Zaandam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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.

This 33 day cruise was perfect. It was hard to return to reality where I actually had to make my bed, cook my food and do my laundry. I have so many wonderful memories and made some new friends. I would do it again and want to go on another long cruise in the near future.

Unhappy with service from Delta . Misleading naming since it is an independent travel agent. Also Booked accommodations were not as anticipated. Required additional expense to upgrade. Airport transfers were not included with flight bookings.

5 Star experience across the board!! Highly recommend to anyone who wants to visit the Northeast and Canada. Most of the cruisers with us were older and almost no kids. Food was fantastic, everything and everyone was just awesome!! Thank you Zaandam crew!

we booked last minute (2 weeks prior to sailing) Had a great time. we drove to montreal-apx 625 miles from Wooster Ohio. We will cruise Holland America again. We liked the size of ship-like our 1st cruise in 1991. Been on a couple of mega ships-4000 pass.- we perfer the 1500 pass. size.

I know emergencies happen, but it should have been handled differently. HAL did not care one bit about the passengers. There were many elderly and guests with special needs. No questions were asked. If you did not get on the school bus you were completely out of luck. No water - and 1 stop at a rest area after 2 hours. Many busses were there and the lines were long. This final impression of the cruise does not reflect well on HAL.

Very happy with the cruise, Plenty of sitting area. O\Poo; ans hot tub nice.

Nice, easy going cruise without a zillion people in every port. Didn't like losing valuable time in Quebec.

The food and drink on the ship were just satisfactory. We really did not like how complicated the drink package was as to what we could drink on our package and what was not included in the package. The spa was extremely overpriced. The cabin cleaning staff were exceptional!

Cruise was good, but caters to older clientele. Food was fine and staff was excellent, they went out of their way to be pleasant and friendly. Probably wouldn’t go on this line again unless itinerary was only one that matched my particular needs.

We took this cruise because of the itinerary. The ship is fine, we would sail on the Zaandam again, but it wasn't my favorite ship. There are things to do onboard, but it is limited compared to the larger ships. The service and food were very good. I loved that in the buffet, the staff served most of the food instead of guests helping themselves. Not all guests are diligent in washing their hands.

Great cruise! Good ports of call which is the reason we chose this cruise.

The food, ship, cabin and excursions were all very disappointing. Our steward was excellent, but the maintenance crew took three days to fix the air-conditioning and leaks in our room. The guest services staff was professional and helpful. The chef and cooks on board should be fired. We have never experienced such poor food on a cruise.

A great cruise from Montreal to Boston via the St Lawrence River. Canada's Maritime provinces are beautiful and interesting. Great weather the entire time!