Holland America Line Reviews 

Customer service is not responsive. Sent them multiple e-mails and they do not respond. I tried calling them and it is impossible to get hold of an agent. I had to wait for more than 30 min and I gave up. I left my number and they never called back.

Issued with incorrect final onboard statement. We should have received a credit. Despite 4 emails and numerous calls to US I can’t get to speak to anyone. Obviously couldn’t care less so voting with our feet in future

This company is SCAMMING their customers. They overcharged me and when I went to ask at the reception, they explained it's a routine procedure and after the bill is sorted they will return the rest of the money. They didn't... 6 months after the cruise I am still trying to take back my money. They don't want to acknowledge the problem and come up with all kinds of explanations . My bank refunded me while negotiating with Holland America and 5 months later they cancelled the refund and said that Holland America refused to give me back my money. On the ship there are many old people and they were all drinking alcohol which means immediate charge on the room . After 2 weeks it's hard to remember how much alcohol you have consumed. Imagine the money these thieves make from their old and naive customers. I would never ever recommend Holland America and I can say that after this particular cruise (my 4th) and because of the unfair treatment of Holland America line, I am put off cruising for a while ...

Had a great trip but it was spoilt by a large party of passengers (750). Reported to HAL but their post trip customer support is something they do not care a toss about. We got your money, now get lost. Still awaiting a response from them after sending 3 emails and filling in a customer satisfaction survey. Lousy customer service and not feeling inclined to use them again.
Update - Still have had no response from HAL. They really do not give a damn about their customers once they have the money. Such a shame. Should have been a memorable experience for the right reasons and not the wrong ones. Also, I am convinced they pay no attention to their reviews.

No Refund Forthcoming.
Over three weeks ago we disembarked the Rotterdam having completed a cruise circumnavigating the British Isles. On the day of disembarkion (17.08.2024) our onboard account was in credit for USD245.77 with a statement comment “paid to credit card”. To this day no such payment has been received and after two emails to Guest Services there has been no response.
It is extremely disappointing that any payment going the opposite way (as in payment to Holland America) is debited immediately but getting money back is almost impossible. Although we are four star mariners and have two future cruises booked we are seriously considering cancelling both these bookings and looking elsewhere.

Our Holland America cruise was OK not outstanding. They definitely needed an update. It is old style on the ship we were on. The worst issue was they canceled one of our excursions and gave us a credit. Four weeks later we still cannot get them to credit our credit card. The customer service at Holland America said it’s going to be a, long long time since they’re dealing with people cruising currently and since we’re off ship, there will be a long time before we get our credit. Not acceptable Holland America would never travel with you again!

One week before our Alaska cruise the cruise sent out a notice they were departing at 3PM instead of 4PM. This meant the suggested checkin time of 1:30PM is now a required latest time. Quote:

"Please be advised that due to tidal constraints through the Seymour Narrows and the ships current maximum speed, Koningsdam will now depart Vancouver, British Columbia at 3:00 PM on Saturday, September 7, 2024, rather than 4:00 PM as previously scheduled. As a result of this change, our embarkation flight guideline in Vancouver has changed."

The notice also said: "f you have already booked a flight that will arrive later than 11:45 AM, we ask that you rebook your flight to an earlier arrival time. We understand this change may cause you to incur unexpected expenses. Reimbursement requests may be submitted for review at a link under "Support Request."

If you go to the web link it has you fill out info and attach receipts but when clicking "Submit" it gives an error and says to call a number. I have called the number several times and they act like they never heard of the delay.

In fact, on the last call they said they are denying my request because the cruise has ALWAYS left at 3PM, not 4PM. I am sitting there with my itinerary from when I booked the cruise stating departure time is 4PM and THEIR notice says the same thing.

Avoid this cruise line- they have no integrity!

My sisters and i planned a trip to Alaska for over a year. We had been wanting to go for 15 years and we finally did it. We were so excited. We were assigned the Westerdam on the Holland America Cruise lines. My older sister went on the Eurodam the year before with her husband and just loved it. It was a very quiet first two days, trying to get to know the ship. Two days later my sister and i were struck with the NOROVIRUS.
I was surprised to see there was no jumbotron or any music going on the lido deck to keep people busy, . The cruise director was not fun at all. She never engaged any of us, unless she was doing an announcement. Where was the entertainment for us? The crow's nest was awesome, but i can play those games at home. Shuffleboard would have been fun, but it was outside in the cold rainy weather that we had for 4 days. Ping pong was fun on the lido deck.

