First time back on the westerdam since 2019 and have found the changes onboard very disappointing.
There has been lots of cost cutting in the dining with a lack of fresh vegetables replaced with rice, quinoa and mashed potatoes, there has been very few steaks or lamb unless you now pay extra for them, no scallops or escargot and no baked Alaska so far.
The sommeliers are no longer so wine ...
We had never been with Holland America before so were unsure what to expect. Other passengers on the cruise said that the line used to be better, but as there is only one opportunity to make a first impression, unfortunately Holland America has missed the mark here.
Firstly - if you are coeliac, don't bother. Hubby is, and unless he would be satisfied with eating salad 100% of the time, there ...
We took this Southern Australia cruise to test how cruising had changed since covid. Being for us a local cruise it visited the cities we wanted to visit with mostly overnight stays.
This was our second cruise on the Westerdam and our 9th with HAL.
Overall the cruise was fine given the limitations imposed by covid requirements. All ports were met the crew friendly and efficient as ...
Embarkation.
Best we have ever had. Used Verify for Vax and test status, so easy and quick.
Cabin.
SS category very spacious and clean. Ice delivered twice a day.
Cabin stewards and general staff.
Amazing, friendly and helpful.
Cafe.
Awful, awful, awful.
Dining room.
Good at start, but declined. Nowhere near as good quality as experienced on New Amsterdam 4 years ...
This was a greatly anticipated cruise.
I was delighted to be sailing again on a ship with HA, as I had many grest memories of this company.
However it was very disappointing. I purchased the Have it all package.
What a waste of money.
I only bought it for a couple of glasses of brut wine with meals.
But...
The wine I tried of x 4 varieties on the first night were shocking sweet ...
We choose this cruise for a few reasons. 1) we had always wanted to go to this area of the world 2) we love the "at sea" days as much as port days and 3) there were at sea days between every country visited, so on the off chance that someone would have gotten Covid, we would only have missed at most 1 country. As it was, we traveled with another couple,1 person got Covid, and missed 1 country. ...
This was a 51 day cruise and has been terrible with rubbish entertainment and now on the New Zealand part we have repeated entertainment, even the trivia has the same questions! Don’t waste your money!! A penny pinching cruise line with many cancelled ports. BB kings perform the same songs nightly which gets very boring after a while. The food in the restaurants is very basic with an option to pay ...
We got a deal on this cruise because they canceled their Tokyo/Vancouver cruise in 2020 because of Covid. The deal was a $750 credit for both of us plus beverage package. The cruise was actually 9/25 to 10/2/2022 round trip from Seattle. (The transpacific crossing in this review heading was actually the following week from 10/2 to?? but Cruise Critic was a bit off.) The $750 deal expired ...
The Westerdam is one of our favorite ships. This was our 4th time on the Westerdam, and 1st time on the Alaskan itinerary with HAL. We chose this itinerary for several reasons. It was our first cruise since January 2020, so we felt it safest to cruise from a U.S. port, after the busiest summer months were over. From previous visits, we knew we would enjoy the beauty of Alaska, and liked the ...
Did the typical research for our first cruise and “it” (whoever it is) that Holland America was a good line. Little did I understand that the average age of the passengers was probably 70. The cabin was one of 2 highlights of the so called cruise. It felt more like a ferry than a cruise. The other highlight was an excursion to the Hubbard Glacier (but be prepared to pay $200-1,000 per person for ...