Balcony

Suite

Inside

Outside

Holland America Line

Family Cruises

Romantic Cruises

Cruises for the Disabled

Senior Cruises

Gourmet Food Cruises

Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)

Amsterdam

Rome (Civitavecchia)

San Diego

Vancouver

Rotterdam

Venice

U.S.A.

Netherlands

Europe - All

Caribbean - All

Bahamas

Caribbean - Eastern

Caribbean - Southern

USVI

France

Mediterranean

Europe - Western Mediterranean

Italy

Dominican Republic

Europe - British Isles & Western

Europe River

Rhine River

Baltic Sea

Spain

Norway

Portugal

Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Mexico - All

Croatia

Norwegian Fjords

Transatlantic

Turkey

Mexican Riviera

Alaska

Columbia River

Caribbean - Western

Douro River

Denmark

Germany

Sweden

Europe - River Cruise

Hawaii

Slovenia

Belgium

Pacific Coastal

Jamaica

Iceland

Scotland

Canary Islands

Seine River

St. Vincent and the Grenadines

North America River

Arctic

US River

South America

Europe - Black Sea

Argentina

Brazil

Uruguay

Excellent

Very Good

Average

Poor

Terrible

Eurodam

Westerdam

Oosterdam

Zuiderdam

Nieuw Amsterdam

Koningsdam

Noordam

Volendam

Zaandam

Nieuw Statendam

Holland America Rotterdam

Great Bands But Lacking World Stage Entertainment

Ilulissat

We were in a mid-ship Neptune Suite across from the Neptune Lounge. We are both in our mid-to-late 70’s and are 4-star Mariners with Holland American. This was our 8th HAL cruise, all of which have been in Neptune Suites. We left San Diego on January 27, 2024 for an 18-day round-trip cruise to Hawaii.

If this had been our very first cruise, I might have rated this a bit higher. But when compared with previous HAL cruises, I found it less satisfying. As other reviewers have noted, there is obvious cost-cutting.

The most grievous was eliminating Lincoln Center Stage on the Koningsdam. I believe a press release some months ago talked about providing other opportunities to hear classical music onboard HAL ships, but this was not the case on this cruise. How ironic that a ship that names decks "Beethoven," "Mozart," "Schubert," and "Gershwin" won't perform music from these composers during an 18-day Hawaiian cruise with 11 at-sea days! In addition, there was virtually no opportunity onboard to hear even Broadway and movie musical standards. We may continue to book cruises with HAL, but this loss is enough to make me start looking at other cruise lines.

Overall, the pluses still outweighed by minuses, but the main problem is that while the individual “minuses” (mostly related to cost-cutting) are relatively minor, when taken together they made the Neptune Suite experience feel less luxurious and less special. 

For example, the cutbacks were even evident in the Neptune Lounge’s food. There was noticeably less choice and variety in the food. There were almost no books in the Lounge, and although there were a few board games there, the lounge no longer had a big table where one could comfortably play them. Despite the fact that Claire and Pearl, our concierges, were wonderful and terrifically friendly and helpful, the lounge, itself, seemed less inviting.

On previous cruises there were small touches that made the experience feel special: fresh flowers in our stateroom that were changed frequently enough to remain fresh; a bowl of fresh fruit that was replenished; nightly towel animals; chocolates at turn-down time each night even without our having to ask for them. This time, the towel animals survived the budget cuts, but only for 2 or 3 of those 18 nights. These are all “small” things, I know, but collectively they added to the overall “feel” of the experience.

In addition, Room Service was dreadful! In the pre-Covid days we’d get a white table cloth and perhaps even a bud vase. This time, the food generally arrived lukewarm at best and often cold. The worst part was that it took repeated calls (including calls from our concierges) to get Dining Services to pick up our used dishes. Having dirty dishes in your stateroom for hours on end is hardly a luxury experience.

Sad to say, on this cruise the Pinnacle Grill was a bit disappointing. Our waiter and the general atmosphere seemed "cold" and uninviting. The food was very good, but not particularly exceptional.

Fortunately, there were pluses, and some are significant:

1.	First are the HAL staff. As I noted, our two Neptune Lounge concierges, Claire and Pearl, were outstanding. So, too, were Wade and Sigit, our two stateroom stewards, who, like Claire and Pearl, went out of their way to be helpful. 

