Holland America Line Oosterdam Gay & Lesbian Cruises Reviews

4th time cruising but first HAC cruise. 3 others were Carnival. I've always heard Carnival is the worst cruise line but I have never had any complaints. Currently on Day 5 of the Oosterdam, 7 Day Alaskan Cruise and I have a long list of complaints. Going to start with the positive: -Check-in in Vancouver was much easier than past experience, quick easy and friendly -Alaska is beautiful, once ...

My wife and I have just completed a 14-day Alaska cruise with Holland America on the MS Oosterdam. It was such an incredibly disappointing experience on all fronts that I feel that I must share my experience with other cruisers considering sailing with Holland America. I apologize for the length of this review, but it is necessary. ACCESS FOR THE MOBILITY IMPAIRED - Like most cruise lines, ...

We will not recommend this trip to friends. It was not what we expected. The pictures in Holland America's brochure were spectacular - Glacier Bay was amazing. But in fact when our ship pulled in to the bay on one of the very few sunny days, the Glacier was small and not even stunning - not at all the picture in their catalog. In two of the ports, Juneau and Ketchikan we were greeted with more of ...

First, allow me to say that my wife and I have been huge fans of HAL and the Oosterdam since our first cruise in 2006 with HAL! This cruise started with a three night land portion to Denali National Park! It was overall excellent beginning with our one night in Anchorage at the beautiful Hotel Captain Cook! The next day we were transported by bus to the McKinley Explorer Train (owned by HAL), had ...

We arrived in Seward a few days early and took advantage of the many amenities offered. Stayed at the Windsong Lodge, highly recommend eating at Chinooks, Used Exit Glacier Guides for a Helicopter Ice Hiking trip and did the 6 hour fjord tour. Embarkation was absolutely painless. Took about 5 minutes just to walk through the cavernous building and get to the ship. There were no lines and we ...

This is not so much a detailed review as it is some notes and observations of my trip to Alaska on the Holland America's MS Oosterdam. We did the 11-day Denali, with the sea portion first, and the land portion second. - Arrived in Vancouver to find that Delta tore open my checked piece of luggage forcing me to buy a new suitcase in the very expensive downtown area. Fortunately I found one on sale ...

After very busy few days in Denali, we were really looking forward to boarding the ship for a little slower pace and some R and R.. After a long bus trip to Seward from Denali we were greeted by a long line waiting to obtain the necessary ship cards This took almost an hour and a half but then were able to embark and go to our cabin-- by this time it was after 5 We quickly went to the Lido for ...

Just got back from a 12-day HAL Denali-plus-Oosterdam trip (Seward-Vancouver cruise) and here are my thoughts. I’ve read all the comments on this board and I’m an intense observer once on the ship. There were six of us who went on the trip together. Overall – Best cruise I have been on in six years covering 6 cruises on three different cruise lines. Well run ship. But HAL still has some dining ...

We are seasoned cruisers with 20+ cruises under our respective belts, both in our mid-50's. We traveled as a party of eight with our adult children aged 24 to 41 years. This is the fifth time we've visited Alaska, third time we've sailed with HAL, and second time on the Oosterdam. The train from Anchorage to Seward was spectacular, with good food and comfortable seating. We missed the track ...

One main reason that we chose Holland America was the highly touted Culinary Arts program. We attended the first cooking demo and noted that the hostess, Nikki, did not mention or try to "sell" any of the for-purchase cooking classes. We signed up for the class on Wednesday, only to be notified the next day that the class was cancelled due to low registration. On Saturday we showed up for the ...