12 years ago we started our first cruise with this line (to Norway) and we loved it , after few cruises with other lines we decided to go back to Holland America , because of our first good experience with them. This time we were unpleasantly surprised that for 12 years the standards have dropped significantly , instead of improving. On the first minute of the cruise we were very disappointed to ...
The only thing that saved this cruise was the eclipse. This was my third cruise with HAL in three years 2 were on the Eurodam and then this one. I loved my other 2 cruises but this one really soured me on cruising.
Confusing info: We received an email about boarding times which had people instructed to board at 3pm which was all aboard time. It was revised to 2:30. I’m sure this contributed to ...
On the positive side, the crew are excellent. Cabin stewards, waiters, food servers and front desk attendants are patient, polite and helpful. The food is Ok but not as good as pre-Covid. The lecture/education part of the cruise seems to have been abandoned by Holland America. We used to see it as university-of-the-seas but no longer. Entertainment is also OK but well reduced in quality. One ...
Cruising is a game of expectations as with most things in life. Having previously sailed on freestyle ships, that are often looked down on, we expected a little more from our first Holland America experience. So this review is more related to how we were disillusioned with “traditional old school” cruising.
Embarkation in Hong Kong. Not a drop of water or morsel of a snack for guests waiting ...
We took this cruise as a "back-to-back" cruise with a 15 Day Panama Canal cruise on the same ship. We changed cabins from aft port hole to aft interior. This was to try out these types of cabins, and see what the experience is like without a balcony of our own - and honestly, to see if these far less expensive cabins would serve us as well as the balcony / suite cabins. We found that the two ...
We were very excited to once again travel on HAL. It had been a few years so were really looking forward to stopping off a several ports in NZ as well as Hobart and Melbourne. Boarding in Auckland was a breeze, everything was well planned and executed by port staff. It was all downhill from there. The weather was on most days terrible but that is what can happen in summer in NZ so we were ...
I'm not normally someone to complain and I generally try to approach things with empathy but I was so disappointed by this cruise.
First of all, we booked my parents (aged 65-70) an accessibility room which was not at all accessible. The cruise line refused any type of compensation even though one of the staff suggested they fight for it. At 6'5 My father couldn't even fit on the bed and my ...
I always tell people to take reviews with a grain of salt - some people are just complainers ... and some see everything with rose-colored glasses. But when the same complaints come up again and again, do not ignore the warnings. The negative comments regarding this ship - are accurate.
1. Noordam is OLD, tired, and worn out. It deserves a major overhaul. Not only is the furniture, art, ...
Couple 60s, 26 cruises with various cruiselines worldwide.
This 10/12/23 cruise was our 3rd HAL cruise and our first since mid 2019. Previously we cruised on the old Statendam and in 2019, Maasdam. Both were excellent, entertaining, enriching, educational overall fabulous cruises.
We had such high hopes for returning to HAL on the Noordam December 10 2023 round trip Sydney-NZ-Sydney cruise. ...
our 2 week Indonesian explorer was disappointing. some issues we experienced:
- the airco of our cabin (incl the complete corridor incl our neighbours) was not cool enough. esp. at night the cabin temperature was way too hot. we woke up in the middle of night sweating. HAL did inroom measurements and acknowledged that it was up to appr. 20% higher than it should be (24 degrees vs 20 degrees). ...