Our first cruise with HAL, although have previously cruised with others in Europe. The ship was first class, wonderful decor, good condition, fantastic crew. Stateroom was on deck 7 (Rotterdam) and our steward Nissan was brilliant. Room was everything you would expect. We dined across the ship in the MDR, which we thought was very good, Canalet which was excellent, Pinacle Grill was as expected fantastic, also The Lido which was equally as good. All staff were enthusiastic and welcoming. Entertainment was good, although I mus say the Billboard Onboard was very good, with an extremely talented pianist/vocalist in Paulina. The ship was full, but never crowded, both embarkation and disembarkation ran smoothly. We booked one on shore tour in Juneau, whale watching and the glacier quest. This was worth every penny with multiple whale sitings. On board announcements were informative but not over frequent. First cruise with HAL and will not be the last. Read Less

It was a surprise birthday gift.. It was in the planning process for 2 years by my adult children as a 80th birthday gift. I was totally surprised! We departed from Boston and went to Toronto, then from Toronto to Vancouver where we spent the night at the Metropolitan hotel. It is a very nice hotel and only a couple of blocks from the Canadian place where you board the ship.We walked down at 11:00 am and was thru customs and onboard in one hour. We had a tour of the ship and spent the rest of the day in the spa area. I was pampered by the spa girls with manicure, pedicure, facial, and a weeks worth of trips to the hydro pool. Everyone should have one in their back yard! The chairs that are heated are also a must have! I definitely would go again aboard this great ship. It is the best! The debarkment process was very organized and we were off in no time. We took a hop on hop of tour of the city,, which also transported our luggage to the airport hotel for us. After the tour we were given tickets for the sky train to the airport At the airport we stayed at the Hamilton hotel right inside airport where our luggage was waiting for us. A great relief not to have to worry about baggage.The hotel is very nice and very very convenient. Every airport should have a hotel in it. It makes those very early flights a little more enjoyable. I can't wait to go on another cruise! Read Less

This was a mixed bag. At the start of the cruise, staff had trouble keeping up with what needed to be done; particularly in the Lido. Food in the dining room was very good, a little less so in the Lido mostly due to a lack of variety. Having the daily newspapers in the Lido at breakfast is a great touch. Oh, and at a buffet, I’d rather serve myself. The daily what and where sheet was a disappointment. Sure, there were titles and locations, but no real descriptions for anything but the movie. As a result people missed out on some very entertaining talks. The times for the evening shows kept changing. Trying to find out what deck had the gangway was on, hand where, was always an adventure. Why not just put a sign in each elevator? (But the carpets in the elevators with the day of the week on them was a nice touch.) Bartenders were always fun. And the afternoon read was dreadful. We had to tackle staff to get service. Never went back. Read Less

Saw this cruise on a tv show with Jane McDonald and thought it looked very good. Decided to do it so booked it and also had 3 nights in Vancouver to get over jetlag and make Vancouver part of the holiday .We never did any of the excursions offered as we found them to be a little too expensive so did our own thing when in port and still saw a lot .Highlight was Glacier bay it was awesome and seeing a glacier calving was a special treat.The crew were very efficient and polite and the cabin attendant made us very welcome and each day we had a different towel animal .The best was the towel monkey which he put on a hanger and hung it just inside the doorway for us to get a surprise when we went to our cabin .Food was excellent and we only used the buffet for main meals and breakfast .we used the burger bar a few times and the pizza made to order .We had stateroom on deck 5 at the rear of the ship which we found preferable to a side cabin for views .we would go on this ship again anytime there was enough to see and do during our time onboard and the theatre entertainment was very good . Read Less

Pre cruise. I flew to san diego on norwegian air and another sadly i did not know i had to pre book meals so all i9 had for 9 hrs was snacks! I stayed in a hostel to save money which was ok.i did maritime museum,san diego zoo and midway. Embarkation. I left hostel 1000 and was surprised to go onboard by 1130 and cabin was ready and luch was in the dining room. Cabin. I originally had an out6side guarantee cabin then 1 day before cruise got a upgrade to balcony. A quuen bed was very comfortable. Shop. Very few models of NIEUW AMSTERDAM were left plus small ones but not much else Entertainment. Really good shows,a singer/comedian,singers ands dancers and a fiddle player/comedian were really good. Ports of call. Victoria(vancover island) did not book any excursions as very pricey onboard. I got theb shuttle bus into town and after finding bus trips were$50-$70 to get to the beuchart gardens i went there by local bus. Disembarkation. Pretty good did not have to wait long to get off ship. Post cruise. I stayed in a hostel in vancover much better than the 1st one and went a few places. All in all. Really good cruise as i always want to go on her. Read Less