Lido Market -
The food was always cold, bland and the same. We asked to turn up the heat lamps but we usually had the staff cook it in front of us. Staff was so nice, Great bunch of people very respectful. But, each time i unwrapped my tableware, it was dirty and i had to soak them in hot water before i could use them. The desserts were sugar free made with a fake sweeteners, that i am unfortunately allergic too, and that only added to my illness. The food was always the same, and while they did have some fish i was surprised that they did not have a better variety of foods. I will say that the taco bar was delicious. The hamburger meat was very tasty. COKE product only?? I hate coke- I didn't bring any Pepsi because i was under the impression they would have both types of soda. Talk about expensive at the ports $5.00 each. ridiculous!.

Entertainment:
The entertainment was limited and not the best. They had a band that was absolutely excellent, but they only played at night. The 2 guys who played piano back to back - not very good, a comedian who came on stage 3 times only was mediocre - His name was Warren B Hall. He got funny right at the end of his stint. We saw a movie on movie night and the screen was horrible could barely see what was happening in the movie. BTW same movie you could see in your room on the tv.. They had a guy leading the trivia games named Jose who leered at the younger women, He was the Westerdam gigolo.
PORTS:
We went to Juneau, Dawes Glacier, Sitka, Ketchikan & Victoria BC. We spent several hours parked in the fog waiting to see the glacier. Fog never lifted. Not the ships fault by any means, but why stay there? it never lifted & it was rainy. we went to Ketchikan, so awesome but we only got 5 hours there, and the lumberjack show - which was super fun took over 2 hours, so that left very little time to do anything else, and their excursions were very expensive, i would expect 150-180 - but had no idea they were 240-300 for an excursion. The icing on the cake was pulling into Victoria BC - my grandmother had been there to the gardens and we wanted to revisit that area with her in mind. We had no idea we would be arriving at 8pm and leaving at 1130pm. Why bother getting off the ship. You couldn't see anything because it was dark and all the shops/stores closed at 8pm.

Our total port time was 20 hours. WHOOPEE. We paid a lot of money for a 7 day ride across the sea. I will never go on a Holland American cruise again!
I have never been so disappointed in my life.

Cruise from Japan to Seattle, Washington, Holland America on the Westerdam. The cruise from Hell on a Rust bucket. They had constant remodeling/ construction. My balcony glass door whistle for the first few days. I complained to customer service regarding my balcony door and the constant construction on different floors. The food was cafeteria/ nursing home quality. The Buffett dining floor was taped. I guess the floor was coming up and they taped it to keep it in place. The drinking fountain was rusted.
To fix the whistling on my balcony door, they had to come twice.
And to top it off, Captain fail to make a turn to go into the inside passage, therefore we missed the highlight of the trip, the Inside Passage.
I felt like we were on a third class cruise yet we paid top dollar for it.
I wrote a letter to Holland America President / CEO, Mr. Antorcha, and I included pictures.
Holland America offered us $400.00 dollars for our negative experience. $400.00? This was like a slap on the face. No, we did not expect a full refund, but we did expect sincere offer and good gesture for loyal customers.
We are three star Holland America Members and we had never experienced anything like this.
We have cruised many times and we had never been on a cruise with construction going on. Not even on Holland Americe, until this time.
We go on cruises to relax, and enjoy good food. Not to go through construction, and have nursing home style food.

I booked a Caribbean cruise which was to have departed from Ft. Lauderdale in March 2025. On July 8, 2024, right months in advance, I cancelled my cruise due to frustration with Holland America's online registration system. Only then was I told that my $300 deposit had suddenly morphed into a cancellation fee. Holland America will never receive another penny from me.

