Full Disclosure, this was only my second cruise (first was on the Carnival Elation in Jan 2020). That being said, here are some thoughts.
First, the service was fantastic! From the cabin steward(Dedi was awesome) to the wait staff and everyone in between, it was a great experience. Some of the bar and dinning room staff seemed a little green, but we all were new to our jobs at one time. ...
First time on HAL (primarily Celebrity cruiser). Ship was nice, but didn't have the "wow" factor. We liked the back of the ship adult pool area and Exploration Cafe Deck 12 was a favorite!
We (my friend and I in our mid 50s) enjoyed the Music Walk concept, but didn't like that you had to arrive very early and wait to have a seat. BB Kings talent was excellent and we enjoyed that standing ...
Just wanted to get away on our 17th cruise and thought why not try this new ship. Generally, we wait at least 6 months before attempting a cruise on a new ship. This worked pretty well. The food service staff seemed to need further training but I will give this a pass due to Covid hiring issues. Appreciated the service crew serving everyone and hope that HA will permanently continue this for ...
Beautiful new ship. Staff great. Dining room and Lido food good. No lobster, entres not as pricy but we all know why. Recommend trying some of their creative concoctions. I tried their beet, orange and goat cheese salad and scraped my plate! In-room dining good... menu is very limited now but kudos for them keeping it free. Enjoyed breakfast every day. Two main points....we got the "Have it all" ...
The ship was beautiful and spotless. Food in the buffet was outstanding (best buffet at sea in my opinion). Food was not as good in the main dining room except for the Culinary Council dinner midway through the cruise. Service in the main dining room was also not very good: The servers were rushed and harried and empty plates sat on tables. The stateroom was very attractive and well-appointed. ...
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 ...
I am writing this from our cabin on our last day of this cruise. All ports were stopped at in the order on the schedule. Not one drop of rain while in port. Was told by the staff who stand and direct people to the ship that there were 936 passengers. It was so evident in no lines to check in, get on the ship, get off the ship at each port, RARELY shared an elevator with anyone even going ...
We are long time cruisers; many times with Celebrity. The idea of a music walk instead of the production shows enticed us to try our first Holland America cruise. We are happy that we did and will be returning. The ship is beautiful new, not too big and easy to get around.
Overall, the food was hit and miss. We tried three speciality restaurants; Calamita (Italian) was awful, but the Pinnacle ...
This was our first cruise since 2019 and was in celebration of our 50th anniversary. We'd originally planned an 11-day Panama Canal cruise, but decided a shorter cruise presented less Covid risk. Because the Rotterdam was new and the music venues sounded great, so we cruised with HAL for the first time.
As a first-time HAL cruiser, it was difficult to determine if we were experiencing the true ...
The ship is beautiful and service is very good. I give it only three out of five because of the challenges of sailing during the pandemic, and because we were disappointed in the suite. We booked a Neptune Suite because we wanted a larger balcony with chaise lounge chairs and table and chairs, but ended up with a SQ category with tiny balcony (the chairs provided didn't even fit on the balcony ...