The Nieuw Statendam just came out of dry dock, so this was an opportunity to see what a newish ship was like as well as a transatlantic; the holiday time sailing was an added bonus. The dates allowed us to spend some time in Rome before departure, so we were able to do a land cruise. Returning to FLL helped minimize flight costs.
The food was overall very good; Club Orange dining room service ...
We chose this cruise because a Transatlantic cruise has been on our bucket list, we liked the itinerary, and we had two previous enjoyable cruises on HAL (one on Oosterdam and one on Zaandam). We have been fortunate that all three HAL cruises have been in a Neptune Suite, which is a special experience.
This cruise didn't go as planned, because a large storm caused an itinerary change. We had ...
My husband and I are in our 40's. This was our 5th HAL cruise, but it was our first time back with them since the pandemic. Our last HAL cruise was on the Koningsdam in the Caribbean, and we loved it! We were excited to try out her sister ship in European waters.
PRE-CRUISE
We spent 4 nights at an Airbnb near Termini in Rome. This was our 4th time in the Eternal City, so we skipped the major ...
We chose this cruise with our friends because the ports of call were pretty close to where we wanted to visit in the Mediterranean. Also the pricing seemed to be pretty competitive.
As with everything when we go on holidays, there are good and bad, pros and cons, highs and lows and this cruise was no exception.
Firstly, the highs ...
- the ports of call were a definite attraction
- ...
Barcelona ~ Trieste (Venice) in September was the perfect time to go.
We arrived in Barcelona stayed a few days before our cruise to check out the sights and gastronomy Barcelona had to offer. It doesn’t disappoint! We stayed up on a hill in a renovated hospital turned 5* La Floridia. It overlooked the sea, had gentle breezes and amazing pool with outdoor patio seating.
But this is not ...
We made a cruise from Venice to Barcelona. Since ships are not permitted in Venice anymore , we stayed 3 days to visit Venice first, then took a train to Trieste the departure port, 2 hours away, where we stayed at the Best Western hotel. Very nice city, visited with hop on, hop off.
Taxi from hotel to port was 15 euros.
Embarcation was most easy.
Cruise in the Adriatic sea with Dubrovnik ...
We chose this cruise very long ago ,and then, covid! So it was rescheduled and changed some ports a few times. We were excited about the ports, we had not been to any of them. We made plans to stay in Amsterdam for a week before boarding. We were ready to cruise when we boarded.
Boarding was ok. Since we have 4 stars we got sent through right away when we arrived at the pier, in time for the ...
Positives are cleanliness, food and employees. Negatives are entertainment and dropping you in remote tender ports without any concern for availability of taxis or busses to primary location.
The entertainment in the primary show room was very disappointing and appeared to be low budget. One of the large bars has a piano and not sure why they never used it with a cello or violin for ...
This is our first time sailing on Holland America. We did Disney, Carnival, Princess, Norwegian, and Celebrity before. Comparing to other cruise lines, the most impressive point on HAL was their services. We liked their food. We required a fixed table in the dinning room. Our waiter/waitress are very friendly and provided exceptional services. The room stewards also did an excellent ...
We had a great cabin - aft, veranda - that we loved. No diesel, smoke/ash and little noise from Lido above. Great views, tiny sitting area.
We chose to take meclizine, starting the night before our cruise. This was the most sea we've seen on any cruise (still topped out at 2+ meters - 7-8 foot swells) and were both fine. I had anxiety but no actual motion sickness. There was an outbreak of ...