0208 248 2355
Questions about your booking? Contact Us
Login
Oosterdam, a Vista Class cruise ship, brings high style to the high seas with thoughtful upgrades and stunning artwork. Guests will have plenty to do on board when not taking in expansive views or stretching out in spacious staterooms. Begin with an exquisite breakfast in the Dining Room. Unwind with a massage at the Greenhouse Spa & Salon, or challenge the family to an air hockey game at High Score!—an Oosterdam exclusive. Indulge in pre-dinner craft cocktails at Ocean Bar, followed by delectable Italian fare at Canaletto.
This was an amazing bucket list cruise for me. I am on the elderly side of life taking every opportunity to experience as much of the world as possible while I still have the energy and mobility to do so. This was my first time in South America. I am glad I arranged three days pre-cruise in Santiago and highly recommend spending more time here than in Buenos Aires. There is so much to see nearby and weather, traffic, public transport, prices and food quality are superior. In addition to a four hour city tour on day of arrival, I had a private full day tour of the Perez Cruz winery in the Maipo Valley on day 2 and an educational and cultural tour of Valpariso and the Casablanca valley the following day. Both tours were with a very knowledgable local guide. I worked with Esteban at Private Tours in Santiago who arranged everything for me. I stayed at the Hyatt Centric in Las Condes, a very safe and walkable area with lots of great shops and restaurants. Boarding Oosterdam in San Antonio was delayed several hours due to intensive ship cleaning and sanitation due to what HAL referred to as an "intestinal" bug that inflected a large number of passengers on the inbound voyage. HAL warned us of the delay the previous day so I took the opportunity to stock up on antiseptic wipes, lotions and spray at a local pharmacy. There were related cases of illness during our voyage, but I never had any issues. The 14 night cruise included 7 ports of call, including an overnight in BA, and 7 sea days that included some spectacular scenic mountain and glacier cruising through the Chilean fjords. I was fortunate to be in a suite on the port side with a great balcony view most of the time. I highly recommend a balcony cabin on the port side if sailing in this direction. I like HAL because they are largely focused on the destination experience. I found the port talks all very interesting. Our cruise coordinator Ed did an amazing job at these talks and during our scenic cruising. It was very great to hear his talks while watching the bow camera on my TV, and being able to step outside on my balcony to take some great close up photos. I am not into shows and late night entertainment so the fact that HAL is not highly rated in these areas is fine with me. I do enjoy fine dining and I thoroughly enjoyed my evenings at Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto. The service, food quality and variety are excellent. Some of the scenic glacier viewing, Cape Horn viewing and some shore excursions require very early mornings, So I am quite happy with early to bed nights. My shore excursions experiences were as follows: Puerto Monte - Petrohue Falls, Lake Cruise & Chilean Countryside. The falls and countryside parts were great, the lake cruise was scenic, but way too crowded. There were several tour groups crammed onto the boat. Puerto Chacabuco - The Natural Beauty of Patagonia. The was a great tour, even though we had light rain most of the time. We were divided into two smaller 20 person groups that walked through a beautiful forest area along a river to view the "Old Man with Beard Waterfall". I took some great photos of interesting plants and the waterfall. The nature walk was followed by a nice sampling of local foods and entertainment by a local dance group. This tour turned out much better than I expected. Punta Arenas - Off the Beaten Track: Magdalena Penguin Reserve -This tour is pricy and started at 6:30AM. The 250 passenger catamaran ride to the island is 2.5 hours each way. The seas can be quite rough en-route, and this excursion is often cancelled due to weather. Nobody was seasick on our boat and our boat was only half full. There are lots of Magellanic penguins on the island and you can get very close to them. You will have about an hour on island before returning to port. I wanted to include this tour in case we were not able to dock at the Falklands. After returning to port, I had time for a pleasant walk around town and enjoyed a seafood chowder lunch with local draft beer at La Luna restaurant, which is one of the few restaurants that opens for lunch before 12:30PM. Ushuaia Argentina - National Park & Beagle Channel - We did the beagle channel first followed by a two hour visit to the National Park. The Beagle Channel part includes great close ups to three small islands that are filled with birds and sea lions, so lots of great photos. The National Park tour was not so amazing, just a long bus ride through a not so spectacular area. We were there later in the afternoon when the end of the world post office was closed. On return to th ship, there was no time to visit the picturesque town of Ushuaia. Next time, I would skip the park tour and walk around town instead. Falklands - Bluff Cove Penguin Rookery - This was my favorite. I'm glad we made it into port as around 50% of visiting ships are not able to due to weather. The 08:30AM