One of the best I’ve ever taken…totally exceeded my expectations!

I was Orange Club. Line was long, but once we got to the front, things moved very smoothly.

Everything was wonderful. Lots of delicious food options. We had reserved seating in the main dining room and those who took care of us were fabulous (Adrian and

Games, music, dancing, World Stage comedy and dance performances, shopping. There were so many options.

Entertaining, frequent audience involvement, great music and performances, great comedian.

We had no children with us.

Every single person we met greeted us with a smile and a friendly greeting. Every single person was helpful and sought to help us however they could. You have an amazing staff. Our waiters, whether in the main dining room (absolutely awesome for table 228), Pinnacle Grill or Rudy’s (food and service was the best!) or the Orange Club Dining Room, everyone was awesome. Yus in the Orange Club was wonderful. I can’t recall his name, but the young man who delivered the orange juice and mimosa’s every morning at breakfast was unbelievably friendly, happy and had the most infectious smile and personality. He brightened everyone’s day! Our room stewards were fabulous! We had them on our previous cruise, too, and they were so wonderful then, too, that I remembered them (Udi and Hitam). Helpful, accommodating, and took great care of us. Your people alone make us want to keep cruising with Holland America. Your training program for them must be amazing. I do have a couple of suggestions for improvement. First, the passport process on the first excursion day was a nightmare. We stood in line for a very long time, and many of us have difficulty doing that. You put official excursion guests first, but some of us had early private excursions booked and paid for and needed to get off quickly, too. Your people were working hard and trying hard, it’s a process issue. I don’t know enough to figure out how to improve it, but it definitely needs work. Maybe have scheduled appointments based on when you need to leave? The passport line was better, but still long and slow. The process to return our passports was very well done. Second suggestion…the first few days, breakfast service at the Orange Club wasn’t up to your usual standards. Everyone was working hard, but coffee was slow, food came slowly and not all at once, sweeteners, butter and bread weren’t timely. One person got his breakfast after the rest of us were already done. By the time you got butter, your toast was cold. And the toast came after you had finished everything else. From then on, we told our water that we wanted everything to come at once, and it got better. It felt like they were understaffed. Third, tenders are not ideal. It added extra time and a complication to getting to shore, sometimes the water was rough. Minimizing ports where tenders are required (and minimizing the distance when they are) would be best. Your people did a great job with them, they’re just not ideal. Discourages us from going to shore on our own and exploring. All in all, this was one of the best cruises ever. Your team was outstanding, as always, but the ports of call exceeded my expectations. Of course, the Tattoo was an expected highlight, but I loved so many other of the places we visited, too. And I probably would never have gotten to any of these isles on my own…a real treat! I am disappointed we didn’t get to Guernsey, hopefully another time. Oh, and your tour guides on the excursions were excellent and really explained a lot about what we were seeing and experiencing. They were also very helpful and concerned about guests with mobility issues. In summary…well done!

Everything was amazing. The flowers throughout the ship were stunning, changed daily and impressive. The cleanliness of every part of the ship was phenomenal when you consider how many people are moving about the ship every single day.

I love this room. I would book it every time. It’s the perfect size for 2 and comfortable. Lots of storage. I love it!

The line was long because they called 2 groups at once. It was impossible to get on an elevator (we had an early flight), so even though I have mobility issues, I carried my suitcase down several flights of stairs. We lost our friends and ended up on a different bus. Please don’t call 2 groups at once, for those of us on a tight time schedule, it made it a little worrisome. Good news…we made it just fine, although with little time to spare.