Overwhelmed Newbie to Holland America

[Kynana]

An acquaintance of mine in his 70s asked on Facebook for cruise line suggestions for an Alaskan cruise not long ago, and I was too embarrassed to suggest checking the options on the Holland America website. Thankfully, the experience on their cruises is nothing like the website! 

[Roz]

I've found no correlation between the hard to use website and the onboard experience.  I wouldn't judge the ship, service, cabin, and food based on the website.

 

Roz

[Kynana]

38 minutes ago, Roz said:

I've found no correlation between the hard to use website and the onboard experience.  I wouldn't judge the ship, service, cabin, and food based on the website.

 

Roz

I agree completely, Roz. But they don't make it easy to get to the point where someone can enjoy the ship, the service, cabin and food! 

 

[Roz]

1 minute ago, Kynana said:

I agree completely, Roz. But they don't make it easy to get to the point where someone can enjoy the ship, the service, cabin and food! 

 

There are a few TAs' websites I go to when I'm researching cruises.  Much easier to navigate.  Overall I've found cruise lines' websites to be average to poor.  I've never booked online.  For one thing, TAs have more access to what cabins are actually available.

 

Roz

[Kynana]

I don't book online, but I like to peruse the HAL itineraries and costs on their website. I want to have a good idea what I want before calling her. Doesn't seem like too much to ask to be able to do that......

[TriumphGuy]

We booked a TA to Europe for April 2020 on Nieuw Statendam. This will be our first HAL cruise, formally Princess cruisers. Flight Ease tells me I have to wait until we're 366 days out to view flights. I suppose this makes sense from a financial standpoint as a lot can change in a year but it would be nice to be able to get a sense of what their pricing is. 
I agree, the HAL site is rather clunky and difficult to find stuff on. Seems like they could have done a better job.