Holland America Line Oosterdam

Great Food, Friendly, Clean – Love this ship, 24 nights, great choice of good food, except bacon was rather salty. Greta staff and nice and clean, did not stink of cigarette smoke like so many Carnival and P&O ships do. Show details

Mediterranean cruise from hell – Cruise itinerary looked great but contracted covid onboard and cruise liner sent me to medical clinic with $16,000+ unnecessary medical fees. Cruise liner takes no responsibility. Show details

Not good value – I booked my first cruise ever on the Oosterdam from Auckland. If the city of Auckland appreciates the business cruise ships bring, they certainly don't show it. The port consists of an old warehouse with plastic chairs and a few tables. No amenities, like drinking water, whatsoever. The Holland America staff were not remotely welcoming, just… Read more

bossy. In fact, no-one said a word of welcome. The room was OK, although the table that is supposed to raise and lower was broken. I travelled alone, so I paid a 100% markup for my fare, which in a balcony suite was PLENTY. The food was nothing special. I ate in the Pinnacle several times, and I really couldn't say it was worth the extra money. Even the "Le Cirque" night wasn't particularly special. The coffee on the ship was awful, plain and simple. I should think that a cruise line operating out of Seattle would have good coffee. There are no trays to carry food, so you have to make multiple trips to your table. The entertainment was not plentiful, let's just say that. On the last morning the orange juice was watered down. I guess they ran out, as they did with a lot of wine. I really didn't feel that I got my money's worth, especially considering I paid twice as much as most passengers. .

14 day Cruise Auckland NZ to Sydney Aust from 7 Nov 2014 – Boarding the boat took four hours in Auckland, far too long, once on board we noticed there were many people with colds, because of this most ended up with colds during the trip, hand sanitiser units were not manned during meal times which is unusual, left for you to decide. We felt the boat was not up to the standard of Royal Carribean, perhaps… Read more

more for the gloved people of yesteryear, the interior is not glamorous, very ordinary, swimming pools are mundane, little adornment to give them the wow factor, the dining rooms and meals served were basically the same as any other cruise line, keeping in mind your four course meal in the main dining room is the same as the buffet

The partially blocked window in our room did not bother us, we requested that perhaps in the hope of being upgraded, we could have done so for an extra $350 which we thought was outrageous, we could have paid that for a better room in the beginning, it was a very tidy and well kept room, although had to complain about a very noisy air conditioning fan the first night, this should have been fixed prior to boarding, we enjoyed the shows at night but pillars obstructing the view shows it is an old ship

Keep in mind it is better not to get sick on board as the charges are ridiculous, a phone call to your room can cost $60 to see how you are, keep well and avoid.

Disappointed in the dressing of the female performer on piano with violin playing beautiful classical music, needed more glitz and glamour, not nursing home garb.

Disappointed that two of the ports we could not visit owing to rough seas were Milford Sound and Hobart, can not understand Hobart as the Melbourne ships go back and forth each day, felt the Captain could not be bothered going there, disappointing for passengers from the USA and Europe, two places they wished to visit

Keep in mind your credit or debit card will have a holding amount charged without your consent, they tell you we do not charge unless you use your ship card, but yes they do, this will appear to your horror

Would we travel again with HAL, no we wouldn't, paying $11.50US each per day in tips and then having emplyeess lining up on the last night as though they needed more is not for us.

Shore excursions are expensive to buy on board, avoid.

Good trip – Back from NZ 30/03/14, Mostly good as expected, food good, moved around the venues for extra variety. Not show people but , shows were very good. Drinks and other expenses not a surprise (factor it all in , or get a shock at the end) Shore excursions were great. Staff at all levels were mostly very good. We got a paid upgrade to a suite,… Read more

amazing.

2nd HAL (Oosterdam) cruise , will sail with them again.

You get what you put into a cruise, if parts of it annoy you, avoid those bits and have fun !

February 5th 2018 Update: Good Ship, Good Cruise

Singapore to Hong Kong January 2018, one of their older ships had a re do a couple of years ago everything was fine , can't complain about anything really, food good ,Lido and Dining Room never cold etc.

Lots of sales people , you just say "No thanks" and keep walking, not a problem. Boarding and disembarking quick and painless, shore excursions not cheap, you are welcome to organise your own excursions if you like.

Staff great , for all the complaining people seem to do, "its too cold , its too hot, I can cook that better etc etc.

