Cruising Holland America with a Baby – My Honest Review
There are some things in life that just get better with experience. Like riding a bike, playing Scrabble, and the realization that not cooking on vacation is non-negotiable. I’m officially a “will not lift a spatula” person when on vacation, especially with a toddler in tow.
So when the chance to cruise with Holland America came up, I considered it for the first time ever, because if there’s anything that can make traveling with a tiny human easier, it’s having someone else handle every meal and the cleanup that comes with it. This is a cruise review, sure, but it’s also a love letter to anyone who has handed me a plate of food I didn’t have to shop for, cook, or wash after:
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The Bliss of Zero Cooking (or Cleaning)
As we established, I do not cook on vacation anymore. Holland America made me feel like an absolute queen in this regard. Every meal, a dream. The staff? Angels sent from heaven. I just showed up and was handed delicious food that I didn’t have to think about beforehand, didn’t have to wash a single dish after, and most charmingly, even when I tried to pick up after my baby, someone would always rush over and tell me not to worry about it.
On land, I’m constantly stressing over kitchen duties, but on the cruise? It was like food just appeared, and I could simply enjoy it.
The Staff: Our New Best Friends
Listen, it’s one thing to have attentive staff, and it’s another thing to have staff who seem to genuinely like your kid. And Holland America’s crew? Absolute rockstars. My son might be small, but he commands a room like a pint-sized king. He had the waiters, the room stewards, and even the entertainment staff wrapped around his sticky little fingers.
Take the pianist in the lounge, for example. After a beautiful, rock and roll set, she spotted my son sitting in the front row, and wrapped up her set with Baby Shark. Yes, she played Baby Shark to a crowd of adults who immediately jumped into the arm movements like we were all in on a toddler’s inside joke. It was one of those magical parenting moments where you just sit back and think, “Okay, these are my people.”
Room Stewards Deserve Medals
There’s a lot to love about not having to pack up and move from place to place when traveling, and that’s the beauty of cruising: you unpack once and let the ship do the work. But the real MVPs of the trip? Our room stewards. I swear they had superpowers. Every time we left the room, they somehow knew. I’d return from breakfast and boom—the place was spotless, bed made, and the trash can emptied. And they cleaned twice a day! TWICE! If that’s not luxury, I don’t know what is.
These saints never missed a beat, always greeted us with huge smiles, and seemed genuinely delighted to see my son. They’d go above and beyond, bringing extra towels and even surprising us with adorable towel animals.
When my son was around one, the standard verandah room was spacious enough for us to put up his Guava Lotus travel crib and give him some space to play during quiet time. The second time we cruised, we booked a packnplay from Holland America that was slightly larger, and had to put a Slumberpod over it to help my son sleep while sharing a room — something he’s not used to at home. That took up considerably more space in the room, and opting for a larger room this time for the three of us might have been the better call, especially with such a mobile toddler. Traveling with a toddler changes the game.
A Balcony View to Remember
One of the absolute best parts of cruising is that while your child is napping, the vacation doesn’t have to stop. My mom and I would sneak out to the balcony with our analog baby monitor, sit back with coffee in hand, and just soak up the views. And let me tell you, Alaska was something else. I mean, I’ve always been a fan of beautiful landscapes, but there’s something so special about seeing a glacier drift by while your kid sleeps inside, blissfully unaware of the majesty outside. It felt like time stood still.
No frantic packing up the car to drive to the next location, no scrambling to figure out what to do while the baby naps—just us, the quiet hum of the ocean, and nature putting on a show.
Kid-Friendly Adventures
I was thrilled to find so many appealing shore excursions on both cruises, but there were even more in Alaska.
In Alaska, kids under two are often free on excursions (a rule I found to be true in Iceland as well), which meant we could devote more of our budget to excursions. We took him in a train ride, a bus excursion to a glacier, and a seaplane ride. He alternated napping and looking out the window on all occasions.
The Downsides
While I felt the Alaska cruise was awesome, it was harder cruising with a mobile toddler the second time around in Iceland. A cruise ship is almost all shared space, and we also had booked a longer cruise, so it often felt difficult to get some quiet play time since our room was so packed with his crib. He was too young for the kids club but too old to be happy just sitting and playing quietly with a Montessori toy.
I also didn’t find any changing tables on Holland America. It’s a cruise line that markets and appeals more to an older crowd, but that’s part of what I liked about it, too. It’s the perfect blend of affordable and classy, where children are welcome but they’re not the central focus. As he gets older, will we want to switch gears to something more like a Disney cruise? You never know!
Final Thoughts: Would I Cruise Again?
I actually did! After the relaxing and beautiful experience in Alaska, my mom and I took another cruise to Norway, Faroe Islands, and Iceland with Holland America. It’s a bit less relaxing when you have a toddler who can run, and we might have benefitted from having two cabins this time around, but it was still nice to minimize the logistics and cooking!
Plus, as long as there’s Baby Shark on demand, we’re golden.
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