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Holland America Line

Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

U.S.A.

Caribbean - All

Bahamas

Caribbean - Eastern

USVI

Europe - All

Dominican Republic

Caribbean - Western

Mexico - All

Jamaica

Netherlands

Caribbean - Southern

Baltic Sea

Europe - British Isles & Western

Norway

Europe River

Rhine River

Mediterranean

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Italy

Spain

Denmark

Portugal

Transatlantic

France

Sweden

Germany

Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Norwegian Fjords

Canada & New England

Iceland

Croatia

South America

Africa

Belgium

Brazil

Scotland

Turkey

Panama Canal & Central America

Egypt

Douro River

Europe - River Cruise

Arctic

Ireland

Israel

Nile River

Excellent

Very Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Nieuw Amsterdam

Eurodam

Oosterdam

Westerdam

Nieuw Statendam

Koningsdam

Zuiderdam

Holland America Rotterdam

Volendam

Zaandam

Noordam

What could be better

Rome (Civitavecchia)

This was our first cruise! Our first happy surprise is that we were upgraded from an inside cabin to a verandah. We were absolutely thrilled! We spent quite a bit of time on our covered verandah enjoying the incredible views. We are in our mid-40's and were definitely on the younger end of our cruise's population, but we didn't mind. We definitely preferred that to a bunch of partying spring breakers. All in all, we couldn't have been happier with our experience. We ate dinner in the dining room and breakfast and lunch on the Lido deck. The food surpassed our expectations. The dining room dinner menus were excellent. The only miss for me was the lasagna, and it was just a little meat-heavy for my taste. Everything else was amazing. We got the Quench drink package as we are not alcohol drinkers and had lots of soda and virgin specialty drinks. I especially loved the pina coladas and my husband was a big fan of the Pusser's Painkillers. We also took advantage of the gelato for a reasonable extra charge. In the future, I will likely opt to just pay for drinks a la carte as I think I drank more soda than I otherwise would have just so I felt like I was getting my money's worth. The Lido food options were also great. What really set apart our dining experience was the excellent staff. They were all so friendly and kind and accommodating. We were very impressed. We spent time in the Lido pool and on the seating in the pool deck area. We spent our at-sea mornings taking a dip in the pool and then lounging by the pool with our books and a cold drink. We also spent a lot of time just walking around on the ship and taking in the views. It's a beautiful ship and is very clean and well maintained. We felt so pampered when our stateroom was cleaned while we were at breakfast every morning and our pillows were fluffed and our bed turned down in the evening while we were at dinner. We purchased excursions at each of our port destinations. At Half Moon Cay, we did the Eco Lagoon Kayak Adventure. It was super fun and we got to interact with some sea creatures. At Falmouth Jamaica, we did the E-Bike, Zip-Line & River Tubing with Lunch. That one was also super fun. At Georgetown, Cayman Islands, we did the Allura Catamaran Sail to Stingray Sandbar. That was a magical experience. I just wished our 13 year old had been there with us, she would have been in heaven! At Cozumel, we did the Surf & Turf: 4x4 Terracross & Speed Boat. They also threw in snorkeling and lunch, which we weren't expecting. I felt like all of our excursions were amazing and the guides were all fantastic. We took advantage of a few of the evening entertainments. The comedy shows and magic show were great while the Broadway music night was a bit of a miss for us. It seemed geared to a much older crowd. We didn't use it as we came stocked with our own books, but the library had a great selection of books. (This coming from a librarian!) We definitely plan on cruising again in the future as this cruise set our expectations sky high!

Amazing first cruise!

We are cruising with HAL for almost 10 years. And this is the first time we feel obliged to express some critique.  We are in our 70s and we do expect that HAL will provide quality time for people like us . This time too many elements of good cruise were missing.  

First, the usual entertainment at night, at the main stage, was extremely poor. The three shows with dancers were at high school show level.  Dancers were overweight and could not jump or turn.  We saw same shows last year on Rotterdam and it was a pleasure to watch.  Somebody has to address entertainment on this ship.  

Food : overall good quality, but many dishes were over salted. Do not know why it was done, but same was for lunch and for dinner venues. Late evening food not available, closing Lido too early. Could keep open pizza place at least.

