Holland America is still definitely for ages 55+, which has positives and negatives. VERY few kids, few young adults. Service and staff still excellent, ship VERY clean but food quality had gone downhill unfortunately. Undercooked and not as flavorful.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
The embarkation process was actually very smooth. However we didn't receive a time until 7 days before embarkation and it was very late at 1:20 p.m., I requested 11:00 a.m. since we had to be out of the hotel then. They would not move the time earlier.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
2 out of 5
Food quality had gone down from previous Holland America cruises. Less taste and often beef and fish undercooked. Specialty restaurants not worth the extra cost.
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Entertainment
5 out of 5
Standard fare of dancers, comedian, magician and a band. The six dancers were quite good the rest of the acts were mediocre.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Saving Grace of the cruise was the employees. All very pleasant, especially the room stewards were excellent.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Ships layout was pretty good everything was exceptionally clean and well maintained, no problem with the elevator wait. Note this new ship design promenade deck is very skinny and has no chairs to sit on. Life boats on each side block the view. Promenade deck used to be the main place we sat outside to read and relax.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We specifically paid for room 8100, when we got on board we found that room numbers had been switched versus the online map and even doesn't match the ship on board maps. Got services didn't believe us until they came to the room and saw for themselves that we had the right room number but the wrong room! Too late to fix this cruise since someone was already in the room we booked by the time we boarded.
Ship tip
If you get motion sickness try for the middle of the ship, the very front you could definitely feel the up and down and back and forth.
The island was okay, no shade at all to sit in on the beach. You have to tender in and waited quite a while for the tenders and I think it was 80 plus years old, very very noisy and smelled of diesel. Buffet on Island was served cold. Island was pretty and good for a 1-2 hour visit.
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