Holland America doesn't seem to care about the health and comfort of their passengers any more.

Oosterdam Cruise Review to South America

Blacko

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 11

Overall rating:

3.9 out of 5

14 Night South America Passage (Buenos Aires To San Antonio)

Sail date: March 05, 2024

Ship: Oosterdam

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 months ago

Review summary

We are presently on this cruise on the Holland America Oosterdam from Buenos Aires to Fort Lauderdale around the southern tip of South America. For some crazy reason, Holland America head office has decreed that Port Talks can not be broadcast to cabin TVs. No reasonable reason is given. The talks are given by the cruise director and are the best I have seen on any cruise. Nobody wants to miss them. They are only given once and the Mainstage auditorium where they are presented is super over-packed with passengers (and HAL's are generally older people) who have to stand or sit on the stairs. Worse than this, people who are sick (and the boat is loaded with them) have two choices - miss the Port Talk or go to the Mainstage and share their bugs. They should, could and would watch in their cabins if it was available on their TVs. (My wife is sick and I ended up puking my guts out one night and not eating for two days. Thanks HAL!) I sent an email to the president of Holland America and his assistant wrote back to say that, due to copyright restrictions, they can not broadcast the Port Talks to cabin TVs. I don't understand how copyright restrictions could get in the way of televising a talk by one of their own employees. These talks have always been available on cabin TVs in the past. The focus at Holland America doesn't seem to be on the health and comfort of their passengers any more. We'll be looking for another cruise line.