Ports: selection of ports is very weak and arrival times way too late for older people to venture to beaches.  This year wind forced to cancel half of the ports. Also half of the ports require tenders that requires staying on line for hour to get ashore. Somebody has to revisit how to make cruise itinerary more attractive.

Visited the specialty seafood restaurant. Forgetting the cost paid the food was not something special.  Attempted to be French cuisine I presume, but needs more training. Also too much salt used. Despite excellent service the evening was a big disappointment. 

We are going back with HAL because many things are to our liking.  But I would implore on management to visit this ship and to decide for themselves what is working and what needs an improvement.

We were on a 7 night Western Caribbean cruise with scheduled stops in Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel. 

Embarkation was fairly fast. At Fort Lauderdale, you are put in a group of 30 people and you board when your group is called, so it was about 45 minutes to board, with no issues at all with getting to our cabin.

The ship itself is beautiful and well kept. We noticed that none of the ship was run down. See the cabin review below.  We were in an inside cabin on deck 5 towards the middle of the ship, and there was not much traffic so it was fairly quiet. Our stewards were wonderful, and we had housekeeping services twice a day. The cabin was well stocked, and we never ran out of anything. Beds and pillows were very comfortable. The shower was large. There was plenty of storage for everything we had, and we used a few of our tricks such as magnetic hooks and shoe holders to remove any clutter and to keep the floor clear. Luggage goes under the bed. Overall, we were very happy with our room. When we travel, we tend to spend very little time in the room, except to read, nap, and sleep, and can never justify the cost of a balcony when we can find a perch outside. 

Food was very good. There were a few miscues. For example, the eggs benedict in the MDR was overcooked. An up-charged strip loin steak I ordered from Pinnacle from the MDR was pretty much exactly the same as my partner's MDR steak, except mine was way overcooked (they sent it back and corrected it). I found that a few Lido staff did not know what they were serving. With that said, the food in the Grand Dutch was great, as was everything served in NY Pizza (I tried pretty much everything, including the movie night snacks, available every night) and the Dive Bar. Of course, if you go to the buffet and get the scrambled eggs and breakfast meats, all of which have been sitting around for some time, you will be disappointed. But, you can get fresh eggs cooked to order, omelets, and you can specify the meat that you want. You just have to ask and be prepared to wait a few minutes. I did not try the specialty restaurants as the main restaurants did offer enough variety (but less, as other people have noted, than other lines) and did not see the value. I have to say that the steward on the first night of our MDR was quite unpleasant, and I found most of the MDR experience to be lacking warmth from the staff members generally.

HAL cannot help it when weather conditions disallow port visits, and in our case, our ship was diverted from Ocho Rios to Montego Bay. Montego Bay, however, was pretty much shut down as there were no ships due to dock that day and most shops catering to cruisers were closed. As well, the State Department's warning about travel in Montego Bay also kept us from self-exploration. The Cayman Islands was also missed due to the inability of tenders to reach the boat due to winds. So, essentially, there were two extra sea days to work with. Guest Services was helpful in getting me to cancel a non-HAL excursion by providing us with free wireless (which is now Starlink) for two hours to make arrangements .

HAL's decision to install a library at the last dry dock was a fantastic decision. We saw literally hundreds of guest use the library to enhance their reading selection, and the library is well stocked, but they should have a staff member checking in to reshelve returned books.

Carnival's (HAL) private island (Half Moon Cay) in the Bahamas was excellent. We did not have a problem finding chairs and starting off one's Caribbean cruise with a beach day certainly sets the tone for the rest of the cruise.

We used the fitness center at the front of the Lido deck. It was never crowded and offers a vast array of high quality equipment. 

If you love pop music (as we do), then the entertainment offered through the "Music Walk" should keep one busy and happy. We especially enjoyed Billboard Online and the very talented Matt and Gabe. Rolling Stone had some very good sets from talented artists as well, though we felt that at times, various guitar solos were quite long.  BB Kings featured good sets of music. We hope that HAL brings back some classical offerings (Lincoln Center has been removed) as I think some passengers would have appreciated it.  The various feature shows offered in the World Stage were okay. The informative talks and movies offered in in the day was good. Movie nights on Lido deck was very good as well. Music Trivia was fine, but we wish Jose would have made it a bit harder. On sea days, we spent much of our time reading, which was perfect for us, but we could see how others looking for more programming might be bored.