three hour penguin tour was amazing with lots of Gentoo and several King penguins that you can get very close to. There is also a cozy tea and souvenir shop with complimentary tea and home made biscuits. We returned to town with plenty of time to enjoy a real pub lunch with local draught English style beer. After lunch, I was able to walk around town and visit some Falkland War landmarks and memorials. Montevideo - This was one of two non-HAL tours I booked since we were only a few hours drive to BA so there was no concern about getting back to the ship ontime. My guide for the all day private tour I booked through Viator was excellent. I had no idea Uruguay was such a prosperous country with lots of amazing history. My guide Carlos, who I found out also did tours for George Bush Sr. and Hillary Clinton many years ago, was my age and knew exactly the kind of places I wanted to see and what time to be there. He is well connected in town and personally greeted everywhere we went. He also took me to an amazing beef restaurant for lunch. Buenos Aries - We had two nights here and I booked another private tour to a country vineyard and restaurant. "Bodega Gamboa Small-Group Wine Tasting Tour with Lunch" This was a bit disappointing. The vineyard is not in a good wine growing area and produces wine from imported Mendoza grapes, not the grapes they grow. The lunch was good and plentiful, although a bit late in the day for my eating habits. The wine was nice and flowed freely. The drive to the venue was about little over an hour through not so interesting landscape. Buenos Aries is in a relatively un-scenic flat area. Weather and scenery reminded me of Houston TX. That's all I have to say about that. Argentina is known for its beef so I arranged dinner at La Cabana, a popular well known restaurant a short walk from the Hilton where I spent the night after disembarking. I ordered a fillet steak with a glass of Malbec. The wine was excellent, but the steak was one of the toughest I have ever eaten. I get much better steaks at Walmart. So, you can probably tell I was not very impressed with Buenos Aries. Before returning home, I am glad I arranged a three night visit to Iguazu. Many others on my cruise also took the opportunity and visited Iguazu. I was able to visit both Argentina and Brazil sides. The views are quite spectacular on each side, but the Brazil side offers more close up encounters (you will get wet) and panoramas. Don't worry about getting wet, it is so hot you will dry off. My hotel was the Iguazu Grand, which is a 20 minute drive to the Argentina falls, but very close to the Brazil border. I recommend staying on the Argentina side if you are flying from BA in order to reduce the number of border crossings, which can be time consuming. In summary: Do allow extra days in Santiago. Do get a balcony cabin on the land side of the ship. Do try the Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto. Do the Bluff Cove Rookery tour in Falklands. Do arrange a visit to Iguazu. Do not bother booking extra days in Buenos Aries.
We boarded in San Antonio for the 17 day cruise through the Panama Canal with final destination Ft Lauderdale. Prior to the cruise, our party of 8 had spent 5 days in Peru touring Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. We are so glad we did this before the cruise because we heard the ship excursion to Machu Picchu was rushed for time. Embarkation was smooth with no issues. Our group had our picture taken as a group and all of us wound up buying a copy. Our cabin was a signatiture suite and on the bump out which gave us a balcony that looked straight out to sea and also forward down the ship's side. We really liked our cabin because of the little extra space we had to store cushions, etc. Our cabin attendants we about the best we've had, courteous and efficient. Always looking for things to make our journey more pleasant. Dining was ok. Our group ate mostly in the MDR but also had nights in Canaletto, Pinnacle Grill, and the seafood boil. Food in the MDR was good but not outstanding. Several of our entrees had to be returned due to issues. Wine orders were not correct on two occasions. The best meal of the trip was the Pinnacle Grill Cellar Masters. Our steaks were perfect as was the wine pairings with each course. For casual dining, we went to Lido and the Dive In--great burgers here! Since we had several early excursions, we at breakfast a lot in the cabin by room service. Our orders were always delivered on time and the food quality of was very good. Entertainment in the World Stage was the weakest part of the cruise. The dance team did a good job with their routines, the guitarists were good, but other than that the entertainment was blah. Ship excursions were crowded with sometimes 3 full buses going to the same attraction. We had much better success using private tours especially during our 3-day stop at Callao Port, Lima. The port talks given by Ed, our cruise director, were very informative and entertaining. Disembarkation was poor. Our color of luggage tags was two hours late in getting the call to disembark. Not a big problem as our flight was in the afternoon, but some in our group had earlier flights. Immigration at Ft Lauderdale was chaos. Multiple lines with no signage and no global entry line. We spent 45 minutes in line to get through. If you can, do the self assist which is you carry off your own luggage so you can get to immigration before the rest of the ship.
