Great 31 day South American cruise

[Joe&Barry]

Just though I'd repost the review we submitted for our recent cruise on the forum:

 

We had a great cruise! This was our second time on Holland America, we've been on several cruise lines including one of those "6 star luxury" lines and Holland is our top 2. The crew is absolutely the best, they are so friendly and always happy and taking care of the passengers. The food overall is very good and even after 31 days we were still enjoying it. We mainly had meals in the main dining room as we really enjoy the experience over the buffet, we never ate in the buffet... too busy! We would go to the dive in for burgers and fries which was good. We had the have it all package which included drinks up to $11 and always had our favorite red wine....Cabernet. The brands did vary a bit based on availability but we enjoyed them all. The package is a good value. Again, the bar service was mostly great sometimes a wait but usually pretty quick. We had dinner in the Pinnacle grill three times, twice for the regular menu and once we did the cellarmaster dinner which was terrific. The food was excellent all 3 times. We ate once in Canaletto which was just ok, it does not feel special just a section of the buffet, food was just ok. We tried going to a few shows but they were pretty bad so did not stay. We would end up in the Rolling Stone lounge many nights and really enjoyed the great band. We also enjoyed the classical trio that we found in the Ocean bar during our second half of the cruise but they stopped playing at 9:30 so we missed them a lot since we had dinner around 8 pm most nights. While we would enjoy a good show its not critical as we enjoy just relaxing and reading, and good music. We did all shore excursions through Holland except for three ports we just got off and walked around. They were fine and I'm glad we did them to see the area, but there are too many people on most so that detracts from the experience. Our room stewards were excellent! They took care of our room twice a day which we love. Holland seems to still remember the small details really impact the overall feeling and enjoyment that other cruise lines are losing. Fluffy high-quality towels that are bright white and not stained, comfortable beds, fresh flowers throughout the ship, peanuts served with bar drinks, actual cloth hand towels in restrooms instead of paper towels, etc.

Now, some of the areas for improvement in our opinion. The ship is in need of a big refurbishment. The cabin while kept very clean by the great stewards is quite worn and dated. The balcony furniture is rusted. Our air-conditioning stopped working twice once for 24 hours, our toilet mostly worked fine but we had to call a couple times to get it fixed. Public areas are better but even there some areas are very worn such as the public restrooms.

To sum up we had a wonderful time and would love to go again. Thank you Holland America.

[Roz]

What did you think of the itinerary?

[Mary229]

Which ship?

[0106]

10 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Which ship?

Oosterdam. I remember reading their previous posts.

 

[Joe&Barry]

51 minutes ago, Roz said:

What did you think of the itinerary?

Great itinerary, quite a variety of landscapes, wildlife and cities. This part of the world is quite remote and being able to see it on a ship seems to be the best. We arrived in Buenos Aires 4 days before the cruise and loved Buenos Aires, it's a very pretty clean city and friendly people. We used Holland for the flights and pre cruise hotel which was a great value.

[Joe&Barry]

29 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

Which ship?

Sorry, yes, it was the Oosterdam.

[Roz]

Last year I did Buenos Aires to Ft. Lauderdale.  My favorite ports were Port Stanley and Ushuaia.  It was 31 days. 

[Mary229]

54 minutes ago, Roz said:

Last year I did Buenos Aires to Ft. Lauderdale.  My favorite ports were Port Stanley and Ushuaia.  It was 31 days. 

I was surprised how much we enjoyed Port Stanley.  My sister is a real Anglophile and I FaceTimed her as I walked through the grocery😂.  

[jlawrence01]

When you are on a 31 day cruise on HAL, how often do they change the menu?  Or is it 4+ weeks of the same menu?

[oakridger]

5 hours ago, jlawrence01 said:

When you are on a 31 day cruise on HAL, how often do they change the menu?  Or is it 4+ weeks of the same menu?

 

The dinner menu changes every day.

[powlan]

14 hours ago, 0106 said:

Oosterdam. I remember reading their previous posts.

 

Took this cruise. It was fantastic.

[Mary229]

3 hours ago, powlan said:

Took this cruise. It was fantastic.

My DH and my brother in law both said of the Antarctica cruise,  “best cruise ever”

 

[0106]

4 minutes ago, Mary229 said:

My DH and my brother in law both said of the Antarctica cruise,  “best cruise ever”

 

I do not think this cruise went to Antarctica however I will agree that my cruise on the Oosterdam which included Antarctica in February was my “best cruise ever”.

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.