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Holland America Rotterdam

Lots of good things but some improvements needed

My mother and I selected this cruise date / itinerary 12 months before departure. It included Japan and Hong Kong which were key to our travel desires. 

Let’s start with the challenges. 

We booked a “Guaranteed Oceanview Room”. Mistake. Should have selected our room at reservation. 

We were upgraded to a Verandah room directly under the pool deck. The deck scraping at odd hours was not pleasant. Not the fault of the staff, of course.  Gambles and lost on that! Brought earplugs. That was fine. 

Day 1 in Yokahama - no Baileys. Really? For my 72 year old mother, this was perplexing. Day 2resupply in Osaka. Only half of the venues had Baileys, the others had Mahoneys. 

Day 10, no bottled water at half the venues. Really?

Holland America prides themselves in “not ordering too much” as they proudly stated in their  Meet the Crew presentation. 

Sure, Baileys can be brushed off, but bottled water? We were more than able to find suitable alternatives, but come on…

Pinnacle Grill was a huge disappointment. Having booked specialty dining is important to us to break up the dining experience. 

We booked at a peak time and our food was awful. No response from management. Food sent back only to have the rest of the meal cold. Poor server was admonished by room supervisor for not pushing tables through fast enough for the peak rush. Not servers fault. 

Entertainment was subpar. Not our cup of tea. Went to every show. Left each time before it was over. No one’s fault. Just not what we were expecting. 

The stateroom was fine. Clean and well-appointed. No issues. 

Staff were impeccable. This is another primary reason why we cruise. Staff could not be better. Every request was met with grace and professionalism. 

Food - perspective is everything here. Main dining Portions are about 15-20% smaller than my expectations. And that was fine!! There is so much food, no issues to receive smaller portions. At times, temps were not ad hit as I would have expected, but not horrible. Never a bad meal (except Pinnacle Grill specialty dining). Canalleto Italian specialty dining was superb. 

Lido Deck buffet was above average. Lots of hits, a few misses. Could always find something to eat. 

Dive In Burger Bar was a hit!!! Loved the food and service. 

Crows nest is the place for your morning specialty coffee and pastry before breakfast. Get there early to manage your expectations at the line. Again, staff there is superb. 

Games room - bring your own playing cards. Not enough to go around; none for sale in gift shop, casino will not provide any post-gaming cards. 

Excellent fitness centre and spa. Changing areas and locker room (dedicated to spa and thermal suite users) is a great place to have a shower after your morning workout… NOBODY THERE THAT EARLY!!! Use it!

Overall, I had a positive experience and was always able to find something to do and eat. 

Entertainment was hit-and-miss for me. 

You will be pampered. 

My preference is with Celebrity Edge Class and am willing to pay that premium. 

My mom felt she enjoyed the trip as much as I did and had same feedback for entertainment. 

She book 2 more cruises with HAL (55 days total) for 2025, so that speaks volumes.

Not my favourite, but met most of my needs/wants

Split

Stay away from balcony room The bathroom stinks of mold and mildew. They have tried deep cleaning but I fear it’s under the bathtub and walls. Other cruisers say their room is fine so I guess I got stuck  they need to take out tub and replace with shower.  The mold caused allergies that made my entire 26 day cruise less pleasant. The dining room dinners were great but the lido buffet awful. The dining room breakfasts sounded good but the tastes were lame. Corned beef hash in a tiny round ball. Cottage cheese in a cup made for ketchup(tiny).  The entertainment was not our style. The dance troop seemed robotic and the quartet was boring.  I did love the pool and hot tub and the have it all package. For the high price royal or celebrity would have been more fun. But any cruise and vacation is good.

Ship needs more refreshing

We had sailed the Westerdam a couple of times before and felt that it was one of the best ships of a very good line.  The ship itself is still very good indeed, so why were we disappointed?  Alas, just about every staffer we encountered seemed unfamiliar with their job.  Standing in line for the front desk, a staffer came out and asked who needed service, but obviously everyone did if they were in line. Waiters brought the wrong food more than once and totally forgot my breakfast one day before finally bringing it along stone cold when reminded. Once the ship’s clock was an hour off for some time causing confusion, and some cooking efforts were rather sad.  I was served French onion soup without cheese once in the dining room and a Linzer torte that tasted like pure cloves so it was pretty disgusting.  These are huge lapses anywhere, but gigantic fails for a dining room on a good cruise ship.  The Lido was worse.  It was always tremendously crowded, which was because the time kept changing so everyone was hungry earlier than usual. Perhaps the hours could have been adjusted to accommodate that.  Food was often poor and beginnings and ends of lines not obvious.  Staffers didn’t understand requests as cruise lines don’t worry about teaching them vocabulary for the job.  Dishes were not identified and sugar free foods were not clearly identified.  Whipped cream was never seen in quantities over a level teaspoonful,  which seemed excessively chintzy.  Cabin service seldom happened twice a day and never on any sort schedule. The cruise director’s announcements were painfully loud.  

