Oosterdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We really enjoyed our cruise but disappointed in some of excursions. Some didn't have microphone and guides very hard to hear so couldn't hear a lot of the information. Guide in Corfu was so bad ran us late then we only had 15 minutes at end of tour to see city. We booked our tours before and next time we wouldn't do until on board. Some of excursions that we would have liked to take were just so overpriced it was crazy.

We enjoyed every minute of this cruise. The only thing as it was our first time to any of these ports we booked excursions. Many hours of walking. Too many with only one day at sea to rest up.

Ship is in need of refurbishing especially the common areas. Tender process needs to be examined to be made more efficient

Service staff in cabin and food area were without fault. Ship is tired, has a constant stench of sewerage in many areas, very little to do on board other than drink. Guest services staff were very rude & in accommodating when we complained about noise from kitchen, basically told us to suck it up! While friends a few doors down were compensated $900 refund after husband loundly complained?! I was very disappointed and will NEVER travel with HAL again, it’s like once they have your money, they just don’t care!

For my first cruise it went beyond all my expectations.

We loved the Oosterdam! It is a smaller ship but the size was perfect for a Mediterranean cruise since we did so much walking in the ports it was nice to come back to a smaller ship! The food and service were excellent and we really enjoyed the pop-up Sel de Mer restaurant in the Pinnacle Grill.

Excellent itinerary and the Oosterdam is a nice size ship, not too big. But be prepared for lots of walking! This itinerary is very port intensive so plan some downtime between the more vigorous tours!

My ship board experience was not good. I spent 12 days arguing with them over the temperature in our cabin. They would come and check it and then tell me they would make an adjustment. It was nothing but lip service. It was so hot in my room I had to sleep out on my veranda some nights. The entertainment was either non existing or terrible. Board games is not my idea of entertainment. The best food on the ship was the burger bar and the specialty restaurant. The rest was just so so. Needless to say I will not go on another Holland America “dam” ship. They did not even address my disappointment with them after my review.

We Loved most of our Experiences. Just know this ship is not a party ship, most of the activities are for older crowds of 65+. Positives are the employees. They are clearly amazing, and attentive. The pool area was clean, and enjoyable. The massage, and spa area amazing, and the 10th floor was a cool place to hang out. My daughter said the Casino was fun, but if you win money get your winning right away. It does not go onto your card. The shows were fun... especially the comedian animals 😉. The food looks amazing, but is just “okay-good” tasting. You have have to pay for extra for better food. Negative is you have to pay $13.50 per person in gratuities. My bill was over $1,600, and $500 was just in Hotel fees, because I shared my room with my daughter, and grandson. I was told that the Hotel Service charge acts as compensation to the employees. I tipped my people during the cruise directly, because I miss understood that the money was not included in the over all price of my cruise prior to going. When I asked if this compensation is added to their minimum wage, or part of the minimum wage no one appeared to have an answer... yet! 😊. Meaning that the extra tip added is actually just an indirect way of obtaining extra cash toward the ships payroll, instead of extra on top of their paycheck. If any one knows the answer please share. Another negative is they have a cabana area that used to be an open area, but is now extra if you want to pay for it. This was especially embarrassing when I went onto the platform to take some pictures and a customer actually peaked his head out of a cabana and said I couldn’t be there. Even on the open platform, unless a I paid an extra $150? This of course provoked me to ask guest services, who said it was fine, since I was just looking around, taking a few pictures. This type of thing should not even be an issue while on a very expensive cruise. So being the inquisitive person I am, especially regarding money toward the underrepresented, alarmed me, into how each ships money is accounted for. So I have added a picture in my photos of a basic breakdown of each persons cruise ticket price and where it all goes. Check it out. Over all, I would travel Holland America again with my knew understanding of how they work. The negatives are trifle at the end of the day, although I do want to know more about how they pay their employees, and I don’t think I would go with younger people, but over all I truly enjoyed my trip on the Oosterdam.

Great food , great staff , great ports , not impressed with greenhouse spa staff , or prices . And preferred doing our own thing at ports , like hop on hop off busses , a lot cheaper , and not as rushed as cruise excursions . And be prepared for rude people at Lido dining area ( pushing in ) but that's not cruise lines fault .

