Fair value for the money

We booked for the Neptune suite for our family of four. Generally speaking the stateroom is good except in two areas:

1. The sofa bed is in terrible condition. It sagged in badly causing back pain.

2. The separate shower stall is small and the water does not drain off quickly. We had to use the shower head in the bath tub.

Our service onboard went through the Neptune Lounge. The concierges there were great. The food on Holland America is not as good as our previous two cruises with Norwegian. The buffet restaurant, Lido, is not 100% self-service as a buffet restaurant should. People waited in line for the server to serve you. There are not many specialty restaurants and the only good one, Pinnacle Grill, charged $29 per person, which is not a "VALUE FOR MONEY".

We were supposed to get "Priority checkin" at the Seattle port. Neither the person processed our paper work at the checkin counter nor the person at the gate knew anything about it. We were give a group H card and grouped together with other non-suite guests.

We bought the following shore excursions all through Holland America.

1. Mendenhall Glacier and Tram at Juneau ($64.95) - The glacier was too far away to get a good look. You are going to see three groups of glaciers at the Glacier Bay National Park the next day. If you want to take the tram, you can buy a ticket for $25. I would rate this excursion as "NOT VALUE FOR MONEY".

2. Historic Sitka at Sitka ($50.95) - There is really not much to see at Sitka. No wonder a lot of cruise ships stopped coming here.

3. City Highlights, Totem.... ($29.95) - This is the most over-charged excursion. All it did was you get on a trolley and it takes you to see some totem poles.

I am very disappointed with the shore excursions we had. The activities did not fit the descriptions in the brochure.