WE chose Holland America's Westerdam OCTOBER 18, 2021 repositioning from Venice to FLL to return to cruising at what we thought was the end of the COVID pandemic., October 2021. WRONG!
The 2021 cruising season morphed into a strange version of the book "Ship of Fools" . Four different HAL ships ( Westerdam cancelled) had their itineraries and cruises cancelled and consolidated onto the ...
Old ship, not remodeled. Staff on the ship work very hard, could not overcome poor management and worse leadership.
1- no smoking ship but when we complained about the cabin next door smoking all time. They were to busy to do anything. Several trips to the front desk.
2- very poor communication from the top.
3 - should have left and returned from Venice but instead we got a very ...
The expected changes due to the pandemic were the requirement to wear a mask any time or place outside your stateroom. There were temperature checks available and PCR testing was done at least twice during the cruise. The important test was just before getting off of the ship so as to be able to meet USG rules for getting back into the country. The staff was relaxed about using a mask in the ...
I booked this cruise in June and thought things would be better by August. As we all knew Delta variant came around and I was unsure about going but so glad that we did. The crew could not be happier or more attentive. The embarkation was not as hectic as I thought although they could have had fans in this huge tent we waited in. We got there at about 2pm, was given a group number to wait which ...
I chose this cruise for my group of 10 (mostly family) due to the itinerary. Our ages range from 25 to 63. We found the 12 day Romance Cruise to be very exciting. It stopped at 10 ports in 12 days and visited 7 countries. We spent an extra day in Venice before the cruise and also in Barcelona at the end of the cruise prior to flying home extending our vacation to 14 days. We also spent 2 days in ...
This cruise offerred the portswe wanted and allowed us to spend a few days in Venice before the cruise. The ship offerred excelent food and wonderful entertainment. The cabin was ok except that they should have more drawer space. My only real complaint was the schedule of the ports. The ship stopped in the port for Rome on a Sunday when all the museums and the Cistine Chapel are closed. The ...
Having sailed with cruise ships from Thomson, Costa, NCL, P&O and Cunard this is my take on our first cruise with Holland America on the Eurodam.
Overview
Although currently sailing in Europe the ship is tailored for the American market and the majority of passengers were from the USA and Canada although there was a large presence of Australians on board. I am English.
I am not ...
Have been on other HAL cruises but this was our first European cruise. Venice to Barcelona. Room Stewards were great. Room was prepared day and night while we were out. It was always immaculate.
Had great service in the Dining Room on the second floor..
Wine servers offered a variety of suggestions without coming up with a solid recommendation or two even with specific requests (dry ...
We were a party of five friends who booked this cruise specifically for the destinations of Istanbul and Ephesus in Turkey. When the unrest started in Istanbul H&A changed the itinerary for two nights in Athens which although disappointed we understood, however shortly before our cruise they also changed the itinerary again and remove Ephesus and substituted Albania. We were extremely anger ...
This was out 13th cruise but our first on HAL. There were some good points such as the cleanliness of the ship, the quality of service etc. Overall the food was good we just tried one speciality restaurant the Tamarind and it was good. We did use the Tamarind bar every night this used to be called silk and I think now that they have changed the name to Tamarind people assume that it is just used ...