This was our second Holland America cruise to Alaska (the first was on the Oosterdam in 2006).  Overall, we were very pleased with our experience, although we noticed that the quality had slipped a little from our previous experience.First of all, we booked a guaranteed VH category.  After realizing that we could possibly end up with a steel balcony, we opted to spend an extra $300 per person and upgrade to a guaranteed SZ booking.  We anxiously awaited our cabin assignment.  Approximately 14 hours before we sailed, we heard from our travel agent that we had been assigned SA7087.  Wow!  We were thrilled with the upgrade and it met (and exceeded most of our expectations).  Our cabin had a wonderful king size bed (more comfortable than our bed at home), a very comfortable sitting area, a dressing area, a huge bathroom, and an enormous verandah (with spectacular views could Alaska been anything else?).  Use of the Neptune Lounge was a fun plus, breakfast dining in the Pinnacle was a yummy addition, and free laundry made us feel truly spoiled.  The only two downsides were that our neighbors (just upwind of us) smoked on the verandah almost incessantly and so we were driven indoors most of the times we went out to enjoy the views and the beautiful weather; and our cabin stewards seemed very overworked and frantic to get everything done.Dining was a bit hit or miss.  We had main dining in the Upper Vista Dining Room.  Our waiter was clearly overworked and rather surly and uncooperative.  He made frequent mistakes and was unwilling to fix them.  After a couple of our tablemates discussed the issue with the Maitre'd, things improved substantially including the Maitre'd, himself, assisting at our table on a regular basis.  They were quite stingy with the bread and butter and we always had to request more.  Beef entrees were often undercooked and typically cold upon presentation.  Warm soups were almost flavorless.  Baked Alaska should have been banned from the dessert menu because it was usually awful!  On the upside, the lobster was some of the best I have ever been privileged to eat.  The salads were wonderful.  The bread was delicious.  The cold soups were spectacular.  And the non-beef entrees were all excellent.  The Lido Cafe was pretty typical cafeteria-style food with the Asian food and pasta being above-average.  The ice cream bar was a delightful treat!  The Pinnacle Grill was amazing and worth every cent!  The Lobster Macaroni and Cheese was a once-in-a-lifetime treat and the steak was grilled to perfection.  Definitely a must-visit at least twice on every cruise.We do not typically go to the shows, but we stopped by the Explorer Lounge to listen to the Adagio String Quartet.  We ended up enjoying ourselves so much that we went back every night for the entire show!  They are an amazing addition to the Zuiderdam and were one of the highlights for us.  We were disappointed that the Zuiderdam does not offer classical music programming on any of their TV stations (as the Oosterdam did three years before), but the string quartet helped us to get our music fix daily so we didn't mind as much.The ship was typical Holland America.  We found it generally clean, in good repair, and beautiful.  Although the Zuiderdam is one of the older ships in the Vista class, we didn't notice too many signs of wear and tear.  Overall, she is beautifully maintained and a pleasure on which to sail.Perhaps the most noticeable difference between this sailing and our cruise on the Oosterdam in 2006 was the staff.  Although pleasant and eager to help (with the noteable exception of our main dining room waiter), all of the staff on the Zuiderdam seemed overworked and exhausted.  In these economic conditions, it is apparent that Holland America is trying to trim their budget by cutting the number of employees.  It was almost heartbreaking to see how hard they work and how much they are assigned to do.  Even in the Deluxe Verandah Suites, we saw our cabin stewards literally running to keep up with their work load.We would love to see Holland America return to it's more upscale roots and offer classical music, excellent dining, and outstanding personalized service once again.