Holland America - Westerdam Reviews

We loved our trip to Alaska everything met our expectations

What a wonderful cruise, complemented by 2 weeks free-wheeling. Blossom time is amazing but I imagine autumn (fall) would be equally spectacular.

Looked forward to the 29 day cruise on HAL after all we had heard about the line. We did 19 day tour of China before the cruise and guess it was good we had a vpn so we could get on social media as it was there we heard the embartion port was changed in Shanghai Tried to confirm with Hal but no response. How unprofessional. With blocked internet we had little news but we sent email to Avoya agent and she got back that Port was changed but Hal had not notified her either. Now we were faced with contacting the car pickup service to change the drop off and we are in Tibet with very little internet. After boarding we learned from other guests they found out about the port change the morning of embartion at the hotel from the porter getting them a taxi as he had heard it from another guest . How sad. In Shanghai the boarding was a nightmare. Two hours thrown in a group to fight your way to the Checkin. Apparently no selerate Checkin for suite guests. Saw none but that is another story. While looking at the tv in our suite I saw account info and noticed the on board credit was half of what we were told at booking. Dropped by guest service to inquire... I should have never done that. Guest service said I needed to check with booking agent when I returned as she could not get that info. WHAT? Again I email agent at Avoya and it was corrected in less than 24 hours. Now day 2. We purchased the wine package with 2 dinners for 2 at pinacle grill. We tell the girl at hostess stand as we made dinner reservations. Next day we notice we were changed for 2 dinners on account. Ok 29 days, we will use the 2 we prepurchased dinners later. Following week we go again to the pinacle and again tell girl it is part of package. She says yes yes. Next day another surprise from Hal. Charged again on account. We go to guest service stand in line 30 minutes of our vacation to be told she would have to request a response first and would get back to us. I think the response was toss that in the trash can as soon as we walked away. 2 days later it was still not taken care of so off to stand In Line again. This time said we are not leaving until it is fixed. Took 15 minutes but got a receipt. At booking we were told suites get priority embarkation , tenders, expanded roomservice breakfast menu , one touch concierge to make dinner reservations and so much more. Called to make reservations as shown in print to be told, we don’t take reservations you need to come and wait ( in short line of course)lol Then on board when waiting 3 hours and 15 minutes for tender because we were told priority is only for Neptune suites. I ask about breakfast menus and again surprise that is only for Neptune suites. Strange the only thing they followed for all suites was the service charge. Yes $12 for regular and $15 for suites . Surprise that was not just for Neptune suites but all. Didn’t seem logical, fair or reasonable but that’s the surprise. The tour Exe...one more surprise. Went up several times and not open. When they were you had to do that thing HAL forces you to do so much. Stand in line and wait. I waited over 20 minutes to purchase a tour , really? The lido was the best surprise. A buffet is so below Holland America and the Lido food never really changed. It was boring compared to Princess. I do not go on a cruise to fight for food and then not be able to find a place to sit down and eat it. Ok so go to dinning room. So many sea days it was NOT open as advertisement stated and we were left with only the lido Walmart buffet. We heard so much about the food on HAL and it was a surprise too. Many evenings nothing was interesting on the menu and the salmon, strip steak or chicken got tired.m, not to mention how tough the strip was. We are adventitious eaters but one night the Cesar salad had sat under a heat lamp and was warm. The steak was tasteless and tough and they always over cooked the salmon until it was dried out . Get a chef team to develope food that holds without drying out, since you need to make it up so far In advance. Your fruit garnish look nice on the plate but did anyone from food service notice that when you put fruit in a hot plate it gets HOT too. Same with room service, you placed the salads under the warm entree and the salad arrived warm. Room service is not something new but they seem to be doing a great job of making it less desirable. Alan Bowley

Great food, activities, price, people, side trips.

Love it except for the Alaskan crab di ner tgat we paid for. Crab was dry and the soup tasted like coffe. Other than that it was awesome!

Holland America Cruise line had great service at every level.

Great itinerary and logistics arrangement.

Enjoyed the entertainment. The staff was very nice. Didn't enjoy the food. Several times my food was luke warm.

Really enjoyed the Holland America experience.

In short. I felt that the daily fair(food) was lacking, the gratuities were automatic not at all my choice. I was charge for something I had to have it removed. Even though, I prepaid for everything\, I thought, It felt that HA was out to make as much as it could. other than that, the cruise was fine. ALASKA IS BEATIFUL!

A relaxing time with family. Services were good in stateroom and dinning room. all staff were courteous and as efficient as their work load allowed. It was evident that staff cutbacks have taken place since our last cruise in 2014. Cruise director were not out and about as in the past. Still we all had a good time.

Holland America had the best service of any of the 5 cruise lines we have sailed. The most friendly faces on staff of any cruise ship (Westerdam)

Everything was excellent the ship all of the amenities were very good. The food was very good but the dining room service was poor I know from past experience this is not the norm.

Avoya travel and Gail Wolf made our 56th Annivesary Trip one to remember !!!!

Love HAL would recommend them with no qualms

Did not appreciate the added daily hotel service charge of $13.50 person. We were not aware of this and felt we should have been. Evening shows wee good but to get a seat we had to sit 45 minutes for a 45 minute show in order to get a seat.

We really enjoyed the cruise. All the crew were very friendly and welcoming, and really wanted you to enjoy yourself. Going through the Canal was an amazing and very educational experience. We especially enjoyed the commentary and fore and aft views we got on our stateroom TV. When you add in all the ports we stopped in, this was definitely a cruise worth taking. We highly recommend Holland America.