These are the fails, and while they are serious, there were still wonderful things on offer.  

One spectacular success was the chocolate.   Not the pillow chocolate, which was neither  better nor worse than ever, but the baked goods.  While most cruise lines skimp on cocoa and all of the chocolate is pallid and tasteless, the baker on Westerdam got it right and everything chocolate they made was better than on every other ship on any of the five lines I have tried.  The flourless chocolate cake and the lava cake were both really, really good and also greatly appreciated.  

Someone had actually reinstated a little library, which was a lovely touch, there were plenty of elevators, and the excellent ‘walk around’ walking  deck on the Promenade level was almost always open, though it was often pretty cold in the middle of the North Pacific.  The decks are so often closed on cruise ships for repairs or because of weather, that this was noteworthy by comparison.  The Dive in was always good and the taco table, too.  Staffers may have been a little amateur but were never rude and did seem to be trying to please.  Better training and better communication skills are needed and Westerdam can go back up to the four or five star rating she could achieve again.

A bit of a Westerdam disappointment 

After doing months of research, I chose this cruise for my family to celebrate my dad's 90th birthday and for him to see the B.B. King show. Well, this cruise was a big disappointment. Before we even got to go onto the ship, I had to argue with one of the staff about getting (5) five wheelchairs for us. Then after that was finally settled and no, I only received 2 wheelchairs, we walked on board the ship. Once we got into our rooms, they did not have the rooms prepared as we specified. We ordered to have twin beds and each room they left it as queen beds for (3) people in every room. We had to go to guest services to get that straightened out. After that incident, we had to have the chair and table removed so that the sofa bed could come out. The room was so small that when you open the sofa bed, you cannot access the balcony or refrigerator unless you keep putting up the sofa bed. My sister who is an Army Vet, fell in the room because she did not notice that there was a lip you have to step over to get out of the bathroom. Then my (3) teenage grandchildren could not find the teen room that was advertised but did manage to find what Holland America called a teen room for the ages of 3-12 (NOT A TEEN ROOM). So, there was nothing for them to do but to eat and sleep the entire cruise. The biggest disappointment was the fact that they did not have the B. B. King show as advertised. The only good thing for the most part about that cruise was the friendly hotel staff that greeted us by name whenever they saw us. I even had a run in with an employee in guest services that could barely understand English. The only way I would recommend this cruise line to someone is if they are the type of person that only wants to eat and sleep the entire time.

Will Never Cruise Holland Again

This was our 2nd cruise on Holland and 4th Alaska cruise. Last year we were on Royal Caribbean and were in and out of the glacier in an hour. This time we were there for several hours and got to within 1/3 of a mile of the glacier. Lost count of how many times the glacier calved in front of us. Weather for the cruised ranged from the roughest night I have ever had at sea the first night out to rain all day in Juneau, cold and overcast at Hubbard Glacier to picture postcard perfect in Sitka and Ketchikan. Typical Alaska. 

I selected the Westerdam because it has a nice layout for the entertainment deck with the casino and Billboard together with the Rolling Stone lounge further forward. The old Lincoln Center stage is not being used for anything. This arrangement allows activities to be happening at both venues at the same time. The newer HAL ships have alternating music times so I guess people have to run from venue to venue to get a seat. 

I think that food quality is suffering on HAL. Almost everything was okay, but my expectations were much higher. A few things were not okay and truly awful. Do not order the Tempera Udon and I wouldn't try the sushi. I'm not sure if there is another cruise line that does not have some kind of specialty sushi restaurant other than HAL. So when you see isolated attempts at international cuisine, you will be disappointed. I don't remember anything remarkable about Pinnacle Grill. 

Only one smoking area at the aft of the Lido deck, partially covered. Not very convenient for Alaska. 

Entertainment is difficult to grade. Excellent band in Rolling Stone. Singers in Billboard were pretty good except that they wouldn't play any of my requests. A four person singing group and six (?) person dance group each had 2 shows on the main stage. Nothing very exciting there. One comedian and the typical educational talks also on the main stage. Casino table games were sparsely attended and I played both craps and roulette by myself more than once. I guess what I learned is that HAL entertainment is not for me. Not in terms of options, venues, content, quality, variety or schedule (nothing late night).   

The Have It All package was offered as an option when I booked the cruise. It included the standard drink package, excursion credit, specialty dining credit and wi fi package. Cost was $100 per person/day. I immediately passed but it was later offered at 50% off. Still not sure if I got my money's worth out the drink package. The fine print says maximum drink value of $11 is covered. Anything more than that, you pay the full price. Apparently nobody told the bar staff because they would pour you anything and charge you the difference. They also were fine pouring doubles which the fine print did not allow.

