Holland America doubles down even more on long and unusual cruises with new 'legendary' sailings

[islandwoman]

"Holland America doubles down even more on long and unusual cruises with new 'legendary' sailings":  This article was published online by The Points Guy today.  Does anyone have any further information about this topic? 

I don't see any of these "new" sailings on HAL' s website yet.  I suppose by "Tuesday", the author (Gene Sloan) means March 14, 2023?

[Cruise Junky]

Some are already on HAL’s site. I was just looking at the Pacific crossing for 2025 and the 35 Hawaii South Pacific is there.  

[oaktreerb]

The 2024 Alaska 28 day cruise for June is almost sold out already.  HAL posts new itineraries with (supposedly) special offers for Mariners as soon as they are published.  

[BermudaBound2014]

HAL has always been the main stream line  known for interesting itineraries. I think this is a smart move. 

[cruisemom42]

This is another piece of very positive news from HAL. 

 

I think adding a tier of cruises that are long but not as long as the Grand Voyages is really smart. I am just about at the stage of looking for longer cruises, but the "Grands" are a bit TOO long for me. 

 

I also like the idea of getting more "in-depth" with a country or small region.

 

Two thumbs up!

[Tampa Girl]

16 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

This is another piece of very positive news from HAL. 

 

I think adding a tier of cruises that are long but not as long as the Grand Voyages is really smart. I am just about at the stage of looking for longer cruises, but the "Grands" are a bit TOO long for me. 

 

I also like the idea of getting more "in-depth" with a country or small region.

 

Two thumbs up!

 

The down side:  With one exception, the 53-day "Majestic Japan", one has to fly long hours to embark or disembark.  The beauty of the Grands is that they are round trip from the U.S.  I wish they would do another Grand Asia.  As east coast residents, the idea flying to or from Singapore or Hong Kong is discouraging us from visiting Asia again unless  the cruise is R/T from the U.S.  The Japan flight is not quite as tedious.  

[3rdGenCunarder]

29 minutes ago, cruisemom42 said:

This is another piece of very positive news from HAL. 

 

I think adding a tier of cruises that are long but not as long as the Grand Voyages is really smart. I am just about at the stage of looking for longer cruises, but the "Grands" are a bit TOO long for me. 

 

I also like the idea of getting more "in-depth" with a country or small region.

 

Two thumbs up!

 

Now let's hope the improve the onboard enrichment to support these itineraries.

[cruisemom42]

20 minutes ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

The down side:  With one exception, the 53-day "Majestic Japan", one has to fly long hours to embark or disembark.  The beauty of the Grands is that they are round trip from the U.S.  I wish they would do another Grand Asia.  As east coast residents, the idea flying to or from Singapore or Hong Kong is discouraging us from visiting Asia again unless  the cruise is R/T from the U.S.  The Japan flight is not quite as tedious.  

 

I don't mind the flights and I'm not a big fan of long stretches of sea days, so the idea works for me. I guess if you added the departure from/return to the US back in, you'd be up to the number of days of a Grand voyage....

[mame42]

The most interesting part of this article is the hint of something new in the Med,  Dare we hope for something akin to a Grand Ned, or even an Atlantic Adventurer???

[islandwoman]

3 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

Now let's hope the improve the onboard enrichment to support these itineraries.

"The new special programming planned for the Legendary Voyages will include the same types of theme parties that Holland America currently offers on its longer Grand Voyages, as well as new curated onboard lectures from destination experts.

'We're going to bring in local and cultural specialists that can really speak to the region and the destination,' Cole said."

[Crazy For Cats]

I received an email about this today.  It’s not something I can do now while I’m still working.

[islandwoman]

3 hours ago, Tampa Girl said:

 

The down side:  With one exception, the 53-day "Majestic Japan", one has to fly long hours to embark or disembark.  The beauty of the Grands is that they are round trip from the U.S.  I wish they would do another Grand Asia.  As east coast residents, the idea flying to or from Singapore or Hong Kong is discouraging us from visiting Asia again unless  the cruise is R/T from the U.S.  The Japan flight is not quite as tedious.  

The article mentions "Tales of the South Pacific" departing from San Diego, "Amazon Explorer" departing from Ft. Lauderdale, "Hawaii, Tahiti and Marquesas" departing from San Diego and "Voyage of the Vikings" departing from Boston. 

Like you, I wish there were more sailings embarking in Florida, but I suppose that if we want to visit places that we've never been, we'll have to travel farther than we ever have. . 😏

[lissie]

3 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

 

I don't mind the flights and I'm not a big fan of long stretches of sea days, so the idea works for me. I guess if you added the departure from/return to the US back in, you'd be up to the number of days of a Grand voyage....