2.	Club Orange also deserves a big shout-out. If we had to wait to be seated for breakfast or dinner, it was never more than a few minutes regardless of when we showed up. (Reservations were not required for Club Orange members.) Gred and his assistant Maitre D’ in Club Orange were wonderful and extremely helpful with my wife’s dietary needs. It was nice having servers who also remembered us from night to night (Azi and Yogi, especially). The food was usually quite good.

3.	We enjoyed our meal at Rudi’s Sel de Mer, and Ernesto, our server, took very good care of us. We also saw him in Club Orange from time to time.

4.	The cultural presentations in the World Stage theatre, which were led by Kristen, the cruise director, were excellent and drew the large audiences they deserved. They were filled with lots of fascinating storytelling. Kristen is an extremely effective narrator, and the tech setup there allows them to show stunning videos. These presentations were a big plus. 

5.	The Library on Deck 2 is a small gem. I don’t think many passengers were aware of it, but it is worth seeking out. Comfortable and a relaxing place to read.

The seas were a bit rough the first three days of the cruise, and that kept us indoors. In addition, the Captain had to cancel our scheduled stop at Kauai because the seas were too rough to make it safe to dock there. Having been on a previous Hawaiian cruise (in January 2015), we scheduled a HAL tour only for Maui. 

Reviewers of previous HAL cruises this past year sometimes complained about problems with embarkation and disembarkation. On this cruise, however, everything went smoothly.

One suggestion for HAL that would enhance the Neptune Lounge experience: stop offering Fox News and MSNBC as options for the TV there. Americans are so polarized politically that liberals like me can't stand to be in the lounge if someone is watching Fox News, and I'm sure that our fellow Fox News Americans would be equally incensed if they were forced to listen to MSNBC. Since both networks are available in one's stateroom TV, in the interest of peace and harmony and goodwill to all, why not just broadcast nature channels and perhaps the more "neutral" BBC news (or, better still, no news at all) in the Neptune Lounge? We are, after all, on vacation. It’s just a thought . . .  .

***

Finally, on our very first HAL cruise years ago there was a quartet playing music when we boarded the ship and in the Main Dining Room on Formal Nights (now called “Dressy Nights”). This time, the menu options on Dressy Nights and on the last night of the cruise never felt "special" the way they used to; if they exist at all, they are an “extra cost” option. 

While I can see why on the final night of cruises HAL no longer has waiters marching in with baked Alaska while they piped in the Radetzky March, it is a shame that HAL hasn't created some new "tradition" to replace it. It was a touch of class that I felt HAL now lacks.

I realize that times have changed. There are labor shortages everywhere, and costs have soared. I do not expect everything to be exactly as it was pre-Covid. But perhaps HAL’s cost-cutting has gone too far. For me, at least, the "feel" of this cruise was very different from previous HAL cruises. The pluses still outweighed the minuses, but there were enough minuses to make this less enjoyable than I was expecting and to make me wonder if we should be looking at other cruise lines.

Koningsdam 18-night Hawaiian Cruise

My wife and I try to take a “find the Sun” activity around February to get away from the Northwest Indiana winter.  This year it was the 18 day Hawaii from San Diego back to San Diego. This was also our fourth HAL cruise in five months.   With over 50 cruises under our collective belts, this one goes down toward the bottom of the list.

HAL cannot be held accountable for the weather and I do not rate this cruise because of it.  On the way over, high seas, cold wind did not make for a pleasant cruise.  In fact, the seas and winds caused our first stop to be cancelled.

What disappointed us more than  anything else was the food.  For the most part we ate in the Main Dinning Room.  While on other HAL cruises the food has been very good in the dinning room, not so here.  We enjoy eating later then others and for most of the trip the food was luke warm at best.  I like fish and ordered it only one night.  The fish, wahoo, was dried out and tasteless.  It seemed to me that it had been left under a heat lamp too long.  All the meals in the Main just did not have that “WOW” factor.  

Our trip to the Pinnacle Grill was also not up to par with other HAL ships such as the Rotterdam.  I ordered my steak Pittsburgh rare, it came out a solid medium.  It also appeared that the number of people in the Grill far out matched the ability of the staff to service properly.  The poor staff were obviously overwhelmed. 

There were some very efficient and friendly staff going over and above.  

Regina in the coffee bar in the Crow’s Nest has to be the best Barista on the ship.  