We have been on quite a few cruises and I think the most annoying thing is having to listen to people complain about nothing, cruising is not for everybody, it is like everything in life you make the best of it and enjoy yourself. The room , most of the staff, and NZ Nothing worth mentioning

Better than expected, not as good as it could be – After talking with many people during our 14 day cruise from Sydney to New Zealand we came to understand that cruises are as much about expectations as anything else. We heard opinions that Holland America Lines (HAL) were as good as, less so, and more so than other cruise lines. We expected to be able to choose and to be able to do nothing… Read more

if that is what we chose and that was what we got. Several times during the cruise we chose to stay onboard and do nothing but read. If you are expecting to be entertained every minute of the day perhaps you would be disappointed.

The ship’s décor has clearly seen better days, but was clean and generally well maintained in function and appearance. We liked that the lifts get a new carpet every day with the current day named – it is easy to loose track.

Communication is an issue – you have to learn the “ropes on your own. When we boarded it was lunch time and we needed to wade through wads of information to figure out that we could stroll up to the Lido and eat. The embarkation process was a litany of queues. This was because we along with a lot of others had relaised that the time on our tickets were not a suggestion but a part of a staged embarkation process. Had we known we would have waited for our time slot.

We had a few issues that needed assistance from the front office to be resolved. It turned out we had to nag them often to get any practical response.

You could not spend an extra dollar after your cruise payment but it is very difficult. There is a constant persistent push to buy, buy, buy. Art work, jewelry, clothes, souvenirs, booze, tours; did I mention booze? The price of ship booked tours can be very expensive compared to what you can get by walking ashore and booking worth one of the many hawkers on the dock. The “tip fee” of US$11.50 per person per day was outrageous to Australians (not so much for Americans). Did I mention the booze? You can get this stopped by approaching the front office – but that means a lot of the crew miss out on what is basically their wages – and they work much too hard for that.

If you need/want to stay in contact with home – best of luck. We did need to keep in contact and had made arrangements to do so – most failed. The onboard, very expensive, internet worked for about half the trip and even then insider knowledge was needed to know where the hot spot was today. The IT Manager was locatable now and then and if you asked nicely would tell you where the hot spot was. Far from good enough. WIFI connection was not a practical idea from the cabin (stateroom) .

That’s the bad stuff out the way. The crew are generally very efficient, very friendly, and very helpful – all of the time. Nothing is too much trouble. The food is plentiful and good and variety is achievable by moving around and varying your choices. The entertainment on out trip (16 – 30 March 2014) was very god (and I was not expecting that – I don’t like shows). Plenty of variety – dance, song, comedy, mentalist, varying music styles. This is not the cruise if you have young children or teens – at 58 and 60 yO were in the younger set. The 5 teenagers on board must have been ready to throw themselves over the side!

If you are into spa’s these, looked great, but can’t say more than that. Don’t believe tat you can’t get seasick on a modern cruise ship. When the seas run greater than 3 mtrs you can get sick. Go to your doctor and get the prescription stuff – it works and doesn’t make you sleepy.

The ship offered land based tours are expensive but do offer a little more and the ship will wait for you to come back in the evening. We spent most shore time exploring on our own and found the NZ people to be incredibly friendly and helpful.

Overall the positives far outweighed the negatives and we would go again. The view form the balcony, the enforced relaxation and mental down time. Senior staff were useless. Looking a bit worn out

Oosterdam not worth the extra cost associated with HAL – Quick synopsis: Old ship in need of total refurbishment to bring up to today’s standards. Crew at times were surly and quite confrontational. Food okay but not outstanding. Entertainment mostly appalling Ships senior offers not available or seen above the rank of a 1 bar. Scandalous! Front desk, polite but useless. Certain areas of ship… Read more

need a good spotless clean.

Carpets on stairwells worn-out.

Ships crew seems to lack discipline and smartness of dress untidy.

Review:

It has been 8 years since our last HAL cruise, in this time there is a noticeable difference in the standard of service for which Holland and America were once renowned for. The Carnival Corporation has now worked its policies on this line to make it more affordable to everyone, so for those of you accustomed to the old more prestigious line or to travelling on Celebrity or Royal Caribbean out of Australia then possibly the now old, bruised and battered Oosterdam will not be up to their high service levels in all departments.

Check in was pitifully slow with only 80% of the check in counters being manned. No priority line for mini suite guests. Once on board no staff to welcome you, find your own way, for an avid cruiser not a problem but for those new to cruising they found it more difficult to find their cabins. Our suite upon arrival was smelly, from body odours and not being sanitised thoroughly. The bathroom floor tiles had large areas of grout missing, clear evidence that both maintenance and supervisory attendance were lacking. No cabin steward in sight or one to introduce themselves to us until well after we were on our way to evening dinner.

