Won't be traveling with Holland again anytime soon.
Oosterdam Cruise Review to Mexico
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 68
Review summary
SO disappointed in Holland!! The lack of new onboard activities, the bad food, and the lack of communication will have me looking to other cruise lines in the future. You have gone way too far downhill to waste my money with you again. I would have rather stayed home than be on this cruise and that is the saddest statement and the saddest to feel about spending my hard earned money on my 1 vacation this year. Not happy whatsoever.Embarkation
Embarkation went pretty smooth although there was a bit of confusion with my friend and her wheelchair.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I have traveled with Holland many times and have been on 16 cruises. The food on this cruise the worst. The Lido's food was consistently barely luke warm and had been sitting for some time - and just not good. The dining room did pretty well with my steaks, but the rest of the food was inconsistent. By the 3rd day, I didn't want to eat anything onboard. Not sure what all they put in their food, but I came off the boat being swollen, bloated and my digestion just isn't right. This was the worst experience I have had with Holland's food or any food on any of my cruises. Our server, Yoga, in the dining room was the best though, very efficient, and full of smiles!
Onboard Activities
Holland has cut out many of their activities like the testing kitchen, crafting, dancing lessons, etc. Most of the "classes" have been the same classes for years and they are designed to sell you something. I felt I had very little choices of things to do. I am so disappointed in Holland. This was the worst cruise I have taken. Even the afternoon tea has changed. It used to be fun to pick a tea and dessert - and sometimes they had specialty teas..now they just pour you black tea and place goodies on the table. Too many cut backs!
Entertainment
Holland used to do a little write up on the night's performer so you knew who they were and what they did. Now, there is nothing. The night's entertainment was unclear. The 1 star is for their lack of communication about what was going on. On top of that, the "cruise director" gave wrong information a few times about what was going on and where. We didn't end up going to anything but the talks on Mexico by Edgar. He was excellent until the last one where he did 2 hours on climate change. I feel that is a matter of opinion and would have much rather heard more about Mexico.
No ability now to listen to missed lectures/shows???? We get 5-6 news channels, but can't listen to the talk on the ports? Not happy about that at all. Holland has made too many changes which strongly impact the enjoyment of the cruise.
Service and Staff
The indonesian people are amazing! Love the kindness, love and light. Our cabin guys Addi and Komang were outstanding! Some of the best I have had. Yoga in the main dining room superb. Alexander, the head matre' d was fantastic. Wish you treated the Indonesians better and paid them better. You make that such a hard job for them with such little pay - and you don't give them the full tips you collect from passengers. They deserve better than that. Tips should go back to envelops in the state room and voluntary based on service instead of auto charges that line your pockets and they don't see the full amount of.
Ship Quality
It's a smaller, older ship so the design is not what I am used to. It was clean but beat up a bit. Wouldn't sail on it again.
Cabin / Stateroom
It was a little small, but our guys kept is clean and tidy. Enjoyed the balcony. That was the only thing that saved this cruise.
Ship tip
I would never sail on Oosterdam again and may never sail with Holland again. They have gone down hill greatly.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
San Diego, California Did not visit port
I have been to Puerto Vallarta a couple of other times on a cruise. NOT impressed with the rubbish building being built to force people to go through American shops like the CRAPPY Diamonds International. Shame on you!!! People are going to Mexico to buy Mexican items. Communication about all of the ports was so poor. We were not told we needed to take a cab to get anywhere near shopping. I don't remember having to walk at all to get to the main boardwalk before. I walked much much more than was good for me because it was all so confusing. And I wasn't the only one confused. Need to work on getting better information out to the guests. Because of this, my friend I traveled with didn't end up making it very far because she has a handicapped knee and we walked 15 min just to get out of the port and then didn't know where to go.
So packed with 3 cruise ships in port...made it loud and busy. Traffic was packed so 30 min of our 2 1/2 - 3 hour tour was spent in traffic.
Tendering is not good for people with handicaps. Again, my cabin mate couldn't even try to go out on this because you force people to walk down 2 flights of stairs just to get to the tender boats.
Disembarkation
Went pretty smoothly.
4 Comments
CruzeFan 5 years ago
Maybe you should check with Shipmates Gncgoldr and dtigerbear, who were on the same exact sailing and rated most everything 4 to 5 stars, to see why they had a good time and enjoyed the food, ports and most activities and you seemed to be miserable. I agree that HAL does not have the best entertainment, but a cruise is still better than being at work for most people. When I see many 1 star ratings when others on the same cruise gave it 4-5 stars, that tells me much more about the attitude of the reviewer than it does about the ship or the cruise line.