Sailed Holland America for the first time on my first trip to Alaska. I did my research so I knew that the ship wasn't going to be a Party All Night Ship, which was fine by me. I wanted to spend as much time exploring Alaska as possible and a good night's sleep was always on my agenda. One of the things I loved the most about HAL, and the reason I would only sail with them in Alaska, was their attention to Alaska. From the daily lectures to the food selections to the cooking classes, they had a constant focus on where we were and I learned a lot about the land I was visiting.

The embarkation process was incredibly smooth and the cabins were ready when we boarded the ship. My luggage arrived almost the same time I did. The cabins are the largest I have seen on a cruise line and the staff certainly exceeded my expectations. I had a balcony stateroom which came in handy for the amount of whales we sailed by every day. The bathroom was typical, but the bathtub was a nice bonus if only for space.

I am a vegetarian and wasn't expecting much in terms of food. I will comment that they do an excellent job of indicating their vegetarian options but the variety needs a little creativity. Vegetarians don't necessarily love eggplant or pasta and vegetables at every meal and that was the bulk of the choices. I will say that the food was cooked well and tasted quite good. My only real complaint is that the sandwich guy in the Lido restaurant used the same gloves to grab meat and make veggie sandwiches. I stopped eating there after the first day. I ate at the Pinacle Grill twice and highly recommend it. Read more