20 things you MUST do on your next Holland America Line cruise!
If you’re planning to take a cruise with Holland America Line, then let me help you plan your time onboard. I spent 21 nights onboard, and over that time learned that there are a number of things that you really should do during your cruise, in order to avoid missing out.
The best part? Most of these things are free! This post offers you insights to my cruise onboard Rotterdam, but these tips should apply to most of the Holland America fleet!
If you enjoy this post, and you’d like to see more from my time onboard Rotterdam, the newest cruise ship from Holland America Line, just click into the video below to see my full ship tour of this beautiful cruise ship.
20. Enjoy the Lido during your cruise!
The Lido is the name given to the main pool space onboard a Holland America cruise ship. During my cruise, I was super impressed with the quality of the public spaces onboard, especially the Lido area.
You’ll find a large pool up here, and your ship will also have some jetted hot tubs in this space, too. If you’re hungry, then there are multiple food options, and there’s also a number of bars out here too. Overall, it’s a really lovely place to spend time during your cruise!
19. Get involved in the ‘Special Events’ onboard your Holland America Line cruise!
During your cruise, you might find that you’re onboard as the ship marks a ‘special event’. If this is the case, then you really need to (in my opinion) aim to get involved where you can! The possible events will massively vary, and you’ll find all of the details you need in your Daily Schedule, which will be delivered daily to your stateroom.
During my cruise, my favourite special event was International Cake Day. This event, marked globally each year on November 26th, meant a transformation of the usual dessert counter up in the buffet section of the ship.
There are usually great dessert options up here, but have a look at the pictures below - this event really took it to the ‘next level’. Now, where’s the gym to work some of this off…?!
The menu for the ‘Cake it Away’ event. Now, where’s the treadmill…?
Cakes, cakes and more cakes!
From another angle - what a fantastic display of cakes onboard the ship!
18. Try a milkshake!
This is a bit of a hidden one that I’ve found not too many people have known about. My time onboard Rotterdam was my first ever Holland America Line cruise, so I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from the onboard experience. I found myself constantly asking the crew if things were included, or if they came with extra charges.
The poolside gelato counter really surprised me! Out here, a smoothie, an ice cream or a blended drinks would cost extra over the package but, at the point of my cruise, a milkshake was included if you had the ‘Have it All’ package.
This meant that - yes - I was able to come up to the pool and have a milkshake without paying anything extra. Another potentially dangerous one for the waistline, I know…!! It did seem strange to me that I could have a milkshake included in the ‘Have it All’ package, but I couldn’t have ice cream, despite the fact the milkshake was made using the ice cream - oh well!
These vanilla milkshakes were SO tasty, and were included in my ‘Have it All’ package!
Whilst not open late, I could get a milkshake and relax up by the Lido before dinner - ahh, bliss!
17. Try your luck in the casino!
Before I mention anything here, you should always gamble responsibly, and never gamble more than you can afford. I found the Holland America casino to be great fun, with a huge selection of table games and machines. The more cruises I’ve taken, the more I’ve realised that casino venues on American headquartered cruise lines are MUCH bigger with much more variety than on their British counterparts, largely due to the fact that American cruisers really enjoy playing during their cruise (I’d say more than a British cruiser, to be honest!).
The onboard casino featured a wide range of both table games, and slot machines.
16. Try something new!
During a cruise on Holland America, you’re going to find some aspects that are pretty different to the ‘regular’ cruise experience, if you’re used to some of their competing cruise lines. One thing that I really appreciated on here was the Dutch influences, particularly at the Grand Dutch Cafe.
This venue, which operates as the onboard coffee shop and cafe, serves up great tasting coffees and drinks, with a variety of snacks. The menu’s quite small, but they’ve got some things on offer here that you’re not going to find elsewhere.
My advice? Be prepared to try something new - you never know, you might just find a snack that you’ll LOVE! Outside of the Grand Dutch Cafe, the Main Dining Room (and Speciality venues) onboard offer a really wide selection of food - why not order something different to what you’re used to? You might thank me for this one!
The Grand Dutch Cafe serves up a range of snacks that you won’t find elsewhere on the ship, like this croissant!
In the mood for something light, instead of a full meal? The Grand Dutch Cafe could be exactly what you’re looking for!
15. Go swimming later in the day!
You’ve seen the famous photos from onboard cruise ships, where there can be SO MANY PEOPLE bobbing around the main pool onboard. This then creates an environment that’s almost impossible to swim in, and the pool becomes nothing more than a place where you can have a cooling dip.
