Horrible ports of call, underwhelming experience as a whole, little to no wild life, not the class of travelers I ever want to travel with again in my life time. Food = horrific. Ship = outdated. Cabin = dirty and broken down. I will never cruise again after this experience, thanks Holland America for confirming cruises are a MAJOR waste of money, and that cruise lines are offensive in their non-stop attempts to sell you more-more-more at every turn. Classless.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Food was horrible... we expected much higher quality food and beverages to be served at the general outlets. Example = If you want beverage other than water during your standard meals, you have choice of iced tea or lemonade only - both made with powder mixes. Sodas and wine... you must pay extra. Example = Almost every food was either over cooked, under cooked, swimming in fats, sloppy in preparation. If you like the low-budget food buffet experience and quality, this is your cruise!
Onboard Activities
1 out of 5
The onboard activity options were boring, limited, and geared towards your aged 70+ traveler. Ship continuously offered a few activity options at AN EXTRA COST, i.e., workout class, tour of the back galleys, etc. Holland America saturated this cruise experience with continuous solicitation for "extra spend" at every angle, offensive and classless.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Mediocre to poor.
Children's Programs
No children in our party
Service and Staff
3 out of 5
Staff = gracious and mostly good service; the staff is spread thin and overworked, assigned to work in multiple outlets throughout days. Often took a long time or had to request food service attention - in every outlet but for the Dining Room and other paid-for dinner venues.
Ship Quality
2 out of 5
Time to modernize the decor and colors on this ship. In all respects decor, layout, colors were similar to a cruise I took 20+ years ago; not impressive, not fresh.
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
Cabin was moderate. Was dirty, stains on furniture fabric, broken sitting chair, horrific artwork on walls, deck chairs were stained and dirty (we set down bath towels anytime we sat on the balcony). Mattress was absolutely horrible - hard as a board and uncomfortable. Pillows were lumpy and disgusting, felt like we were putting our heads down on germ-invested dirty laundry. Sheets were scratchy and the cotton had "pilled". All in all, extremely disappointing and not comfortable.
Ship tip
Pick another cruise line and ship - this experience was no better than a "bottom of the barrel" Carnival party-cruise.
Again, what is there to see and do here without purchasing an exorbitantly overpriced excursion wherein the tour operators are trying to cobble together a tour experience that doesn't even feel natural for the destination? If you like shopping at lame tourist crap-shops, this is a great port call.
Best Alaska port call on this cruise itinerary. Charming small city if you choose to walk around. Again, way over saturated with lame tourist crap-shops, which is disappointing and offensive.
If the ship didn't have to legally stop here before returning to Seattle for disembarkation, it's clear they wouldn't. Victoria is a fun city if you have a full day, but this port stop is 5 hours at NIGHT TIME and not worth getting off the boat.
Quick and easy, if you choose to manage bringing all of our bags off the ship. Thank goodness, because we couldn't wait to get off the ship and wash off the entire experience as a mistake, and waste of great vacation time.
Koldencamp.. All boat lines try to sell,sell,sell. Just say NO.. Not sure where you went..We did the Panama Canal on the Eurodam. Food & Service was great. Some stops were weak, but did not hurt the trip. Holland is more of a senior boat line.
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