Good crew, great route, good excursions, good food, but HAL does not protect the health of its passengers. So many sick people by the time we reached the middle of our 31-day cruise. Packed into the mainstage theatre shoulder to shoulder, it was a chorus of sick people coughing and hacking. Both of us got sick for over a week and most of the people we met on the ship were also sick with the ...
Our cruise was good. This was the longest cruise we've taken, 31 days. Our stateroom was nice. The bed was comfortable, although we did have it joined and there was a line down the middle. It wasn’t annoying though. Maybe if they put a mattress pad on then that would conceal it. We might have been able to get one but I didn’t ask. The pillows were really comfortable. There was plenty of room in ...
Our cruise through South America to Antarctica exceeded our expectations. Where do we start?
The service on the ship was outstanding as was the food in the main dining room and the Lido deck. We got off to a rough start when we discovered our room was directly below the Rolling Stones Lounge, but the staff kindly moved us to a room with a balcony from which we could admire the icebergs in ...
After a very rocky embarkment in Buenos Aires, our cruise around South America on the Oosterdam was excellent. The principal reason for this was the extraordinary service provided by the Oosterdam crew and service personnel. Our every need was attended to and in many ways above and beyond all expectations. One of us was traveling with a mobility scooter rented from Holland America's vendor, ...
Holland America's Navigator is a poor Joke. HAL internet is like dial-up on a party line. Painfully slow, many sites won't load, not talking YouTube or games, you can barely get basic emails. If there's an attachment forget it. I wasn't even able to view my home wifi thermostat on board. Yet on shore literally just walking thru Visitors Center using free wifi I could view and adjust my temperature ...
I agree with what so many others have posted about the recent South America cruises on the Oosterdam that I almost decided not to post a review. However, for what it is worth, here are my “2 cents” from our cruise February 2-24 from Buenos Aires to Santiago (Valparaiso).
What was good about this cruise was very, very good, and what was bad was truly horrible.
I have previously sailed on the ...
This is a very long, detailed log-style review and covers 32 days, including 7 days pre-cruise in Argentina and 2 days post-cruise in Chile. If you just want to summary of the cruise scroll all the way down.
Oosterdam South America and Antarctica 12-20-22
I just spend a lot of time putting in my entire 26000 word log and the website would not save it, so here is the cruise summary ...
First Holland America Cruise. Chosen because it was the only affordable (?) cruise that went to Falklands, Antarctica and into the Chilean fjords and not around them (like Princess) or only to the Antarctic Peninsula and back to Buenos Aires (like Celebrity).
We arrived the day after most people had checked in. Embarkation was the usual mess and compounded due to the World Cup madness created ...
We chose the cruise because we wanted to be in Antarctica for New Year! This cruise did it for us. The itinerary covered all of the southern tip of South America - East and West Coasts- from Buenos Aires to Santiago de Chile - which was a bonus. We booked very late, hence had to make some compromises on the cabin choice and offshore trips.
Captain navigated through the treacherous waters of ...
Our cruise of a lifetime to antarctica was a total waste of time and money. Hal couldn't have screwed up more if it really tried. i'll share just the highlights! our embarkation was a seven hour (two on a bus and five in the terminal) fiasco with ~ 5,000 people crammed into one room with five ships in port and then hal required all passengers to take a covid test on the third day! also, no ...