Zaandam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was our second Holland America cruise and the overall experience was positive. I believe the port visits were too short but with the bad weather and fog they crew did a great job. The captain gave very informative announcements but unless you like to drink at a bar, there wasn't much to do when we were not in port.

In May weather is cool & sometimes windy on tours. Prepare with a waterproof jacket with hood. If you are out on the water canoeing, you'll definitely want more than that, i.e. gloves, hat, sweater, warm pants, maybe two layers on pants. On boat, temperatures are pleasantly warm, so you will want some short sleeve options. This trip was for extended family visiting time, so activities, food and destination was chosen with that in mind. We had a great trip, but if I was traveling with alone with my husband and young adult children I would choose a different cruise line as my husband and I enjoy a younger energy onboard.

Unbelievably disappointing with the beverage service which I paid $1,000 worth And didn’t even come to close to drinking that quantity or quality

Great cruise if you want to explore Atlantic Canada. Very easy to get to and from the embark and disembark ports.

Over the service was great. Food was good and the ship was clean. Not everyone will play board games or read. would of liked to see more than 1 day of painting. The accommodations were clean and comfortable. Not a fan of the drink packages - I am not a drinker but my sister is .. she was not able to buy a Signature drink package that contains alcohol unless I did.

Great cruise as always the staff was great, dining room clean

Great cruise beautiful islands. Staff needs to keep adult areas for adults only! Need more enforcement of handwashing in food areas.

This trip is an incredible experience that we will never forget. We recommend it to everyone.

Great experience. I would use Holland America again!

The ship and the cruise are mostly for the old people. We liked the easy and relax style. Maybe in October when the leaves have turned red it would be more beautiful. The price is reasonable. If we had not spent $500 for covid-19 testing and had less expectation, it would have been a nice cruise.

It was our first real trip since Covid and a great chance to get back to enjoying traveling once again. Holland America continues to be our favorite for the great ambiance, cuisine, service and entertainment.

Had a great trip. Itinerary was very good, staff was excellent, Specialty dining was excellent, main dining was good, and Lido was soso. Internet was terrible. Ship is too old. (Zaandam).

This was our first cruise. The ship seemed a bit old and tired. We had horrible vibration for two days and a fair amount of motion on our sea day. Our bathroom was not clean and on top of that above us was the Lido kitchen which does not have quiet hours. It was unbelievably noisy and impacted our sleep. We did get a $500 credit which was appreciated but for a first experience other than the room being a nice size and the kindness of most crew members it was not a great first experience.

This cruise was cancelled twice due to the pandemic so it was wonderful to finally get to experience Canada and New England. It was a little eerie that we were on the ship (Zaandam) that had the horrible COVID outbreak back in March 2020 and stranded all passengers in Central/South America. Regardless, the ship was in good shape, very clean and the staff were very attentive. I was disappointed in the food. Holland America is known for having better food than other cruise lines but I didn't find the food any better than Carnival (maybe even a little worse). There were no activities for my 7 year old other than Club Hal and the small pool, that was disappointing too. While HA is known to cater to older generations, there were certainly multi-generational families with kids and more activities for younger kids would have been nice. The ports were wonderful--I could have stayed at each of them for two days. A couple of our excursions were cancelled which was disappointing but the ones that we went on were good for the most part. In Quebec City, the Falls excursion was very good. The "stroll" through Quebec City with tea was very strenuous for my 72 year old mother-- a two hour walk with no breaks. The tea was disappointing. The city itself is adorable. Prince Edward Island is as beautiful in July as Anne of Green Gables described it. We did the ultimate Anne of Green Gables experience. It was lovely but the "snack" could have been better. They also could have stopped at the author's birthplace. I did the bird islands of Cape Brenton in Sydney. It was a lovely excursion but there was no bathroom on the boat--people need to keep that in mind before they book that two hour boat ride. It is also very bumpy if you suffer from motion sickness. Halifax is a great, thriving port. We walked to the Maritime Museum to see the Titanic Exhibit. Our hike excursion was cancelled in Bar Harbor and my mother's bus tour of Acadia was cancelled too. Luckily, we were able to book a trolley tour of Acadia at the port and the tour was lovely. All in all, we had a great vacation and we expected a few bumps returning to cruising post pandemic. The food could have been better but the port stops were great and I would visit them again.

Things have changed on the ship and not for the better. Pick a different cruise.

This was a lovely cruise. Janice at was VERY helpful!

Relaxing cruise vising beautiful locations. Most are small and provide a great opportunity for walking around the towns.

This is the fourth cruise I have with Holland America. I found a lot of things worst than other cruises with the same company. Little things, but enough to be dissappointed. The lack of attention to details was the characteristic of this cruise. .

This is the least favorite Holland cruise we have been on. I’m not sure if they had so many issues because they haven’t cruised for two years or if it is because they are pinching Pennie’s to make up for monies lost during covid times of not sailing.

I would recommend this cruise to people. However, I would provide a training course on how to survive it without getting frustrated.