Overview
About
Passengers: 1,964 | Crew: 812
Passengers to crew: 2.42:1
Passengers to space: 43.6:1
Launched: 2003 | Refurbished: 2022
Decks
- Deck 1
- Deck 2
- Deck 3
- Deck 4
- Deck 5
- Deck 6
Additional decks
Deck 1 layout
Cabins
Interior Stateroom (J)
Interior Stateroom (K)
Large Ocean-View Stateroom (F)
Large Ocean-View Stateroom (D)
Large Ocean-View Stateroom (C)
Large Ocean-View Stateroom (DD)
Large Ocean-View Stateroom (E)
Cabins
Balcony
Cabin size: 212 - 359 sq. ft.
Connected rooms: 110
Accessible rooms: 0
Maximum passengers: 4
Number of cabins: 495
Reviews
Traveller rating
- 41
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Time of year
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We had never been on HAL cruise before but there’s always a first time for everything and It was our dream to go to Antarctica. The itinerary was fantastic but it was a shame when the Falklands was cancelled due to the weather. This was a three week cruise and for the whole duration of the trip the food was cold. Why oh why if a company is celebrating its 150 years in business can’t they get this problem sorted? It didn’t matter where you chose to eat around the ship the food was cold, even in the speciality restaurants where you pay do dine, the problem was always the same cold food! The entertainment, around the Oosterdam, well, apart from the band in the Rolling Stone Lounge was abysmal. I just assumed on cruise ships, the shows were professional, entertaining and brilliant, but sadly this wasn’t the case. Who wants to go to a show in the theatre after your evening meal wearing your Sunday best just to see a BBC nature film? this happened on several evenings. And a soloist, and a one man band who claimed to be able to play seven instruments, I assumed all at once but that wasn’t the case. Oh my God, such a very boring ship. The staff were lovely, kind and helpful and nothing was ever too much trouble for them, but it was such a shame when after the first week out of a three week trip stores had run out. There were no Diet Cokes, or selected beers and lagers or bar snacks such as peanuts. No hot chocolate as they had run out of chocolate but tried to cover up the fact with some liquid syrup they line the glasses with for certain cocktails . The food could have been good had it of not been cold. And offering tea and coffee after your evening meal in the dining room was very hit and miss, more miss than hit should we say. The public toilets should have been up kept better, plenty of sick and poo on and around the pans, and blocked plug holes. Short on toilet paper and sanitary bags in the ladies. The hand sanitisers stands which are placed outside all restaurants were not being adhered to. No staff present to ensure these were being used when passengers entered. It’s common knowledge I know to sanitise one’s hands before entering food stations but not everyone is as thoughtful to others by not using them. Also it may help if these devices were regularly topped up and not left on empty! My so called clean changed fresh bedding was not so clean, leaving the remains of poo stains all along the top of the sheet from a previous passenger! Bedding was changed only to leave me with holes and splits in the sheet. The newly delivered bath towels, when opened, housed the odd strands of long black hairs inside. The sink tap constantly leaked leaving me to do a DIY plumbing job by using the hairy towels to mob up the floods of water on the floor The fridge didn’t work from day one, the cabin steward couldn’t care less, leaving me to report these issue to the gust service desk in which always had queues and queues of people waiting. The staff there were very rude and unhelpful! There was no turn down bed service of an evening unless you requested it, plus no pillow chocolates left either. How times have changed. This cruise line is not one of the best for me. First impressions always last but sadly we wasn’t impressed with this ship at all. I’m so glad I didn’t choose to do a world cruise with them, still, you live and learn I suppose.…
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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This was our first non US cruise and we had a wonderful time. The cruise ship was very nice and the staff was wonderful for our 7 day cruise. We left from Athens to Mykonos to Istanbul, Turkey to Katakolon and ended in Venice. Our favorite stops were Mykonos and Istanbul. We also really enjoyed Venice once we made it to our hotel from the redirected cruise port.…
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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Cruised late October 2022 on the Oosterdam. Overall we had a very enjoyable cruise. We liked HAL's music offering particularly the Music Walk, Rolling Stone,lounge very good band.Shows and comedian were good but maybe not to everyones taste. Oosterdam os an old ship and starting to look faded but looking past it's dated feel it was for us an enjoyable experience. Unforgivable though was the food experience. Excellent ingredients let 'down by an inability to serve food HOT. Instead luke warm to cold in Lido Market, and DiningRoom. Inexcusable was the cold meal we had in the Pinnacle Grill. Tell them and they'll make a fuss , cook you something fresh (still luke warm) but that rather defeats the object and makes you feel like a moaner. Also issues with air conditioning - cold draught in cabin that was only fixed by us taping up the vent despite a visit from technical services. Overall just felt HAL is tradingmon past glory and reputation - how long is this sustainable at what amounts to an expensive holiday?…
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
1 Helpful vote
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‘All Inclusive’ - ‘have it all’ - not our experience with Holland America We chose this cruise because it was going to places we had not been before and ibecause it was advertised as ‘all inclusive’. It was to be a special holiday and we did not want to have to worry about money. The first day of the cruise I was told that we had no package … and certainly not ‘all inclusive’. After having to find and show them documents and emails they agreed with me that we had a package and they said that the package we had was a ‘have it all’ package … but that that did not include gratuities (which came to hundreds of pounds - and said the ‘have it all’ included an amount towards shore excursions - which did not fully pay for one shore excursion.) I did not think that that was really ‘all inclusive’ or ‘have it all’. However what totally did for our enjoyment of our holiday was that many times during the cruise - eg when I asked for a coffee - or to eat dinner - or to use wi-fi - we were told that - sorry that was not in my package. Sometimes 3 times a day I would end up down queuing at customer service to advise them eg that I was refused a coffee - only to be told by them, no sorry you do not have a package and for me to go through the process of showing them proof and they then them agreeing with me and saying yes it should be OK from now on. It felt humiliating to have to continually be refused things and to have to keep begging to be allowed the package we had signed up for. This continued to the last day when I had to go to customer service twice where they were adamant that the credit for shore excursions was half what I thought it was in our agreement. To prove it I needed to go back to my cabin, find the email (from Holland America) with the figure queue up again at the customer service desk and show them the email. I feel that the IT department let down the rest of your staff badly. I suspect there was an initial mistake regarding how we had been entered into the system and that somehow that that mistake was unable to be rectified during our voyage, which resulted in all our problems when we tried to order anything or access some facilities. As we would not have booked the cruise but for the promise of “all inclusive”. We had a very disappointing experience and definitely would not travel with Holland America again. PS I have written more fully to Holland America with our complaint - expecting an apology, but none has been received. PPS The rest of the staff could not have been friendlier, more helpful or more efficient. Thank you to them…
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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HOLLAND AMERICA WILL NOT RETURN OUR MONEY PAID FOR PREMIER INSURANCE AND TOLD US CREDIT CARD WOULD BE REIMBURSED NOW 3 WEEKS HAVE EXPIRED you call ad are told all refunds are being done manually but new cruise deposits are processed immediately beware will be declaring bankruptcy soon…
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This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews.
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