holland-nieuw4

Note -this page contains multiple reviews.

Name: Wanda Baldridge
Email: xbaldridge@hotmail.com
Age: 48
Occupation: Librarian
NumberOfCruises: 1
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Holland-NieuwAmsterdam
SailingDate: 06/15/00
Itinerary: Vancouver to Seward
Cabin: 646/Level B
FoodDiningRoom: 96
CruiseDirector: 97
CabinComfort: 94
FoodRoomService: 80
CruiseStaff: 96
CabinAmenities: 92
FoodLidoDeck: 94
DiningRoomService: 98
CabinQuietness: 85
FoodMidnightBuffets: 96
CabinSteward: 98
ShoreExcVariety: 79
FoodVariety: 97
DeckService: 94
ShoreExcValue: 70
GoodForHoneymoon: n/a
CasinoStaff: 79
PrivateIsland: n/a
GoodForFamilies: n/a
LoungeService: 70
TenderService: 89
GoodForSeniors: 92
BeautySalonStaff: n/a
EntertainmentLounges: 95
WheelchairAccess: n/a
ExerciseFacilities: n/a
EntertShowLounge: 95
OverallPortsofCall: 92
BeautySalon: n/a
EntertainmentPoolside: 85
CruiseActivities: 93
Casino: 79
AirSeaProgram: 95
MedicalFacilities: n/a
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 92
DiscoNightclubs: 92
DeckSpace: 95
Stabilization: 95
ShopsOnBoard: 95
SpaceRatio: 95
OverallCruiseValue: 94
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 09 Jul 2000
Time: 15:05:36
Remote Name: 216-90-183-53.dal.port.mytelco.com
Remote User:

Comments

This was the first cruise my husband and I had ever taken. From what I’ve learned from others who
have gone on cruises, we were lucky to have gone on Holland America. The service on Holland
America was superb. We felt like royalty most of the time. It was so obvious that HAL is dedicated to
service. I feel reasonably certain that when we take another cruise it will be with HAL, maybe not to
Alaska but the Caribbean.

Alaska was wonderful and we enjoyed seeing it from the luxury of the cruise. The ports were
enjoyable and the time on board was even more so. HAL seems to excel in entertaining its
passengers. Every show was great, as well as the other planned activities on board. We never
lacked for anything to do, although we also enjoyed time to just do nothing. Even the lineup of
movies in the stateroom was good.

The service was fabulous. Our cabin stewards as well as our numerous servers at dinner each night
were nothing short of terrific; although room service was a little lacking. Every time I ordered (twice)
the order was incorrect, but this wasn't much of a problem. But it was delightful to return to our
stateroom and notice that everything had been “tidied up”. We felt very comfortable leaving our
belongings about although we were cautious about valuables. And even when we forgot and didn’t
lock the valuables, we found them undisturbed. Our evening dinners were always the highlight of the
day. Our servers were extraordinary and the food was fabulous. We had very pleasant conversations
with them and marveled at the “royal” treatment we continually received. Even the servers that we
encountered throughout the other eating areas were very friendly as well as helpful.

It is important to note that our cruise director stated this when talking of the survey we were asked to
complete before we left the ship—“we are not perfect and we are always striving to improve”.
Therefore, there are several areas, which I feel HAL can improve and that fellow-cruisers need to be
aware. As terrific as the service was in the eating areas, there is certainly room for improvement in
the lounge areas. On our ship, we found it hard sometimes to get a server to wait on us, especially in
the uppermost lounge—the Crow’s Nest. It was our favorite lounge as far as view is concerned, but
our least favorite as far as service. We always had the feeling that the only waited on specific people
and we weren’t those people. We must have visited the lounge at least once per day, and only once
did we not have to go and asked someone to wait on us. This needs improving.

Another area of concern to us was shore excursions. The personnel on board were truly friendly and
informative; however, we were not able to take a plane flight the entire cruise because of weather
and circumstances. We really wanted to book our excursions ahead of time, but our travel agent told
us that HAL does not book excursions until you board the ship. So, after reading the brochures we
were immediately prepared to book our excursions. You can imagine our shock when we discover
that the best flight excursion in Ketchikan is already sold out. What we discovered is that the other
cruise lines do allow pre-booking. Now, I don’t believe that HAL had any control over the rest of what
happened about our excursions, but I do believe it needs to be noted. We were forced to take
another plane excursion from Ketchikan that was due to leave at 7:30 instead of 9:30 am. The
weather was bad that morning; therefore, our flight was cancelled. But we were not told this until we
were sitting on the bus to start the tour. We were told the bad news was that our flight was cancelled,
but the good news was they would extend our tour to include the totem poles. We were also told that
the cost of the flight part of our tour would be refunded. What we learned later was that we were
switched to another tour so they could charge us $54 each, even though the way we figured it we
should have been charged on $35 each. We weren’t even given the opportunity to cancel the whole
tour and get a complete refund. We were not very happy that day—the tour was lousy by the way.
We don’t like canneries and that is mostly what we saw. Worse yet, we went ahead and booked our
excursions for the other ports after we learned that the first excursion we wanted was sold out. At the
time, we booked the other excursions we were scheduled to take the flight in Ketchikan; therefore, we
chose not to book any other flights for the rest of the trip. Unfortunately, after ours was cancelled, all
the other excursions from other ports involving flights were already sold out. Consequently, we never
got to fly over glaciers or fjords. We were very disappointed and did not like the way the entire matter
was handled.

