I am incredibly disappointed with HAL. I have traveled multiple times with this line and was always delighted.
That is not the case with my recent sailing on the Nieuw Amsterdam. Cleanliness was not a priority. In my cabin room, debris, old contacts, and gooey stuff were left in the trashcan, the bathroom floor wasn't clean, and neither was the area around the sink. The countertops in the ...
I went on Oosterdam 2019 and had a fun trip but unfortunately the Zaandam did not come close. The ship was full of walkers and disabled vehicles, the ship was dirty and food mediocre. The ocean deck pool was empty and closed for the first 3 days, entertainment was awful and the ship VERY boring. I opted for an ocean view that was stuffy and very dated and had not been updated since ship was made. ...
We went on this cruise as part of a charter
The staff was delightful, and our cabin certainly fine, except for the last night when we were flooded by water from overhead
The aspect of this cruise we did not care for was that there were so many extra charges. All alcohol was an extra charge drinking water was an extra charge. The food was lovely in the dining room, but the dining room was ...
I traveled on this cruise as a chartered cruise. While most of the crew was friendly, my previous 3 cruises on HAL were much better. Our stateroom was not clean and we rarely saw our stateroom attendant. We are both vegetarians and the choices in the Main Dining Room and specialty restaurants do not often many vegetarian options. In todays world I would think the chefs could be a bit more ...
Chose this ship for the itinerary. Big mistake. Dated in all ways.So lacking in accessible features I can't believe it's ADA compliant. They are carrying wheelchair guests off the ship by hand. In the tiny casino you may earn enough points to qualify for free drinks while playing. But....
Good luck finding a server. Few activities on seadays. You are expected to amuse yourself.
Entertainment ...
To resume pre-Covid travel, we decided to take up an attractive 2 week fly/cruise package departing Singapore. Having previously sailed on Cunard and Celebrity we sought out a different cruise line,HAL, which was scheduled to visit approx 6 interesting Asian ports. This proved to be a huge mistake.
Amongst the few positive aspects of the line's Westerdam ship is it quirky, modern art deco ...
We (my wife and I, (a retired couple) chose this cruise as there was good deal on offer including 2 nights in Singapore and return flights (we live in Sydney). We were also keen to try Holland America.
The ship was a bit smaller than we are used to with limited entertainment options. The food in the main dining room and Lido was average at best. We ate in the Pinnacle twice and it was excellent ...
We had cruised 19 times before this cruise and chose HAL because we like their service and food on the other HAL ships. This being our first cruise since COVID started, we also wanted a smaller ship.
Both embarkation and disembarkation were very smooth and we received our luggage within 2 hours.
The ship was nicely decorated for the holidays and is still in fairly good condition, although ...
First Holland America Cruise. Chosen because it was the only affordable (?) cruise that went to Falklands, Antarctica and into the Chilean fjords and not around them (like Princess) or only to the Antarctic Peninsula and back to Buenos Aires (like Celebrity).
We arrived the day after most people had checked in. Embarkation was the usual mess and compounded due to the World Cup madness created ...
Zuiderdam was our first HAL experience. It was our worst overall ship and cruise experience ever.
We were greeted in our cabin bath by a gush of brown water from the cold tap, which lasted two days. There were leaking pipes around the ship, faulty A/C systems, and some of the worst shipboard food. When spaghetti and meatballs were the highlight...but don't expect any Parmesan to top your ...