A 2-3 hour delay in "registering procedure" because the computers went down for several hours, leaving all arriving guests to mostly stand in the terminal with very little room to sit down and virtually no Holland American information being disseminated as to the length of time to fix the problem. In reality, there was no real need for the "registration" as the passengers had to display their boarding passes to the HA gate guards to enter the building! All they really wanted to "register" was ones' credit card!

After a few hours, they opened up a low level gangway on the ship and marched everyone into the ship in small groups to the Hotel Desk where they were "processed", which entailed showing the credit card and having one's photo taken, then the passengers were given their room keys and left to "fend for themselves! No apologies ever! Side note: They already had all the Credit Card information from the previously completed required registration that was handled many months previously. So much for the ordeal of getting on the ship.

Food: The majority of the food was "tasteless". How can you ruin a simple English Muffin? They somehow served what seemed like 15 day old bread during the entire voyage. Most of the food had no flavor and the breakfast and lunch meals were bland and tasteless. Dinners in the main Dining Room were fair, but were noticeably small portions of lower quality main dishes when compared to previous cruises on this very ship. Servers were prompt and helpful. But, that doesn't make up for the poor quality food being served. Read more