The pools and decks were typically crowded on sea days with many people putting down towels and a book and disappearing for hours leaving people to search for a spot (this is not unique to HAL). It was nearly impossible to find a spot until after lunch. I don't expect anyone at HAL to police this, even with the 30 minute warnings it posts, as I am sure a crew member doesn't want to be yelled at for enforcing a policy and being completely unable to do so evenly and fairly.

Which brings me to the most disappointing part of the trip - some of the passengers. I have rarely encountered such levels of rudeness and entitlement than what I found onboard. I realize that passengers have purchased an excursion on what is a floating resort and one expects to be treated as such. However, that doesn't excuse you or make you any better than the other 2,600 passengers or 900 crew. The crew are people, and don't need to be ordered around or treated poorly. How much effort does it take to say "May I please have some bacon" instead of "bacon"? What gives you the entitlement for you to butt into line, take one's spot at a table that clearly aren't yours, talk loudly through performances, or take a lounger for hours that you aren't using? I understand that it's frustrating when one has to wait, or that a server doesn't understand what you are wanting, and there are truly times when something is not meeting your satisfaction. There are ways to address that without being rude or mean. Servers are trained in customer service, and always appreciated being thanked and being treated pleasantly, as we do. I hope that passengers start to think "how would I like to be treated if I was at the other end of this conversation" before acting or saying something.

Disembarkation at Port Everglades was very organized and fast, and we had our luggage and was off the ship and on the street in about 5 minutes. 

We will be sailing on Holland America again. To us, the quality of the ship, its crew, and Music Walk, to us, was the main differentiator.

Wonderful cruise with some caveats

We were on a 7 day Western Caribbean cruise on Holland's Nieuw Statendam from Feb. 4- 11. We loved the ship and were to have stops in Half Moon Cay (loved it), Ocho Rios, Jamaica (got cancelled due to damage of a Carnival Ship in their pier), and re routed to Montego Bay, Jamaica (didn't care for it), Grand Cayman ( got cancelled due to a severe storm that hit it before we got there), and finally to Cozomel - great place. The absolute best stop was Half Moon Cay, Holland's private island, as the beach is fantastic and the water is crystal clear. Holland's staff do a great job in the both the lunch they provide plus their staff do a great job on the beach bringing drinks to people. We hadn't cruised Holland for 6 years and found there were several changes; They don't have a Captain's lunch anymore; they don't provide lobster on formal nights - they now charge $25 for lobster if you want it; there are less options on the menu in the dining room (although we still think their food is terrific); didn't think their entertainment on their world stage at night was as good as before,( although they have the BB King's Blues Club group that perform nightly and they are exceptional); they don't have a HalCat band anymore that used to lay around the ships constantly; they didn't have any blackjack tournaments in the casino; they don't put little chocklates on your bed at ngiht like they used to. Will finally say we do love the Indonesian staff on the ship as they seem to be the most friendly staff we have met on any cruise line we have been on, and we especially liked the two dining room wait staff we had as they were the best we've ever had. We did love the ship as it had only around 2600 people on board which is what we like in a ship's size. Holland is known for the older age group cruisers and have to say if you like a quiet ship at night - then this is the cruise line for you.

Leisure Cruise On the Nieuw Statendam

My wife and I have sailed on about 25 cruises over the past 20 years, but never on Holland America Line, so this was a new cruise for us in many ways.  Overall, the 7-day cruise from Port Everglades was very good, not outstanding, and I will provide our thoughts of the pros and cons.  First, we elected an obstructed view balcony cabin on the 4th floor, and the view was indeed obstructed by the huge life/tender boat hanging outside our nice size balcony.  No problem as this is what we paid for.  Our cabin was very clean and nice with a sofa and king size bed and lots of storage.  The bathroom was a nice surprise and had the largest shower w/glass door that was the largest we have ever had onna cruise.  Nice!  Our cabin steward was excellent all week long.  

