Holland America Line
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Worse than any cruise I’ve ever been on.
My wife and I took a 7 day Eastern Caribbean Cruise on 1/18/25. The ship, Zaandam, is the oldest in their fleet. This cruise was the third on Holland America for us. It’s also our last. The food was horrible. The service was horrible, especially when compared to earlier cruises. The condition of the ship was horrible. We found out during the cruise that it was scheduled to be put into dry dock immediately following our cruise for much needed renovations. We saw lights falling out of the ceiling in multiple places. In addition, Holland America chose to do a fiber optic upgrade on our deck which took three days to complete. That’s close to half the cruise where we forced to step over debris in the hallways, walk around multiple ladders and ceiling panels in addition to rolls and rolls of cable. It was noisy. It was a huge distraction. When I brought this up to customer service along with many other guests doing the same, they absolutely could not care. Tough luck was all we got. If that wasn’t enough, my account was charged $38.00 a day for customer appreciation charges. That’s a fancy term for TIP. I again went by the customer service desk and told them to remove the charges That process requires paperwork to be filled out which I did The next day I was contacted and told they refused to remove the charges. I again went by customer service and was told if I didn't pay the charges i would not be allowed to sail on Holland America again. They actually threatened me if i didn't pay. A tip is optional. Anything else is a fee or a tax. My wife and I don't do excursions while in port. We prefer to do our own thing. We arrived at Amber Cove in the Dominican Republic. This is a private port owned by the cruise lines. We disembarked and went to get a taxi for the 8 mile ride to town. We were shocked to find the SET PRICE was $80.00. The drivers were abusive and laughed at us when we protested. I travel for a living. This was a scam. We found alternate transportation that was $8 each way. That’s the market rate for Puerto Plata. Thats about a 400% markup folks. I talked to some other drivers and was told the cruise lune sets the price since its a private port. Let that sink in. A 400% mark up brought to you by Holland America. If you want old ships, below average food with horrible mean employees who yell at you, this cruise line is for you. Good bye Holland America. Bon Voyage.