Opting to swim later in the day will often result in you having a MUCH more relaxing experience. I found that the opening hours of the swimming pools were much longer than I’d thought they would be (they would close at around 9pm during my cruise), which meant I could have an early dinner, and then relax by the pool in the evening if I wanted to have a quiet night.
Onboard Rotterdam, they also kept the hot tubs open late. This was such a lovely way to spend a few hours - grab a drink, and go and relax up here!
Swimming later in the day would mean that the pools would be much quieter, and therefore a much more relaxing environment!
14. Meet the Captain!
Some cruise lines offer this luxury, while others don’t. I often find that meeting the Captain of your cruise ship is something that’s reserved for those fortunate enough to be higher on the cruise line’s loyalty programme. This then creates a world where the less experienced experienced cruisers never get the chance to say ‘hello’ to the Captain, or perhaps even any of the Senior Officers.
On Holland America ships, there will be an event held once per cruise with the name ‘Ask the Captain’, and it’ll usually be held in the main theatre. Here, the Captain will conduct a presentation about the ship, and about his/her career, and this will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience - I found it so interesting!
The ‘Ask the Captain’ event on my cruise was VERY popular, and well worth attending - I found this fascinating!
13. Find the ship plaques!
If you’re new to the cruise world, you might not know about these. When a cruise ship visits a port for the first time, it’s presented with a commemorative plaque. These plaques are then displayed onboard the ship, and you’ll usually find them all together in the same area.
I love to go searching for these every time I take a cruise - I find it fascinating to look around and see all of the parts of the world that the ship has visited!
Something for you to do onboard - find the plaques, and try to find the port most local to where you live. Maybe you could also find plaques from ports that you’d like to visit in the future, or the plaques from ports you’ve already cruised to? It’s so interesting to spend some time here looking at where the ship has been, and when, and also how differently each place displays this on their plaque that they present to the ship!
Some of the ship plaques onboard Rotterdam - can you spot any ports that you’ve cruised to before?
I found this one really interesting - this plaque was presented to Rotterdam following her first transit through the Panama Canal in 2023!
12. Leave your comfort zone behind!
When I cruise, I can sometimes be a creature of habit. I know what I like to do, and I know what I’d rather avoid doing. As a first time Holland America cruiser, I was really impressed to find things on the Daily Schedule that I hadn’t seen before on other ships.
One example that I would give was an activity called ‘Colouring in for Adults’. I didn’t really know what to expect, but went along to the session, and I really enjoyed it! It ended up being such a wholesome and positive way to spend an hour during a day ‘at sea’, and I wouldn’t have met some of the people I got to speak to in here if I hadn’t went along.
Why not use your trip as an excuse for trying something totally new? You could try a new type of dancing (or maybe just dancing in general), or maybe something more relaxing like watercolour painting? The list really is endless! After all, what have you got to lose?!
11. Try the onboard Thermal Suite!
Thermal Suites on cruise ships can sometimes be absolutely stunning. That said, some of them can be a little tired and gimmicky, so it’s worth checking what yours is like before you pay to use it on your cruise.
In my own experience, the Thermal Suite onboard Rotterdam was one of the nicest (and biggest) that I’ve seen on a cruise ship - it was absolutely STUNNING in there! There were so many different saunas, steam rooms, a huge jacuzzi, and loads of heated loungers - I was really impressed!
If you’d like to try the Thermal Suite on your Holland America cruise, then you can usually pay for a one-access pass, or you can usually also buy a cruise-long pass (which allows unlimited access throughout your cruise). Note: if the cruise line has a really high demand for cruise-long passes during your cruise, then you’ll sometimes find that the number of daily access passes will be really limited, so be aware of this if you’d like to use this facility!
I’ve looked at some other Thermal Suites on YouTube ship tours of other ships in the Holland America fleet, and they all look wonderful!
The Thermal suite had this huge jetted tub as a main feature - wow!
Here’s the same tub, but with the jets activated - so many bubbles!
Want to relax with a view? These heated loungers could be your ideal spot onboard your cruise ship!
Another shot of the heated loungers, with the huge glass windows in the background.
10. Go and see a show!
Most people know that cruise ships have shows every evening, meaning that the routine of going for ‘dinner and a show’ is totally common place on a cruise vacation.
I was really impressed with the amount of entertainment that was available throughout the day during my Holland America cruise. For example, in the main theatre, there was a live game show of ‘Deal or No Deal’ during one of our sea days. This event, held in the middle of the afternoon, allowed one passenger to be taken up on stage to be the contestant, while the audience played along with their own scratchcard - a really great concept!
This show was organised by the onboard Casino team, and was really well attended!
