Holland America Line, which has been sailing for 150 years, visits 400 ports in 114 countries every year. Dutch heritage shines through in some of the $4million-worth of artwork to be seen onboard, complimenting the luxurious cruise experience.
Live music remains HAL's forte, with venues including the Rolling Stone Rock room and BB King's Blues Club. For foodies, a wide range of restaurants serve the finest of fayre.
Vancouver's allure as a cruise hub lies in its jaw-dropping natural landscape and handy position on Canada's west coast. Framed by snow-capped mountains and sparkling waters, the city's scenic harbor welcomes ships from around the world. Cruise enthusiasts are drawn to Vancouver for its seamless embarkation process and the opportunity to explore this cosmopolitan city before setting sail. With its blend of urban sophistication and outdoor adventures, Vancouver captivates visitors with its dynamic culture and picturesque surroundings, making it a must-visit destination for North American experiences.
Vancouver's allure as a cruise hub lies in its jaw-dropping natural landscape and handy position on Canada's west coast. Framed by snow-capped mountains and sparkling waters, the city's scenic harbor welcomes ships from around the world. Cruise enthusiasts are drawn to Vancouver for its seamless embarkation process and the opportunity to explore this cosmopolitan city before setting sail. With its blend of urban sophistication and outdoor adventures, Vancouver captivates visitors with its dynamic culture and picturesque surroundings, making it a must-visit destination for North American experiences.
Our first Signature Class ship, Eurodam epitomizes grace and excellence. Test your music trivia skills at Billboard Onboard or catch a performance at the stunning World Stage.
We didn't opt for the 'Have it all' package as we don't drink much and thought it expensive, especially for a 38 day trans-Pacific cruise!
But by the time you added up the cost of drinks, coffees, shore excursion discounts, speciality dining nights, wifi and gratuities that would have come with the package perhaps it was a false economy? All of these were stupidly expensive.
Gratuities for our cabin for the cruise was over $1000, added to our bill without prior knowledge (steep considering 18% gratuities was added to every drinks bill).
There were so many things that were charged extra throughout the ship. Yoga and spinning classes at $20, bridge visits, galley visits (over $100! I remember them being free), craft classes, several items on the menu every night as extras! People joked that they'd charge for toilet paper if they could.
The cruise ended up being so much more expensive than. Buyer beware.
Booked a cruise with HA, thinking they offer nice excusions. At the time of the booking they all seemed available. Day after booking I have discovered there is literally none left, besides basic walking city tours for over 100 USD!
In short, I cannot even spend my onshore excusions credit with them.
I have written so many emails and called so many times trying to find a solution, but they dont return any answer.. My phone bill is probably over 500 USD after one month of this now. I simply hate HA at this point of time.
On top of it, they website is super buggy - hundreds of error messages, you cannot check out, you see things as available which are not, and and and...
And they also advertise wrong prices - e.g. Have it all package for 55 USD a day, and when you try to check out it magically becomes 65 USD a day.
A wonderful way to see Indonesia and Malaysia from Singapore. This was a special time, especially the tours on the many ports of call. Quite naturally one compares it with the best of my many previous cruises, and that`s when improvements spring to mind.
What was missing was the daytime activities and evening entertainments to stimulate the senses. Regular Holland America cruisers, of which there are many, insist that classical music and educational speakers were the norm before covid. If the latter had been in evidence, then a great cruise could have been an amazing one.
Our tours were expensive, and although some tour guides were exceptional, sadly some were very poor. Holland America does not ask for feedback, so presumably no opportunity to reward the best whilst eliminating the seriously bad.
Thank you Holland America, and in particular the majority of the service staff, who went out of their way to ensure our well being.
We are regular cruisers and this was the worst experience ever. Waste of time and money. Total cheats. We took the cruise from Sydney to New Zealand and back for 15 days. The arrival back to Sydney was delayed and as a result, we missed our flight. We were told to submit all papers to Holland America who would reimburse our change of travel, hotel stay, and food it is going to be 1 year and we have had no response from the cruise line despite several reminders. We received a notification saying it is covid and we will get the response in 4-6 weeks' time. When the whole world is back to normal Holland America is still hiding behind covid. What a shame. Worse cruise line ever and cheats on top of that. No decency to send a reply either agreeing to pay or not. It is because of them that we unnecessarily spent USD 700/-.
Please do not use this cruise liner. There are other professional cruise liners who treat their customers well and reply to their queries. There is nothing nice about this cruise line.
Unfortunately, although the quality of food was good, it always arrived cold.
The fitness facilities were woefully inadequate whereas the gambling facilities were the opposite.
The entertainment facilities were also inadequate and very loud. The quality of the entertainment was variable.
Most of the staff were very courteous yet we found the lady on the restaurant booking desk rude and condescending.
There were queues lasting hours to embark but disembarkation was very smooth.
There were also large queues for reception and some reception staff were not particularly helpful.
The shops were mainly jewellery based so not much in the way of souvenirs aboard.
The destinations were very good especially Glacier bay.
