Who are Holland America's target market?

[Homosassa]

I think HAL is in a transition with a slide downward.

 

Because HAL and Princess basically targeted the same socioeconomic market, the powers that be have apparently decided to reposition HAL to be a bridge between the lower tier Carnival and the upper tiers of their corporate family.

 

Gone is much of what made HAL a cruise experience of quiet elegance.  For those of us that started cruising in our twenties and have now aged into what so many people snidely categorize HAL cruisers to be, I know the appeal of the HAL experience in our younger years is no longer part of cruising on HAL.

 

Gone are the little touches such as the fresh  flowers on the table (MDR and buffet) and the numerous arrangements around the ship, the free liquors in the buffet to pour over your choice of the large freshly made on board ice cream, the top notch on board production companies (the technological marvels that are the stages on the Vista class are no longer used), the knowledge that the ship would carry a lower passenger load than same size ships on other lines and the cruise director's staff that kept the on board activities going.  The list could go on.

 

Instead we now have such offerings as larger ships that carry more passengers than would have been carried in the past, booze packages for the two fisted drinking crowd that are coming up from Carnival, and the lack of of board activities.

 

As a result, we are moving on, as is our 36 year old daughter (started cruising with us at 17 months) who loved the HAL of old and is looking elsewhere for the "HAL" experience.

 

Where are we cruising? Celebrity and  Princess (started with them when they were Chandris and Sitmar), Azamara, Viking Ocean and, what probably will surprise many, MSC's smaller ships.

 

I know that many will claim that Viking is way more expensive than HAL. However, when I compare the prices we paid in the 70s and 80s for a cruise and  put those prices in today's dollars, we are paying the same for Viking as we paid for the Celebrity. Princess, HAL  and Royal Caribbean (before the line was down marketed in the targeted demographic at the end of the nineties) back in the 70s and 80s for the same level of service as Viking now provides. 

 

 

Edited April 23, 2020 by Homosassa

[Sir PMP]

14 hours ago, ren0312 said:

Who is particular is Holland America line targeting? I mean looking at their ships I can see the benefits of adding water slides and rock climbing walls. The kids  had tag along with their parents and grandparents would certainly find it enjoyable. And middle ages people might even find it to be a good addition

60 plus-ers with class...

[DaKa2002]

1 minute ago, Sir PMP said:

60 plus-ers with class...

Agree.

[TN Fem]

I'm 45 yrs old with kids. We like HAL because it usually has ports other cruise lines don't   I like interesting itineraries and decent food.  My kids are perfectly content on the Lido deck with the ping pong table, chess and pool. We don't need water slides and rock walls.  

 

Our first HAL was South America and Antartica cruising. Honestly the educational programming was great and it was great value. We've since done a Cuba cruise and a Central American cruise.  Both great with ports most other ships don't stop at and we had a great experience booking our own excursions on those cruises.  

 

We booked Mexican Riviera this year fairly last minute (January) because I wanted warmth and decent food for spring break and the price was right (our cruise was canceled). 

 

I'm hoping our NZ/AUS cruise happens at Christmas. We thought about flying and driving NZ for winter break, but realized we could cover a lot more ground cruising and the price was significantly cheaper.   

 

The next cruise we want to do is Asia (probably HK to Singapore). It has interesting ports but I have a shellfish allergy and some of us are picky eaters so being able to eat breakfast and dinner onboard is appealing particularly for that part of the world. 

 

We are probably not normal travelers and don't fit neatly into any bucket. We try to cruise every other Christmas and then do an in-depth country on the odd years (last two trips have Sri Lanka and Jordan). 

[MMDown Under]

I would cruise HAL in my part of the world for their interesting itineraries, if they maintained their small ships.  

[Stateroom_Sailor]

We're 41 and 43, and I couldn't care less about the age demographic, as long as it is respectable.  There's a natural gravitation towards people within 10-20 years, which can include the crew.  We sail for the itineraries, price, good food, and comfortable cabins.  If I could get all that on a fun ship, the rock climbing walls and waterslides wouldn't bother me in the least.

 

Now if we could just get a zip line, that briefly goes through the MDR, I would be more than happy to wear formal attire when appropriate.  

[danah33]

1 hour ago, TN Fem said:

I'm 45 yrs old with kids. We like HAL because it usually has ports other cruise lines don't   I like interesting itineraries and decent food.  My kids are perfectly content on the Lido deck with the ping pong table, chess and pool. We don't need water slides and rock walls.  

