We chose this cruise because we wanted a January getaway to warmer climes than included the Caribbean with a focus on the Panama Canal. We booked early when this cruise was thinly booked and received a good price and a upper floor veranda upgrade in the process.
We have travel with HAL in Alaska on a slightly smaller but similar ship and were very familiar with the ship's layout.
The Good: ...
We decided to try two things we have not yet done before, and that is a Panama itinerary and sail on Holland America. We are in our late 60's and have cruised on Carnival, RCCL, Celebrity & NCL. We have heard HAL caters to the more senior cruisers (like us). That is evident in their not including a lot of the activities such as water slides, rock climbing, laser tag, etc. I think most people ...
This was our fourth Holland America cruise, and HAL had become our favorite line. But we will not set foot on Eurodam again. It is worn and going downhill. In need of a renovation soon. I paid for "Have it All" for our entire family of eleven, and WiFi connectivity was the worst we have ever experienced. That was extremely frustrating. In fact, we couldn't download our photos because ...
My wife wanted to go to the Panama Canal so we booked what we thought would fit us best. Check In was great. Cabin was nice except we where on deck 8 aft under the Lido deck aft pool area. Everytime someone moved a deck chair or lounger you heard it. Our room stewards were great. The food at the Lido Market which was the buffet was disappointing. Probably the worst cruise buffets we've ever had. ...
Room-We were in a lower room (1120). We usually stay in the low rooms due to the reduced prices, but I sure am sorry we did this time. When we walked into the room it was so cold, I put on a long sleeved shirt and sweater and waited for the room to warm up. It never did. We spent 11 days in the coldest room possible. We stopped at customer service 19 times, and twice guy with a temperature ...
Our cabin steward was great and our dining room waiters are great but the pool attendants and buffet attendants left a lot to be desired.
The main problem that we encounter with Holland American is that there are pool chair hogs with chairs being blocked out and no attendant is interested in sorting this out.. On one afternoon I counted 222 chairs across from us that never had anyone in them ...
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 ...
This was our first Holland America cruise after going on 5 Carnivals and 1 Royal Caribbean. Immediately, I noticed a beautiful and super clean ship that smelled fresh upon boarding. Fresh flowers and smiling, warm faces greeted us.
Embarkation was almost painless and took about 15 minutes total. Super friendly staff. We arrived about an hour before our assigned time and were on the ship ...
Embarkation:
The Eurodam was the only cruise vessel in FLL port with passengers. (Noordam was docked but with no passengers.) We were informed that the ship would only have 905 passengers on this sailing (43% of full double occupancy passenger capacity!), so embarkation was a breeze. First (hopefully) post-COVID cruise.
We had our doubts over continuous pre-cruise emails from HAL ...