Holland America Line Westerdam Cruise Reviews

12 years ago we started our first cruise with this line (to Norway) and we loved it , after few cruises with other lines we decided to go back to Holland America , because of our first good experience with them. This time we were unpleasantly surprised that for 12 years the standards have dropped significantly , instead of improving. On the first minute of the cruise we were very disappointed to ...

Overall a very mediocre cruise - nothing special Cruised with Holland America 10 years ago and it's not as good then. The points: 1) We were also charged for Crew Appreciation even though our Have It All package booked through IGLU stated this was included. It was only removed after we queried this with Guest Relations, although we did tip the cabin staff personally. 2) During the cruise, ...

We’re do I start, this our first cruise and our last with Holland America. First the good, outside cabin good with great steward; have it all package good value and Wi-Fi actually worked throughout the ship. Specially dining was excellent. Band in the rolling stone lounge excellent but that’s about it. Dining in the main venues was an experience to be missed. Lack of organisation and it appeared ...

Cruising is a game of expectations as with most things in life. Having previously sailed on freestyle ships, that are often looked down on, we expected a little more from our first Holland America experience. So this review is more related to how we were disillusioned with “traditional old school” cruising. Embarkation in Hong Kong. Not a drop of water or morsel of a snack for guests waiting ...

We cruise a lot and travelled on the Holland America line before covid and it was fine. However this most recent trip was disappointing and an exercise in money-grabbing. The menu did not change the entire trip, that is to say French onion soup was the ONLY soup on offer for the duration - how difficult is it to make another type of soup? On the first day I asked for the herring but was told it ...

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 ...

This cruise was chosen based on the itinerary and not the ship. If you are looking at this ship for entertainment purposes, there are other ships to consider, this one only provides a few entertainment opportunities.   If you are going for the destinations rather than the ship, then this ship will serve your purpose if you go in with the mindset that this is an older ship and the ports are the ...

This is a very comfortable ship which is spotlessly clean and which has excellent friendly staff. Our Neptune suite had a comfortable 3 seater lounge and 2 queen sized beds as we elected to have the very large dual mattress bed separated so as not to disturb one a other. The balcony was extremely spacious. The onboard entertainment was impressive. The choice of eating venues was enjoyable. ...

I choose this cruise because I was looking forward to exploring and getting to know SE Asia. It was a terrible experience overall. The ports of call were in dirty, large cities where it was difficult to get out of the city areas without taking long bus rides. The tours were long, boring and we could barely understand the guides. When we went to the shore excursion desk, they didn't know anything ...