We had been wait-listed by our travel agent for “early dining” in the main dining room.  Turns out early dining starts at 5:00 pm which is a little early on cruise boats in our experience.  We tried to get this changed but apparently there was a large group onboard that had reserved 6:00 pm and that complicated moving a dining reservation to later time.  Food in main dining room was very good, but menu is more limited than other cruise lines.  “Free” Lobster night is gone, although you can pay $18 extra any night to have lobster as listed on menu.  First cruise that did not offer free lobster night.  Breakfast and lunch in Lido buffet on 9th floor was very good, although your food is served by staff at most food stations, obviously a holdover Covid protocol.  Pizza, deli sandwiches and hot dogs/hamburgers near pool are all available.  We enjoyed the breakfast omlettes at Lido prepared for you as you watch.  

Entertainment in the World Stage was OK, but below par compared to other cruise lines.  First night was a documentary film about history of Holland America.  No welcome aboard by Cruise Director first night which was a first for us.  This documentary would have been better as an activity during a sea day in the afternoon.  Three nights were a six person dance team with different shows.  Many cruise lines put on production shows, mini Broadway-type shows, with an accompanying stage band.  Not on Nieuw Statendam.  A great saxophone player show another night, a good comedian another night, and a combo same sax player/comedian show on final night.  

We did enjoy the dueling piano bar and the Rock band in the Rolling Stone Lounge.  We never made it to the BB King Club jazz band on same floor.  Nothing happening re music in the Piazza area like on many other ships.  So kind of dead until you reach front of ship on floors 2 and 3.  We did not visit the casino area, although noticed it is smaller, and my traveling friend told me they did not have any poker tables anywhere.  

Embarking on ship at Port Everglades was very fast with pre-checkin completed.  Disembarkation was a mess on last day.  Our color tag was called, and then we stood in line for 30-40 minutes with 500 other people snaking half the length of ship with carry off baggage just to scan our ship card and disembark.  Are you kidding me?  Why call a color to disembark if there are 500 people standing in a very long line.  This left a very negative image on an otherwise decent cruise.

Trying to get back on a tender at Grand Caymen at 1:00 pm was a very long line too.  Not sure what issue was.  There were many other cruise ships in port, and not enough local tenders.

Overall, Nieuw Statendam was a beautiful ship and we had very few kids on this particular cruise.  

Plenty of room for everyone and staff was very friendly and helpful.  Happy cruising!

7-Day from Port Everglades

I love to watch the show Mighty Cruise Ships on the Smithsonian channel. One of the episodes was on the Nieuw Statendam. After seeing the show I decided I wanted to sail on this ship. I was not disappointed! The food was excellent! Service was great throughout the ship. One thing I was disappointed about was that I believe because of cutbacks there were no sommeliers in the dining room. The entertainment was excellent and so many venues of music to choose from. My friends and I loved playing music trivia every day. On the sea day my friends and I went to the Crows Nest to play some board games. The room was great (we had a balcony cabin). Just enough space for 2. We ate in the Pinnacle Grill one night and Tamarind another night. Again the food was outstanding! The ports were fine but since we had been to Nassau many times we opted to stay on the ship and enjoy the ship ourselves.

Excellent throughout

Our last RC cruise was so bad with drunk out of control college kids we opted for a cruise with passengers of similar age and interests   The cruise line has done a lot of cutting since we last cruised with them. Less food portions, help and activities. Ship was spotless clean   We did Club Orange and do not recommend spending the money on it. Canelettos was excellent.  Pinnacle grill disappointing   The activities were repiticious  with trivia and adult coloring overplayed. The port of Falmouth should just be eliminated was filthy and felt unsafe    There was a lot of music venues but nothing outstanding but acceptable  Dining food portions could be an embarrassment. 3 shrimp In cocktail and 4 pieces of asparagus in the Pinnacle grill  I would recommend this ship I just feel as a 4th time on Holland cruiser and 29 total cruises it just wasn’t up to their normal standard   Casino was awful. You now must use your key card to even play and all money you cash out goes to the card and you have to take your card to cashier to claim the money. The slots were 99% penny machines and very tight

Not a bad cruise but not up to the usual Holland standards 

We had an opportunity to sail so inexpensively, I simply couldn't say no. Honestly, we had two inside cabins for two weeks at a total cost of $256, plus taxes and gratuities. On top of that, we received credits totaling over $400. None of that is a misprint.

