We wanted to visit New Zealand and Australia, but had to rule out self guided road trips due to health and eyesight, so this cruise seemed to fit the bill. The ship is a comfortable size. The food was good and the staff was friendly and helpful. We did not get to visit as much as we had hoped. The great scenery on the West side of the country was not included. We spent 5 days in Sydney ...
After reading a lot of negative reviews about HAL we were slightly dubious about our 2nd sailing on The Noordam. The first time we sailed on her was 9 years ago and we hadn't done another HAL ship since
Our first impression was that the ship was very clean and in good order. The staff were really welcoming as we boarded. Our cabins were ready straight away so once we had dropped our carry on ...
We returned from a Noordam -Christmas Cruise on the 17th December 2022 -Sydney to Sydney. and sadly we found Holland America standards had fallen dramatically. We have always had a very good experience on the many Holland America cruises we have undertaken in the past.
The food was very substandard and to receive a decent meal the menu indicated payment of surcharge was required. The lunch ...
We are in our early 70's and have wanted to go on around Australia sailing for some time. Due to Covid we had to push our sail date back a year to the Noordam from the Oosterdam. We have been sailing on mostly HAL and Princess since the mid 80's. Its been nearly 3 months since our cruise ended and I was hoping I would feel better about the experience vs. how I felt at the cruise end in mid ...
I am in the middle of a 67 day HAL cruise from the states all around Australia. This is a bucket list cruise, until HAL put holes in my bucket. No on-board passengers while sailing from the states were allowed to book any excursions in future ports of AU until we reached Sydney. Meanwhile close to 1500 passengers boarding in Sydney had been booking excursions from home, resulting in all good ...
Always a fan of HAL until now. In 25 plus cruise I don't think I ever send a meal back. Cold food in the buffet, sent back MD breakfast 2x, Pinnacle fish once. Buffet out of green tea. No pastries at breakfast unless you ask. No pen & notepaper in the room. No chocolates at night or towel animals except for Gala Night. Carving station on day 2 featured meatloaf (which was actually quite ...
We booked the 6 Day Wine Country & Pacific Northwest Cruise on Noordam (Neptune Suite 7081) immediately following the 14-Day Great Alaskan Explorer which we took in Noordam’s Neptune Suite 7088. One plus of this cruise, it allowed us (as US citizens) to avoid flying on an "international flight" - flying out of San Diego rather than Vancouver.
Originally, we had booked these two cruises in an ...
In order to use some future cruise credits (before they expire) we booked the 14-Day Great Alaskan Explorer, Noordam Neptune Suite 7088. This was our first “post-pandemic” cruise……so, there I will be making some comparisons - especially because (in September 2019) we took a HAL “Triple Denali” land/sea trip, which ended with a 7 Day (southbound) cruise in the same suite (7088) on ...
Grand Circle arranged the trip to South America. 69 days///2010 5days////2015 - Alaska
I was given a great room at the front of the ship to SA.
I went ashore on free trips. Most free trips are arranged by local vendors. Some of the local products were outstanding. (knitted clothes, hand painted tees) . My last trip to Spain almost killed me, but I am glad I did it. Now ...
Booked this cruise because HAL markets itself as the Alaska experts (75 years going to AK). What a mistake. The ship was at 70% passenger occupancy but 50% crew occupancy. Customer service was horrendous. There were no assistant waiters in the main dining room, so the waiter cleared the dirty dishes from the tables and then delivered our food (after considerable delay). The guest services ...