[this is all over the place and rambly]

Posters on the Cruise Critic Holland America boards get stuck on the oddest things.Like:

*They were almost *gleeful* that the HALCats(the house band-well, one of them) on HAL ships are being phased out. the HALCats get called a lot of things-including "screechy"(more than once.) I don't have a problem with them myself but a lot of people on the HAL boards do.

*Modernising ships(interactive TV menus in the cabins, and larger ships among other things)

First as to the "modernisation": Holland America has always been about "Old world charm"  and whilst that's all fine and good...the average age of the HAL cruiser  can be quite old, although depending on  what time of the year it is you may or may not see lots of families on there

They have kids' clubs on all their ships-if you ask me, if they didn't want kids on their  ships they wouldn't have a kids' hangout on their ships. Some people on the Cruise Critic HAL boards go out og their way to try and discourage families from going on HAL cruises.

Where was I? Oh, so the age of HAL cruisers and the attraction of Old world charm. Well, eventually  some of those people are going to die off. The younger people who are starting to discover Holland America are going to want a more modern experience perhaps(especially given that  some of the Holland America ships are starting to age quite badly and Holland America's track record with maintenance on their ships) If that continues to be the case, they will start cruising on other cruise lines.

And the larger ships..well, they're starting to get into that with their new ship.It's certainly  nothing like the Oasis or Quantum of the Seas(Royal Caribbean's  megaships), but people think it's too big just the same.And people hate how modern  the rooms are. I saw a rendering of them and thought they were quite nice. 

As their current ships(the newest, biggest ships- the Eurodam and the Nieuw Amsterdam)start to age Holland America is going have to start thinking about  where they want to go next..and in fact they have the Konigsdam starting next year, and apparently another ship in a few years besides.

IMO Holland America would do well to think about making that ship more family friendly,add a few more amenities. I can see people on the Holland America boards at Cruise Critic having a problem with that since they are the opposite of early adopters.

People get..searches for a word and settles on "Too into" Od World Charm. There's a lot  who think that cruising is still like something out of Titanic.It isn't.