So it's hard to be hard on HAL. I'm not "that guy" - I almost never, ever write negative reviews. But ...

I'll start with the positive. Vince Acevedo, the comedian, was hilarious. We were on a B2B trip and he did 7 shows. We caught like 5, so we saw repeats. Always SRO. The last night at sea, he did a solo show at 10:30. Imagine the timing, your bags outside your door and you know you have to get off the next day. People went to a 9:00 dance show, so they could secure a seat for the 10:30 show. <i>That</i> funny.

The staff (seemed as if half of the Philippines worked onboard) really smiled a lot, were engaged and present. Nothing against them, service in the situation was as good as could be. And I found the Front Desk to be excellent and responsive.

Getting on and off at terminals was superb - especially leaving the ship.

And that's about it. MDR was a disaster, forcing you to the buffet. Buffet was overstuffed, and the food was good but at the end of the day that's not a cruise. The meats were severely undercooked at the buffet (especially prime cuts of lamb and beef) - and occasionally piled up in a nearly raw state around a grill. Yes, they'd cook it more but even for me (medium rare all the time) ... it was an unappealing look.

On top of that the buffet didn't always have both sides going, leading to delays even there. Desserts were almost comically bad, recalling a trip to a high school cafeteria, complete with aluminum tins. An odd paradox was the high quality of baked breads. Normally the two (desserts/bakery) run together.

Pool at Lido was jammed. Most of the bars struggled to keep up, and you couldn't get a table at Pinnacle. One of the hot tubs could barely fit three people comfortably. 

If you required elevator service the units aft always had at least one if not two out of service. We had committed to stairs.

Staff seemed overwhelmed and everywhere, lines. Wheelchair folks weren't happy, it seemed and the ship blew out one of it's "Pods" on the second half, and delays forced flipping the visits to Aruba (arrived at 5PM, town closed at 6) and Curacao (now, a 7 AM arrival) thus making them really both worthless. 

Insofar as music, the blues band was superb (as it was the first time we sailed NS). Dance group initially was one short, but with another dancer that improved as well.  

Our grandchildren didn't see enough similar aged in Club Hal and stayed with their parents.

Just not good, not at all. If you've never sailed or rarely, it's possible you could have been happy enough. Notice the grades I gave. We were familiar with the ship, the cruise line and the itinerary. At the end of the day, we made a good time of it because it was time at sea with my entire family (we even booked a third room). 

I'm not that guy. I didn't make waves onboard but there were serious issues on HAL and I can't help but think financial constraints are playing a role. I'm very nearly a 3 star Mariner (might even be one now). It's unlikely we will return because at the end of the day, my wife and I have a limited number of opportunities to be sea at our age. Each one needs to be magical and HAL was a nightmare for me.

Brutal

We picked this cruise because of the selected stops and reasonable costs. Of course, after adding the insurance and fees it cost more than planned. Food in the main dining room was good although could be quite the line depending on the time of day. Lido Market (buffet) was frequently crowded and food just average at best. Many times had to go get our own drinks as otherwise would have finished our meals before getting served.

Other cruises seemed to do more special things like the towel animals and explaining all the upcoming ports. This cruise seemed to be understaffed and some of the staff were quite young that were in charge of organizing the activities.

Activities like music and shows were mostly scheduled for the evening. Daily activities were things like bingo and coloring for adults. Pool mostly had room but lounge chairs were always taken. Was nice that they could close the roof over the pool when weather was bad. Ship did seem to rock quite a bit when waves were not all that high. Our room was near the front which didn't help.

The entertainment was really good whenever we made a show or at one of the bars. Because the bars with music are so close they would typically play for a half hour to an hour then take a break before a different group performed at another bar. Would have been nice if the locations were spread apart where multiple bars could have music at once.

