WE chose Holland America's Westerdam OCTOBER 18, 2021 repositioning from Venice to FLL to return to cruising at what we thought was the end of the COVID pandemic., October 2021. WRONG!
The 2021 cruising season morphed into a strange version of the book "Ship of Fools" . Four different HAL ships ( Westerdam cancelled) had their itineraries and cruises cancelled and consolidated onto the ...
Old ship, not remodeled. Staff on the ship work very hard, could not overcome poor management and worse leadership.
1- no smoking ship but when we complained about the cabin next door smoking all time. They were to busy to do anything. Several trips to the front desk.
2- very poor communication from the top.
3 - should have left and returned from Venice but instead we got a very ...
The expected changes due to the pandemic were the requirement to wear a mask any time or place outside your stateroom. There were temperature checks available and PCR testing was done at least twice during the cruise. The important test was just before getting off of the ship so as to be able to meet USG rules for getting back into the country. The staff was relaxed about using a mask in the ...
I booked this cruise in June and thought things would be better by August. As we all knew Delta variant came around and I was unsure about going but so glad that we did. The crew could not be happier or more attentive. The embarkation was not as hectic as I thought although they could have had fans in this huge tent we waited in. We got there at about 2pm, was given a group number to wait which ...
This was the first cruise I had ever been on as I had always been resistant to cruising.
We picked the ship and itinerary carefully and I liked the idea of travelling on a fairly new ship.
As hoped the Nieuw Statendam was a stunning looking ship and the public areas all looked luxurious.
The cabin was a little smaller than I expected, but was well layed out and very modern.
The shower ...
This was part of a package from a travel agent. No information when we arrived for the first days activities. When we visited the dining rooms or buffet no crew member there to ask people to wash there hands or use the hand cleanser. So 50% of guests did not use the facilities, within days lots of people down with colds & flu. My wife got ill and that ended with a $503 bill to see the doctor. ...
Because we did not WANT it to be true, we ignored reviews like this prior to our October/November 2019 Cruise on HAL Neiuw Statendam. There are many very good things about this ship and this cruise line, but this description is ONLY to give a detailed assessment about dance opportunities and conditions on board. We took a cruise on this ship six months ago and ended up a bit dissatisfied with ...
We just completed a 43 day (34 day on board) 20 Mediterranean Port , Trans-Atlantic Cruise On board the Nieuw Statendam IMO: 9767106, MMSI : 244140508, Call Sign: PBCO, Flag : (NL) Neatherlands
First The Complaints
(1)Every one is fully aware that medical, trip cancellation (ETC) can be very expensive. When you have thousands of ...
We have cruised many times with Holland America and have had no complaints.This cruise left us disappointed.
The cabin and dining room staff, namely Dudi, Eka, Allen, Hanif and Mohamad were excellent, along with Leslie and Ryan in the Crows' Nest.
Sam and Damian, pianists in Billboard, super.
What was below our usual expectations;
No Hand Gel, apart from Boarding and Casino. First time ...
This cruise was my second cruise in Europe, my third cruise with Holland America, but my first on the Koningsdam.
We stayed one night in Rome before the cruise and one night after, both at the Starhotel Metropole which is less than ten minutes’ walk from Termini station, a location very convenient for transfers to and from the airport as well as the cruise port in Civitavecchia as we did both ...