The piano duo of Clara and James are in the Billboard are far better then the duo’s on the Rotterdam or the Zuiderdam.

Did not live up to expectations. 

This was a fabulous cruise. The ship was clean, comfortable and most importantly the food was outstanding! The staff were all helpful and friendly and no matter how stressed they were happy ( and sometimes singing)! It was about 5 days out and 5 days back strictly at sea. We found it relaxing but not seeing land or another ship that entire time could be somewhat daunting. The life boats were state of the art which I found reassuring. The staff were constantly cleaning and repainting the decks. There was no rust anywhere! Customer service was always excellent. I went on an excursion at each port. My only complaint was that they were pricey. In some cases it was worthwhile going independently ( especially to Pearl Harbor). In Kailua-Kona the “Kona Highlights “ tour was cut short due to a closure at the historical park so Holland America gave me a partial refund for this tour. I highly recommend this cruise!

Super cruise

This was our 69th cruise but only second on Holland America.  

The ship was nice but not as elegant or as well laid out as Celebrity Solstice and Edge class ships - which we love. We picked this cruise for the itinerary and the time of the year it was sailing.  

Our most enjoyable meal was in the Pinnacle which we ate at twice. The service in there was top notch too. The dining room food was good - not great - but the Lido food was below average in our opinion. We did like the burgers in the Dive-In.

Our favorite entertainment was the Rolling Stone Rock Room. The band was outstanding, enjoyed dancing there each night.  The music in B.B. King's was way too loud for us so we didn't really go in but that one time. It was loud just walking by it.

In the theater the best shows we saw were the group Evolution- Motown. All 4 of these guys had great voices and were terrific. The pianist Elliott Finkel was also outstanding as was the comedian Lamont Ferguson.

The cruise director was the most plain vanilla and boring CD we have ever seen. 

The service was great by our cabin stewards Aly and Muhammed.

Overall a nice cruise but not great and in the future will stay with Celebrity and RCL.

Not my favorite cruise

Hadn’t been on HAL since 2004 but had six prior cruises under my belt starting in 1995- all of which I had really enjoyed. This cruise was easy driving distance from home and Costco travel had a great deal for a balcony with HIA included, which is how we chose it. In the last six years, have cruised on Celebrity and Cunard- and based on the price point and the market positioning, expected something roughly in line with those lines. 

This is not the Holland America Line I remember. Ship felt cramped and crowded, and woefully understaffed. Getting a drink at one of the bars took ten to twenty minutes. Piped in music everywhere, making it a loud ship- something I also disliked about Celebrity. Every single person commented on the seating all being uncomfortably low. 

Food varied wildly. I very much enjoyed our meal at Tamarind, Pinnacle Grill was quite good (although, and this was true of the MDR as well, some items were just not available), and the buffet was passable for breakfast. The fries at the Grand Dutch Cafe were great, but I was sad to see that the beer list was very much dumbed down from previously published lists. The MDR was awful at virtually every meal- we had dinner there four times, lunch once, breakfast twice. Breakfasts arrived cold. Food was bland at best, over salted and weird at worst. 

Mattress was extremely hard but a quick message to guest services resulted in a mattress topper, which was nice. Bathroom was great, balcony was great, but the room was a bit smaller than comparable rooms on other ships. 

Highlights: Thermal suite was excellent and well worth the price of a weeklong pass. Drinks, once procured, were generally well made and tasty. The Crow’s Nest is a wonderful space. Great specialty coffee. Embarkation and disembarkation in San Diego was smooth, fast, easy. Crew was wonderful- only wish that spaces were adequately staffed so they were a bit less run off their feet.

A Massive Letdown

My wife and I chose this cruise to share with my brother and his wife. They had only been on one cruise before and not on Holland America.  My brother and I are very avid music lovers and my ,brother’s wife is as well.  My wife also enjoys music but is not as much.  

We all agreed that the ship was beautiful, the cabins first rate, everything was clean, and the crew extremely friendly and welcoming.  The food was very good to excellent every where we ate from the main dining room to the specialty restaurants.  We ate at all three specialty restaurants and all were of excellent quality.  

The music walk was so much fun!  The addition of the Rolling Stone rock room was a big boost to an already great experience. The music and the musicians were of very high quality there and in the B. B. King’s Blues club.  We also enjoyed the Billboard Onboard show too.  We do miss the classical music that was on our last Holland America cruise and we wish they would bring it back in some fashion at least.