Great ship, but, very old! HAL was a wonderful cruiseline, the ship left a lot to be desired. Crew is outstanding. Ship went into dry dock right after our cruise. Unfortunately, they started the repairs while we were still on the cruise ! Gift shop closed while we were still sailing . This was a Back to Back cruise that wasn’t advertised as such. It was difficult getting back on the ship when new people were boarding. The breakfast menu in the MDR never changes. Occasionally, they will have a nice Sunday brunch menu with creative entrees. The HAL staff is very friendly and accommodating. The itinerary is very good and well thought out. The specialty restaurants are good. The Italian restaurant is just a section of the buffet that is sectioned off . No special ambiance to make it a nice restaurant . The steak restaurant feels like a nice restaurant. The Lido ( buffet ) has very good varieties of tastes food .
We just finished the 14 Day Buenos Aires to San Antonio leg and then continued on to Fort Lauderdale on the 17 day leg to complete our 31 day journey. This was our longest cruise to date and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We found the food and service excellent. The Captain and staff were very friendly and accommodating. The normally cruise on Carnival. This was our first HAL cruise and we were very impressed. Our inside cabin on Deck 10 was very quiet and convenient to the Lido area. Entertainment was good, some shows better than others but this is normal. Lido food variety and service was excellent and efficient. Disembarkation was very easy. We also do self assist. We had a 9:40 flight from FLL and we were off the ship and in the cab by 7:30 am. There were some maintenance issues but the ship was heading to dry dock right after our cruise finished so I’m sure they were being addresss. Overall we were very happy.
This was an amazing bucket list cruise for me. I am on the elderly side of life taking every opportunity to experience as much of the world as possible while I still have the energy and mobility to do so. This was my first time in South America. I am glad I arranged three days pre-cruise in Santiago and highly recommend spending more time here than in Buenos Aires. There is so much to see nearby and weather, traffic, public transport, prices and food quality are superior. In addition to a four hour city tour on day of arrival, I had a private full day tour of the Perez Cruz winery in the Maipo Valley on day 2 and an educational and cultural tour of Valpariso and the Casablanca valley the following day. Both tours were with a very knowledgable local guide. I worked with Esteban at Private Tours in Santiago who arranged everything for me. I stayed at the Hyatt Centric in Las Condes, a very safe and walkable area with lots of great shops and restaurants. Boarding Oosterdam in San Antonio was delayed several hours due to intensive ship cleaning and sanitation due to what HAL referred to as an "intestinal" bug that inflected a large number of passengers on the inbound voyage. HAL warned us of the delay the previous day so I took the opportunity to stock up on antiseptic wipes, lotions and spray at a local pharmacy. There were related cases of illness during our voyage, but I never had any issues. The 14 night cruise included 7 ports of call, including an overnight in BA, and 7 sea days that included some spectacular scenic mountain and glacier cruising through the Chilean fjords. I was fortunate to be in a suite on the port side with a great balcony view most of the time. I highly recommend a balcony cabin on the port side if sailing in this direction. I like HAL because they are largely focused on the destination experience. I found the port talks all very interesting. Our cruise coordinator Ed did an amazing job at these talks and during our scenic cruising. It was very great to hear his talks while watching the bow camera on my TV, and being able to step outside on my balcony to take some great close up photos. I am not into shows and late night entertainment so the fact that HAL is not highly rated in these areas is fine with me. I do enjoy fine dining and I thoroughly enjoyed my evenings at Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto. The service, food quality and variety are excellent. Some of the scenic glacier viewing, Cape Horn viewing and some shore excursions require very early mornings, So I am quite happy with early to bed nights. My shore excursions experiences were as follows: Puerto Monte - Petrohue Falls, Lake Cruise & Chilean Countryside. The falls and countryside parts were great, the lake cruise was scenic, but way too crowded. There were several tour groups crammed onto the boat. Puerto Chacabuco - The Natural Beauty of Patagonia. The was a great tour, even though we had light rain most of the time. We were divided into two smaller 20 person groups that walked through