Want the banker to make you an offer? Well, you’ll need to join in!
Having shows during the day really did help to pass the time while we were ‘at sea’ - highly recommended!
I didn’t find the evening shows on my Holland America cruise to be ground-breaking when compared to some of the other options I’ve seen on cruise ships, but still a nice way to spend an hour in the evening.
9. Go to ‘Games Night’!
If you enjoy family trivia, or other family games that you would play around the dinner table on Christmas night after dinner, then you’ll want to go to ‘Games Night’ onboard! This took place every night at 8pm on my cruise, and it seemed to get much busier as the cruise progressed - I can only imagine that people were hearing good things about it around the ship, and then deciding to go and give it a try.
Think games like Pictionary, Charades and Quizzes - there’ll be a lot here to entertain you in a really light-hearted and family friendly way - perfect with a drink after dinner, if you don’t fancy going straight into a big production in the theatre or listening to loud live music elsewhere on the ship.
Games Night was great fun on my cruise - highly recommended!
8. Take part in a tasting event!
In my experience, Holland America do a really good job of onboard tasting experiences. Think about things like whisky, gin, cocktails and so much more! They also have wine tasting events, which were held in the Main Dining Room on my Rotterdam cruise, and I was particularly impressed with the setup of these.
For the wine tastings, the crew set up a part of the dining room with glasses, and personal cheeseboards for you to enjoy throughout the experience. This came with an additional cost of £25 USD per person, which I felt was really good value, when you consider how premium it felt!
You’ll find the full array of options in your Daily Schedule, or you’ll also find adverts on some of the bars throughout the ship.
Here’s some of the tasting events offered onboard Rotterdam during my cruise - which would you go for?!
7. Watch a movie in the theatre!
I’m always frustrated on a cruise ship when they have a huge theatre venue that goes largely unused during the day, and is only used to show performances in the evening.
Every day at 3pm during my cruise, the main theatre was used for movie time, which meant it would turn into a large-screen cinema in the middle of the afternoon. This was totally included in your cruise fare, and there were even cinema-worthy snacks available for you to enjoy. Think things like popcorn - you could pick up a bag of popcorn at the door on your way in - such a great idea!
I found this a great option if you didn’t want to be outside in the baking sunshine, but it would also be a great option on a colder-weather cruise, to allow you to come in from the outside elements, and enjoy a relaxing movie!
I found the movies on offer to be a great mix - some were much older (released in the 80s or 90s), and some were in the cinema just a month or two before the cruise. I was particularly happy to see this - I’d feared that it would be much older films on offer, so it was great to see a movie schedule that was so inclusive of a broader audience!
You’ll find the movies being shown advertised in your daily schedule, but also on the digital screens outside the theatre.
We had both modern and traditional movies on show during our cruise - something for everyone!
6. Go and experience ‘City on the Sea’!
Prior to the pandemic, most cruise lines offered passengers the ability to book onto a ‘behind the scenes’ tour, which would allow you the opportunity to see the kitchens, the crew cabins, the crew mess, the bridge, and so many other ‘off-limits’ areas! Over the last few years, this is something that lots of cruise lines have decided not to restart, and others have restarted it, but it now comes with a heavy price tag!
Holland America have done something very different with this topic, and I applaud them for it! They’ve developed a really engaging presentation that’s delivered in the main theatre by key members of the crew. I was so impressed to see crew members like the Executive Chef, the Entertainment Director, and other senior members of crew delivering their segments in here, rather than more junior staff members.
The theatre was absolutely PACKED when I went to see this, which proves that there’s a real appetite out there for people to learn more about the ship that they’re travelling on, and how it works. It was a bit like watching a documentary about our cruise ship! Holland America, you’re doing this right, for sure!
5. Go on an Art Trail!
Holland America Line cruise ships have got some incredible art collections onboard - why not take some time out of your day to go on your own art trail? I always really enjoy walking around a cruise ship, trying to find as many unusual pieces of art as I can.
An idea if you’re cruising as a family or a group - why not create your own scavenger hunt? Come up with a list of things that you need to find around the ship, and then see who in your family can find them the fastest! If I were cruising with my parents as a kid, I’d have really enjoyed something like this!
I found some really unusual art onboard my Holland America cruise ship, like this one - the butterflies had flown out of the frame!
Another example of the art onboard - I loved this one!
4. Visit the onboard sauna - it’s often FREE!
Ok, this one will be very ship-specific. For example, if you’re cruising on Rotterdam (or another Pinnacle class ship), then you’ll have this, but I can’t confirm for EVERY ship in the fleet.