Biggest issue seemed to be the ship was last into a port and first to leave. Stopped at Half Moon Cay first day. Because of high waves it took a very long time to get people off on the tenders. We skipped it as would have only been on island a few hours before needing to get back on board. Next stop was Grand Cayman. They said it would take longer to get people off the boat because of the waves again. Waves were not bad and think that was an excuse as only had two tenders. There were two cruise ships on other side of island. A third tender showed up finally but was 12:30 before we got the "all clear" to go ashore without a ticket and were told to head back to ship by 2 pm. Most shore excursions were cancelled so again stayed on ship.

Thankfully next stop in Jamaica didn't use tenders. We did the Martha Brea raft rides. Got to ride and waited over two hours for our turn. After the ride they stopped at Rose Hall shopping mall. Not much there and assume they arrange for tours to stop there trying to keep it in business.

This was our first cruise with Holland America and probably our last.

Great Entertainment, rest average

A very old friend was celebrating a milestone birthday on a b2b on this ship so we decided to join them on the first week of their sailing - a surprise - they had no idea we were joining them. We hadn’t sailed Holland America for many years so we were excited to surprise them and reacquaint ourselves with Holland America.

Overall, the sailing was a bit of a disappointment but it was wonderful to sail with old friends.

Our cabin was aft facing on deck 8. It was very comfortable and well kept by our steward. It was very quiet - no noise or discernable smoke from the Lido smoking area above us. However, there was a strong smoke smell in the hallway just outside the aft elevators on deck 8. Not a big deal, but we were surprised at this. Overall the ship was clean and well kept.

Our high point of the week was the Tamarind alternative dining venue. We had an incredible meal, very good service. We will definitely dine there again. It was wonderful. We loved the Crows Nest/ Explorers lounge on deck 12 forward. Beautiful views, but it does fill up quickly- the lounge chairs along the windows are prime real estate. The food in the dining room was better than I had expected and the service was good, but there seemed always to be a lot of confusion actually getting people sat at their tables. There seem to be fewer menu choices, but I think this is the new world of cruising. Plates arrived hot and well presented and tasted as they should. The lunch menu was good, especially the small plates options. The main dining room during the day with sunlight streaming in was lovely. 

The Lido Market self service dining on the other hand…we really did not like it, too cramped, poor people flow, especially with so many walkers, wheelchairs and scooters using the area. The tables were very cramped and close together and the chairs were almost impossible to move around. The food choices were ok, but the choices were not replenished often enough…..empty bowls…

The pool area was very small and crowded, we didn’t like it much either. The full promenade deck is great and kudos to HAL for keeping them on their ships. However they come at a cost. It really cuts down on inside space. The public spaces on decks 2 and 3 are dark and cramped with poor people flow. The lounges on these decks aren’t all that enticing, very heavy uncomfortable awkward furniture. It just seems to be missing a liveliness - a shipboard joy - found on other ships.

The absolute worst thing was the totally disasterous onboard accounting. DH checks our account daily…we don’t spend much since we usually book the inclusive package. For some reason the onboard accounting system did not recognize that I had a beverage package and charged our account for all my drinks.DH had to go the guest services everyday and try to get our account straightened out. It took days to get credits and the system labels all these transactions in terminology that means nothing to the average guest. So it is impossible to know what exactly is going on. MANY passengers had this problem and Guest Services kept saying that ‘IT was working on it’.  Really…how long has HAL been in business? We were flabbergasted at what a mess it was. And I feel sorry for all the folks who didn’t check their accounts and got a big surprise at the end. In addition to all this confusion, the final total on our statement on disembarkation morning not what was charged to our cc. They did run a disclaimer saying that there may be adjustments, but didn’t tell passengers what to do to get help after they got home. This was the sloppiest most inept cruise ship onboard accounting we have ever encountered. DH kept a running total of what our actual account status was and we were over charged, not by a lot, but he just doesn’t have the energy to pursue it.

We had a great week because we were with friends. But if we had been on our own, as we usually travel, it would not have been the best week.

We have a TA booked with HAL in Oct 2024….booked before this Feb sailing.  We booked it because we really liked the itinerary but we may decide to cancel….it is 15 days not 7. 

We are both quite surprised that this re-entry to the world of HAL was so disappointing. We have cruised a lot and are generally just quite happy to be on a ship.

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