{"id":5839,"date":"2025-06-05T04:54:18","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T04:54:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/?p=5839"},"modified":"2025-06-16T10:21:59","modified_gmt":"2025-06-16T10:21:59","slug":"holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","title":{"rendered":"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising"},"content":{"rendered":"

Holland America Line<\/a> has launched a new marketing initiative that is grabbing eyeballs. Called \u201cRefreshingly Free\u201d, it targets the Caribbean market by emphasizing what it doesn\u2019t offer: amusement parks, roller coasters, and oversized crowds. Instead, the campaign underscores the line\u2019s focus on relaxed, premium experiences aboard mid-sized ships.<\/p>\n

Introduced earlier this month, the \u201cRefreshingly Free\u201d campaign stems from research and guest feedback, explained Kacy Cole, Holland America\u2019s Chief Marketing Officer, during a press conference. \u201cAs we start to go to market and think about how we want to communicate to guests, we really discovered an opportunity,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe found that there are a lot of travelers who look at Caribbean cruising and don\u2019t really want the amusement park-like experience,\u201d Cole continued. \u201cThey are looking for service, relaxation and cultural enrichment,\u201d she added, highlighting a rising demand for cruises that prioritize calm, personalized service, and cultural immersion over high-energy thrills.<\/p>\n

\u201cGuests also expressed some dissatisfaction with oversized ships, citing issues with overcrowding, long lines, etc.,\u201d Cole noted. The campaign positions Holland America\u2019s vessels as \u201ca real alternative for people to invest in and get excited about,\u201d she explained. \u201cWe really want to own differentiation. In putting this campaign together, we\u2019re thinking about this idea of refreshingly free.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole pointed out that the Caribbean is typically dominated by short and weeklong cruises on large ships. \u201cThat\u2019s really not what we\u2019re known for,\u201d she said. \u201cHolland America has been a trusted brand for more than 150 years, perfecting the art of leisurely travel. No water parks, no roller coasters, no amusement parks at sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tied to the \u201cSavor the Journey\u201d slogan, Cole emphasized an alternative to typical Caribbean cruises with \u201cexperiences too good to hurry through.\u201d \u201cThat introduces \u2018Refreshingly Free.\u2019 It\u2019s the idea that, from what you typically expect of the Caribbean, we are a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cole highlighted the mid-sized nature of Holland America\u2019s fleet<\/a>, carrying about 50 percent fewer passengers than other Caribbean cruise ships, with a 1:2 crew-to-guest ratio. Campaign materials spotlight this, noting ships are \u201crefreshingly free\u201d of 2,000 extra guests. \u201cWe are really creating an experience in the Caribbean where you can unwind and be taken care of with our long tradition of genuine service,\u201d Cole said.<\/p>\n

The campaign is a differentiator and rests on three pillars: relaxed onboard experiences, the smaller average size of the fleet, and unique culinary offerings. Cole called the Fresh Fish and Destination Dining Programs \u201chuge differentiators,\u201d showcasing fresh, regional ingredients and flavors. \u201cThe idea is really to connect the things that we aren\u2019t and how that\u2019s actually a really strong differentiator for Holland America and the Caribbean.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Holland America Line has launched a new marketing initiative that is grabbing eyeballs. Called \u201cRefreshingly Free\u201d, it targets the Caribbean market by emphasizing what it doesn\u2019t offer: amusement parks, roller […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5842,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[34,494,166],"yoast_head":"\r\nHolland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising | Cruise News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising | Cruise News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Holland America Line has launched a new marketing initiative that is grabbing eyeballs. Called \u201cRefreshingly Free\u201d, it targets the Caribbean market by emphasizing what it doesn\u2019t offer: amusement parks, roller […]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cruise News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-06-05T04:54:18+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-16T10:21:59+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/holland-america-free-of-amusement-parks-and-2000-extra-guests.webp\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1700\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"810\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\r\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising | Cruise News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising | Cruise News","og_description":"Holland America Line has launched a new marketing initiative that is grabbing eyeballs. Called \u201cRefreshingly Free\u201d, it targets the Caribbean market by emphasizing what it doesn\u2019t offer: amusement parks, roller […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","og_site_name":"Cruise News","article_published_time":"2025-06-05T04:54:18+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-16T10:21:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1700,"height":810,"url":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/holland-america-free-of-amusement-parks-and-2000-extra-guests.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","url":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign","name":"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising | Cruise News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-06-05T04:54:18+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-16T10:21:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/adcfb3f8fae9556923dd78a3be8610cf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/holland-america-line\/holland-america-launches-new-refreshingly-free-campaign#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Holland America launches a unique \u2018Refreshingly Free\u2019 Campaign for Caribbean Cruising"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/","name":"Cruise News","description":"CruiseBooking.com","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/adcfb3f8fae9556923dd78a3be8610cf","name":"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d1f2def7d7894cc78c3bf1eb9b6a91e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8d1f2def7d7894cc78c3bf1eb9b6a91e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"CruiseBooking.com Editorial Team"},"url":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/author\/cruisebooking"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5839"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5841,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5839\/revisions\/5841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisebooking.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}