I booked this cruise (along with the preceding 10 day cruise to Scandinavia and Germany) one month before boarding. It was a fabulous price so we decided to go for it even though we had to fly to Copenhagen from Hawaii, and had to take the Covid 19 test in Copenhagen a couple of days before boarding. We are 4 star Mariners and this was our 10th cruise on HAL, our first in 4 years.
Overall, I ...
Before booking and prior to sailing I triple-checked that masks were NOT mandatory.
Because my tonsils have been removed (badly) as a child I have a problem with airco and wearing facemasks. I would not book a cruise if I needed to wear one, as it totally destroys our vacation.
Upon arrival on the ship it became clear that:
MASKS MUST BE WORN everywhere at all times, except when ...
Overall a great cruise. Ship was in wonderful condition, service was outstanding and food was good. Love the glassed in shower! Tendering in some ports was a bit rough (lines and delays) but that was due mostly to the weather. HAL's strength is in their staff. Never encountered any staff who were grumpy or said no! They all seemed happy to be back to work. Captain is entertaining and runs a tight ...
We chose the Zuiderdam for the Baltic cruise because we wanted an itinerary that had us in St Petersburg for two days since we wanted to more fully explore that port. We also wanted a smallish ship because we don’t want to contend with the number of people on the large ships and some of the small ships get too pricey. We chose wisely. We had an amazingly experience and among our group of 6 with ...
I'd have given this cruise an overall raging of 5 were it not for HAL cheating out on food, service and entertainment.
Food was almost always JUST warm. No flavour and boring, I brought my own garlic powder is that's an indication. Wine staff are ill equipped to offer any advice and are mostly bored with the job. We usually like to attend the Sip and Savour but after one, we stayed away ...
ITINERARY is the reason to pick Holland America Line. However, we both came home sneezing and coughing because of the airco in the cabin that is placed right over the bed and cannot be shut off.
This was also the case two years ago when we also sailed with Zuiderdam but we figured this major problem would have been solved after the ship had been refurbished. But NO. We were certainly not the ...
After 14 cruises with this storied line, I was disappointed with the Copenhagen-Copenhagen sailing that stopped in Norway, Iceland and Scotland:(Lerwick, Inverness were pleasant surprises) All the ports met expectations and more. Holland's receptions had no music; first ship I've been on that had no orchestra; no appetizers, Bloody Mary's had no celery. B-B King's seemed to forget that they were ...
Zuiderdam - The Ship
Older ship, but renovated in 2017. Maintenance is never ending for ships. Each port day we observed, scraping, painting and power washing. And, yet, there still are areas of rust and wear. But, overall, the ship was well maintained. Deck crew worked hard, long days.
A few of the public rooms were too small for their intended purpose. For example: BB King ...
The Northern Isles cruise was a great 14 day tour of Nordic country and history in Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Shetland Island and Scotland. The cruise had 5 full days in Iceland, longer than most tours. My husband and I went early to tour Copenhagen/Sweden. Copenhagen has so many wonderful things to see you could easily spend 5 days just in that site alone. We took a fjord cruise and shopped in ...
This was our fourth Holland America cruise and our second HA cruise this year. We last sailed on the Westerdam around Japan which was fantastic. As this was also a vista class ship and we had also been on the Oosterdam we expected similar levels of service. Sadly that wasn't the case.
The embarkation from Copenhagen was managed well as was the disembarkation. We only did the 14 night section of ...