Holland Norway Lines Reviews 

We were told that the was a delay and waited for a good while. We first heard that the ferry was cancelled by overhearing someone else’s conversation. After checking with the reception we were told that the ferry now was cancelled. It took about 20 minutes from overhearing someone else’s conversation, to them finally inform everyone that the ferry was cancelled.
Everyone in the waitingroom was so surprised and so angry.
I wish they would inform us as quickly as possible, so that we didn’t need to sit there for hours waiting for nothing.

I’m not sure what we can get in return either. Seems like we’re not getting the food we pre-ordered in return, so that’s a bummer.

After seing all of these bad reviews, I don’t understand how this ferry is still on.
This can’t be serious.

We went on mini-cruise and it was not a pleasant experience. Mainly because the ship is old and very dated. Cabins are dated as well and not comfortable. You'll get a dirty window, curtains full of holes, very old bed linen, towels and spoiled pillow. You'll also get a very low quality but pricey food onboard and super boring entertainment (non-professional music band and bingo in the evening). Ship is also small in terms of cruise-ships so big chance you get sea-sick which completes the picture of your getaway.

But. It might be worth to take this route as transport part of your vacation in Norway. Then it is just an unreliable but funny mean of transportation. Be aware of regular delays and cancelations.

Horrible trip. All the other cruises and ferry’s were cancelled for departure on the 16th due to storm Otto, yet this boat decided to depart anyway, probably due to problems a week or 2 before. The trip to Kristiansand itself was fine but the return was horrendous. We departed 12 hours later due to the storm and even after those 12 hours the waters were not calm nor truly safe enough to depart. I’ve spent the entire night on the toilet due to motion sickness, my partner as well. We should’ve arrived in Eemshaven at around 10:00, this ended up being 20;30. The train that was going to pick us up departed without about 15 people, we didn’t hurry for this train as it was promised that this train would wait for us and that it was there especially for us, another lie.

Food was way too expensive, 34 euro for a breakfast for 2, no compensation for lunch that most of us were forced to get due to the delay. The only compensation that was there was a sale on shoes.

Whenever you ask for any compensation they’ll always answer the same way, their ‘rules’ state that if anything happens due to weather, you don’t have any right. I personally think this is incredibly wrong as it was WELL KNOWN that there was a storm, didn’t tell us and then pretend that it took them by surprise. they should’ve given us the choice to cancel or plan another trip, instead of forcing us to go on a boat through a storm with 7 - 10 meter high waves.

I love cruises, but I’ll never go on HNL again. Horrible experience, incredibly expensive food and I didn’t even sleep on a bed, I slept on a couch they made look like a bed, come on now. Do better.

The ship was nice. However, the food served on the ship could have been better. Duty free shop did not have a lot of items.
What I am mostly disappointed that the ship supposed to be dog friendly, but we could not take the dog anywhere in. It would have been nice to know before we boarded.
Also we were not let in to norway, because of some misunderstanding of the documents of the dog. It would have been nice if they check the papers of the dog during check in, and then we know that there is an issue and we would not have boarded on the boat.

[English below]
De meeste passagiers aan boord nemen de bootreis als cruise, en dat is erg begrijpelijk: als transportmiddel is de reis volstrekt onbetrouwbaar. Mijn reis naar Kristiansand werd 1,5 week van tevoren zonder duidelijke reden geannuleerd (een "gewijzigde dienstregeling"; ik neem aan dat er te weinig passagiers waren). Mijn opties waren een refund of een reis op een latere datum, en HNL weigerde een compensatie te bieden voor het aansluitende vervoer dat ik op korte termijn moest omboeken. Dit staat zo in hun voorwaarden, dus ik had hier weinig tegenin te brengen, maar kostte me wel een hoop geld en frustratie.

Ik heb uiteindelijk de boot van een paar dagen later moeten nemen, die vervolgens zelf ook nog een paar uur vertraagd was, waardoor ik opnieuw mijn aansluitende trein mistte. HNL weigert opnieuw verantwoordelijkheid te nemen.