I agree - they  are totally speaking to my demographic - a bit younger than some - well-travelled. We cruise for  the itineraries and after a few cruises we were amazed to discover how every  mainstream cruise line does the same ports. 

 

The only other way to cover what we are covering on our next cruise would be Viking or Silversea - and 2-3x the cost - which is not affordable for us. That cruise will be our first cruise with HAL but I don't think it will be our last.  

 

We dislike long haul flights too - so we don't - we break them up - flying to Boston we are doing too medium haul legs via Honolulu rather than the ugly 12 hours to LAX from NZ, or the even worse 19 hours direct to NYC .  Returning  from Vancouver - we are stopping over in Fiji for a few nights - which allows us to fly directly home rather than via Auckland. One of the many reasons the only person that books our flights is me! 

Edited March 7, 2023 by lissie

[YXU AC*SE]

tbh, there really isn't a lot new on this list --  more like a re-branding / packaging  of existing cruise itineraries, with perhaps the exception of an Alaskan Arctic Circle run.      Scott. 

 

[kochleffel]

And at the other end of the scale, there are a couple of one-night cruises, Vancouver to Seattle.

 

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, islandwoman said:

"The new special programming planned for the Legendary Voyages will include the same types of theme parties that Holland America currently offers on its longer Grand Voyages, as well as new curated onboard lectures from destination experts.

'We're going to bring in local and cultural specialists that can really speak to the region and the destination,' Cole said."

 

Sounds great -- except I'm not so sure I like that "curated" word. Too often it stands for "pre-approved and scripted".

[helby]

1 hour ago, kochleffel said:

And at the other end of the scale, there are a couple of one-night cruises, Vancouver to Seattle.

 

These are not new but may not have happened for some time and tend to be at repositioning times. Years ago I went from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale on a ship that had been in Seattle for the Alaska season and there were a number of passengers who embarked in Seattle the previous day. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

Gus Antorcha promised us a return to longer cruises. Most of these are Pacific itineraries, so will see if something like the Atlantic Adventure returns.  The fares seem high to me, but they are priced with Have It All.  The 28 day Alaska cruise has sold very well!  Over $12,000 for a 28 day cruise!  Verandah and Have It All included, that is $428 per day each.

[lissie]

3 hours ago, YXU AC*SE said:

tbh, there really isn't a lot new on this list --  more like a re-branding / packaging  of existing cruise itineraries, with perhaps the exception of an Alaskan Arctic Circle run.      Scott. 

 

Have they been to East Timor before? That is really quite a difficult country to get to and I've never seen  it on even an expedition style cruise itinerary? 

[ScottishMaid]

35 minutes ago, lissie said:

Have they been to East Timor before? That is really quite a difficult country to get to and I've never seen  it on even an expedition style cruise itinerary? 

It was on a Maasdam itinerary just before Covid. I think Singapore to Sydney.

 

[zelker]

11 hours ago, lissie said:

Have they been to East Timor before? That is really quite a difficult country to get to and I've never seen  it on even an expedition style cruise itinerary? 

It was supposed to be on this past year's OZ Circumnavigation cruise but was cancelled.  

[scubadawg]

13 hours ago, lissie said:

Have they been to East Timor before? That is really quite a difficult country to get to and I've never seen  it on even an expedition style cruise itinerary? 

Yes. I did the 2018 Maasdam cruise which included E Timor. Did a private tour and found it fascinating. One of our trivia group used to go there for work several times a year and gave us lots of background on history etc.

Saw the historical highlights, beautiful coastlines as yet undeveloped and had a lovely lunch at a restaurant up in the hills.  E.Timor isn't for everyone but we enjoyed seeing it.

[Avery's Gram]

It was Perth to Singapore……we enjoyed that trip….even the flights, Boston to Qatar, Qatar to Perth were not bad, and we spent two days recovering at Cottesloe, right across from the beautiful beach before we joined the ship.  Beautiful memories!

 

Barbara M. In NH

[edward01ca]

We also were on the Maasdam in January of 2019 for the cruise from Perth to East Timor and then onto Singapore.  We stayed overnight in Singapore and continued on into the Indian Ocean to the Maldives and Sri Lanka and then back to Singapore.  The total length of the cruise was 40 days.  It was quite reasonable, but that was because we did not have the HIA package.  It would likely be called a "legendary" cruise now but much more costly because the HIA is seemingly included. 

 

Dale 

[NextOne]

Where can I find the list? Does this mean that these ships are guaranteed to still be in service for 2025?

Thanks!