Unbelievable access to Hubbard Glacier but not sold on Holland America

We arrived an hour before our set 12PM check in time, but since we were in a Neptune Suite, I knew we had anytime priority access.    Access to pier 91/92 was easy, not much traffic considering both Westerdam and the Discovery Princess were disembarking/embarking at the same time.  Short line to drop off luggage, then made our way through security and then a super short face recognition check-in and straight onto the ship.  Super easy compared to some other embarkations we’ve done,

Internet:  Spotty but worked well enough.  Upgraded to the Streaming version to unlock some more accessibility.  Sometimes it came super-fast for a ship (30 down and 3 up), other times barely working.  Most likely a location issue globally.   They’ve done a good job of putting in a lot of wireless boosters/nodes throughout the ship, easily identified by the ceiling mounts.

Neptune Lounge:  Loved it.  Found lots of snacks here and my wife and I would read for hours here.  This one was redone in January of 2023, so has a totally different look.  Loved their coffee machines.  They rotated on the same schedule every day, and wife was super excited that they had Swiss Style Muesli available during breakfast hours.  The Honor bar was great and easy, just fill out form (PS – A great cabin fridge stocking cheat is to check out what you want here!)  Sheila and Gabriel were super helpful and always checking on everyone.  They were some of the busiest concierges I’ve ever seen on a cruise ship.

Food-MDR:  Easily the BEST food I’ve had in any MDR.  Far surpasses that of NCL and even Princess.  Was so good we ate there almost every night.  Had late dinner at 7:30pm, so we had the awesome team of Francis and Alex every night.  I’m a picky diabetic eater, so they were very creative in helping me out.  

Food-Buffet:  Tried it 3 times, once was successful.  Do not go when it is busy.  That is a nightmare.  We were all stuffed in the buffet on embarkation, so it was hot, no tables and long lines.  I hated it.  Next time we tried breakfast but came during a busy time.  My scrambled eggs were underdone, but the bacon and sausage were very good.  Unimpressed still.  Last we tried dinner when the menu in the MDR was sup-par for me.  This one worked out well, as it was mostly empty!  Loved everything I tried (Steak, Cashew Chicken, Burger, Cod, Cobb salad).

Food-Pinnacle Grill:  We ate breakfast here most mornings, as it was included with our Suite.  No complaints here.  One of the places we could get free machine coffee.  We also used our HIA dinner here.  Shared candied bacon, quite good.  The Wedge salad was a nice sized portion and very tasty.  However, my first bite of my Halibut had 4 bones in it (I choked on a bone once so I can’t stand bones in fish).  The staff was appalled and quickly asked if I wanted something else, which I did and got the Filet Mignon instead.  Honestly, probably one of the best ones I’ve ever had.  Easily better than NCL’s Cagney’s.  

Food-Dive-In:  I think these were some of the best burgers we’ve had on a ship.  The fries were good too.  And a taco bar?  Yes, please.

Entertainment: Don’t really know.  Never went.  There were a few shows we wanted to try, but we felt old and slow after dinner, so we usually just went to bed and read for a while.  Since Lincoln Center was discontinued, there wasn’t much we really wanted to see or hear.

Shopping: Very impressed.  Some of the better shops I’ve seen on ships, and well stocked.  My onboard account took some serious hits this cruise.  

Library:  All cruise ships need to follow this model.  Lots of choices.  My wife went through 3 or 4 books.

SPA:  Loved it all.  Got a couple of things done here, loved it all.  Even though the same company does the spas on all mainstream lines (HAL, Princess, NCL, Royal, Celebrity, Carnival etc.), prices here were less than what we paid on NCL and even Princess, which I found odd but appreciated.

Really like HAL Small Ship Cruising!

There is no BB King blues or Lincoln theater. There’s a rolling stone lounge and a billboard area. The world stage is pretty with truly locally choreographed entertainment. If you enjoy educational seminars along with a few sprinkled activities. If you are looking for quiet and bored. This is your cruise. We loved the thermal spa. The specialty steak house was a disaster as it took 2.5 hours and I got a burnt ribeye with 4 pieces of asparagus. The poor waiter had no help and you could tell. When any type of decent activity happened it was held in venues too small to entertain the crowds flocking for something to do. Plenty of under utilized areas that could have simple venues. I think the Cruise director did good in finding entertainment for the 65 and up. But I hated seeing 5-35 year olds being a zombies as there was no genuine entertainment. Five stars to sleep for a week. 2 stars if you are looking for fun things.

This story doesn’t match this ship 

We wanted to try Holland America after a four year pause.  Short cruise in Alaska.

