Holland America Line is pioneering personalized beauty experiences at sea with the launch of Blend Bar, the cruise industry's first custom lipstick blending experience. This innovative onboard activity allows guests to create personalized lipstick and gloss formulations while cruising through some of the most beautiful places on Earth ... offering a unique cruise souvenir that captures voyage memories in wearable form.
Cruisers Need To Know
- Industry first - lipstick blending bar is now available on seven Holland America ships with fleet-wide rollout by mid-November
- Custom creation - uses 30+ premium pigments, four finishes, and 20+ signature flavors for personalized formulations
- Pricing - $65 for custom lipstick or liquid matte, $60 for lip gloss, guided by expert beauty consultants
- Clean beauty - formulations are paraben-free, sulfate-free, cruelty-free, vegan, and include SPF protection
- Perfect timing - ideal sea day activity during scenic cruising segments like whale watching off Cabo San Lucas or glacier viewing in Alaska
Book a Holland America Cruise with Blend Bar
For personalized assistance with Holland America cruise planning and ships featuring Blend Bar, contact Heather Hills from Flow Voyages, who can help answer questions and assist you in finding the perfect cruise for your needs.
Holland America Line's Blend Bar represents a significant innovation in cruise amenities, allowing beauty enthusiasts to design and create customized lipstick or gloss formulations during their voyage. The hands-on experience takes place in the beauty section of shipboard shops, where expert beauty consultants guide guests through the creation process.
The blending experience offers more than 30 premium pigments, four luxurious finishes including butter, crème, matte, and gloss, plus over 20 signature flavors and essences for complete customization. Guests can recreate discontinued favorite shades, match specific outfits, or create entirely new formulations. The process includes adding dimensional effects like frost, shimmer, or iridescence before the custom formula is melted and poured into lipstick molds or gloss tubes.
Each participant receives their personalized product along with a formula card listing selected ingredients for future recreations, and can create custom names for their lipstick applied to the tube upon completion. The experience emphasizes clean beauty standards with products free from parabens, sulfates, phthalates, and GMOs, while maintaining cruelty-free, gluten-free, and vegan ingredients packed with antioxidants and SPF.
The innovation particularly appeals to discovery-focused cruisers seeking meaningful, hands-on experiences beyond traditional shipboard activities. For scenic voyage segments where guests spend extended time aboard - whether glacier cruising in Alaska's Inside Passage, whale watching during Mexican Riviera sea days, or enjoying fall foliage along Canada's Atlantic coast - the beauty experience provides meaningful engagement during contemplative moments. Whether celebrating special occasions or indulging in personal luxury, the Blend Bar creates unique mementos that connect directly to cruise memories while aligning with sustainable travel values through its clean, environmentally conscious formulations.
About the only thing missing here is an orange color that you could show off at the Orange Night Party :)
Where to Experience Blend Bar: Alaska, Mexican Riviera, and Canada Cruises
Blend Bar is currently available on Nieuw Statendam, Eurodam, Westerdam, Oosterdam, Zuiderdam, Volendam, and Zaandam, with fleet-wide rollout to remaining ships completed by mid-November. Of the two ships currently sailing Mexican Riviera and Baja Mexico cruises from San Diego, Zaandam already features Blend Bar while Nieuw Amsterdam will receive the experience during the fleet-wide rollout by mid-November.
Mexican Riviera and Baja Mexico
For 2025-2026, Nieuw Amsterdam and Zaandam offer seven-day Mexican Riviera cruises featuring Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlán, and Cabo San Lucas, plus seven-day Baja Peninsula itineraries visiting La Paz, Loreto, and Cabo San Lucas. These winter cruises coincide perfectly with whale watching season in Cabo San Lucas waters, where humpback whales migrate from December to April for breeding and nursing, with peak activity in February and March. The Blend Bar experience offers an ideal sea day activity while watching for whales in the warm waters off Cabo.
Alaska Cruises
Alaska's 2026 season features six ships including several with Blend Bar, offering seven to 28-day itineraries from Seattle and Vancouver with extensive glacier viewing opportunities. The cruise line's Alaska program includes exclusive Glacier Bay access and scenic cruising past multiple tidewater glaciers, providing perfect scenic sea day moments for beauty experiences.
Canada and New England
Canada and New England deployments feature Zuiderdam and Volendam from April through October, offering seven-day roundtrip cruises from Boston plus longer itineraries exploring the Maritimes and Newfoundland. These ships navigate the scenic St. Lawrence River to Montreal and Quebec City, accessible only to mid-sized vessels, while featuring fall foliage viewing in September and October.
How To Book Holland America Cruises with Blend Bar
The Blend Bar launch reflects Holland America's commitment to innovative personalization that enhances destination-focused cruising experiences. The timing proves ideal for scenic sea days when guests traditionally focus on landscape viewing and photography - now enhanced with personalized beauty creation that captures voyage memories in wearable form.
The $65 lipstick experience or $60 gloss creation proves particularly appealing during longer cruises with sea days and plenty of time to show off your new lipstick in selfies. We especially appreciate that this is a premium offering that features clean, sustainable formulations that align with environmentally conscious travel values that we have come to expect from cruising with Holland America Line.
For cruise planning assistance and guidance on Holland America ships featuring Blend Bar, including booking advice for optimal whale watching, glacier viewing, and fall foliage cruises, contact Heather Hills from Flow Voyages. Her expertise in discovery-focused cruise experiences helps match travelers with itineraries that maximize both destination exploration and innovative onboard amenities like this industry-first beauty innovation.
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