Zuiderdam Boston to Quebec City b2b Quebec City to Boston 8/26/2023-9/92023
My wife and I have over fifty cruises and our favorite cruise lines are, in no particular order, Holland America, Princess and Celebrity. We would not turn down a Royal Caribbean or Carnival if the timing and itinerary were to our liking. We chose the b2b Boston-Quebec-Boston for a two week get away aboard ...
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 ...
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 ...
As one of Holland America’s Legendary Cruises (and also as one of the most expensive), the Voyage of the Vikings on the Zuiderdam, which sailed July 22-August 26, 2023, should have been nothing short of epic. It fell short of that goal, but was still very good and certainly worthwhile.
This review will cover the good things we experienced, as well as the not-so-good things.
THE GOOD ...
It's not the same old Holland America since COVID-19.
We do understand that Carnival Corporation was just burning through money during Covid 19 and you can see it in their drastic cuts.
As a 3 star Mariner I must admit that it may be time to switch cruise lines.
The lack of onboard entertainment is very noticeable. Now instead of production shows we watch a comedian play with a Rubik's ...
We did a cruise with two other couples on the Westerdam round trip out of Seattle to Alaska.
Some of the pluses:
The ship was in very good shape for its age and didn't generally feel overcrowded.
The indoor pool and hot tubs were nice since the weather outside usually wasn't nice.
The promenade deck went all the way around the outside of the ship which was great for exercising with ...
We chose the Southbound Glacier Discovery cruise on the Noordam because we wanted to see as much as possible of the great Alaskan coastline in a 7-day period. This included both Hubbard Glacier and Glacier Bay National Park.
If you are doing this cruise, I would venture to say that arriving at least one day early is almost essential for most people in the lower 48. Connections are not great if ...
The room was spacious and clean. The ship was refurbished in 2018 and is in very good shape. The public areas are very clean and well maintained. The staff is good and efficient. There was a good selection of on-board activities. The food in the main dining room was not up to what I experienced on my last HAL cruise. I did dine at the specialty restaurant the Canaletto Restaurant. I had the Osco ...
Taking a Canada/New England Cruise has been on our bucket list and we combined this with a celebration of a major birthday. We started on our own in Niagara falls, then spent a few days in Montreal. I would highly recommend spending some time in Niagara Falls and Montreal prior or after a CA/NE cruise! Hotel pre-cruise recommendations (Niagara Falls Marriott Fallsview, Le Centre Sheraton ...