Good crew, great route, good excursions, good food, but HAL does not protect the health of its passengers. So many sick people by the time we reached the middle of our 31-day cruise. Packed into the mainstage theatre shoulder to shoulder, it was a chorus of sick people coughing and hacking. Both of us got sick for over a week and most of the people we met on the ship were also sick with the ...
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 ...
Holland America Oosterdam 31 night cruise: March 5 to April 5, 2024. This cruise was advertised as including a day of "Scenic Cruising Cape Horn". We made our final payment on Feb. 2. Then, on Feb. 5, we were notified that the ship would NOT be doing the Cape Horn cruise! "For operational reasons". As it turned out, the schedule produced by Holland America is not doable. The Captain told us ...
Our cruise was good. This was the longest cruise we've taken, 31 days. Our stateroom was nice. The bed was comfortable, although we did have it joined and there was a line down the middle. It wasn’t annoying though. Maybe if they put a mattress pad on then that would conceal it. We might have been able to get one but I didn’t ask. The pillows were really comfortable. There was plenty of room in ...
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 cruise a lot and travelled on the Holland America line before covid and it was fine. However this most recent trip was disappointing and an exercise in money-grabbing. The menu did not change the entire trip, that is to say French onion soup was the ONLY soup on offer for the duration - how difficult is it to make another type of soup? On the first day I asked for the herring but was told it ...
did this trip four years ago same ship different ports all tender ports missed ,food quality no where what it was, cost cutting all across the board...the room stewards have to attend to even more rooms and dining room staff are less...trivia in the overcrowded small bar down stairs deck two opposite the casino not in crows nest any more...waited for shore days for a beer as two to three for the ...
We always bring our fun so.......
Anyway, here are some thoughts on this adventure. Ship is 20 years old and showing her age. Didn't stop the fun. Beds were comfortable, water was hot and toilets flushed. Food in main dining room was excellent - I've always found the upcharge restaurants on HAL to miss the mark - the Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto's just aren't what they should - buffet was ...
What a delightful cruise.
Excellent crew/staff on the cruise ship, wonderful excursions. The ship was small and ready for a refurb, but it made good use of the space. I highly recommend Alligators by Night and Rubber Planation and Indigenous Village in Manaus, as well as Piranha Fishing in Santarem. Trinidad was a great port, the friendliest one we visited in Caribean.
Tamarind pop-up ...
This 35 day Hawaii/French Polynesia cruise was our longest ever and our 19th cruise overall on many different lines (Carnival, Celebrity, Cunard, NCL, Princess and Royal Caribbean).
We flew from Ontario to San Diego 3 days before the cruise and stayed at the Old Town Inn which was a great location to tour the city. We walked to historic Old Town and took the trolly tour to all the popular ...