The loss of the classical music and the fact that we became ill with COVID on the cruise prevents me from giving an even higher rating.  We started feeling ill at the very end of the cruise and tested positive when we arrived home.

Great ship, great food, great music 

Hawaii was on our bucket list and we had the time for 16 days.  HAL made it seem longer!  This was cruise 17 for us.  Third on HAL. No rookies here!  On all the best lines e.g. Viking.  HAL has cut back too far.  Loss of Lincoln Center is a good example.  $4 extra charge for orange juice is another. Cruise featured chaos at embarkcation and 3 1/2 hour delay in leaving SAN.  During cruise ship had a partial power black out, a false evacuation announcement,  elevator shut down, a broken bow line at port, and corridors with power scooters blocking fire doors.  Lastly cancelled stop in Maui.  

Dining is supposed to be one of the joys of cruising.  For this cruise it meant more than an hour wait for an a main course only to have it be served room temperature.     More often than not my salad was warmer than my soup!  Dining table waiter got very angry with me because I purchased a wine pkg from another person at Canneloni.  Did not enjoy being yelled at by staff.  So much for forced gratuity!  

Cabin attendant was outstanding!!  Went beyond to make our cabin comfortable.  Tipped him extra in cash!

Gravity group was outstanding entertainment at World Stage.  Comedians were "C" listers...

Our next cruise in August 2024 is on Celebrity then Viking in December.  HAL really doesn't care about repeat customers.

Not the HAL we once knew!

The good... the food and the wonderful staff at the restaurants and Lido. The room is nice and the room stewards are amazing. The boat was generally pretty clean for as many sneezing, coughing, and dirty people there were. The hot tubs were clean. Laundry service is well worth the cost. The bartenders and wait staff around the outdoor pool area are the hardest working people I've seen on the boat. They had plenty of activities to do during the day to pass the time, the Hawaii Ambassadors were simply amazing people, and the evening entertainment was hit/miss.

The bad...the boat is EXTREMELY unstable, sleeping was almost impossible for several nights of our 21 day cruise, being rocked so badly you felt like you were going to fall out of the bed. Of all the cruises I've been on I've never seen the water in the pool splash all the way out. Most of the rooms in the Thermal Spa were inoperable the entire 3 weeks so that was a complete waste of money. 

The 2 staff members at the shore excursions desk lie as straight to your face. Some excursions were complete fails and most people weren't refunded properly while some were. The lady worker at Shore Excursions doesn't know how to organize all the excursions and people. We had to wait almost an hour to get off the boat because someone decided to make every tour at 8:30am that day instead of staggering the times so hundreds of people were trying to get off the boat at once and there were only 2 staff members checking them out. Luckily we only did 2 excursions with them that were included in the package because both were terrible. 

We, and dozens of other people we spoke with, will never book shore excursions through HAL again after so many issues on different days.

Could be great if had better staff at Shore Excursions 

We wanted to do a Holiday Cruise and since we are avid cruisers and really enjoy Holland America ships this cruise fit the bill.  We have enjoyed all our previous Holland cruises very much.  Holland has been our primary cruise line for almost 30 years.  Past service and food quality has always been impeccable.  We have enjoyed the ships and always look forward to cruising with Holland. We have always recommended Holland to our friends.  We understand that Holland is always looking for ways to improve guests’ cruise experiences.  We feel there is room on the Koningsdam for improvement in the following areas.

1.	 We were not allowed to board at our assigned boarding time because the time was not printed on the boarding passes supplied by Holland.  We do not have a Smart Phone or the ability to download the Navigator app.  I showed the email sent to me on December 15, 2023 by Holland that states “Check-In Time: 11:00 AM Check-In Group C”.  The boarding pass also did not have a bar code which caused another delay.  This would have not been a major problem if I could have left my luggage with the dock baggage handlers.  I requested of the female that disallowed the luggage request and she became snarky and nasty.  We were refused that option.  We had to drag our luggage around San Diego as there is no seating available at the pier until we allowed boarding at 2:00 PM.  Maybe Holland should not issue incomplete boarding passes when people check in on-line.

