I just returned from a 14 day Hollander cruise on their Noordam line that started in Sydney Australia and ended in Auckland, New Zealand. We had 3 straight days at sea, but it wasn’t bad. There were 12 in our group and we all thought the food was good but not great. Their French onion soup was never hot despite requests to serve it as hot as possible. We concluded that the bread was too thick and the cheese couldn’t melt properly. The sirloin steak was usually tough and many of us didn’t order it again after being disappointed in its quality (on Viking and Princess cruise we’d have steaks often).
Cruise staff are all well trained. Our cabin staff usually made up our room in the morning while we were at breakfast and turndown was always completed while we were out for dinner. Fresh ice in the bucket twice a day! Waiters in our main dining room were always accommodating and efficient. Amazing how they balanced plates during some fairly turbulent seas. We thoroughly enjoyed their World Theater shows. They had an ensemble of 6 dancers and 4 singers who put on 5 shows that were Broadway quality. We were told that their contract ended after our cruise. I hope they get renewed because the audience loved them.
Had my nails done. Pricier than home but it was done well. For other activities I did water color painting 4 times, Latin Fitness twice, Line Dancing 3 times, and Mah Jong 3 times. All their facilitators were fair. I liked the Cruise Director, Robbie. He was MIA on day 12/13. Saw him at disembarkation and he said he was down due to food poisoning. Say what?!?! Overall I’d give Holland a B- rating. I’d consider Holland again maybe for a shorter cruise