did this trip four years ago same ship different ports all tender ports missed ,food quality no where what it was, cost cutting all across the board...the room stewards have to attend to even more rooms and dining room staff are less...trivia in the overcrowded small bar down stairs deck two opposite the casino not in crows nest any more...waited for shore days for a beer as two to three for the ...
We were very excited to once again travel on HAL. It had been a few years so were really looking forward to stopping off a several ports in NZ as well as Hobart and Melbourne. Boarding in Auckland was a breeze, everything was well planned and executed by port staff. It was all downhill from there. The weather was on most days terrible but that is what can happen in summer in NZ so we were ...
Completed last week a 39 day south Pacific cruise and I am a 3 star mariner.
If you like Pasta, pork and chicken this was the cruise for you.
There were not enough activities on the sea days. lectures were sparse, entertainment was spotty and port talks were very weak. Popcorn for the daily sea days. in the auditorium. was stale and consisted of about one cupful.
The first week if you had ...
We are New Zealanders and chose this cruise as it left from Auckland and we had cruise credits to utilise. We have travelled on several cruise lines and this was our first Holland America cruise and our last.
Embarkation was at 2.40 pm and with the Verifly app was very quick we were on the ship in 15 minutes. A Negative Pre boarding COVID test was a requirement.
Our first impressions of ...
A great deal on a two week cruise around NZ came up at a good time so I jumped at it. My first time as solo traveller because my partner couldn't come due to a new job.
I had no expectations about NZ's weather as it is not called the land of the long white (and often raining) cloud for nothing. But the weather and the Noordam turned out to be an absolute delight. Spectacular even. The ship is ...
We were scheduled to cruise Singapore to Tokyo on the Westerdam, but were concerned with Japan travel restrictions so decided to switch cruises. So glad we did. We had the aft corner Neptune suite, which gives a balcony on two sides of the stateroom. That was ideal for cruising Fjordlands National Park. When the attraction was on the other side of the ship, we went to the back. Unfortunately, ...
We wanted to visit New Zealand and Australia, but had to rule out self guided road trips due to health and eyesight, so this cruise seemed to fit the bill. The ship is a comfortable size. The food was good and the staff was friendly and helpful. We did not get to visit as much as we had hoped. The great scenery on the West side of the country was not included. We spent 5 days in Sydney ...
I selected this ship on the basis that I did not want to spend my holiday with scores of screaming children. I was anticipating a classic style cruise with fine dining and quality entertainment. Having travelled on Odyssey of the Seas and Virgin Valiant Lady in August and September 2022 I was not expecting a mask mandate and, like my fellow travellers, I was looking forward to putting Covid behind ...
I booked the cruise with Holland America directly. I asked for 2 full view balcony room next to each other. The sale girl gave me room 7001 and 7003. I paid the price for the full view balcony room. After we got on the ship, we found that both room are obstructed, the view are full blocked by the captain bridge on 8th floor. We asked to change rooms. They do not have suitable rooms for us, so we ...
We had our MiddLe Eastern cruise cancelled and thought that by sailing around our own New Zealand and Australia we would be fine. It was great, we managed to book another cruise for the return to Australia but sadly they cancelled that in the week we had as a stopover in Auckland. Understand the situation completely. The Noordam is perfect for size for us, love the crew, well presented ship with ...