2.	We have noticed a decline in Holland’s food service since our last cruise in April 2023.  Spoiled greens being served, a definite decline in overall food quality and , food service in dining room (bringing wrong food, forgetting drink orders, cold food that is supposed to be warm, excessively long waits, just to name a few.  Doesn't seem to make a difference between breakfast, lunch, or dinner.  I suspect left overs are being served as the following lunch has a very similar item that appears to be called something else but the same ingredients as the item served the previous dinner. Waiters were always smiling and pleasant.  The food and service is much better on Lido Deck than Dining room.  If you want warm, delicious food, and variety, I recommend the Lido Deck. We purchased a wine package from a crew member the day of boarding and were told, several times, that our preferred wine would be available even though it was not on the list.  This was an outright lie.  An ultimate hassle ensued. I asked for a 50% refund as I was served 2 bottles of our wine and was denied at customer service so I went to the Ocean Lounge and the nice bar manager there gave me the bottles to hand carry to dining room which I did.  Wine problem solved.

3.	Had we known there would be DOGS ALLOWED on the ship we would have not booked the cruise.  We do not like cruising with animals and looking at and smelling their assigned relief place on deck 3 forward.  If people need a so called support animal they are too fragile to cruise.  These dogs were not service dogs as displayed by the lack of training that I witnessed in front of the dining room entrance on Christmas dinner night.  I can’t imagine how terrible it would be to share a life boat with critters in case of an emergency.  We love our dog and make arrangements to leave him behind when traveling.  BE PREPARED THAT DOGS ARE ALLOWED ON THE KONINGSDAM.

4.     The room stewards were great.  Our balcony room was always well kept and stocked.  The stewards were always smiling, polite, helpful and efficient.  They have radar as they know when are are not in the room so that they can take care of things. Adi and Mohammad are the best.

5.	The cruise ports met our expectations except we missed a port due to weather which Holland has no control over.  Two days on Kona would definitely be better than two days in Hilo.

6.	Hula dance instructor gave a speech concerning the marriage to his husband of 10 years.  His speech centered on LGTBQ activism.  We don’t care for that sort of thing.   We go on cruises to get away from politics and activism.  The LGTBQ community have special get-together and that would be the place for his speeches.  I often wonder why Holland goes out of the way to have special activities and meetings with the LGTBQ folks when no such activities are available for other minorities and non-minority groups.  Modern times I guess and glad some accommodations are made for those with different interests.

7.	It is sad to see the “bait and switch” practices used throughout the Koningsdam.  We experienced it with the wine package, photo package, and the spa. Seniors are often victims of such practices. My wife’s spa visit went from about $50 to a whopping $250.  She was not informed of the increased cost of her manicure until it was check out time with exception on some skin products she purchased.

It is apparent to us that Holland's Larger Ships have lost its appeal to us as a quiet, unhurried, restful, quality cruise experience we have enjoyed so much in the past.  Be ready for excessively loud music in the lounges.  Noisy children in the dining areas, adult swim areas, running around the ship, is what I would expect on a Carnival Cruise.  I do realize that Holland has no control over how parents keep their children in check but is a factor on our cruise line choices.  Movies at the pool are not recommended as there are loud distracting noises especially since people are swimming, playing ping pong, teenagers and children playing in the area.  Hopefully this is what is expected only on the larger ships and not the cruise experiences on the smaller ships like the Volendam which we are booked on later this year.  We are considering canceling the Volendam cruise.  I have written my personal cruise consultant, head of passenger services, and filled out the Holland survey with no response to my concerns.  The shows we went to in the World Stage were enjoyable.

Disappointing Holland America Cruise Ever

After 5 days at sea to reach Hawaii we were disappointed to hear that bad weather forced a cancellation of our visit to Maui. The remaining shore excursions were good but our Maui excursion was the one we'd looked forward too the most.

Then of course there's the additional 5 days at sea for our return journey. We love shipboard life but this was too much in one stretch. The majority of the time at sea was fairly calm but a lot colder on deck than we'd expected. Not too much sun tanning happening. All staff were incredibly friendly and helpful and the food was the usual Holland America standard. It was the first time we'd sailed on the Koningsdam..the largest ship for us so far but there were suprsingly few line ups except for one major hiccup trying to disembark for a shore excursion...massive confusion and frustration with line crashing from various exits and elevators.

Christmas in Hawaii

Filters

1-10 of 866