We took this cruise as a "back-to-back" cruise with a 15 Day Panama Canal cruise on the same ship. We changed cabins from aft port hole to aft interior. This was to try out these types of cabins, and see what the experience is like without a balcony of our own - and honestly, to see if these far less expensive cabins would serve us as well as the balcony / suite cabins. We found that the two ...
The ship was clean and beautiful, everything seemed to be working, and the service was absolutely fabulous. The Eurodam is a little older now, but still very nice. On service, standouts were our cabin steward who helped our disabled mother very much in her suite, the management in the Tamarind, who went above and beyond, and the disembarkation help we received because we were traveling with a ...
My wife and I try to take a “find the Sun” activity around February to get away from the Northwest Indiana winter. This year it was the 18 day Hawaii from San Diego back to San Diego. This was also our fourth HAL cruise in five months. With over 50 cruises under our collective belts, this one goes down toward the bottom of the list.
HAL cannot be held accountable for the weather and I do not ...
We were in a mid-ship Neptune Suite across from the Neptune Lounge. We are both in our mid-to-late 70’s and are 4-star Mariners with Holland American. This was our 8th HAL cruise, all of which have been in Neptune Suites. We left San Diego on January 27, 2024 for an 18-day round-trip cruise to Hawaii.
If this had been our very first cruise, I might have rated this a bit higher. But when ...
We were very excited to once again travel on HAL. It had been a few years so were really looking forward to stopping off a several ports in NZ as well as Hobart and Melbourne. Boarding in Auckland was a breeze, everything was well planned and executed by port staff. It was all downhill from there. The weather was on most days terrible but that is what can happen in summer in NZ so we were ...
I am an avid cruiser. I cruised Holland in 2007. After this sailing, I felt that it was for an older crowd and I wanted to go on cruises that were for families. Since then, I sailed with Norwegian, Princess Royal and Carnival.
The crew on the Rotterdam were very friendly and accommodating.
The food was very good.(we enjoyed the lido, dive in and the New York deli)
The music clubs were ...
My wife and I have sailed on about 25 cruises over the past 20 years, but never on Holland America Line, so this was a new cruise for us in many ways. Overall, the 7-day cruise from Port Everglades was very good, not outstanding, and I will provide our thoughts of the pros and cons. First, we elected an obstructed view balcony cabin on the 4th floor, and the view was indeed obstructed by the ...
To be fair the choice of this cruise was mine, to celebrate a significant birthday and then explore a part of the world I have always wanted to see. The itinerary was very attractive, as was the price when we booked. I was also drawn to the size of Westerdam, being a small ship. First things first, the lead up to the cruise was a daily argument with Holland America over needing visa's for some of ...
Visa Services: told to get a Chinese visa by Holland at a cost of $1000; ship offered them for free while underway. Guest Services barely apologized and offered no compensation. Excursions: over half the guides didn't speak English well enough to answer questions or give commentary, visited sites were repetitive and boring. It was clear Holland had done no quality control on their excursions or ...
HAL does the Panama Canal very well. The day before the transit, there were presentations on the history and the building of canals in general, and the Panama Canal specifically. The day of transit, all ship schedules were adjusted for the transit. All deck areas were opened for people to view the locks, special foods (Panama Rolls, etc) were made and served on deck areas. The cruise ...