Third cruise on Holland, last one was 6 years ago on the Oosterdam. Also have cruised on Celebrity and Princess. We are foodies so this will cover that and the service and ship. Cruise ports are cruise ports; zip lines, pirate ship cruises and swimming with dolphins are usually about the same anywhere. Our priorities are food, service, solitude and relaxation. Shops selling overpriced trinkets and chain restaurants catering to American tourists are not a priority for us and Mexican cruise ports have them in spades.

We were happy to see that any corner cutting did not seem to significantly affect the food or service on the Veendam. No chocolate extravaganza as far as we could tell, and no carved fruit or ice carving presentations. However the selection of food in the main dining room was quite varied, and the presentation and quality were perfect to us. Obviously Holland still is placing a lot of emphasis on this aspect of a cruise. The service also was as good as it could possibly be. The least wonderful dessert, to us, was the creme brulee and it was very good! The rest were beautiful and tasted even better than they looked. The Pinnacle, as has been mentioned frequently, seems to be well worth the surcharge as it is as good as most very high class restaurants. My 10 ounce filet mignon of perfection seemed actually to be about a pound. The Lido buffet was crowded at times, but we ate mostly in the main dining room and through room service, which was simply lovely as well. I never thought I would stoop to a burger bar on an elegant cruise, but it is a must on this ship. The Dive In serves outstanding hot dogs and french fries and very good burgers. The food we did have in the Lido was very good, hot, and plentiful, certainly far superior to your typical buffet on land outside of Vegas. Most of the dining room selections were available in the buffet. The desserts were surprisingly tasty and the ice cream was very good. The staff seem very proud of the quality of the food on this ship. We agree that Celebrity is a notch above, but only in terms of offering continental dishes, not in overall quality or presentation. Compared to our one cruise on Princess which we thoroughly enjoyed, every Holland ship served a more complex menu, presented food more elegantly, everything tasted as good as it looked, unlike on Princess with the exception of the Italian dishes on Princess. But we were not disappointed with the Princess Dawn food, Holland just seems to do it better for our tastes.

Room service was perfect and elegant. Very large selection unlike Princess. Read more