The cruise itself was great and we enjoyed all the ports. The Oosterdam was OK for a 15 year-old vessel. The dining room food could have been better. Seems that the same menu offerings were served every day, only in different ways.

We had an overall great experience on this 24 days Venice to Venice cruise. Transfers from/to airport and ship well organized. Some minor inconvenients were solved satisfying by guest office.

cruise was great but very dissappointed with the oosterdam.Will sail with HAL again but definately not on the Oosterdam.

Amazing cruise and ship, oosterdam was great, food excellent lots of choice, we where able to get a table inside or out at every meal time on lido deck, we where also able to get a sunbed or table by the pool even when came back from ashore after being out all day. Staff where wonderful and the ship very well looked after.

Overall Holland America is a great cruise line. I have been on MANY cruises, and MANY cruises to Alaska. I have as well been on a variety of Cruise lines. I had enjoyed our cruise to Alaska onboard the Oosterdam. The ship itself was amazing and recently renovated & looked very modern and up to date. Holland America Line is more targeted towards the Older crowd, although throughout the years I have noticed that there have been a lot of variety in the age groups. In thus cruise exactly there were about 100 teenagers, many 20-30 year olds and surprisingly a lot of kiddos. Such itinerary was amazing and interesting, it consisted of - Seattle Wa, Sea Day, Juneau AK, Hubbard Glacier, Sitka AK, keitckan AK, Victoria CA & back in Seattle. It down poured In both Juneau & sitka. Which were disappointing although nothing we could do, it by far did NOT ruin the trip for us. Hubbard Glacier was amazing although foggy. I had taken many pictures. I would certainly suggest Hubbard Over other glaciers. The food in the buffet was great, both in the Lido & the dining room(s). Lines were not long in the lido which was good compared to other cruise lines. Holland America is very good about health aboard their ships. Instead of having the passengers grab the food they hand you the food, you may think thus would cause lines etc, although surprisingly it did not, which is good and helps create a healthy environment onboard their ships. There was a little wait for the food in the Dining room, although nothing exponential. Our waiter was amazing, his name was Agus. We had gotten very close with him throughout the whole 7days as we went to the Dining room EVERY night of the cruise. He made the cruise itself better and more enjoyable. All staff onboard Holland America Line ships are very conscientious, exciting, positive & care about making your cruise more enjoyable. I enjoy the staff onboard Holland’s ships more than others because they are so very positive and care about you, they remember your name over the smallest things, overall Holland has an amazing staff team. The ship was kept very clean and nice looking. Like I mentioned earlier it were renovated last year & is going to be renovated once again this year. All HAL ships are removing the Northern Lights and replacing it was a gallery bar or something other (this is coming from an Officer who mentioned this to me) HAL is making an effort to make ships more modern and include more technology in their ships. Touchscreens are seen throughout the ship, illuminated maps, Televisions w/ many movies. Billboard Onboard was a soothing and calm area onboard and a good area to chill with a group of people. Entertainment wise was not the greatest I have encountered. The cruise director her self was not good. She did not involve herself in many activities and you only saw her at the shows. She were very bland and not interesting. The Dances were not great either and the dancers were off at times. The comedian was AMAZING. They as well had a “Comedian & Magician” he we’re approximately in his lower 20’s was not good at all. He were not funny and had corny jokes. He had only done 2 tricks throughout the show and messed up on 1 of them. He was not funny nor was he good at magic, which ruined it for me. Overall GREAT cruise and I am definitely going to recommend & probably go on another one LOL. If you guys have any questions let me know & I will respond unbiased.

It was a good cruise! on the Go every day apart from two days at sea, the ship could do with an update! And have more entertainment ! And most of all Have a better range of Food! PLEASE have chef's that can cook traditional Food!! There was a few days it was disappointing!!

I would go again on this cruise. Holland America is the best line I’ve been on thus far.

The excursions were very good. Didn't much like having to wait for the same people over and over. The service on the ship was great and the food in the dining room was great. We had a few minor problems but Holland provided a solution each time.

Spent 12 days cruising the Adriatic and Med. The staff was amazing, loved our room way up front and in the center, our room stewards were the best. Love Holland.

I was so excited to take this cruise with my mom. We had both heard such amazing reviews about Holland America. Needless to say we were disappointed. I guess it all comes down to the boat you get so be sure you do your research. This boat is too old and needs some major updates and a great cleaning.