My wife and I try to take a “find the Sun” activity around February to get away from the Northwest Indiana winter. This year it was the 18 day Hawaii from San Diego back to San Diego. This was also our fourth HAL cruise in five months. With over 50 cruises under our collective belts, this one goes down toward the bottom of the list.
HAL cannot be held accountable for the weather and I do not ...
We were in a mid-ship Neptune Suite across from the Neptune Lounge. We are both in our mid-to-late 70’s and are 4-star Mariners with Holland American. This was our 8th HAL cruise, all of which have been in Neptune Suites. We left San Diego on January 27, 2024 for an 18-day round-trip cruise to Hawaii.
If this had been our very first cruise, I might have rated this a bit higher. But when ...
This was our 69th cruise but only second on Holland America.
The ship was nice but not as elegant or as well laid out as Celebrity Solstice and Edge class ships - which we love. We picked this cruise for the itinerary and the time of the year it was sailing.
Our most enjoyable meal was in the Pinnacle which we ate at twice. The service in there was top notch too. The dining room food was ...
Hawaii was on our bucket list and we had the time for 16 days. HAL made it seem longer! This was cruise 17 for us. Third on HAL. No rookies here! On all the best lines e.g. Viking. HAL has cut back too far. Loss of Lincoln Center is a good example. $4 extra charge for orange juice is another. Cruise featured chaos at embarkcation and 3 1/2 hour delay in leaving SAN. During cruise ship had ...
We chose this cruise because we've enjoyed Holland America cruises in the past, and because the itinerary was what we were looking for.
Sadly, Holland America has declined sharply in recent years. This cruise was like staying in a second-rate Las Vegas hotel:
*smokey casino, with smoke drifting into other areas of the ship
*deafening music in all the music venues
*no classical music ...
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 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 ...
This was our fifth time on the Koningsdam. We are four star mariners and have always enjoyed Holland America. Not this time. The embarkation was a nightmare. I've never experienced such long lines and extended wait times.
The cabin was fine, the entertainment OK, but dining was very difficult. They only have a few fixed time dining slots which go very quickly. We were left with ...
Holland America Zuiderdam 27th February 2022
Reviews are tricky at the moment as the Covid story still affects everything and some criticisms are because of this but I have ignored all Covid excuses in the write up. The cruise was from San Diego to Hawaii then on to French Polynesia then San Diego; 35 days with about half at sea.
Being met at airport; getting into hotel; transfer to ship; ...
We are HA fans after multiple cruises but as others said their reputation is not what it once was. We had never done a cruise with so many sea days in a row so was uncertain if that was for us. While we survived there was not a lot to do on sea days except eat and for some to complain; the trip back to San Diego was more stressful than the trip from SD to Hawaii. Much had changed in just a week as ...