My mother and I selected this cruise date / itinerary 12 months before departure. It included Japan and Hong Kong which were key to our travel desires.
Let’s start with the challenges.
We booked a “Guaranteed Oceanview Room”. Mistake. Should have selected our room at reservation.
We were upgraded to a Verandah room directly under the pool deck. The deck scraping at odd hours was not ...
Although we've been to the other cities on the itinerary, we were attracted to this one because it featured two cities that we wanted to visit --- Istanbul and Barcelona.
Our experience was a combintation of surprise, disappointment, a little anger, and some light-hearted moments. We have never traveled on HAL before, so we didn't know what to expect. The embarcation point and procedure should ...
We just returned from a 26-day TA from Athens to Fort Lauderdale; actually a 12-day Mediterranean to Barcelona and a 14-day transatlantic crossing to FL. HAL sold it as a single 26-day cruise but the second 14-day leg was much cheaper so many got on in Barcelona for TA. Unfortunately the weather prompted the captain to cancel Cadiz and Portugal. We had also lost 2 ports on the 12day segment but, ...
Itinerary- Africa at the top of my bucket list. Most ports were readily available to walk through. Ship tours ranged in price- from inexpensive to YIKES! Even though I now travel solo, I was comfortable and at ease. Staff on board exceptional- always willing to answer questions, give directions when we got lost or needed more information. Cabin stewards were always going the extra mile to make ...
Wanted to see Hawaii. Twice we requested wake up calls and did not receive.Holland web site advertises Dutch Cafe 16 Dutch and Belgium beers with 4 on tap. DID NOT HAVE. Met with beverage manager his answer was they were ordered but not sent. Hard to believe a company as big as CARNIVAL{who owns holland} can't get what they order covid is over.
Food variety at Lido dining poor.Taramand fee ...
We chose this cruise because our 45th anniversary would be celebrated while onboard, as well as the fact that we live close to the cruise port and would not have to fly prior to or after the cruise. We had the HIA package and booked our specialty dinners prior to sailing, as well as booking our shore excursions before sailing so we were ensured of them not selling out before we got onboard. I also ...
We selected this cruise because of the itinerary and wanted to see the South Pacific!
Three ports visited on a Sunday! NOTHING OPEN! Except a McDonalds in one port. Papeete was a two day stop and was closed for a national holiday Veterans Day. The excitement was watching the re-provisioning of the ship. Another port and a canceled port we cruised around the destination and looked at it from ...
Selected this cruise to celebrate my wife's retirement. She wanted to sail to/through French Polynesia. First HA cruise. Despite the warnings about HA appealing to an older demographic (average age is 70), that has not been a problem at all. But after many cruises on Princess & Celebrity, the level of service particularly in the restaurant has been disappointing. The menu descriptions bear no ...
Westerdam is an old ship. It appears that the latest refresh was for the main areas as they were all very nice and clean. The cabin certainly could use a refresh. The bathtub is very shallow so there is no way an adult can take a bath in there.
The food was as expected although it appears that the meals in the main dining room have shrunk about 40%. There appears to be less waiters with ...
Stay away from balcony room The bathroom stinks of mold and mildew. They have tried deep cleaning but I fear it’s under the bathtub and walls. Other cruisers say their room is fine so I guess I got stuck they need to take out tub and replace with shower. The mold caused allergies that made my entire 26 day cruise less pleasant. The dining room dinners were great but the lido buffet awful. The ...