Travel Experience: 14-day European Cruise with Holland America

As regular clients with us at Accent on Travel for the last 12 years, Mike Reed and his partner, Todd Farrand, have enjoyed plenty of the world’s most wonderful destinations. 

We sat down with them to talk about their favorite trip from recent memory, a 14-day European cruise with Holland America Line, to discover their experience and their highlights.

What were the highlights of your cruise?

We’ve been to lots of different destinations but this was just so unique and different from anything else. It was a more academic trip where you’re seeing historic locations and old-world cities, and that was what made it very unique versus somewhere else like the Caribbean.

The excursions we did that they recommended were very educational, where you go to see a historical building and get a real insight into the history of it. In several cities we also took a walking tour of the older parts; Venice was absolutely wonderful, Dubrovnik and the Croatian coast were just stunning, and Pompeii was very moving — it was all outstanding.

How were the onboard facilities?

We really do love Holland America Line, what they offer is more of a total enjoyment package. Specifically, the private cabanas – which they call ‘the retreat’ – where you get your private space and you feel like you’re on a private yacht. 

Having a cabana with privacy where you can read a book and it’s relatively quiet there, it makes all the difference to us. You rent it for the whole duration of the cruise, it’s your own dedicated space.  It feels less crowded and the cabana attendants are wonderful. They will bring drinks, lunch, and usually offer champagne with chocolote-covered strawberries. So that’s very unique to their ships and really none of the other cruise lines do something of that nature. 

Their buffet area we find to be very good, from the quality of food to the convenient layout and design to avoid congestion. We do the specialty restaurants a lot and it’s consistently, predictably good. 

As well as the consistent quality, we’ve found Holland very accommodating to dietary requirements when traveling with family and friends. The team on board comes and meets with them to talk about what they’d like every day.  

Would you recommend this cruise to others?

 Yes, absolutely we’d do it again. It was so great because you see well known places and there often is too much to see making it desirable to plan another trip in the future. We’d follow up with a more extensive pre and post-stay this time, which is something we like to do.

How was your experience booking with Accent on Travel?

They’re a wonderful team, we love them. We’ve worked with a few members of the Accent on Travel team and they really do take an interest in making sure you have a great trip planned. They organize everything, including pre and post-stay arrangements and flights.

Would you recommend booking with Accent on Travel?

Absolutely. Annette and her team have always been incredible both before and after our vacations. We like to add two or three days before the actual cruise as well as some extra days wherever the cruise ends. Accent on Travel will handle all of the logistics of that as well.

Discover your perfect luxury cruise vacation with Holland America Line today by talking to Annette and the team at 888-806-2337. Thanks to our partnership with Holland America Line, you can get access to exclusive benefits for your voyage, enriching your travel and helping you make memories you’ll cherish for a lifetime.

Wake up somewhere wonderful with Accent on Travel in partnership with Holland America Line.