 

This. We booked a HAL cruise this year (unfortunately now cancelled) because we wished to show our teenage kids, and re-experience for ourselves, the wonders of classical antiquity in the Mediterranean. My kids and I like water slides, but how many times can you go down a slide before it gets boring? We'd be at least as happy shooting hoops on the sports deck. In any case, on a port-intensive cruise, there's not a huge amount of time for all that anyway.

 

(We hope to try again in 2021 -- though they inexplicably took Heraklion/Knossos off next year's itinerary, which is the port we were most looking forward to.)

[cruzingnut]

13 hours ago, Roz said:

 

There is a continuing supply of over 60s, but what each generation of over 60s want is different - there's the rub.

 

When I started cruising with HAL in my 40's I wouldn't have wanted climbing walls; I loved it just the way it was!    As far as over 60's, well, I'm there now and STILL like HAL for what it is (just not BB Kings, Rolling Rock..bigger ships).  Let's not forget about all those Baby Boomers, too!

 

Linda R.

[Mud_Shark]

We don't like crowds of children, so we quickly found that Princess was more our style than RCL or Carnival.  Now we are trying HAL.  But that said, a few things for the young at heart would not be a bad thing.  A waterslide would be good.  It wouldn't make the ship into an amusement park, but would be fun to try, and the granddaughter would like it as well.  We are 58, and I take my oldest grandaughter to the waterslide park every year.  Wouldn't try the flow rider or rock wall or anything that "out there", but HAL does sound a little sedate.  We shall hopefully see (our fall cruise may well be cancelled 😞   )

 

Don

[iancal]

I suspect that going forward HAL's target market will be anyone with a pulse and valid credit card.  Same with the others.

[Chrisfromco]

Interesting responses! We are in our mid 40's and generally prefer Celebrity, but the price has gotten out of our desired range. We tried the Eurodam in December of 2018 for a Mexican Riviera cruise. We really enjoyed the ship, crew, and dining. However we found it difficult finding many people in our age demographic to hang out with. It was definitely the oldest crowd we have had in the 6 cruises we've taken. I'm looking at the Eastern itinerary on the Neiuw Statendam for 2021. I really like the feel of this ship as it seems more contemporary. Any chance this will have more folks in our range? We are not crazy party people, but we do enjoy the deck parties on NCL and Celebrity. Can we expect to find any of this on Statendam?? All the reviews showing the music venues, seem very low key. Thanks in advance for any input!

[Aquahound]

15 minutes ago, Chrisfromco said:

Interesting responses! We are in our mid 40's and generally prefer Celebrity, but the price has gotten out of our desired range. We tried the Eurodam in December of 2018 for a Mexican Riviera cruise. We really enjoyed the ship, crew, and dining. However we found it difficult finding many people in our age demographic to hang out with. It was definitely the oldest crowd we have had in the 6 cruises we've taken. I'm looking at the Eastern itinerary on the Neiuw Statendam for 2021. I really like the feel of this ship as it seems more contemporary. Any chance this will have more folks in our range? We are not crazy party people, but we do enjoy the deck parties on NCL and Celebrity. Can we expect to find any of this on Statendam?? All the reviews showing the music venues, seem very low key. Thanks in advance for any input!

 

We enjoyed her sister ship, Koningsdam.  But that said, deck parties on HAL are a thing of the past.  Unfortunately, the same couple entertainment choices do not differ from night to night.  You might get 1 game show.  No theme parties like on the other lines (60s, 70s nights, etc).  They do an orange party, but it's not really anything.  It's just another night in BB King with the same music, but with people dressed in orange. 

 

Also, our cruise on K'dam was 10 nights, and the bulk of the passengers were easily 60s and 70s.  Being mid 40s ourselves, we know what we are getting in to when we sail HAL.  We pretty much go in to it knowing we're going to be the babies on board.  Nice ship though.  I do recommend it if you're looking for relaxation.  That class of ships is about as close to Celebrity as you're going to get with HAL. 

[Cruizer Bill]

I like the idea of different cruise lines geared to different age groups.  That way you can take your pick and know what to expect.  When a ship tries to be all things to all people it usually is a disappointment. 

[danah33]

2 minutes ago, Cruizer Bill said:

I like the idea of different cruise lines geared to different age groups.  That way you can take your pick and know what to expect.  When a ship tries to be all things to all people it usually is a disappointment. 

 

Indeed. But segmentation by age is not the only possibility. E.g., there are people who like more sea days versus those who prefer to explore more ports; history/culture nerds versus outdoorsy nature types, etc.

[sail7seas]

23 hours ago, iancal said:

For us there are positive and negatives to any of the mass market cruise line.  HAL is no different.

 

Bottom line, if the ship, the itinerary, and the price was right we would book a HAL cruise in a heartbeat.  We feel the same about Princess and Celebrity.   More similarities than differences.

