Good crew, great route, good excursions, good food, but HAL does not protect the health of its passengers. So many sick people by the time we reached the middle of our 31-day cruise. Packed into the mainstage theatre shoulder to shoulder, it was a chorus of sick people coughing and hacking. Both of us got sick for over a week and most of the people we met on the ship were also sick with the ...
On the positive side, the crew are excellent. Cabin stewards, waiters, food servers and front desk attendants are patient, polite and helpful. The food is Ok but not as good as pre-Covid. The lecture/education part of the cruise seems to have been abandoned by Holland America. We used to see it as university-of-the-seas but no longer. Entertainment is also OK but well reduced in quality. One ...
We had a great cruise! This was our second time on Holland America, we've been on several cruise lines including one of those "6 star luxury" lines and Holland is our top 2. The crew is absolutely the best, they are so friendly and always happy and taking care of the passengers. The food overall is very good and even after 31 days we were still enjoying it. We mainly had meals in the main dining ...
Holland America Oosterdam 31 night cruise: March 5 to April 5, 2024. This cruise was advertised as including a day of "Scenic Cruising Cape Horn". We made our final payment on Feb. 2. Then, on Feb. 5, we were notified that the ship would NOT be doing the Cape Horn cruise! "For operational reasons". As it turned out, the schedule produced by Holland America is not doable. The Captain told us ...
Our cruise was good. This was the longest cruise we've taken, 31 days. Our stateroom was nice. The bed was comfortable, although we did have it joined and there was a line down the middle. It wasn’t annoying though. Maybe if they put a mattress pad on then that would conceal it. We might have been able to get one but I didn’t ask. The pillows were really comfortable. There was plenty of room in ...
Our cruise through South America to Antarctica exceeded our expectations. Where do we start?
The service on the ship was outstanding as was the food in the main dining room and the Lido deck. We got off to a rough start when we discovered our room was directly below the Rolling Stones Lounge, but the staff kindly moved us to a room with a balcony from which we could admire the icebergs in ...
Holland America's Navigator is a poor Joke. HAL internet is like dial-up on a party line. Painfully slow, many sites won't load, not talking YouTube or games, you can barely get basic emails. If there's an attachment forget it. I wasn't even able to view my home wifi thermostat on board. Yet on shore literally just walking thru Visitors Center using free wifi I could view and adjust my temperature ...
After a very rocky embarkment in Buenos Aires, our cruise around South America on the Oosterdam was excellent. The principal reason for this was the extraordinary service provided by the Oosterdam crew and service personnel. Our every need was attended to and in many ways above and beyond all expectations. One of us was traveling with a mobility scooter rented from Holland America's vendor, ...
I agree with what so many others have posted about the recent South America cruises on the Oosterdam that I almost decided not to post a review. However, for what it is worth, here are my “2 cents” from our cruise February 2-24 from Buenos Aires to Santiago (Valparaiso).
What was good about this cruise was very, very good, and what was bad was truly horrible.
I have previously sailed on the ...
This is a very long, detailed log-style review and covers 32 days, including 7 days pre-cruise in Argentina and 2 days post-cruise in Chile. If you just want to summary of the cruise scroll all the way down.
Oosterdam South America and Antarctica 12-20-22
I just spend a lot of time putting in my entire 26000 word log and the website would not save it, so here is the cruise summary ...