One thing about excursions, on a positive note, that fellow cruisers need to be aware of is that if you
take the northbound cruise, you now have the option to upgrade from the coach trip from Seward to
Anchorage to the train ride. Take it; it’s wonderful and well worth the money. Only on drawback—your
luggage. They need to fine-tune this process. Once we arrived in Anchorage at the train station, we
had to claim our own luggage and take it around the corner to waiting buses to take us to the airport.
There were not enough buses for everyone and some had to wait. Why couldn’t all the luggage be
loaded onto the buses without our having to deal with it? This was minor, but still a hassle.

It’s been two weeks since I returned from my cruise. I have many fond memories, and I can hardly
remember the hassles I spoke of above. HAL is truly a first-class cruise line and we definitely plan to
sail with them again.

Name: Kathleen Demers
Email: sunbun@island.net
Age: 44
Occupation: Administrative Assistant
NumberOfCruises: 2
TravelAgent: No
Ship: Holland-NieuwAmsterdam
SailingDate: November 6, 1999
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean
Cabin: 849
FoodDiningRoom: 70
CruiseDirector: 99
CabinComfort: 69
FoodRoomService: 89
CruiseStaff: 99
CabinAmenities: 90
FoodLidoDeck: 89
DiningRoomService: 69
CabinQuietness: 50
FoodMidnightBuffets:
CabinSteward: 89
ShoreExcVariety: 90
FoodVariety: 89
DeckService: 99
ShoreExcValue: 89
GoodForHoneymoon: 50
CasinoStaff:
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies:
LoungeService:
TenderService: 90
GoodForSeniors: 90
BeautySalonStaff: 77
EntertainmentLounges: 70
WheelchairAccess: 69
ExerciseFacilities: 69
EntertShowLounge: 80
OverallPortsofCall: 99
BeautySalon: 89
EntertainmentPoolside: 80
CruiseActivities: 69
Casino:
AirSeaProgram:
MedicalFacilities: 89
ShipCleanliness: 88
EmbarkDisembark: 70
DiscoNightclubs: 77
DeckSpace: 70
Stabilization: 80
ShopsOnBoard: 88
SpaceRatio: 90
OverallCruiseValue: 99
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 15 Oct 2000
Time: 19:49:19
Remote Name: dyn99.north.island.net
Remote User:

Comments

Room was booked as a double - when we got there, we found out the beds would not join together for a
double, therefore, it is not a good room for honeymooners. There was also a lot of noise in our room
caused by what sounded like a generator. I wore ear plugs the whole trip in order to get some sleep.

The cruise itself included mostly seniors, so the entertainment was geared mostly to their tastes.

The disco was practically empty most nights. The karaoke machine was not working properly, so only
about a half of the songs were available. Karaoke nights were the busiest I had seen the disco. On a 14
night cruise, there were only 2 karaoke nights.

The food at the buffet was really good, and had a good selection. However, the dining room menu was
very rich and the selection not as good for those who wanted to eat light once and a while. During formal
nights, the buffet was closed, so everyone had to attend. It would have been nicer to be given a choice
here.

There was one problem with the buffet that we noticed as the cruise went on. We had an increase in flies
hanging around the tables and the food. Something should be done about this for health reasons.

The service was very slow on this ship as we were told that there were a lot of new people being trained
for the new ship coming on line soon. This was evident at the High Tea when the waiters had trouble
getting food to all of those who sat towards the back of the main lounge. A lot of the plates were emptied
before they reached the back, instead of designating food trays or waiters for those areas. This is
something which Holland America needed work on.

Wheelchair accessibility on my floor was poor. Our neighbour had to keep his wife's wheelchair folded
outside by the hallway as there was no space in his room. He also had to get help to carry his wife to the
outside hallway to the chair as he could not maneuver the wheelchair from the room, around the door and
down the hallway. It was awkward.

I found the deck space to be a bit cramped - especially during our daily walk-a mile sessions.

Daily activities were alright, but not outstanding.

Tender service, although slow was efficient enough. My only complaint was when the cruiseship workers
(from below decks) on leave in Grand Cayman boarded (rather pushy), taking the seats and making
some of the seniors stand. I thought this rather rude behaviour.

The ship itself was fine. It was well maintained inside, very clean.

The theatre was very good and the shows were up-to-date.

Shopping was great on board and a lot of specials were advertised each day for select items.

Most of the staff were friendly and willing to help out with our needs as far as around the pool or our
stateroom.

The intinerary was excellent.

Back to Holland Nieuw Amsterdam