Rotterdam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This was our first and last cruise with Holland America. We were supposed to visit Istanbul but because of concerns for passenger safety the Captain decided to visit other Greek Islands instead and the passengers (including us) who were supposed to disembark in Istanbul were given 2 free days onboard and told that our flights from Athens would be re-embursed. I should add that the Greek Islands that we visited instead of Istanbul were absolutely beautiful. We had been to Istanbul on a previous cruise so we were not too upset although most people were devastated as the only reason they had come on the cruise was to see Istanbul. It is now June 2016 (7 months later) and I have just received the €1297 I was owed by Holland America. After a rain forest amount of paperwork and numerous emails of complaint I eventually received my money. I have never experienced such poor customer service in my life! When we were told that we would be on the ship for two extra nights, staff told us to sort everything out ourselves, change flights, cancel hotels, change transfers. There was mayhem, long queues, shouting and roaring. I was on the phone for 40 minutes cancelling the flights with BA. We were given complimentary phone calls and Internet minutes. The Internet was frustratingly slow and crashed continuously during the 60 free minutes I was given. I got nothing done. Reception were not helpful! They told us they could not Google for us or print out documents for us either. I was so stressed along with the other 200 passengers trying to change their plans. There was a one hour free bar as compensation.
The lunch in Lido was good, plenty of lovely salads which suited vegan me. Servers in Lido looked depressed. My husband loved the pizzas and fries. We were not impressed by the dining room. Food was not dining room standard. We had requested a table for two but had to share every night. As a vegan I had the same meal every night, basic and boring, no flair, food was always lukewarm or cold and service was very slow. One evening we entered the dining room at 7.30 pm and had to wait on the table to fill so we didn't get out until after 10.00 pm.
The theatre was freezing cold. Bring a jumper! The entertainment was ok. The entertainment onboard was monotonous, same stuff every night. The own crew show was no good.
Cabin Review
Large Outside Stateroom (fully obstructed views)
Cabin had plenty of storage space and was kept spick and span by our friendly cabin Stewart, Press and his colleague. We had booked an inside cabin but were given an exterior cabin with an obstructed view. The view was obstructed by the lifeboats. Unfortunately it was quite noisy in the mornings when docking with banging noises and we witnessed a stretcher being taken off outside our window on our first night. We didn't get any sleep as the rescue took about 3 hours in the early hours of the morning. Would not recommend this cabin as it is too noisy. When we complained about the noise, we were given a bottle of wine and given an upgrade to the Italian restaurant.
Port Reviews
Dubrovnik
Beautiful place, cobblestones and Unesco site.
Katakolon (Olympia)
Booked local company €8 each return on coach. Value for money!
Santorini
Gorgeous place, very hot the day we visited. Take the donkeys up and down the hill or risk your life on the steep steps. Safe option is to take the cable car. Should be a health and safety message on the ship as 6 people from the Rotterdam ended up in hospital that day. The steps are lethal!
Crete (Heraklion)
Nice place, raining that day but had plenty of shops.
Venice
Lovely city, plenty of history.