Oosterdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We missed several ports to avoid rough seas and weather, but we were so fortunate we had the experienced captain to make sure our crossing was sunny and smooth

Our Itinerary was changed to to weather concerns. After passing through Gibraltar the captain took us south to the Canary Islands, such an unexpected treat. The Captain kept us informed of weather concerns throughout the voyage and made excellent decisions to keep passengers, crew and ship safe. The Officers, crew and other staff were some of the friendliest we have encountered. They were visible and showed interaction with the passengers that was greatly appreciated. The crew on this ship are definitely family. The cruise and Travel Director, Daniel was the best CD we have ever met.

Holland America truly did a wonderful job. This was a dream come true for me.

The itinerary was amazing. The food and entertainment was not for us. The ship needs to be updated and onboarding activities a little more inclusive towards under 50.

It's a very elegant cruise with lovely Belgian captain and very professional staff. The ship was clean, the food quality and presentation was great, service staff was mostly very good, our stateroom was spotless. There was no noise or drunk partying guests anywhere on the cruise with no spilled drinks or food on the floor. Opposite, it's a quiet, clean cruise with a beautiful ship layout huge liner which did not make any of us feel motion sick at all. It was our first time sailing with Holland America, and we all had a great experience! Strongly recommended.

The problem with the two excursions was very upsetting & the cruise staff pretty much had an attitude of ‘well, stuff happens, too bad’ ! Then I found out that the Excursion Desk had not sent the information to Guest Services !! Although they did not seem to really care either! Guess I will never reach the next Mariner level as I plan to never sail on the Holland cruise line again! I also never received a reply after the cruise from guest relations on a call & from an email I sent!

Although the food was great, I was shocked that I'd have to pay for lobster tail in the regular dining room--that's a first for me. The Jacuzzi jets were not strong, (unless you paid extra to use the spa Jacuzzi), the entertainment was subpar; the ship was clean and the rooms were lovely. The excursions were expensive and no info available for anyone who wanted to explore on their own, even guest services staff knew very little about the stops and could not answer our questions. It's my second trip with HA and all-in-all, I would not recommend this cruise line!

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.

Awesome port calls, though some port calls were too short. The east Mediterranean is beautiful.

It was a very nice experience overall, I appreciated the ambiance of the cruise, peaceful and respectful. I would have chosen another city instead of Souda, probably one in Croatia (Opatja, Splitz...) and see more of Crete instead of being two days in Malta.

Wonderful cruise on a wonderful cruise ship. We do regret not having an excursion planned for both Albania and Sicily. The port towns were not impressive.

This was a long cruise to many interesting places that would be hard to visit other than on a ship. We enjoyed the comfort of the ship after full days of sightseeing, made more challenging by an extreme heat wave. Our stateroom was cozy and we enjoyed our dinners in the dining room and at the specialty restaurants. We are happy to recommend this trip to others.

Sum the waitress was awesome and everyone at customer service deserves so much respect. We dealt with Daniel, Julio, Cardela, Melony and they were there for lost luggage, to lost hats, to lost souveniers and any other issues that came up.

We prefer smaller ships, easier to navigate and better service. It's a nice ship, best for middle-aged crowds that it caters too but overall a nice ship. Food was very good, breakfast was okay but we've had much better on other lines. Service was excellent, very nice people work on Holland and Carnival. Lines hiring from Indonesian, Philippines and similar usually have better service. The ports were beautiful, you're better of booking private group tours through Viator and TripAdvisor versus the ship, they price gouge massively through Holland when you can do pretty much every excursion for 50% less, especially if you're mobile and comfortable navigating on your own or renting cars. Car rentals work great in Rhodes and Argostoli. You definitely want a guided tour in Israel, security and immigration is very serious there so be aware of more time to disembark.

This was a cruise of a lifetime. Amazing ports of call.

The cruise was great. There were some disappointments on the ship, particularly with the food quality in the MDR and specialty restaurants. Cost cutting is highly apparent. Some of the fine experiences of the past are simply gone (like the Lincoln Center music venue). Entertainment is lacking. The excursions are terribly expensive and, in some instances, were very disappointing. If I were to do this again, many of the ports would just be "walk off" for excursion.

If you want flexible dining options DON’T travel on Holland America. Also, the beverage packages are confusing. First day experience was pretty awful. The dining room had a long wait so we thought, no problem we’ll go to the buffet or Lido deck. It was 7:45pm. Half of the food options were already closed and food selection was limited. I started with a salad. By the time I went back for my main course EVERYTHING was closed. I was confused- it was 8:00pm at the time. I thought for sure that this was a mistake but it wasn’t- they close the buffet at 8 pm and don’t open again until 10:30pm!!! The only way to get food at this time is to go back to dining room and wait or order room service. The beverage package is also confusing. We were traveling with our teenager and found out that his card did not include the drink package. When we found out, we stopped using his card but unfortunately we had already incurred $12.00 in charges. I went to customer service to explain the situation but they were unwilling to refund the charges. The problem is that none of the servers seem to know the rules/policies around beverage packages. Even the food and beverage manager refused to refund the amount even though we were way below our allowed 15 drinks per day. I asked him, if he was willing to lose a customer over $12.00 and basically he stated that would be my choice. Didn’t seem to care a bit about my business. As an advent cruise traveler, I will NEVER travel with Holland America again. Poor food selection, inflexible dining options and poor customer service by senior staff is enough to keep our family away!

Wonderful cruise and recommends to see so many cities and learn the history.

Blame the pandemic but Holland is not up to usual standards. Staff admitted as much. For a transatlantic crossing, the “nickel and dining by HAL was distasteful. Now they make it near impossible to bring your own water and they charge over $3 for a 12oz container-Not 16oz. If you want to bring bottle of wine or champagne aboard to DRINK IN YOUR CABIN, they now charge you a $20 corkage fee plus 18% service charge!!

The Oosterdam is an old worn down shop with a crew lacks training and a chef that has no idea. Horrible WiFi and terrible coffee.