Ship is beautiful,the service was outstanding! The food was excellent in all areas of the ship!! Smoking in the casino was disgusting it reaked into the shops! Music was not appropriate for holland america crowd! Bb king and rolling stones lounge was so loud that it was impossible to have a conversation with anyone! When at sea there was terrible itinerary. Coloring for adults was the big deal ...
We are cruising with HAL for almost 10 years. And this is the first time we feel obliged to express some critique. We are in our 70s and we do expect that HAL will provide quality time for people like us . This time too many elements of good cruise were missing.
First, the usual entertainment at night, at the main stage, was extremely poor. The three shows with dancers were at high school ...
My first cruise 23 years ago was with Holland America and I fell in love with cruising. The staff on Holland America back then was out of this world! Dining was elegant and all the waiters lined up in tuxes as you entered the dining room. Everyone dressed elegantly for dinner, and as you left the dining room they handed out thin slices of ginger to cleanes your palete. At the pool they had a ...
My extended family of 13 (4 couples, 5 teenagers) took a 7-day Caribbean Cruise from HAL Nieuw Amsterdam in early Jan.
My wife and I had just taken a 10 day cruise in December on Carnival Venezia. It’s very interesting to compare the 2 trips. HAL clientele definitely skewed older, whiter, quieter, and better behaved. NA being the smaller ship, it didn’t have as many “extracurricular” ...
We have done 61 cruises including this back to back on the Rotterdam. We have sailed on various cruise lines, it has been 10 years since we sailed on HAL.
The Rotterdam is larger than what we like but booked a suite to enjoy the small Club Orange dining room. And the extras.
Our good experiences:
Embarkment total chaos but we were on board at 11:30a.m.
The Lido was fine for lunch on ...
We chose to sail on the Nieuw Statendam because we had sailed on this ship before and enjoyed it very much. I do not know what has happened to Holland America and this ship it was totally different from when we were last on this ship and also sailing with Holland. Our last cruise with them was June 2021.
First, upon arriving at the airport we had their airport to ship transfers. The older ...
My husband and I sailed on the Nieuw Statendam December17-27, 2023.
Before the pandemic we enjoyed cruising and had just started making Holland America our preferred cruise line. We had a Canada/New England cruise planned at the beginning of the pandemic that we had to cancel (of which we lost all our money). We finally felt comfortable to start cruising again and book the above mentioned ...
We have cruised each winter on Celebrity and looked for a change. We are not mad about their new E class ships. Rotterdam is beautiful, elegant , modern ! Cabins are spacious and top class. Ship is gorgeous all round. Food is above average. Beats X in our opinion. Customer service is poor. When you have a complaint or concern they do get back to you, but they are like robots. They never resolve ...
We chose the Rotterdam 7 looking for a relaxing explore of the Caribbean! Here’s some information I think is valuable for others!
Cons:
- This ship seems more rocky than most. I was sea sick and lots of others including the crew were too! They can’t control the weather, but the Rotterdam seems a bit more rocky in winds than other boats.
- The Ft Lauderdale cruise port is a mess. Will ...
Dining: The Pinnacle Grill was amazing but books up quickly. The dining room and Lido buffet have very good food but lack variety. Early dining was at 5 PM which is a bit too early IMO. The service at both the dining room and buffet was excellent. Drinks served in the dining room were half the size of drinks served at bars. Dining room etiquette was not enforced, and we had to watch people in ...