During a pre-Seatrade Cruise Global private event at Port Everglades, FL, on Sunday, Holland America Line previewed this year's Alaska season, talked about sustainable seafood, offered a Chef Ethan Stowell cooking lesson, and discussed the trend of lengthy voyages.
Hosted by Gus Antorcha, Holland America's president, the special event for cruise-focused media unfolded on Nieuw Amsterdam. Travel Agent attended and provides some tidbits below.
Service, Ships, Deployment
'“The pause really allowed us some time to reflect and to really sharpen how it is that we want to go to market, how it is that we want to deliver the experience and how we want to be different," Antorcha emphasized. From his perspective, Holland America's premium product differs from competitors based on three elements—service, ships and deployment.
Service: As for the service, "it feels different," he said. "We train our crew differently and that's why we feel that’s a differentiating factor. It's very personal to them, and it's anticipatory; it's caring and it's genuine."
Ships: On the ship side, "you don't see the pinch points of larger ships," Antorcha added. "The bigger the ship, the more certain points get squeezed." He continued: "Now, the big ships offer you wonderful things: Roller coasters and all kinds of cool stuff. That's not us. We're very focused on who we are and our guests. I think we’ve got exactly the right-sized fleet to deliver on that. It also lets us get into smaller ports. For example, we cruise to Montreal. You can’t get big ships into Montreal."
Deployment: In addition, "deployment is very much something we’re focused on," he stressed, and guests are telling the line that they love longer voyages." That trend has surfaced in surveys, but the line is also seeing that as the voyages go up for sale and book quickly.
Longer Voyages Are a Trend
Even for the close-to-home Caribbean, the line is lengthening its approach. "We'll have some seven days, but we're shifting more to nine-plus days," Antorcha explained. Plus, "Holland America has increased its 12-day capacity in the Caribbean by 41 percent," so, it can go deeper into the Caribbean region. "That gets us to the ABC islands (Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao), it gets us to the Panama Canal, it gets us to Cartagena, Colombia," he said.
The line is also increasing emphasis on longer Grand Voyages. "We’ve doubled our capacity in the 50-plus day market," Antorcha told the reporters. The line has also launched a new category, "Legendary Voyages," that lean into unique, 25- to 50-night voyages, many sailing roundtrip from North America.
"We heard coming out of the pause that air travel is tough," he acknowledged, noting that it is also increasing expensive. As a result, Holland America is offering many roundtrip itineraries out of the North American home ports of San Diego, Seattle, Vancouver, Boston and Fort Lauderdale. One itinerary operating between Seattle and Vancouver, yet traveling to Asia and the South Pacific, is shown below.
North to Alaska, Sustainable Seafood
Six Holland America ships will sail in Alaska waters this summer season, the line's 76th in the region. “We offer more cruises to Glacier Bay than any other line, we have a robust program to immerse our guests in all-things Alaska and we’re the only cruise line with owned land operations in both Denali and Yukon,” Antorcha emphasized.
In fact, the line has sailed to Alaska "longer than Alaska has been a state," he added. "Our land-based programs and Glacier Bay permits are a big deal. You're not going to go all the way to Alaska and not see Glacier Bay...Yeah, you’re going to regret that one."
Permits allow the premium line's cruise ships to enter the bay and get up-close to glaciers. The permits are limited in number and government-issued. Otherwise, cruise ships without a permit can't enter the bay. So, guests must then get off their cruise ship at the entrance to the bay—as they do on many other lines—and take a smaller boat cruise into the bay.
Also, this coming Alaska season is the premium line's first serving exclusively fresh, certified sustainable and traceable Alaska seafood. The six ships carrying guests to Alaska this year were audited last summer by Responsible Fisheries Management (RFM). It's the first time that any cruise line has received the RFM certification.
In a cooking demonstration at Sunday’s event, Chef Ethan Stowell, a famous Seattle chef and Holland America Culinary Council member, shared his recipe for "King Salmon and Salsa Verde," one of many new fresh Alaska seafood dishes now served on board. The dish was also served as an entree on Sunday during the media luncheon with executives in Pinnacle Grill.
Holland America's 2023 Alaska season will consist of seven-day itineraries and 14-day “Great Alaska Explorer” cruises. They'll sail roundtrip from Seattle, Washington, or Vancouver, B.C., or alternatively, one-way between Whittier (Anchorage), AK, and Vancouver. For explorers who want to travel farther into the "Great Land," 16 different Cruisetours combine a three-, four- or seven-day Alaska cruise with an inland exploration of Denali National Park.
What's different versus some other cruise operators? Holland America Line owns its motorcoaches, railcars and hotels. Each Cruisetour guest also will receive a scenic ride on the luxury-domed McKinley Explorer rail car. And the line's "Direct-to-Denali" service can transport guests from their cruise ship to their Denali hotel room on the same day.
Into The Yukon
While many lines sail to Alaska, Holland America Line is the only line to offer an Alaska cruise combined with an overland tour to Denali and the Yukon, according to Antorcha. The line's "Yukon & Denali Cruisetours" for 2023 will range from nine to 18 days. All will either include a three- or four-day Inside Passage cruise on Koningsdam or Volendam, or a seven-day "Glacier Discovery" cruise on or Noordam. Plus, guests will spend two or three nights at Denali and journey into the Yukon.
All "Yukon & Denali Cruisetours" also will include a ride on the McKinley Explorer full-dome railcars, and select itineraries add on the historic White Pass & Yukon Route railroad from Skagway. Guests will spend two nights in Dawson City, in the Yukon, and additional overnight experiences vary by cruisetour. Guests will also cruise the Yukon River on the Klondike Spirit paddlewheeler; enjoy a Gold Dredge 8 tour; and take the Tundra Wilderness Tour at Denali National Park.
For more information, visit www.hollandamerica.com.
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