Has Holland America Line been Carnivalized?
Zuiderdam Cruise Review to Caribbean
Review summary
There are things that one takes for granted after sailing with a cruise line four times. With HAL, we've enjoyed easy on and easy off our ship. That was on the case with our cruise to the Panama Canal on Jan. 25th. The port in Fort Lauderdale and our cruise line seemed to be at a loss as to how to take care of so many people. Ah.... unpleasant.
Most disappointing was what i call the "Carnivalization of Holland America". Everywhere were there salesmen wanting us to buy pictures, manicures, watches, bingo cards, art auction tickets, excursions. Did I forget something? Oh yes, future cruises. "Enough already"... I wish I'd said.
We wanted to go to the beach in Curacao. The ship offered an excursion to the beach for $55 pp. We decided to hop a public bus and paid $6 for us both--round trip.
On a bright note, the service staff on the Zuiderdam was still old fashioned HAL. I suspect that will go by the wayside too, dagnabbit.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
The staff are gracious. The ship is all right. The food like a hotel wedding buffet...OK. Tho' I must say all the breads were terrific.
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)
Cruise Gatun Lake (Inside Panama Canal)
2 Comments
celticflyer 8 years ago
We are leaving on our fourth HAL cruise on 27Feb16 in two years and this is the second this year. The staff has always been excellent and when there has been a few bumps in the road they have gone out of their way to fix the problem .
We are Diamond members with Royal Caribbean and hate the way it has become a floating rip off . No service , everything is an upcharge .