Embarkation
We cruised from Valparaiso, Chile to Buenos Aires, Argentina on Feb 24-Mar 10 2023 on the Oosterdam (I renamed it the Disasterdam!). On the cruise there was an interesting talk to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Holland America Line on HAL’s history. One segment was about the line transporting immigrants from Europe to the US in the late 1800’s-early 1900’s. They decided to ...
We chose this cruise as it was offered to us at a discounted price due to our mariner status & casino offers. The fruit was old, meat chewy, food cold many times and many areas of the ship needs repair. We had multiple issues with our cabin and never got them resolved. We were very dissatisfied and unsure we will return to Holland cruise line even though we have 4 star mariner status. The line has ...
Initially, we chose this 74-day cruise based solely on the “Grand Voyage” itinerary. The ports-of-call for the cruise, most of the excursions we took, and the passengers & locals we met were great fun & exciting. However, Holland America’s cruise ship (the Volendam) was awful - and based on that we would never want to cruise w/ Holland America again or recommend the cruise line to anyone. We ...
This is a very long, detailed log-style review and covers 32 days, including 7 days pre-cruise in Argentina and 2 days post-cruise in Chile. If you just want to summary of the cruise scroll all the way down.
Oosterdam South America and Antarctica 12-20-22
I just spend a lot of time putting in my entire 26000 word log and the website would not save it, so here is the cruise summary ...
Our cruise of a lifetime to antarctica was a total waste of time and money. Hal couldn't have screwed up more if it really tried. i'll share just the highlights! our embarkation was a seven hour (two on a bus and five in the terminal) fiasco with ~ 5,000 people crammed into one room with five ships in port and then hal required all passengers to take a covid test on the third day! also, no ...
This was the worst cruise I have ever been on, Holland ruined a once in a lifetime experience. Poor communication prior to the cruise: yellow fever issues, requiring a covid test for boarding that was NEVER looked at upon embarkation, telling us to use the verifly app that also did not allow us easy boarding~ never used. A 2+ hour embarkation process. Holland made a big deal NO PLASTIC water ...
I really wanted to go to Antarctica, I booked this entire cruise with the plan to do the excursion. It ended up getting canceled due to insurance problems and Holland America gave us (everyone on the excursion) future cruise credit. I think I'm going to let mine go to waste, I have no desire to ever go on another cruise and certainly not a Holland America one. Aside from that: my shower was super ...
Cruise selected based on the itinerary. We had 2 issues that we escalated to guest services and were made to feel they did not care at all. Our cabin was hot and after technician checked and temperature was 22.9 Celcius,. i was told by Guest Services, they could do nothing andthere were no other cabins to move. it was a blatant lie, I know this because due to flooding of several cabins later in ...
Booked a Vista Suite on the Navigation Deck (#7046) and soon discovered after embankment that it sat directly beneath the Lido kitchen area. Needless to say the noise from above our cabin ceiling was unbearable and went well into the night and then began again at around 3:30 a.m. There was no remedy for the problem and guest services did not follow up after we complained. We were on a 15 day South ...
The ports were new to us and the timing worked so we chose the 30-day Incan Empire Voyage. Embarkation was OK, we heard later this year the ship will be under review as to updates. Cabin fine, but the tiny TV and limited channels was annoying when in quarantine. Staff were friendly and helpful. Entertainment seems to have improved, enjoyed most of the comedians, but music still too loud. Good ...