We asked for the strong odour smells to be irradiated, no such luck. We persevered that night but the next day the smell was equally as prevalent, we asked for the cabin to be deep cleaned, which apparently it was, to no avail. So we left the cabin door open on the balcony which after 8 hours did the trick along with us spraying our deodorant over the fabrics. No more smells of past bodies. The bathroom was re-grouted too.

Unfortunately now the cabin stewards have to attend to 30 cabins on Hal, up from 19, so in all fairness they have little time to really spoil you and spruce up your cabin, past a very quick spit and polish if you are extremely lucky.

The bathroom toiletries consisted of a single bar of soap for basin and shower with a single small pot of body lotion. This was your luxury pack of toiletries. Our towels were constantly old and grey not white, fluffy and pristine. Occasionally when we were fortunate enough to find a relatively new towel it was a fight to see who showered first. Cabin overall was adequate but for a suite nothing too special to entice you back.

Lido, breakfast and lunch both offer a good range and selection, again not to RCI or Celebrity, quality wise but, good enough, if your first cruise you would not be disappointed.

Vista dining room, here too they now have 30 covers to serve, that's per steward, which again gives a lot of work for one person to cover. The quality of the food was again good but not outstanding. Not to the same level as Radiance, Rhapsody or Solstice, all three outshine the Oosterdam by a mile in all degrees of service level, quantity, quality and presentation. Whilst the waiting stewards were fairly joyous and happy, due to their volume of work they had little time to make your dining experience that extra bit special, as was the case previously.

I would go as far as to say that my experience on the Pacific Dawn was indeed superior to that of the Oosterdam, which was over 3 times the price to that paid for similar accommodation on the Dawn. Officers above 1 bar were never to be spotted on this ship, never, even if requested, you were not able to voice your concerns to a senior officer of this ship. It was as if you were prevented from asking a question that you may have been given a real answer to, instead this ship diversifies your real question and answers with a totally irrelevant one, which of course is extremely frustrating and irritating.

Entertainment was below par for what is perceived as a 5star cruise line. Only 3 cruise line production shows on this a 14 night cruise. No doubt they only now have 3 in their portfolio as most cruises out of the US are for 7 nights which would make show every other night but one would have thought that at Christmas a little bit of extra thought would have brought them up to speed and introduced extra shows for this over priced cruise, which all Christmas cruises are. No show or entertainment at all in the Vista lounge on the last night. The venue itself has many seats which have a pillow blocking the view of the performers, this spoils any enjoyment. The layout of the seating is particularly badly designed with the first 7 rows set out as if you were in a two bit club, tables and uncomfortable chairs, taking up where at least 12 full rows of theatre seating could have been installed. So many people could not be seated at the evening shows.

Brought into service in 1995 the ship is badly in need of a total refit, this is not a luxury liner of the 21st century, is this why it is brought to Australia for our summer. Why are all cruise lines guilty of bringing all of their old worn out ships to die in Australia? After all our rate per cabin per day is far higher charge than say one sailing the Caribbean route or for that matter the northern European routes.

Overall my experience on this Christmas and New Year cruise was very disappointing as it was for many that voiced their grievances to me. Many a comment was made about staffing levels and wait times for service from often quite surly crew. How times are changing.

New Years Eve: At times ships run like clockwork and at others they seem to be run by idiots. On New Years Eve, the dress code was casual, first time in my 17 years of cruising at Christmas and New Year. Most of the bars were closed at 10 pm to allow for everyone to attend the pool party on the open deck under the stars. (Make everyone attend no options) When we arrived at 9pm they were clearing away all of the tables and chairs. They removed every single one, apart for those where 6 people were already sitting. Hid them and locked them all away out of sight. Asked officer why, he replied “there are going to be 1500 people up here and we want to make enough room” I replied “so you want people to stand for 3 to 4 hours on a moving ship for all this time” he replied “yeah” pointing out the age demographics of the ship seemed not to draw his attention to that plight. We ourselves went to another cupboard and grabbed 4 chairs and a table for our drinks. Over the next hour or so, everyone who then arrived went to the rear pool area through the Lido and brought back a set of chairs and tables. By midnight the place was full of tables and chairs brought by the passengers either from their own cabins or from the rear pool, area. I ask these idiots’s as that is clearly what they were, what was the purpose or locking way all the chairs in a room and drawing the curtains/blinds to hide them and then allowing all the passengers to fetch their own chairs, stupidly or what! Unbelievable.