robinsandiego

Hi happilytorn, can you please give some feedback on how your Aida cruise went? I am curious how you made out without German. Were you able to fly to your port of embarkation from the U.S. or did you have to take the charter flight from Germany? I look forward to your reply. Thank you.

My wife and I were on that 45-day cruise through the South Pacific, just before your San Diego to Florida cruise. It WAS the cruise from hell. There were a lot of annoyed passengers. We were big Holland America supporters and took 3 prior cruises on their ships before COVID-19. This was our first cruise after the pandemic. Suffice to say, Holland America has used it as an excuse to cut the quality of food and service on board ship. The Zuiderdam is 20 years old and is used for the cruise line's longer itineraries. During our cruise almost every deck had leaks, where there were buckets catching water in the hallways. A big leak forced us out of our cabin for 2 days until it was fixed. We had the constant smell of sewage in our hallway, due to pipe leaks. It was not solved for 7 weeks! The cruise director Ian Page and Captain Frank Van Der Hoeven were horrible. The entertainment was poor (e.g. only one good comedian out of four). We were constantly lied to by the cruise director about having to wear masks in foreign ports due to those countries' regulations. As soon as we got off the ship, NO ONE (including local goverment officials) were wearing them in multiple ports. The cruise director's pre-port briefings were often about 25% incorrect and he blamed it on a port only being recently opened up and details were unknown. Why did he not contact the local HAL port agent or the local tourism authority to verify things then? Food portions were shrunk so bad in the dining rooms that we often had to order two appetizers to equal a normal one. The food was really hit and miss, and often was no better than high school cafeteria in quality. Holland America used to be famous for it's top quality food. No more. The ship's internet was down for several days while we crossed the open ocean. They had two days in Tahiti where they could have gotten local IT support, but the Captain failed to when the problem started. Even when it was up it was slow. The only saving grace was the outstanding service by the room stewards and waiters on this ship. They are polite and very attentive, always going above and beyond to please you. Holland America cut three port visits about 10 days before our cruise. They had known at least a few months in advance they were going to do this because private tour operators already knew we were not coming, yet HAL waited to bait-and-switch us after people could not cancel. The HAL itinerary planners at their corporate level are clueless. They sent us to very-religious places on Sundays, when most places in the town are closed due to the sabbath. Then we went to nearby beach stops on Mondays. Why did they not switch that around? it occurred at least twice on our cruise. The only way my wife and I will ever go on a Holland America ship again is if we find an itinerary with a new ship and it is only about a week long, with only a day at sea at most.

Thank you for replying, Diddn.

I have read that an English-Speaking person living in the US should phone AIDA in Germany, or contact a German travel agency that also works in English, to book a cruise. Can someone please private message me with details of a travel agency they used that worked well in English, when booking an Aida cruise? I also read that one should use a travel agency as they can get some included perks, whereas the cruise company will not include them (just like a travel agency in the US does). My wife and I want to take a 14-night trip on AidaPerla from Barbados in late January, 2023. We do NOT speak German, but are up for the challenge of cruising on a primarily German-speaking cruise. It sounds like many English speakers have done it before and liked it. We love the itinerary it has, as it's going to all the islands we have not visited yet, and no other cruise line stops at all of these ports. Thanks in advance.

I have read that an English-Speaking person living in the US should phone AIDA in Germany, or contact a German travel agency that also works in English, to book a cruise. Can someone please private message me with details of a travel agency they used that worked well in English, when booking an Aida cruise? I also read that one should use a travel agency as they can get some included perks, whereas the cruise company will not include them (just like a travel agency in the US does). My wife and I want to take a 14-night trip on AidaPerla from Barbados in late January, 2023. We do NOT speak German, but are up for the challenge of cruising on a primarily German-speaking cruise. It sounds like many English speakers have done it before and liked it. We love the itinerary it has, as it's going to all the islands we have not visited yet, and no other cruise line stops at all of these ports. Thanks in advance.