You’ll find a number of saunas available in the Thermal Suite that I showed you earlier in this post, but did you know that there’s also a FREE sauna on a number of Holland America cruise ships?
I found it wonderful to come in here and relax while looking out over the ocean - I even managed to spot dolphins one evening during sunset - how idyllic! The best thing about this facility is that it was never busy - the most company I ever had in there was 3 other people, so there was plenty of space! I think this was largely due to the fact that not many people knew it was an option - maybe this is a secret you should keep to yourself…!
It’s possibly also worth adding that the complimentary sauna areas are single gender, and they come with a small changing room with shower, too. At the point of my cruise, there weren’t any lockers in that changing room, but I’d imagine you could just use the changing facilities for the wider spa area. Alternatively, just get changed in your room and come up in your robe!
3. Dine at Pinnacle Grill!
All of the ships in the Holland America Line fleet have this Speciality Restaurant available. My general advice would be that this was one of the best steakhouse experiences I’ve ever had on a cruise ship - I found the service, the setting and also the food to be absolutely wonderful, with the food being of a much higher quality than what I’ve seen on lots of other cruise ships.
You can eat in here at lunch while the ship’s at sea, and this often comes at a much lower price than dining in the evening. Dinner in here, at the point of my cruise, was $55 USD per person, which was then accompanied by an $18 service charge, which I felt was really good value.
My top tip for this restaurant is to try the candied bacon. It comes to the table presented ‘hanging’ from hooks, and it’s one of the tastiest starters I’ve ever eaten - well worth the extra cost!
2. Embrace the ports!
Holland America pride themselves in offering some itineraries that other cruise lines don’t. That might mean that you have longer periods in port, you might have an overnight in port to enjoy, or you might visit islands or cities that some other cruise lines don’t (or rarely) visit.
In my experience, we had some really long days in port, which allowed me to ability to leave the ship and really ‘dive in’ to the local culture - a huge benefit! We also enjoyed an overnight in Aruba, and it was cool to see the ships from our first day leave, and the ships the following morning arrive, while we’d been there the whole time overnight!
During my 21 night cruise on Rotterdam, I met some people who had decided to remain onboard the ship for almost every port, and I couldn’t believe that they didn’t get to see any more of where we were visiting than the immediate views from the ship! If you’re trying to find out what to do on your cruise, why not come over to my YouTube channel and check if I’ve been there? If I have, I might be able to give you some ideas! Just search ‘Fraser at Sea’ on YouTube, or click here to go to my channel now!
Embracing the ports is so important when you cruise. Here I am in Colombia!
Ever wanted to visit the flamingo beach in Aruba? It’s great, but you’ll need to leave the ship…!
1. Go to the Orange Party on your cruise!
Before my cruise with Holland America Line, I wasn’t totally sure what to expect from a nightlife point of view. One event that caught me completely off guard was the Orange Party, and also the ship-wide ‘Bar Hop’.
I won’t give too much away, but PLEASE try to go to the Bar Hop event on your cruise. Essentially, this is a bar crawl, where you move between a number of venues onboard the ship. At each venue, the group is then met with some form of game, or a challenge, which gets everyone playing along. Some of these games I’d never seen before, while others reminded me of my days at University - they were so fun, and everyone seemed to love getting involved!
The Bar Hop event then finishes in the main entertainment venue onboard (in Rotterdam’s case, this is the BB Kings Club) for the Orange Party to properly kick off! At this event, you’re encouraged to wear Orange, and let your hair down! You can buy orange accessories on the ship, but I’d recommend you take your own with you - you’ll save a bit of money doing this!
Both the Orange Party and the Bar Hop were absolutely BRILLIANT - I’d massively recommend you give this a try on your future Holland America Line cruise! It’s worth highlighting - the Orange Party is a ship-wide event for everyone, but the Bar Hop is a bookable event, which does come with a cover charge. Again, in my opinion, it’s totally worth it!
You’ll want to pack something orange for the Orange Party onboard your Holland America cruise!
Here’s my Orange cocktail, that I was served as part of the Bar Hop!
The Orange party is a huge event onboard - why not try a special drink for the night?
You can buy lots of orange items on the ship - no excuses!!
I hope you’ve enjoyed this post, and you’ve added a few things to your cruise itinerary! If you’d like to check out more of my posts on Holland America Line, click here! To see so much more from my time onboard, come over to my YouTube channel. The below video was shot on Embarkation day, when I disembarked Virgin Voyages’ Valiant Lady in Miami, and boarded Rotterdam in Fort Lauderdale!