In early October, I had the opportunity to sail on Holland America Line Eurodam through the Standby Program (you can learn all about my experience with Standby Program in this post). It was a great way to dip my toes in the proverbial HAL water since this sailing was a cool 4 nights from Vancouver to San Diego.

Cruise Line Perceptions

Many have preconceived notions of what the demographic will be on most cruise lines, right? Carnival is for families with young children or a party crowd on shorter sailings. Royal Caribbean is for families with older children. Princess and Celebrity have an older, more sophisticated crowd offering a higher level of service and looking for an escape. Virgin Voyages conjures up images of GenY and GenZ partying all through the night. And then there’s Holland America Line. There are many jokes about the age of passengers, but is the cruise line just for older people?

What Is a Holland America Ship Like?

The ship’s design was a bit refined and simple, which I appreciated. No wild colors throughout and the artwork was clean. I really enjoyed walking the cabin decks late at night and just getting lost in the old photos of different Holland America Line ships in various stages of construction as well as operating across the years. And the rest of the art across the ship was tasteful, except for the main atrium lobby chandelier – it was strange and a little underwhelming.

Upon walking onto the ship, I was really impressed with the transformative capabilities of the retail spaces. I was also a bit shocked when I saw the size of the Lido Market buffet. It. Was. Huge!!! So many options with cuisine types from all over the world. I could easily see doing a longer itinerary on one of these ships and not getting tired of the food – except for the salad dressing, but you’ll have to watch my full review below for those details.

Accommodations

Curious about the sleeping quarters? So was I! In preparing for my cruise, I opted not to do any research on the Eurodam ahead of time. I wanted to approach this cruise ship with eyes wide-open and experience everything the ship has to offer for the first time in real-time. I was quite impressed with the size and layout of my cabin when I first opened the door.

It was easy to overlook the fact that this cabin was a sideways room. The bed-wall was to my left upon entering the cabin, rather than directly ahead of me. This also meant that the entire room was laid out a little differently, giving me a full dressing area with full-length mirror and the bathroom was tucked back, away from the front door.

Watch the video below for the full tour of this stateroom and stay through to the end to find out what I thought of this space after sleeping in it for 4 nights.

Holland America Line Demographics

Now that I’ve shared a little bit about the ship itself, let’s talk more about the demographic of the passengers on board. If you’ve sailed with any of the cruise lines I mentioned in the opening, you know that many of the things I mentioned are just stereotypes and don’t necessarily represent the entire brand.

The refined design of the inside of the ship definitely tends to attract an older crowd. Other considerations that came to mind are the fact that the brand is well-known for their longer itineraries. In the era of yesteryear, this was something that really only retirees could enjoy due to how remote the sailings can be. Fast-forward to the digital age and we see more office flexibility, opening the doors to a younger population.

During my sailing, I met and interacted with fellow cruisers who were closer to my age, and I really think it’s just a matter of getting the word out about this cruise line. The atmosphere definitely lends itself to being more productive thanks to the lite entertainment schedule and many quiet nooks across the ship.

So, to answer the question of “Is Holland America just for older cruisers?” My answer is NO! Several fellow passengers did comment on my age, however I didn’t feel discouraged at any point. Nor did I feel like an outsider that couldn’t enjoy the activities the ship had to offer. I’m glad I had the opportunity to sail Holland America Line Eurodam and look forward to my next sailing with the cruise line!