The reason I am giving Holland America this rating is because of poor communication and bad land experience. For our 50th anniversary we booked a 11-Day Triple Denali Cruisetour, paying extra for the land portion. The fire at Denali started June 30, and it is our understanding that the Mckinley Chalet Resort was without water and electricity for several days. We flew to Anchorage on July 3, then were supposed to be going to Mckinley Chalet Resort on July 4. We did not hear anything from Holand America about the Denali fire before leaving for our trip. We paid for trip insurance and wonder if that is why we didn’t hear from Holland, because they didn't want us to cancel our entire trip. Instead of spending three nights at Mckinley Chalet Resort, we stayed at four different hotels/resorts for four nights, counting our stay in Anchorage. We were either taken by bus, or train covering large distances on two of the days. That is not what we paid for, or signed up for. We would get notes from different hotels/resorts each day letting us know where we would be next, but nothing official from Holland. Many time the notes would have mistakes, or misinformation, causing us to almost to miss a bus to the next destination. Holland could send us many emails the weeks before our trip with information and trying to get us to spend more for other options, but could not send us an email, or any communication about the Denali fire. We missed one excursion that was included with the Triple Denal stay. It seems like Holland didn’t know what to do, or what they were doing. We know Holland could not do anything about the Denali fire, but the silence from Holland was deafening. Just something officially from Holland would have gone a long way. Once we got on the ship, we finally received official notification from Holland. They did give both of us $100 ship credit and about $22.50 for taxes on ship credit. This was not near what we paid extra for the land portion, especially being moved from place to place to place. We tried working with our travel agent, but we were told Holland would not do anything else. Even though once we got on the ship, everything was fine. Great food, staff and accommodations, I don’t know if I could recommend Holland America due to them seemingly turning their backs on all the passengers that signed up for the land tour.

Worst customer service experience!!!
And I haven’t even sailed yet… My cruise leaves from Boston on August 24, 2024. On August 18, 2024, a Holland America agent sold me the club orange membership and put a note on my account to upgrade me from an HH cabin to a C. I called back half an hour later to see what cabin I got as the booking section was not open at the time I initially called. Lo and behold, no cabins were available. Availability. Then I was told they would upgrade me to an HH category cabin?! Really? An upgrade from HH to HH? Then I was told they would give me a $50 onboard credit or reimburse my club orange purchase. Then I was told they always overbook cruises. Then I was promised to be put at the top of the waiting list. Then I was told that couldn’t be done. How is this cruise line still in business? I have sailed with Carnival, Royal Caribbean, Princess and Celebrity. Never have I encountered this level of incompetence. And the laughable solutions offered by customer service were insulting. My 2 emails to the complaint department went unanswered. But the last straw was supervisor, Greg (employee #HA01277), whom I spoke to on August 22, 2024. He was unempathetic, unapologetic and unwilling to offer a more positive solution to my situation. Customer service is a term this company does not understand, value or practice. All front line staff were very respectful. Perhaps management could learn a thing or two from them. Do not outright lie to customers and then offer pitiful compensation in order to rectify a problem you created. Absolutely disgraceful experience!

Thank you for contacting us. We will not be sailing with Holland America again due to a terrifying experience on our New England cruise.
A fire ignited in our cabin's makeup mirror, triggering the fire alarm at 4 AM. Despite the emergency, no crew member attended to our room. We were left in fear of another fire while absent. When I reported the incident, the room attendant sent security but offered no solution other than "Just don't turn it on."
This disregard for passenger safety is unacceptable. We will not be sailing with Holland America, Carnival, or any of their subsidiaries. This matter has been brought to the attention of my employer, a major professional sports team.
Holland America's dismissive response to our complaint was equally shocking. We expect more than a casual "thank you for telling us" after such a traumatic ordeal.
Unless you can offer a satisfactory resolution, we have no further business with your company.

My wife and I recently took a two week cruise on the Holland America's Rotterdam from Saturday, July 20, 2024 to Saturday, August 3, 2024 to Norway.
On the Friday evening before disembarking, my wife was very sick. She was taken to the ship's infirmary. They tested her for COVID and the results were positive.
They got her temperature down from 100.9 to 100.2 within a short period of time and then discharged her. My wife was given Robitussin (a cough medicine) and Tylenol (an aspirin to get the temperature down).
The medical personnel in the ship's infirmary then offered her Paxlovid, which is used to treat COVID. Do you want to know what they would charge her? It would be $750.00. Yes, that's $750.00. In the United States, where we are from, there is no charge for a prescription of Paxlovid.
Needless to say, we did not spend the $750.00 for the Paxlovid in the Rotterdam's infirmary.
Hey Holland America, how can you be so cruel and heartless by charging that kind of money for this medication? You were trying to take advantage of my wife when she was so sick and make money off of her situation. Apparently, making a profit is more important to you than the well being of your customers.

while I have no complaints regarding my cruise, follow up concerns about charges to my credit card refuse to be answered by guest relations. an email was sent over 4 weeks ago, followed by a 30 min phone call 2 weeks later. no one from guest relations would take my call. another email was sent and 2 weeks later still no response. a very unhappy customer!!

