CHARLOTTE – Holland America Line

Holland America Line is a grown-up member of the Carnival PLC family of companies. The tie to Carnival starts and stops with the financial corporate relationship. Make no mistake, Holland American is for grown-ups and small families. There are bars called “Rolling Stock”, B.B. King’s, and Rudi’s” Presenting ships of midsize, with a maximum of 2500 passengers, Holland America presents the “quiet Side” of Ocean Cruising. Sailing Alaska, Europe, Panama, South America. Antarctica, Hawaii, Tahiti, and Mexico, Holland does it all. The ships move around seasonally, and during the Alaska season, they devote a good size fleet to Alaska. Holland and Princess own lodges and rail cars in Alaska and offer land and sea combinations during the brief 3.5-month season. This year, when they tried to reopen the lodges, they found they had lost many employees during the 2-year Covid hiatus. There is no new availability for anyone for lodging around the 2 main state parks in Alaska. They are one of the very few Cruise Lines that still offer a Panama Canal Transit. That is a wonderful experience, and I encourage both new to cruising and seasoned cruisers to try that itinerary. Holland recently announced they were back to a full fleet of 11 ships sailing. The cool takeaway is the Holland ships are called “Dam” ships! Call and ask me why.

Specialty Cruise Lines

There are a few specialty Cruise lines. Most operate small to mid-size ships with fewer than 2000 passengers. Hurtigruten specializes in the North Sea and Scandinavia, but they also travel to some other places for off-season cruising. They operate mostly expedition-class ships with above-average accommodations. Ponant Cruises operates smaller ships on select ocean cruises with a French flavor.

Phil and Barbara own Leisure Travel Experts here in Mint Hill and are proud members of the Mint Hill Chamber of Commerce.