The principal reason for my enjoyment of this cruise was the extraordinary service provided by the Oosterdam crew and service personnel. My every need was attended to and in many ways above and beyond all expectations. I was traveling on the second leg of a tour around South America back-to-back with the first leg which started in Buenos Aires and ended in Santiago. Toward the end of the first ...
Awful! We had so many issues too numerous to name on this ship. We have said on 7 cruises and this was by far the worst. Seaview pool is not adults only. kids were there. Drink package...we had a hard time getting refills. Only until 10 at night, after that only after 6am. Ridiculous service at the bar areas. no hair dryer in the balcony cabins. had to ask for 1, took 2 days to get one. Dated ...
I love to watch the show Mighty Cruise Ships on the Smithsonian channel. One of the episodes was on the Nieuw Statendam. After seeing the show I decided I wanted to sail on this ship. I was not disappointed! The food was excellent! Service was great throughout the ship. One thing I was disappointed about was that I believe because of cutbacks there were no sommeliers in the dining room. The ...
Our last RC cruise was so bad with drunk out of control college kids we opted for a cruise with passengers of similar age and interests The cruise line has done a lot of cutting since we last cruised with them. Less food portions, help and activities. Ship was spotless clean We did Club Orange and do not recommend spending the money on it. Canelettos was excellent. Pinnacle grill ...
We embarked on the 18th of March 2023 and disembarked on the 29th of March 2023. It was an 11 day cruise.
As an umbrella statement, the following are my thoughts and even my DW and I had some differences.
Great:
The entertainment, especially the music. The rock and roll, the two pianos, the blues band, the comedians had our attention every night. I do not know of another cruise ...
The Cruisers: we are a retired professional couple around age 70, having cruised for more than 30 years on Celebrity, Royal Caribbean, Viking, and Princess (Elite status). We felt we were aging out of Princess and thought this would be a good time to try HAL. We sailed on a 14 day Caribbean cruise (10 ports)on the Volendam 3/18/23 to 4/1/23.
The Ship: the Volendam is an older ship that was ...
We had an opportunity to sail so inexpensively, I simply couldn't say no. Honestly, we had two inside cabins for two weeks at a total cost of $256, plus taxes and gratuities. On top of that, we received credits totaling over $400. None of that is a misprint.
So it's hard to be hard on HAL. I'm not "that guy" - I almost never, ever write negative reviews. But ...
I'll start with the positive. ...
After not having been down to the Caribbean, we returned again, but this time a few ports we have not seen. We did have one exchanged port which was a bummer for most of us substituting St. Vincent's for Barbados. The explanation was "due to operational issues", whatever that meant.
Pros: staff, upscale dining, dining room and stateroom. We tried Nami Sushi for first time and returned for a ...
We picked this cruise because of the selected stops and reasonable costs. Of course, after adding the insurance and fees it cost more than planned. Food in the main dining room was good although could be quite the line depending on the time of day. Lido Market (buffet) was frequently crowded and food just average at best. Many times had to go get our own drinks as otherwise would have finished our ...
This was our second cruise with Holland America and first on the Eurodam. The Eurodam is a very nice ship, having been recently spruced up with new dining room furniture and new carpeting throughout the ship.
We had a verandah cabin with a very nice balcony. Much nicer and wider than the Regal Princess we were just on recently. The only glaring fault of the cabins is the bathroom which is ...