They damaged my suitcase to the point where I was unable to use it. I put in a claim, electronically, to their “damaged property” department, several times. I have not had any response now over 2 months. I have called customer relations people who gave me the runaround for several hours and still not resolved. This has been the absolute WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I have ever experienced.

They sold me on standby - promised updates … 51 hours till sailing and no email, no assignment of stateroom, no refund. No answers despite repeated phone calls (they give you the run around - call back in 2 hours when you call back they say the person you need has left) not helpful, not friendly zero compassion. Likely got scammed. I get it standby means maybe - but communication is key.

Cruised with this company 2022 and they accused me of stealing two bathrobes that were never in the cabin. Charged my card $120 and produced a forged receipt. Eventually refunded so cruised again 2023 and payed for wifi. Was not working for several days so complained and Tom Ironside from the office of the president promised a $100 refund. Still waiting

My family and I recently completed the Holland America (Volendam) cruise from Montreal to Boston. This was our 7th cruise, but first with Holland America (HAL). Never again. This was the worst cruise we have ever taken. We had issues with every nearly every aspect of our cruise. This includes: The Casino, The Spa, Excursions, Guest Services and Dining. Over the first several days, I spent over 6 hours getting issues resolved including: overcharging our cabin account, not comping items we were promised, not issuing credits, rude service, being called a liar, rarely being able to use the dining room, even though we had anytime dining and much more. On day 4, another passenger suggested I send a message to speak with a hotel manager. I submitted that at 7 a.m. on Day 4. At 5 p.m. on Day 5, I still had not been contacted by a manager. I went to guest services (this was easily my 10th trip there) and was told they often took 2 days to reply, as they had a lot of complaints. Upon returning to my cabin, still with no real resolution from HAL, I found my wife in tears. She was distraught over the horrible cruise and the treatment we were being given. My children asked to go home. This has NEVER happened on a cruise. Ultimately, I did speak with Eduardo late on Day 5. He listened to my families horrible experience. I noted to Eduardo that many of the people I spoke to informed me that they had been comped or received steep discounts on their cruise. We paid over 8k for our cruise and spent another 6k onboard between the Spa, Casino, shops etc. We clearly intended to relax and had no issue paying for that experience. We definitely did not feel like we were valued as a family who spent quite a lot of money on the HAL cruise. (14k was ALOT for my family). Ultimately, Eduardo decided that as compensation for our experience he would offered us a free dinner at the HAL Steak restaurant, a $240 value. I told him that was insulting, after our trip was ruined and my family wanted to leave. It was especially insulting, after another passenger we had made friends with, told us they were given a $1000 ship credit for 1 minor issue with housekeeping. Eduardo, said he did understand the dinner offer was insulting and that he would get back to me. 24 hours later, he phoned my room and said HAL was willing to give me a $250 credit. At this point, my family and I were done with the HAL cruise. We only had 1 day left to endure. I told Eduardo that $250 was as insulting as the dinner, but we were done so do whatever. The next day we left the cruise in Boston. We will never cruise with HAL again. I will ensure every person I know, hears about our experience and the way we were treated. It appears that HAL cares more about its comped passengers, rather than families who spent close to 15k with the cruise line. This is unfortunate, as we intended to start a relationship with HAL and book future cruises, our next being Alaska. We will now book that cruise with a competitor as HAL clearly did not care enough to even make a real attempt to make this experience right. Lastly, and just to reiterate that HAL does not care. I completed the HAL after-cruise survey (clearly negative based on our experience) AND I filed an official complaint with HAL. Both asking for a corporate manager to call me back. 10 days later and that has not happened. Avoid our experience. Use a different cruise line.

Update: It has now been 2 weeks since our cruise ended. Even though I immediately filed a detailed complaint and requested a manager call back.....Noone from HAL has reached out. They clearly do not care once they have your money. Absolutely AVOID!

Booked a cruise last Dec., for a 12 day Christmas cruise 2024. Due to unforeseen circumstances I had to cancel. My contact with Trace was horrible. He spoke so low after repeated times telling him to speak up and even then I couldn't understand what he was saying. He told me it would cost me $600.00 dollars to cancel the cruise even though I had cancelation insurance for both of us. I argued that no where did I find a penalization for canceling. He argued with me. After putting me on hold for 6 minutes he came back and told me that it would be $411.00 for canceling. After 30 minutes of b s I took the penalty of the $411.00 and then was told that I wouldn't be credited immediately. I have gone on Holland America 3-4 times and have always enjoyed my cruises. After this encounter with Trace, I will no longer cruise with Holland America.