 

Don't ask me what HAL's target market or their marketing thrust seems to be.  I keep seeing contradictions in marketing.    We sense lots of confusion there but really, who cares as long as the selected cruise experience is good.

 

 

Does HAL acitvely market to  anyone?  I never see a tv ad, magazine marketing  that  catches ones eye.    Once in a while, I get a snail mail something or other that seems to be a recycle of same old photos with NOTHING NEW or oiginal

 

One way to cut expenses is do NO marketing.   

So much for trying to get new Mariners.  🙂

 

 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

23 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

60 plus-ers with class...

I agree as well

[sail7seas]

2 minutes ago, Gail & Marty sailing away said:

I agree as well

With class and cash

 

🙂

 

 

[SilvertoGold]

Target market:  I suppose this is about children mostly.  Depends on itinerary, time of year.  7 day Alaska (younger, families) is very difference from a 30 day Tahiti (older, more experienced cruisers).  Summer cruises (families) are very different from when school is in (no kids).  You do see a wide variety.

 

Some time ago HAL seemed to shift to everyone, families, younger couples and lately shifting back to the standard of no kids, not too young a demographic. Newer ships are not being geared to children, to the extent that Club HAL may be phased out.  

[iancal]

I suspect that HAL cares much more about cash than they do about class given that they are  in the mass market segment.

[JT1962]

I suspect that going forward HAL's target market will be anyone with a pulse and valid credit card.  Same with the others.

I agree. I think they will be glad to get whoever they can.

If the currently proposed health checks and restrictions on Princess will also be used on other Carnival Corp lines, at least initially, many previous cruisers will no longer be allowed to board. HAL and Princess will probably have more passengers affected than other lines based on their demographics. With the bad publicity that Princess and HAL both received due to the Coronavirus, I can’t see first-time cruisers choosing either (public perception is reality to the average person). In the next few years, I can see some of the multiple lines for Carnival Corp being consolidated, sold, shut down or their ships re-branded into other corporate lines. HAL and Princess could be prime candidates if their passenger numbers fall.

[vms]

I think HAL is trying to shift focus to a more mid-aged crowd- but time will tell if it works. My last HAL cruise was myself (early 40s) and my mother (early 70s), and the number of people in her age group who complained loudly about Postmodern Jukebox- it felt like everyone we spoke to hated them, while I found them delightful and mom thought they were interesting but she only knew 1 or 2 of the songs they were referencing.

 

I think HAL's niche is people who are sailing for itinerary- even with 7 and 10 day cruises they have more interesting ports and options. I've been thinking about a Panama Canal transit cruise and HAL has so many options with different combinations of ports, compared to 1 or 2 cruises total on Celebrity, which is my other preferred line.

 

 

[Copper10-8]

On 4/22/2020 at 11:25 PM, ren0312 said:

Who is particular is Holland America line targeting? .....................

 

It has been said on these here pages by some that HAL targets members of the ageing population in general, who masticate sumptuous recast at either 5:30 or 8:00 PM sharp, and follow up this activity by calling it a night in their respective ship chalets through the counting of endless series of identical white sheep scaling fences with the direct result that by 8:30-9:00 PM, the public corridors and foyers of said vessel are characterized by a total and complete absence or near absence of any activity by members of the human race.................  

[DeeDee Groff]

7 hours ago, sail7seas said:

With class and cash

 

🙂

 

 

Amen, Judy!

[BJzink]

On 4/23/2020 at 11:20 AM, JimnKaren said:

Among the reasons we cruise HAL is the selection of itineraries. Very few 7 or 10 day trips. Those are the type that will draw younger folks. Older folks have the time to travel longer cruises, thus fewer people under 30 (and their kids).

We rarely cruise less than 21 days, that eliminates most of the folks who have kids who might want to climb a wall. Those families just don't have that number of days of vacation.

As to entertainment...we don't cruise to smile in a showroom. We cruise for the experience of getting to new places without flying too often. We listen to music in different venues. Comedy late night? Catch that on the boob tube! Dancing and singing can be found at our local amateur theatres.

Jim

Exactly my opinion.   I love my children, grandchildren, and the "greats", but I have been on other ships (RCCL, Carnival, Princess), where the parents were not interested in supervising them and it was not relaxing at all.  I like HAL's itineraries.

[iancal]

We do not mind children however it has never been an issue for us.   We typically cruise in late Sept/Oct or in Feb/March.

 

We have been on several Xmas, March cruises.  Never had an issue.  We have had seen many, many more issues with incredibly rude, condescending, demanding,  and self entitled adults (that very much includes seniors) than we have with misbehaving children.

Edited April 25, 2020 by iancal