I traveled on this cruise as a chartered cruise. While most of the crew was friendly, my previous 3 cruises on HAL were much better. Our stateroom was not clean and we rarely saw our stateroom attendant. We are both vegetarians and the choices in the Main Dining Room and specialty restaurants do not often many vegetarian options. In todays world I would think the chefs could be a bit more ...
Chose this ship for the itinerary. Big mistake. Dated in all ways.So lacking in accessible features I can't believe it's ADA compliant. They are carrying wheelchair guests off the ship by hand. In the tiny casino you may earn enough points to qualify for free drinks while playing. But....
Good luck finding a server. Few activities on seadays. You are expected to amuse yourself.
Entertainment ...
This is long overdue! We’ve been on 3 cruises in 12 months and have used cruise critic for so much information. I decided it was time to jump in and give back! The three ships we’ve sailed on in the past year were Holland Americas Zaandam, Seaborne Oddessy, and Oceania Vista.
We sailed on the Zaandam with a group of 8 people, family and friends. We wanted the iconic experience of going through ...
This was a 14 day Panama Canal journey from San Diego to Fort Lauderdale. Zaandam is a smaller ship and doesn't have a lot of "bells and whistles" but has a lot to offer. Passengers were on the older side and only 14 or so children on board. Staff and crew were excellent. Never a long wait for a drink or to get something from the Lido buffet.
Pools and hot tubs were never really very ...
We have been on this ship once before on a land and sea trip to Alaska in 2019. We didn't get to spend much time on the ship so we thought we would do it again on the 7-day Southern Carribean. Although our itinerary was changed a few times we didn't mind because we love sea days. The weather was beautiful.
The service was outstanding. All of the servers remembered our names and treated us ...
Chose this cruise as we wanted to try Holland America and the itinerary included Bonaire where we have never been. Sadly, three days prior to the embarkation Bonaire was cancelled. We departed Port Everglades and made our way to Half Moon Cay. Unfortunately, the seas were to rough for the tenders so that stop was out. The captain said that we would be going to Aruba (not a scheduled stop) ...
We're 3-Star Mariners. Probably would've been 4-Star by now, but for Covid. This was our first cruise in 4 years, aboard one of our favourite ships, the NA. We had grown accustomed to the wonderful HAL service (great crew), fine cuisine, enjoyable entertainment, and superb efficiency.
The good: the staff - cabin stewards, dining room, buffet. un-endingly cheerful and accommodating. HAL nails ...
It took over an hour embarking and we were there when only a few people were waiting. The way of doing things in general appeared much slower than other cruise ships we have been on. The first feed days of the cruise during the day there was always a long line for guest services counter. The guest were mainly older Americans. The entertainment on the ship was very poor, some acts did repeats on ...
Finally got to do my dream trip to Australia/NZ, and some family members decided to join me and we all chose this 2 week Sydney-Auckland cruise. My first experience on HAL a few years ago was on an older ship for a Canada cruise, and while we had a great time, I was underwhelmed with the dated ship and the food. This cruise, however, was GREAT! I loved the smaller size of the ship. It rarely ...
Over 25 cruises, several on HAL. We find the HAL product much diminished. Menus downgraded, although the food was better than an October cruise. Same menu every sea day for lunch. Almost every beef dish, including potroast, very tough, even in the Pinnacle. Entertainment was good and bad. Comedians performed in the BBKing's. You had to get there an hour before to get a seat. On our 10 ...