We booked this cruise at the last minute because of a phenomenal last minute deal that offered airfare, transfers, 1 night pre-cruise hotel, 2 bottles of wine, SBC, dinner at Canelleto and lunch at Pinnacle Grill. The hotel - Embassy Suites in Ft. Lauderdale was very nice. The room was spacious and the cooked to order breakfast the next morning was decent. The transfer to the ship was handled very nicely and embarkation was smooth and very efficient. Our package was for an inside room and the room was a good size well maintained. Our cabin steward Oki and his assistant were always cheerful and took very good care of us. I do think that they have too many cabins to take care of though. We had open seating and it worked just fine. The food is so poor. We are long time mariners and the food used to be very good. I'm sure that much of their food is prepackaged and just heated up. The food in the Lido is so bad it is like eating at a really cheap dinner. The Asian buffet food is not as good as I've had at some food courts. When they served turkey it was a rolled turkey (sort of like a big bologna) not a real turkey. The best food on the top deck was at Dive In for the burgers, hot dogs and fries. The salad bar (make your own salad) was also very good. It's pretty bad when in a huge dining area the best food is salad, hamburger or hot dog. The fruit was not ripe. I can't understand sailing through the Caribbean with all the lovely fruit, mangoes papaya etc. and none of the nice fruit is brought onboard. The service is also very poor. There is no staff to help you with your plates and the plates are so hot that they are very difficult to carry without hurting your fingers. The food in the main dining room at dinner was also not good quality. The chefs cannot cooked fish or chicken. Both were always overcooked, dry and tasteless and the pasta was also not edible most times. When I left almost all my meal on the plate the server did not ask if there was a problem or offer to bring another meal. The best service in the main dining room was at tables 314 - 318. This is a little area that had 5 tables for 2 and the wait staff in the area were exceptional. They also have probably the best wine steward at HAL in this area. We dined at Caneletto one evening because it was part of our package. Believe me it's not worth an extra surcharge. It is an open are that is glassed in just off the Lido dining room. During dinner there are carts being rolled around and it's very noisy since it opens onto the Lido. The food is just a step up from Chef Boy Ardee. We asked to see the wine steward and told her that we had an open bottle of wine we wanted to finish. She asked where we had the wine and when we said it was opened in the main dining room she replied that it would take awhile to get our wine because she had to retrieve it from downstairs. My husband sort of hesitated but I said that we would like our wine. Excuse me but isn't it your job to serve what we want. After she poured the first glass she never came to the table again. She was too busy socializing with some of the wait staff. The staff also started clearing tables and setting up for the morning buffet while we were still eating. All of this for a surcharge. We didn't eat at Tamarind because based on what they served at the Asian buffet we felt it would probably be poor quality Chinese food court (Not as good) We enjoyed the performances at the Lincoln Centre Stage. The entertainment in the main show lounge was mixed. There were a couple of really good acts - a comedian , Scott Harris, a Lionel Ritchie impressionist and some not so good. Happy hour is no longer 2 for 1 but is now 2nd drink for $2.00 on their already inflated drink prices. We never take ship's tours as we find they ridiculously overpriced for what you get. I understand that there used to be a free shuttle in Victoria to take your downtown but that has apparently been discontinued and they now have a shuttle that they charge a outrageous price for. They also have a very high surcharge on US dollars. For what they charge on the shuttle you're better off to take a taxi into town. There were a number of passengers who had really bad colds on board this ship. We have had this experience on 2 other cruises that we've taken with Holland America. We've spoken to a number of people and they've also mentioned that this was a problem on their cruises with Holland America. We don't seem to have encountered this problem with other cruise lines. One passenger said that they had a bill for $1,800.00 from visits to the ship's doctor. There is no self service laundry on this ship so unless you are a long time mariner - 200+ days with Holland America to have laundry done is $20.00 a bag. Surprisingly for a ship this size there is no library and as far as I could see they did not even have a book exchange. Disembarkation was a joke. They were behind schedule but I noticed that colors listed after ours were being called to disembark. I went up to the front desk to ask but there was a huge line up. I found an officer and asked him but he said that I had to go to the front counter. When I pointed out the line up he brought me up to the desk and got someone to help me. I was told that different cabins were given different sheets and that the colors on the sheets were different What! Why don't you just give out the same sheets to everyone. He checked my luggage tag and bingo they must have missed my color luggage tag. Who knows if I hadn't gone up I might still be on board ship. I think it will be awhile before we do another Holland America cruise. This is one cruise that I was really glad to see come to an end. Read Less