Als je flexibel bent qua reizen, bijvoorbeeld als je op vakantie gaat, is dit een prima boot. Heb je een specifiek reisschema, dan is deze reis ten zeerste af te raden.

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[English below]
Most passengers on board take the boat trip as a cruise, and that is very understandable: as a means of transport, the journey is completely unreliable. My trip to Kristiansand was canceled 1.5 weeks in advance for no apparent reason (a "schedule change"; I assume there were too few passengers). My options were a refund or a trip at a later date, and HNL refused to offer compensation for the connecting transport that I had to rebook at short notice. This is in their terms and conditions, so I had little to argue with this, but it cost me a lot of money and frustration.

I ended up having to take the boat a few days later, which was itself delayed for a few hours, so I missed my connecting train again. HNL refuses to take responsibility again.

If you are flexible in terms of travel, for example when you go on holiday, this is a great trip. If you have a specific travel schedule, this trip is strongly discouraged.

May be if you have a negative attitude you get the same back with the mirroring effect. we went for the 4 day mini holiday. Ships crew was horrendously friendly , nothing wrong with the buffet, wine and beer included. Myself a salad, cold cuts man and love deserts , nothing wrong with that. Nice band playing in the evening and the Caparina was good and not called a minimum in quantity. very good expirience and we go again.

It was an amazing experience. We did the cruise on New Year's Eve. The cruise itself had a classic vintage looking interiors. The beds were comfortable enough but we still carried some more personal bed covers. Room was quiet and ship was stable even with mild sea roughness outside. Still recommended to carry sea sickness pills. Onboard food was okay. Events were nice and the staff were good. Overall nice and will do it again.

An easy way to get to beautiful Norway and enjoy its nature. The staff (which is mainly Eastern European for some reason) is very rude. Especially the people working behind the reception couldn’t care less about your issues. Feels like you’re on a boat from the 50ies, with tasteless interior and buffet diner that I wouldn’t even feed my dog. So if you go, make sure to take your own food.
They hire live ‘singers’ for the bar and cocktail bar. So incredibly tacky and cringeworthy, better use that money to improve to a higher standard.

Hurray, we thought. A nice way to get to Norway rather than driving through Holland, Germany and Denmark. Well, never again. The crew assisting in 'parking' the cars were so rude and unhelpful - at one point I was expected to be able to get out of the car in less than 4" of manoeuverable space. Packed in like sardines and told 'its not our problem if you can't get out'. Happened both journeys. The ferry was used in the Baltic and built in 2001 and the cabin was tired looking with a massive dent in the bathroom door and what looked like knife stabs in the walls and bottom of the bunk, and all the way down one of the corridors. Threadbare towels, no soap in the bathroom, no drink making facilities, no mini fridge, no hairdryer, and dead flies on the window sills. A la carte restaurant blocked off despite booking and made to use the buffet. Food alternative okay but limited choice. Restaurant staff very helpful. Arrived on board with cabins not ready - cynically think this was a ploy to get you to use the bar on the sundeck as you were directed straight there by the pa system. Card payment system crashed frequently when you did buy something and the duty free was practically empty on the return journey. Very expensive way to get to Norway and we will not be using this ferry service again unless they improve dramatically.

Boarding in Eemshaven has been handled quite friendly and quickly by the Check-in personnel. After arrival on the car deck everyone was welcomed by a crew member in the staircase who helped to navigate to the cabin and through the ship. The 18 hours journey was very enjoyable. The Romantika is a modern cruise ferry with several food, shopping and entertainment facilities. Food quality at both Dinner and breakfast buffet was good. The cabin was quite spacious, clean and well-maintained (especially with front view). The crew was very friendly and helpful at all times. Holland Norway Lines is a nice new alternative to travel to the west coast of Norway.

This is our first and absolutly the last trip with this ferry/company. A very expensible ferry, with a expensible buffet dinner. Expensible because of the quality of ferry and food. It was horrible quality.
And the taxfree shop was almost empty. The worst store I ever have seen. And in the room, a suite, it was not ready. We was a family of four, but only two beds was ready. The cooler not in order, bathroom not clean.
If someone thinking of take this journey!
DON’T!!