a beautiful forest area along a river to view the "Old Man with Beard Waterfall". I took some great photos of interesting plants and the waterfall. The nature walk was followed by a nice sampling of local foods and entertainment by a local dance group. This tour turned out much better than I expected. Punta Arenas - Off the Beaten Track: Magdalena Penguin Reserve -This tour is pricy and started at 6:30AM. The 250 passenger catamaran ride to the island is 2.5 hours each way. The seas can be quite rough en-route, and this excursion is often cancelled due to weather. Nobody was seasick on our boat and our boat was only half full. There are lots of Magellanic penguins on the island and you can get very close to them. You will have about an hour on island before returning to port. I wanted to include this tour in case we were not able to dock at the Falklands. After returning to port, I had time for a pleasant walk around town and enjoyed a seafood chowder lunch with local draft beer at La Luna restaurant, which is one of the few restaurants that opens for lunch before 12:30PM. Ushuaia Argentina - National Park & Beagle Channel - We did the beagle channel first followed by a two hour visit to the National Park. The Beagle Channel part includes great close ups to three small islands that are filled with birds and sea lions, so lots of great photos. The National Park tour was not so amazing, just a long bus ride through a not so spectacular area. We were there later in the afternoon when the end of the world post office was closed. On return to th ship, there was no time to visit the picturesque town of Ushuaia. Next time, I would skip the park tour and walk around town instead. Falklands - Bluff Cove Penguin Rookery - This was my favorite. I'm glad we made it into port as around 50% of visiting ships are not able to due to weather. The 08:30AM three hour penguin tour was amazing with lots of Gentoo and several King penguins that you can get very close to. There is also a cozy tea and souvenir shop with complimentary tea and home made biscuits. We returned to town with plenty of time to enjoy a real pub lunch with local draught English style beer. After lunch, I was able to walk around town and visit some Falkland War landmarks and memorials. Montevideo - This was one of two non-HAL tours I booked since we were only a few hours drive to BA so there was no concern about getting back to the ship ontime. My guide for the all day private tour I booked through Viator was excellent. I had no idea Uruguay was such a prosperous country with lots of amazing history. My guide Carlos, who I found out also did tours for George Bush Sr. and Hillary Clinton many years ago, was my age and knew exactly the kind of places I wanted to see and what time to be there. He is well connected in town and personally greeted everywhere we went. He also took me to an amazing beef restaurant for lunch. Buenos Aries - We had two nights here and I booked another private tour to a country vineyard and restaurant. "Bodega Gamboa Small-Group Wine Tasting Tour with Lunch" This was a bit disappointing. The vineyard is not in a good wine growing area and produces wine from imported Mendoza grapes, not the grapes they grow. The lunch was good and plentiful, although a bit late in the day for my eating habits. The wine was nice and flowed freely. The drive to the venue was about little over an hour through not so interesting landscape. Buenos Aries is in a relatively un-scenic flat area. Weather and scenery reminded me of Houston TX. That's all I have to say about that. Argentina is known for its beef so I arranged dinner at La Cabana, a popular well known restaurant a short walk from the Hilton where I spent the night after disembarking. I ordered a fillet steak with a glass of Malbec. The wine was excellent, but the steak was one of the toughest I have ever eaten. I get much better steaks at Walmart. So, you can probably tell I was not very impressed with Buenos Aries. Before returning home, I am glad I arranged a three night visit to Iguazu. Many others on my cruise also took the opportunity and visited Iguazu. I was able to visit both Argentina and Brazil sides. The views are quite spectacular on each side, but the Brazil side offers more close up encounters (you will get wet) and panoramas. Don't worry about getting wet, it is so hot you will dry off. My hotel was the Iguazu Grand, which is a 20 minute drive to the Argentina falls, but very close to the Brazil border. I recommend staying on the Argentina side if you are flying from BA in order to reduce the number of border crossings, which can be time consuming. In summary: Do allow extra days in Santiago. Do get a balcony cabin on the land side of the ship. Do try the Pinnacle Grill and Canaletto. Do the Bluff Cove Rookery tour in Falklands. Do arrange a visit to Iguazu. Do not bother booking extra days in Buenos Aries.
