My wife and I wanted to celebrate our 55th wedding anniversary by going to Hawaii to escape cold weather without a long airflight. We have taken numerous cruises with Holland America and enjoyed all of them except that we can notice cutbacks in many areas.
First, the good: The staff, in general, was very friendly and helpful, (more on staff heads later). We didn't need much extra, but ...
A destination we've always wanted to try and it didn't disappoint.
Embarkation was as easy and quick a always. Arrived by 11 on board before noon.
Ship is absolutely beautiful.
Crows nest is reconfigured. Didn't have a problem with it but - there is plenty of room for a larger library, dance floor and a quiet dance group. EXC is ok where it is but there is lots of unused space. New ...
Greed seems to be the drive for Holland America and the parent company (Carnival). The internet service was worse than the old dial up system in the 90's, and at $25. a day or $179. for the cruise, it was definitely not worth it. We signed up, but had to wait for emails and or Text, finally just waited until the next port to answer emails and other communications
I liked the Idea of paying ...
The Westerdam Circle Island cruise was a perfect choice as it was literally round-trip from our hometown.... Also, we'd heard good things about Holland America and figured we would give it a try...as we are in the process of shifting travel gears to do more cruising in the future.
Two thousand passengers is a whole lot of people to confine in close quarters for a lengthy sea voyage, but ...
From the time we boarded there was courtesy, assistance and helpfulness. Our cabin stewart was excellent and the room service for our coffee every morning between 6:30 and 7:00 was right there...we did tip the waiter that brought our coffee every morning it was someone different everyday....as well as our cabin stewerts.... we presented them with a thank you card with a tip of our personal ...
My wife and I chose to celebrate our 40th by going on a cruise. We picked Holland America and was very glad we did. The experience was beyond our expectations. The comfort and service was better than most 5 star resorts. We especially enjoyed the perks of the Neptune Suite. The concierge service was great. We decided to renew our vows during the cruise and the Cruise director, Erin, and our ...
Chose cruise primarily because of departure port and dates of sailing. (Over NY Eve).
Positives:
1. The signature suite!
2. Stewards very friendly--everyone always said hello.
3. Ship was redone a year ago--so spaces are nicely kept up. Very clean!
4. The EXC area and the Observation deck were VERY nice. We hung out there several times.
5. The customer service was positive and ...
The ship was great, just underwent a refit this past spring. Elevators are extremely fast, service was excellent, easy to get around the ship, food was really good (way better than most lines) and the small details really made a difference. The Casino and bars were great as well! Grandmother, Mother and Father, and 2 teens traveled in 2 Veranda rooms - very comfortable. We dined mainly in the ...
No kids visiting us in Florida for Christmas so we treated ourselves to a Christmas cruise. We have over 200 days on HAL and have definitely seen a decline in service,especially in the MDR,in the last few years.
To negate this decline somewhat we chose a Neptune Suite and found the service to be excellent. Embarkation and disembarkation were a breeze, especially with a Global Entry Traveller ...
My sweetheart enjoys the low key atmosphere of HAL, as well as the food and service. The service was good but not what I have experienced in the past.
The food is excellent, we ate in the main dining room for dinner, did not partake in the specialty restaurants this time.
The room was spacious and clean, plenty of storage.
My one beef is with the entertainment, it is nice but very low ...