We always cruise with HAL as our experience has always been very good. The Nieuw Amsterdam is well appointed, tastefully decorated with plenty of public rooms. We especially enjoyed the Explorers Lounge on deck 11, the baristas make a great vanilla latte. There was also a great selection of puzzles, board games and books in this lounge which was well used by the guests. The crew on the ship are very professional and extremely approachable. The cabins are clean, comfortable with lots of storage, and the new flat screen TVS are great with excellent reception and lots of choices of current movies and four news stations. The food in the MDR was less stellar than on previous voyages and although we tend to stay clear of the Lido other than an occasional breakfast, however, this time we discovered that the lunch and dinner selections seemed more varied. The tray of various pastries was a pleasant treat in the Hudson Room (card tables set up). The PA announcements were limited which was pleasant. We absolutely loved the Billboard on Board Piano bar, Andy and Polina were excellent. Also the music in the BB King Lounge was well attended. We caught most of the main stage shows and the majority were good. We are HAL devotees. Read Less

Holland America 17 day cruise from Fort Lauderdale through Panama Canal on to San Diego checked off all the boxes. As usual food was good to great, housekeeping and dining staff friendly, accommodating and truly attempted to meet our every whim. The check out procedure through San Diego was exceptional. Took less than 10 minutes! A few specifics worth noting. Aji and Hendry in dining area were exceptional servers. My husband got a $40 hair cut in the salon and the gal cut his ear as well as the back of his neck using the clippers. Not sure if the gal was not experienced or just did not care. We visited the Tamarind restaurant. We got sushi as an appetizer, Sea bass and a steak. The steak was very good. The Sea Bass was severely overcooked and the sushi was worse than the all you can eat sushi restaurants. Why? The chefs were lazy and cut the vegtables in huge chunks rather than thinly sliced. Each bite was all cucumber as huge chunks of cucumber were in all the sushi we ate. I would strongly suggest skipping the Tamarind. Not worth the extra dough. Our largest disappointment with the cruise is frankly nothing Holland America can do. We are in our mid 40's and the crowd as well as itinerary on the cruise was very mature. We normally enjoy trying a few new things on sea days but the activities were Soduko, Crossword puzzles, listening to pianist, learning how to use email. The two events we looked forward to was a pub crawl visiting the 4 bars on the ship. Unfortunately both events were cancelled due to lack of parcipitation. Now the million dollar question...would we do this cruise again. Probably not unless we brought some friends. For sure a yes in 15 years but the lack of activities for physical able adults was low. We still love Holland America but for sure will reconsider longer duration cruises in the future to be sure cursory activities meet our expectations. Once again, NOT a Holland America issue aside from the smaller comments mentioned above. Read Less

Excellent accommodations in Neptune Suite 8162 (aft). Room stewards Agus and Putu were awesome! Concierge perks with Neptune level accommodation worth the extra money. Main dining room food was excellent. Dined at a table of 6 with great tablemates from Canada and Louisiana. Don't ask for a table for two. The experience of meeting other passengers is worth breaking out of your comfort zone for. Servers Libra and Hendri were also excellent. The Pinnacle Grill was great! The filet mignon was perfect. Worth the extra surcharge for dinner. We chose Holland America Line for the classic cruise line atmosphere and adult settings. Ambiance was great with the decor and art pieces throughout the ship. Don't miss the BBC Planet Earth live performance accompanied by the Lincoln Center Stage musical performers. Wish it was more than once. Took advantage of breakfast room service on the veranda every morning before shore excursions. No searching for a table in the Lido Market during peak hours. Seas were too choppy to take the tender boats to Half Moon Cay, so that was the only dissapointment of the trip. We had heard so many good things about the island and were looking forward to the excursion. Looking forward to future cruises on HAL exploring other itenieries. Signed, Future 5 Star Mariner Read Less

This was our third cruise with Holland America. Previous cruises were aboard Maasdam and Noordam, smaller ships than the Nieuw Amsterdam. The ship still felt like a perfect size. We never felt crowded except for occasional moments when embarking or disembarking at ports. The recent upgrades were lovely. We love the elegance that we see on Holland America ships. Lots of people have made negative comments on the new Crow’s Nest area but I still felt there were plenty of areas for people to sit and gather. I loved the EXC lounge where the guides gave talks on ports and general interest for our cruise region. The ship was always clean and easy to navigate. The food options were great. We dined at the Pinnacle Grill our first evening and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. It wasn’t crowded so provided a romantic ambience. We ate breakfast once at the Lido Market (buffet) and it was enjoyable. All dinners were in the Dining Room. We loved the 8pm set seating. So nice to just walk in to your table and get to know the staff. Port days we ate lunch off ship but enjoyed the Dive In burger bar or New York Pizza if we were aboard. Read Less