We boarded in San Antonio for the 17 day cruise through the Panama Canal with final destination Ft Lauderdale. Prior to the cruise, our party of 8 had spent 5 days in Peru touring Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu. We are so glad we did this before the cruise because we heard the ship excursion to Machu Picchu was rushed for time. Embarkation was smooth with no issues. Our group had our picture taken as a group and all of us wound up buying a copy. Our cabin was a signatiture suite and on the bump out which gave us a balcony that looked straight out to sea and also forward down the ship's side. We really liked our cabin because of the little extra space we had to store cushions, etc. Our cabin attendants we about the best we've had, courteous and efficient. Always looking for things to make our journey more pleasant. Dining was ok. Our group ate mostly in the MDR but also had nights in Canaletto, Pinnacle Grill, and the seafood boil. Food in the MDR was good but not outstanding. Several of our entrees had to be returned due to issues. Wine orders were not correct on two occasions. The best meal of the trip was the Pinnacle Grill Cellar Masters. Our steaks were perfect as was the wine pairings with each course. For casual dining, we went to Lido and the Dive In--great burgers here! Since we had several early excursions, we at breakfast a lot in the cabin by room service. Our orders were always delivered on time and the food quality of was very good. Entertainment in the World Stage was the weakest part of the cruise. The dance team did a good job with their routines, the guitarists were good, but other than that the entertainment was blah. Ship excursions were crowded with sometimes 3 full buses going to the same attraction. We had much better success using private tours especially during our 3-day stop at Callao Port, Lima. The port talks given by Ed, our cruise director, were very informative and entertaining. Disembarkation was poor. Our color of luggage tags was two hours late in getting the call to disembark. Not a big problem as our flight was in the afternoon, but some in our group had earlier flights. Immigration at Ft Lauderdale was chaos. Multiple lines with no signage and no global entry line. We spent 45 minutes in line to get through. If you can, do the self assist which is you carry off your own luggage so you can get to immigration before the rest of the ship.
With refined amenities and Holland America Line signature Mariner’s Dream bed gracing each elegant stateroom, the ship offers six grades of staterooms. Most are ocean-facing, many featuring teak-lined verandas for dining alfresco or private sunbathing.
Holland America Line invites you to dine "As You Wish". To savour Italian cuisine one night and a perfectly grilled porterhouse steak the next. To take your place in the Dining Room at a specific seating time or be spontaneous, following your desires. Onboard, there are restaurants to suit every mood, along with the flexibility to choose the dining style you prefer.
Boasting an expansive range of enrichment facilities and opportunity, Holland America Line's ships are bound to offer something you'll want to know more about. Why not have a go at the Digital Workshop powered by Windows and learn how to enhance your holiday picture or how to easily share them.
The shake of a martini, the hum of conversation with new friends – Holland America Line offers a wide selection of onboard lounges and gathering places. Sip a cool saketini garnished with a fresh cucumber slice. Sample a 40-year-old Scotch whisky; celebrate with fine French Champagne. Taste the world as you raise your glass to it!
Whether you want to workout in the Fitness Centre, learn yoga, pamper yourself with a massage and spa treatment, or enjoy a game of basketball, there's a perfect onboard activity for everyone.
Holland America Line's youth activities program, Kids Club, offers an array of entertaining events for kids and teens ages 3-17, supervised by a full-time, professionally trained staff. They'll have an opportunity to join other kids their age for arts and crafts, sports, video game competitions, scavenger hunts, challenging team games and themed parties.
Note: Kids Club is not offered on cruises of 25-days or longer, including all Legendary and Grand Voyages. We will offer a selection of children’s activities throughout these longer voyages for any children who may be onboard.
Safety Comes First
Safety is our primary concern and strict policies are in place for effective supervision. Adult guests are not permitted to remain in Kids Club unless attending to a special-needs child.
Please note: During voyages with a high number of families onboard, we will make all efforts to accommodate interested parties. However, participation in our program cannot be guaranteed. Hours of operation may change to better serve our guests.
