A wonderful itinerary covering Melanesia, sailing out of White Bay Cruise Port Sydney & under the bridge.
Some of the best unspoilt islands visited.
Including Vanuatu - New Caledonia - Australia
The video featuring a ship tour & facilities on board.
More posted on my youtube Bellaircruise channel.
We have been enjoying Holland America for many years travelling the world on various ...
Cruising during the pandemic is challenging to put it mildly. First off the 48 hour prior mandatory testing is hard to find. I contacted HAL for suggestions and after checking she said I was in luck. They had same day testing at two ports...Ft. Lauderdale and San Diego which was perfect for our 17 day Hawaii cruise. I prepaid for 2 ($100 each). When were arrived to embarkation we found that HAL ...
This was our second Holland-America cruise and our third cruise overall. I selected H-A for their patience and compassion dealing with more elderly and less active cruisers. My wife has a bad knee and can't keep up with younger folk. We were among 660 passengers aboard a vessel designed for over 2,000 so we could find a lounge chair by the pool or an empty table overlooking the ocean at dinner. ...
We chose this cruise because it met our needs from a schedule perspective. We spent Christmas with family and wanted to cruise over New Years. The boarding process was simple and rapid, essentially present your identification, proof of full vaccination, proof of Covid testing negative results within the preceding two days, and boarding pass and your crossing the gangway. The cabin (a SB class ...
Positive experiences:
-Beautiful modern decor in public areas and staterooms.
-We love the Retreat Cabanas, a great value at $300 for the week.
-Speciality restaurants are very good. The burger and hot dog bar stocks vegan meat substitutes, which was a big pleasant surprise for us. The pizza place, Dutch Cafe (order the triple berry), and Canaletto (try the risotto) were especially ...
After more than a ten year hiatus from a Holland America cruise, we decided to travel on a seven day cruise to Mexico. From the start of our first evening dinner in the dining room, there was a definite lack of service. Not only did we wait to get into the dining room, but after being seated, we often waited for another half an hour. One night we waited one hour for a drink with our dinner. ...
Koningsdam 2022 - Reality Check
We just returned from a seven-day cruise from San Diego to Mexico on the newer Koningsdam cruise ship. Accompanied by twenty-two highly experienced travel friends from San Diego, this was our last-minute plan for New Year’s Eve 2022.
• Ship Cleanliness: Two previous Cruise Critic reviews state the ship smelled of cigarette smoke and urine...which is not the ...
We packed for the Mexican west coast destinations. I even checked the weather in each port beforehand.
What I didn't expect, nor was I advised by Holland America is their policy on the current Covid outbreak.
They did not test daily (as did Viking 2 months beforehand), but did require the negative Covid 48 hour testing before boarding.
Their idea was to keep public areas, hallways, ...
We chose this cruise for convenience. Direct flights from Vancouver, British Columbia, been to all the ports so not worried if ship was denied docking, familiar with Holland America historical “no touch” buffet. It ticked our boxes including vaccination requirements. We enjoyed our cruise but there is definitely a difference in what a British Columbian thinks are safe Covid protocols and what was ...
We took this holiday cruise with my elderly parents both of whom were using scooters while onboard. The crew was wonderful and can't say enough good things about our dinning room waiter and his assistant. We were disappointed in the lack of holiday festivities onboard during the cruise as there was 1 deck party during the entire cruise on New Years Eve but nothing on Christmas Eve. My biggest ...