Great food.
Oosterdam Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 28
Review summary
The food was excellent. The ports were OK, and the entertainment was subpar. The service was excellent from all of the staff. They were very professional, welcoming, acknowledging, and helpful.Embarkation
Easy
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Although I enjoyed the food, we were there, 12 days and the buffets were almost identical every day. I would’ve enjoyed a bit more variety. But the dinner in the main dining room had lots of variety, and it was amazing quality food.
Onboard Activities
I would say the ship had the least activities of any cruise ship I’ve ever been on. I would not choose a Holland America again, because activities are a main part of what I look for in a cruise, especially a long 12 day cruise
Entertainment
The music bands were great. The magician was entertaining. But I did not enjoy any of the other shows. I have been on several cruise lines and the shows from Holland America did not even compare to the others. I’m sorry to say.
Service and Staff
The staff and service was amazing.
Ship Quality
It took us several days to find everything on the ship. I’m not sure that the design was user-friendly. It’s a very old ship, so I think it needed a lot of maintenance. I think it was clean. Just needed to be kept up.
Cabin / Stateroom
The beds were extremely comfortable. The size of the room was very adequate. But we had a huge obstructive lifeboat right in front of our window. You couldn’t see anything it covered the entire window. It also was hanging on some ropes so at night when it’s windy you hear the squeaky sounds of the ships squeaking left and right. I had a very difficult time sleeping. I think this was a very poor design choice. Also at 5:31 morning I open the curtain because I heard noise and there was a man hosing the lifeboat down. I thought that was a very inconsiderate time of the day to hose the life boat.
Ship tip
This ship is a good choice for someone that wants to relax, and lay low in the evenings
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
I love Naples, but there weren’t enough activities to do as far as excursions. We took a taxi to so rental. That would’ve been a better choice.
Kotor, Montenegro Did not visit port
The weather did not allow us to land in Kotor. Most other cruise lines give you $50-$100 in. Inconvenience fees, but Holland America did not.
The way this port is advertised is that it is Venice. This is false advertising. We took a two hour train to get to Venice because that’s what we wanted to see. We got our hotel room and left the Holland America cruise ship one day early so that we could experience a Venice.
Disembarkation
This was simple since we left a day early