal). Princess was the worst line of all that I recently sailed.

 

I would say in order of Lux to mainstream:

 

Crystal - Lux

Cunard Grill - Premium (non grill Mass market)

Celebrity Aqua - Premium (non Aqua Mass market)

HAL Suite - Premium (Mainstream in a non suite)

Princess - Mass market

[Typhoon1]

Premium years ago. In the last ten years, it has become more mainstream. Unfortunate.

[sammiedawg]

Mainstream and trending down.

[Hlitner]

Over the past 6 months i've been lucky enough to sail Crystal, Cunard, Celebrity (Aqua Class), Princess (Balcony) and HAL (Neptune Suite). There is no way Princess is anywhere near the overall quality of Holland America, Celebrity or Cunard Grills (though I think QM2 is an exception as many go on board thinking its a traditional casual cruise and its not, its formal). Princess was the worst line of all that I recently sailed.

 

I would say in order of Lux to mainstream:

 

Crystal - Lux

Cunard Grill - Premium (non grill Mass market)

Celebrity Aqua - Premium (non Aqua Mass market)

HAL Suite - Premium (Mainstream in a non suite)

Princess - Mass market

 

Interesting analysis. We also had not cruised on Princess for nearly 4 years because we were unhappy with some quality issues. But in April we were on the Ruby Princess for 28 days and it was an excellent experience with food, entertainment, and service far better then what we have recently experienced on HAL. We were surprised...but it was a pleasant surprise. We have a long (38 day) HAL cruise coming up next month and we will be able to make a good mental comparison.

 

Your comparison (above) really depends on one's personal definition of "premium." We consider Crystal, Regent and Azamara Premium products. But there is just no way we could include Celebrity (which we like a lot) or HAL in that same category. To us, being in a suite or a regular cabin does not change how we rate ships. Even the worst cruise lines can have some wonderful suites...but once you leave the cabin you have the same public areas, entertainment, and service as everyone else. The Queen is somewhat different because of their unique dining areas and special deck for the Grill Suites.

 

But our problem with booking suites on mainstream lines is that one is paying top dollar to eat the same food as those in the lowest cost inside cabins, getting the same entertainment, etc. We would rather be in the lowest cost cabin on a Regent ship then in the highest cost suites on HAL. If we want to pay "luxury" prices we do it on "luxury" lines. DW and I spend so little time in our cabins on cruises..so we have never been able to justify the high cost of suites. In fact, we once calculated that we average less then 3 waking hours (per cruise day) in our cabin. So if we divide the incremental cost of a suite by a factor of 3....it is just not the way we choose to spend our money.

 

Hank

[iancal]

15 ships. Some 7 days sell for $295

 

HAL is as mainstream as they come.

 

Absolutely nothing wrong with being mainstream-it is a big market with lots of flavours.

 

 

We booked an October Med cruise on another mainstream cruise line yesterday-RCI. We have only had one other RCI cruise and it was some time ago. We have done a few Celebrity cruises.

 

The BIG surprise for us..... First they told us we were Diamond. Second they told us they were taking $200. off our balcony fare because we are Diamond. Then they went through some of the Diamond benefits. The interesting part was that our keys will be loaded with a code that entitles each to 3 free drinks each (wine, beer, etc) EVERY NIGHT (except MDR, buffet) at any lounge between 5:30 and 8PM. Apparently the Diamond lounges are too small so they just want people to go to other venues.

 

We never buy a cruise because of the perks so these just fell unexpectedly into our lap. There were other meaningless benefits to us like a lounge for b'fast or some sort of welcome food arrangement (as though anyone needs more food on a cruise ship) on boarding.

Edited August 18, 2014 by iancal