zory

We are sailing on the Amsterdam<BR>on Dec. 11. Stateroom is a<BR>miini suite. Has anyone been on her?<BR>

Lew

Been on Amsterdam, but in category S, not A<BR><BR>Been on other HAL ships category A, mini-suites.<BR><BR>Here's my take.<BR><BR>The Amsterdam is a midside ship with a happy crew and tough management. You are recognized and attended to. Food is standard HAL fare, not too bad but definately not 5 star.<BR><BR>Mini-suites are very comfortable, with plenty of room to sit and have room-service breakfast. The balcony does not have a table, as does category S, so all eating is inside. There is no suite lounge or concierge for A's and B's as there is for S's.<BR><BR>Be more specific in your questions and I will tell you what I know.

ashuma

Sailed in a suite on the Amsterdam -- not a mini-suite. The perks on the full suite are really worth condiering if you could afford the upgrade.<BR><BR>A beautiful ship and a very nice cruise experience.

zory

I have also been ona suite on the <BR>Volendam last year. Couldn&quot;t get<BR>one on the Amsterdam. I have heard they were having trouble with some<BR>kind of virus. have you heard anything about this?

EEK

I think the last 3 sailings have had an outbreak of the Norwalk virus.<BR> Beware!!

GoForIt

Another fearful Californian heard from. Maybe we should pass a law!

Starfish

zory,<BR><BR>Yes, the Amsterdam has that nasty Norfolk like virus since the Oct 1 sailing. There have been about 38 cases reported on this current cruise. The previous cruise there were about 170 ballpark. Go to cruisecritics for any info on this. It is all over the hal board. Lots of talk about the possiblity of canceling a cruise etc. Lots of news articles also.<BR>The Statendam now has an outbreak also.

maryann

There was also a report on the Cruisecritic-HAL board that a Celebrity ship came into port with 100 sick.<BR><BR>HAL seems to be getting all the press coverage,tho'

Starfish

Celebriy was mentioned in one of the press releases. Seems like it was on the Consellation coming back from Europe. <BR>This difference here is there have been no more reports of the virus on the Consellation. The Amsterdam has had 4 straight cruises with this virus. One press release said the CDC thought it was now being passed around by the crew. I think the press jumped on it because it was the 4th straight cruise with it and the number of sick passengers was very high and it still sailed this past Monday. Perhaps Holland should have dry docked it like they did with the Ryndam and give it a better cleaning. This seemed to fix the problem on the Ryndam this past summer.

Tony

there are now hundreds sick on the current voyage. they will probably have to pull the ship out of service to clean it. Can't imagine wanting to sail on this ship otherwise.

John

Big article in today's Wall St Journal re the Amsterdam's problems.

Sandra

Holland America has cancelled this week's sailing of the Amsterdam because 284 people came down with the Norwalk virus. They offered a complete refund plus $500 pp for a future cruise. Not enough if you ask me!

Sick

Just heard on the nightly news that the Amsterdam is canceling next week's cruise but should be cruising again by next month, they said.<BR><BR>Hope this cleaning works.

Paul Therault

Strange how this so called Norwalk virus which was supposed to be an Alaskan thing is now showing up in the Caribbean. <BR><BR>After thoroughly cleaning the ship from top to bottom under the direction of the CDC, the virus (which is 3 days of upset stomach and not life threatening) still is showing up. The CDC believes it is being carried on and off by the crew. <BR><BR>Now with the ship not sailing for a week and afdter another cleaning, they believe the virus will not occur again.<BR><BR>Paul

zory

Contacted my travel agent yesterday<BR>after just hearing that the <BR>Amsterdam was being pulled from <BR>service for the rmainder of it's<BR>November schedual. If the ship sails<BR>in December I still have to go on <BR>Dec. 11 or lose my money. I <BR>contacted HAL day before Yeterday<BR>and was lied to. They said everything was fine. Plan to call<BR>the V.P. in charge of passenger booking today.

Eric Roby

yep, i live down here in florida and HAL tried to spend 10 hours cleaning the ship and then more people got sick, so they finally pulled the ship in and canceled a few cruises and have been cleaning the ship for 10 days.<BR><BR>Good luck to anyone who goes on that first sailing in December when they try it again.<BR><BR>All of the fancy pants people who bash Carnival and RCCL have shut up when their beloved HAL has problems, huh?

Dan

Paul<BR>The Norwalk virus can be life threatening to certain people with certain conditions. Also, anyone who has suffered through it will tell you that it is more than just a few days of stomach upset.

Rocky

I'll second the above poster.I saw on the half hour TV show last night the bit about the guy who sailed on an Alaska cruise on the ship and HE DIED.Yes, he did have other ailments and complications.But the medical people on the interview siad if he had not contracted the virus,in all likelihood he would have survived.So dont go saying it aint life threathening.Saying it is a 3 day disease or whatever length--I guess you think a cold lasts only 26 hours, huh??Nonbody knows how long it lasts.

Starfish

Zory,<BR><BR>You and a lot of other people that have called Hal were fed the same garbage, including me. <BR><BR>The part I liked was that in some of the press releases a PR person from Hal, Rose Arbello, said that all the passangers were told about the virus and choose to board the ship. Crap!<BR>The part that was missing was &quot;Either board of loose all your money.&quot; Many people were not aware of the virus nor understood what was going on. Yea, they were handed a paper saying to wash your hands etc. Even with Hal's insurance you were with in the no cancel 24 hr period. They were told about it at the terminal. Hal never so much as notified anyone about it, including people who were scheduled to sail Nov 21. They were called when they canceled the cruise. <BR><BR>

Paul Therault

Sorry, just repeating what I read. I also read on the last cruise 34 passengers got the virus. That's 34 out of over 2000. Not pleasant, of course, for the 34.<BR><BR>Strange viruses occur in hotels around the world and in office buildings. Seems that when a bulding is cleared an cleaned for a week the virus disappears. <BR><BR>Would you not think that when the crew is isolated for a week that the virus will cease?<BR><BR>Paul<BR><BR>