We booked a Neptune suite.  The cabin is typical for a Neptune; well maintained, clean, and serviced by an experienced pair of cabin attendants.  The Neptune Lounge was as well.  On boarding we had only one lunch option, the Lido.  It was overcrowded, seating was non-existent, and the food looked unappetizing.  We left without lunch.  

We went to the main dining room for dinner where we were expecting Orange Club expedited seating and an additional main course offering.  No one was available to seat us and when someone arrived, they decided not to expedite our seating.  On another occasion we were asked to wait for half an hour by the maitre d.  We expressed our disappointment with the Orange Club service and we were seated about 5 minutes afterword.   There was no additional main course offered.  The experience was not Neptune suite friendly.  

On another night we ate at the Pinnacle Steakhouse.  The beef was ordered medium rare and it came out grey.  It was sent back and the meat came back grey and unappetizing again.  There are a few reasons a steak turns out grey but an experienced kitchen knows better. The main reason your steak looks gray after being cooked is steaming your meat instead of searing it. Gray happens when your pan isn’t hot enough or your steak has too much moisture when it hits the pan. Other factors include starting with very cold meat, using the wrong kind of oil, or having a pan that heats unevenly.  No excuse for what happened.  

I complained politely and was told there was no charge.  They charged me anyway.  It was only removed from my account after talking with the Neptune Lounge Service person and then the maitre d of the Pinnacle.  The maître d said he was unable to credit my account and said only the Head Chef could offer me a credit.  I complained and said I would recount this in my review of the cruise.  When we left the ship, at the end of the cruise. a credit was on my bill.  

I suspect that Holland America does not want to empower their staff to fix problems.  

My last complaint is the bar menus.  There are few prices for someone that likes to drink different adult beverages.  It is inconvenient to ask what a shot of a particular whisky is if you like to sample different whisky.  I suspect ship management is lazy or trying to save on paper and labor.

We did enjoy our Neptune suite, service attendants, the Neptune Lounge and it's staff.  The Pinnacle is a great place for breakfast, not so much for dinner.  The Italian food at Canaletto has greatly improved and we enjoyed our meal there.

Overall our experience was poor.  As a four star Mariner with nearly 300 credits and 100 plus sailing days we expect more.  Holland America do better or loose us and others as customers.

Holland America Needs To Work On Improving Their Customer Experience and Food

Demographic was a bit to old for my husband and I, but worked great for my In-laws. Thats the only thing I can throw a stone at... and that's subjective. The staff was absolutely the best! Charming, helpful and a genuine smile on their face 24/7. I thought the food was great. The dining staff was so helpful with dietary issues and the service was outstanding. Truthfully, outstanding service across the board. Lounges, pools, decks and rooms were lovely and well kept, despite the ships age. Bathrooms were clean. Spa was great, had several massages and acupuncture. The Gym was also great. Even the library was nice. Bartenders were lovely and entertaining. .we got the drink package, which was well worth it. Worked great and seemed like a true value on the cruise. This package included free wifi, shore excursion and dining credit, we utilized all. Went whale watching and ate at The Pinnacle Grill, was exceptional. I would recommend this cruise line for everyone!!

It was a RAY of SUNSHINE

Splurged and took my wife on her first cruise and try and pamper her some with a bamboo spa massage as well as a mani-pedi, which were paid in advance t our sailing. After both treatments, my wife was bruised on the back of her legs from the massage and her hands and feet were slightly bruised as well. While walking on different deck while the crew were working to keep the ship clean, the solvent they were using was exceptionally strong, so we had to leave the area quickly. We had a veranda cabin and some of the light switches didn't work/operate anything that we could figure out. While we didn't expect the ritz carlton, we also didn't expect our bathroom to resemble a gym locker room/shower with the added rusty and sharp broken shower height rod. The cabin crew were quick to fix that as soon as we informed them. The outside balcony room dividers would rattle and shake so loud at times that we had to turn the radio on to drown out the noise. We received our disembarkment paperwork and it was all wrong as well. The paperwork said that we were going to denver and the bag tag said that we were going to seattle. The only thing correct thing on the document was our final destination of houston. I visited the guest relations desk, and they couldn't figure out why the different destinations either but according to their records we were scheduled to have a direct flight to houston and that they couldn't do anything else about the paperwork. After we disembarked, i looked at our onboard statement and found that we were charged extra for the spa treatments to the tune of $440.22 more that the already prepaid amount of $272.20 for both services. I've waited 2 months to complete my review because i was looking to get some type of refund for the overcharge but every avenue that i went down, i received the same response-no refund due. The onboard billing department was my last hope and even they refused to issue me a refund. I will never cruise on holland america line again! I don't recommend anyone else to waste their time and money on this line either

Great cabin stewards but that it.

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