We have been cruising since 1990 so are not newbies by any means. We settled on Holland as a more upscale line and in many previous cruises through Europe and all of the Caribbean we have been very happy - but the circumnavigation of Iceland and the trip into the Fjords of Norway was a total unmitigated disaster. This was an example of the most blatant corporate greed we have ever seen on a cruise ship. During the very first few days we learned from several crew that Noro Virus had been on the ship for the past 4 to 6 weeks yet Holland continued to run the Ryndam and continued to make people and staff very very sick. But here is the real kicker, we were told that the option to cancel the cruise had been OK'd well ahead of the sailing BUT Holland did not present this option until all passengers had flown for hours to get to Heathrow, stayed overnight in various hotels and then spent more than 2 hours on a bus to Harwich terminal to board the ship.

Our boarding was delayed as we were told the ship was being thoroughly sanitized! It was only then that the cancellation letter was passed around - how cruel can they get? The outbreak got worse and worse and we then received a letter saying they had identified the problem as Noro Virus. This was misleading at best and an outright lie at the worst. They knew full well before we boarded that the ship was badly contaminated and yet they let us board. All passengers had come thousands of miles and who wants to turn around and go home? Why didn't Holland be up front and tell people before they left for the cruise that the ship was badly contaminated with the Noro Virus and they had not been able to get rid of it in the previous 4 to 6 weeks?

I wish this was as bad as it got but it isn't. Passengers got food poisoning including my wife who has a Masters’ in Public Health and is a Registered Dietitian and knows what food poisoning looks like versus Noro Virus! Holland cancelled port visits, cancelled port tours and ended the cruise early while refunding only part of our cruise price. Does it get worse yet - oh yes it does - after the cruise is back at Harwich we are loaded on a small bus and driven into downtown London to our temporary hotel; the outside temperature is 28C - a record for London. You would expect to have Air Conditioning in a bus where windows can't be opened but this bus didn't! It was so hot in there passengers had sweat running down their arms and backs and the traffic was horrendous - our 2 hours trip took 3 - bad even for London. Read more