Square Peg....

Just OFF the Boat

Holland America, I admit it. I didn’t fill out the on-board survey for you before I got off the Oosterdam last week. Thought I might share my thoughts here, instead, for others considering either your Seattle to Alaska 7-day cruise, or another excursion.

I can see why you pushed so hard for high scores on that survey, and so highly suggested we give you the best score, and so often pushed us to turn the survey in before we left the ship.

The Oosterdam doesn’t crack the current Top 60 in Cruise Critic’s list of ships worldwide. But since you had the route we wanted, and at a competitive price through a broker, we decided to give you a shot. But the chance to win 7 tote bags you offered among 2,000 cruisers just didn’t quite move my pencil to survey activity.

Traveltruth.com doesn’t rank Holland America in its Top 15 lines, either, but does at least say that HA has “young, innovative management despite its reputation for catering to an older clientele”. So, here’s hoping for some improvement on items I would have mentioned on the survey:

Like many of the other mass market lines in the business, HA is clearly under pressure to deliver on-board revenues. This results in the industry-standard mandatory $11 per person gratuity on the Oosterdam (which HA says it keeps none of), but also in a lot of other nickel and diming. If you’re going, soft drinks, at $1.95 each, are best managed through a pre-paid drink card- $25 for $50 worth of Diet Cokes when purchased in advance. Don’t count on any free tastings of wine or beer, plus as traveltruth.com says is also true on other lines, there is intense pressure on the Oosterdam to purchase, and intense upselling in the gift shops from often sarcastic clerks.

Some of the art works were of dubious pedigree, and value of shore excursion offerings were uneven. Many of the mass market lines are now using flash frozen foodstuffs such as shore side prepared frozen submarine sandwich loaves and low quality hamburgers and hot dogs. The Oosterdam had some of the Good, the Bad, and the downright Ugly in our experience at the various dining rooms.

Cruise prices on the major lines and the low and mid-range budget categories have not changed significantly since 1992. Again, according to traveltruths.com, “We are starting to see the clientele aboard many of these ships change. Some of the same people who used to travel by Greyhound are now traveling on cruise ships. One major line recently told us that when sailings feature promotional pricing, some passengers are requesting that cabin attendants not change their sheets or clean the room ‘“because we didn’t bring any tip money”’.

Our experience on the Oosterdam included folks treating us to their “Bathrobe Dining” in the Lido dining room, and jeans on the formal evenings in the Vista dining room. No effort to suggest a different direction was made to these guests, though they had interaction with the staff. Maybe it’s good these folks don’t care that the stateroom carpets are thread-worn, the decor is tired, and much of the boat still needs refurbishing, even though it was advertised as already being done.

But, let’s be fair, there were still many genuinely good, fun, and expectation-meeting experiences:

• Even though the food and service was occasionally uneven, there were moments of 5-star HA service, indeed….like Tony, Table 189, Vista dining.
• The stateroom porters were not as cordial and forthcoming as expected, but they seemed stretched very thin. Once the towel animals finally started getting folded, though, it felt like it should on HA when you retired for the evening.
• and, of course, all the things that virtually no cruise line could even add value to- like the majesty of Glacier Bay, whale-watching near Juneau or kayaking in Ketchikan.

Oh, and one final thought, Holland America. While the cruise, overall, was a good time, there IS a reason that only 10% of the cruise lines even STOP in Sitka.

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DISCLOSURE: My employer, Michelin, does have professional inspectors in the areas of travel and dining. I am not one of them, and I paid for my travel on Holland America this cruise.