What innovated new idea(s) has Holland America introduced in the past 10-years?

[iancal]

I think HAL is a little innovative in the way they sometimes charge three and four star cruisers more than those with less 'experience'.

 

Who would suspect that? Clever way to increase revenue given their high repeat numbers.

[cruz chic]

I think HAL is a little innovative in the way they sometimes charge three and four star cruisers more than those with less 'experience'.

 

Who would suspect that? Clever way to increase revenue given their high repeat numbers.

 

Yes, they are certainly good at that:D.

[PathfinderEss]

HAL tends to copy and follow, but I think they are smart to let the other lines lead the way and then improve on the new concepts.

 

The "Stateroom Direct" plan was thought up by HAL and is truly a great innovation, though.

 

Its to bad they didn't let other cruise lines lead on removing the back pools on both the Veendam and Rotterdam, replacing them with those wonderful 'poollets'. Maybe then they wouldn't have ruined those to ships. Here was a case of them leading and screwing up big time, when they should have waited to see if anyother cruise line ding bat came up with that wonderful idea.:eek::eek:

 

Memory = steel trap ;)

 

my lips are sealed :D:D

[erewhon]

To have a "Cabaret Lunch", how long do you think the cruise would have to be? We will be on the Maasdam for 42 days, but it's actually two 21-day segments. I don't remember anything like that on the Statendam when we went from Vancouver to Auckland - 28 days, but a shorter cruise might have been LA to Auckland, I know a lot of people boarded there.

 

(But of course we were not 4-star in those days! So maybe we just never heard about it...)

 

Maybe there will be a "Cabaret Lunch" during our 34 day cruise.

[pms4104]

Innovative is not really a great adjective to use to describe HAL.

 

HAL tends to copy and follow, but I think they are smart to let the other lines lead the way and then improve on the new concepts.

 

The "Stateroom Direct" plan was thought up by HAL and is truly a great innovation, though.

I think other lines, Princess comes to mind but surely there are others, had staterooms ready for embarking passengers some time before HAL added that concept ... perhaps the other lines simply didn't give the process a fancy name.

[iancal]

If you want to see innovative, get on a Celebrity Solstice class ship or take a look at some of the RCI offerings. Or NCL. Or Carnival. They are innovative. They are moving to where the puck is going to be, not where it was during the last period.

 

Huge difference between the occasional tweak (accompanied by huge amounts of angst) on HAL and real innovation. The average age of HAL's fleet says it all-steady as she goes and don't rock the boat.

 

Don't know how anyone could use the words innovative and HAL in the same sentence.

Edited July 29, 2014 by iancal

[Typhoon1]

Don't get me wrong - I love HAL, and I am very comfortable on these ships. But somehow "innovative" and "HAL" don't go together in my mind.:D I also cruise with another line which has a better "Explorations"-type cafe, computer lab, interactive TVs, good beds, etc etc. Yes, HAL has great crew and all the rest of it, but hardly innovative.

 

Traditional, premium line, is a more accurate description.

[RuthC]

Maybe it's just me, but I don't want HAL to be innovative with things ever changing onboard.

It's not "just" you. Change for the sake of change? Innovation? Let other lines provide that for those who want it. Let HAL provide something different: the comfort of knowing what to expect.

[iancal]

There has been masses of innovation at the back end, where customers cannot see it. But it adds greatly to our comfort. And in the showrooms with new lighting/presentation systems.

 

Improved technologies and engineering advances have reduced fuel consumption, increased customer comfort from intelligent HVAC systems, etc.

It is one of the reasons why the newer ships are less expensive to operate and are more creature comfort friendly.

[Linda&Vern]

It's not "just" you. Change for the sake of change? Innovation? Let other lines provide that for those who want it. Let HAL provide something different: the comfort of knowing what to expect.

Ditto ^^ Ditto

[sail7seas]

Ditto ^^ Ditto

 

 

 

:) Add me to that Ditto, please.

I don't want or need change/innovation just for the sake of change.

 

[UPNYGuy]

Now I'm the first to admit that I'm not the HAL cheerleader I was, but I really feel that they have a catch-22 here. They are damned if they change, and damned if they don't. They cater to a demographic that is admittedly shrinking when it comes to the cruise industry. And if Holland tries to innovate like Norwegian or Royal, all hell will break loose among the current clientele. Thus, HAL really cannot do anything to attract and maintain cruisers new to the brand. Market share projections have HAL with shrinking market cap for the last several years. Most of this IMHO is due to the fact that they have quite a bit of leakage among the "new to HAL" and super premium cabins.

 

 

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