This was our first time on a cruise.  We were celebrating our 30th anniversary so we decided to do something different and cruise to Alaska (cruising to the Caribbean has never appealed to us since we live in the tropics).  Our travel agent recommended Holland America for their service and a more "mature crowd" (I didn't want to deal with a lot of kids or teenagers so we opted for the Amsterdam).  Despite this there was a fair amount of families with kids.  Other than a couple screaming babies (I felt for the parents considering how much they were spending) we hardly noticed the kids and they were well behaved. 

We will refer to this cruise as the "I'm sorry" cruise.  If not for the excursions (which were quite expensive but worth it - especially glacier walking) the cruise would have been worse than it was.  The service was not as advertised.  We did not meet our cabin steward or even know his name until day 3 - and this was after I complained to the front office.   When we got to our cabin our 2 large suitcases were sitting outside the cabin.  Only the small light one was inside.  There were candy wrappers on the floor.  The cabin was not cleaned the first full day until we said something.  It was as though they didn't know the room was occupied.  This was strange because we met other people who raved about their stewards.  We received a "We're sorry" note and a bottle of wine.  Otherwise the cabin was nice (it was a veranda suite with a balcony).  We were offered an upgrade a week prior to the cruise and were glad we took it although people I spoke with who non-suite cabins loved the service they received. 

The travel agent informed the cruise line it was our anniversary.  I wasn't really expecting anything special.  But the only acknowledgement was flyers from the "shopping guru" (very lame) for discounts at their stores and on shore.  On the night of our anniversary we decided to eat at the Pinnacle Grill (at an extra $20/person).  However the dining room staff was unaware of this (we made our reservations well in advance) and sent a cake to our regular table (nice surprise).  Our table mates told the staff we were in the Pinnacle and to send the cake there.  However it never appeared.   When I heard about this I stopped by the main dining room and asked the main steward what happened.  All I got was "we didn't know."  Later another bottle of wine showed up in our room with a "We're sorry" note. Read more