Oosterdam Review
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Being an avid traveler and having travelled the world, this trip by far was the most absolute worst cruise I have ever taken. For starters I would have expected that Holland America would send one of their nicer, not to mention newer, ships for a ten day holiday cruise and have something special for all of the passengers on Christmas Day. The arrival of Santa was a nice touch but a bit bland.
All of the crew members appeared to be going through the motions and at times were snobbish and unfriendly. I have heard more "no" on this cruise from the staff than I have ever experienced on past cruises. There appeared to be an "I don't care" mentality with the staff and this was evident with all crew members starting with the captain, whom we never saw, to the cabin steward. The service, or lack of one, was definitely not worth the $12 per day per person. The cabin steward did the bare minimum and conveniently didn't speak English when requests were made. In fact we barely saw him, any request we had was put into writing only to be ignored. Oh, did I mention that not ONCE was our bed sheets changed during the ten day voyage! Wow, that's service.
Moving on to the fiasco known as first seating dining, I have never witnessed such disorder. Our server acted as though this was his first day working on a cruise ship, he was very un organized and full of excuses. We waited fifteen minutes just to get our menus and even longer for water. On our first night he said that we can dine in open seating which I found to be odd and rude, as if he was put out by us being there. What a thing to say the very first night. The second night was even worse, we were the very last to be waited on even though we had arrived much earlier than the other passengers. We had to ask for ice tea three different times and dirty dishes were left on our table, he was too busy catering to the other passengers and completely ignored us. We left in disgust and complained. We were assigned a new table in open seating and had much better service but still not to the level of service we have experienced on other cruise lines.
Cabin Review
Small, cramped room with a tiny balcony. When asked to push the twin beds together to create a larger bed, the room steward made no attempt to fill in the gap between the beds until asked three different times. There is a small couch that turns into a pull out bed but was not utilized due to cramped quarters. The only plus was the bigger than normal bathroom with a tub. The cabin was minimally cleaned but sheets were not changed for the whole time we occupied it. And forget about the balcony, the steward didn't clean the tiny table or even sweep out there, again minimal service not to mention that we rarely saw him.
Port Reviews
Half Moon Cay
This was the best stop. Beautiful beach, soft sand, and crystal water. Bring snorkel gear and sun block.
Grand Turk
Spent most of the day at the pool since the beach wasn't too clean. Free wifi at margarita ville with strong drinks.
Samana and Cayo Levantado
Don't even get off the ship. Dirty island with people waiting to rip you off. Avoid any excursions at port side because they don't give you what they promised. Dollar is strong here so negotiate everything.
Bonaire
Really nothing to do if you don't go on an excursion. The place has a street lined with shops and rude store workers. Don't expect a greeting when you walk into the stores, do expect a nasty glare....surprising for a town that exists on tourists.
Curacao
Many things to do without bothering with excursions. You can take in the city views and walk over the bridge to the other island or spend a relaxing day at a near by pool or in the casino. Didn't see a beach where we docked.
Aruba
Took a taxi to one of the resorts about 15 minutes away and spent all day on the beautiful beach. You can rent lounge chairs as well as cocktails right on the beach. Make sure you are completely dry before heading back otherwise the rude taxi cab drivers will refuse service, once again, isn't this a tourist industry?