We haven't been on Holland America for 8 years and took this opportunity to re-visit HAL. The boarding process was quick and efficient. Ft. Lauderdale has the process perfected in our opinion. We boarded ship and immediately went to the dining room for lunch. Since we are Mariners we enjoyed the relaxing atmosphere of the dining room rather than the frenetic Lido. The Indonesian lunch was excellent. My husband is not an adventurous eater, but thoroughly enjoyed his lunch which was a sampling of many Indonesian flavors. It was a little spicy, but not too much for most.
We got to our VA cabin on Navigation deck and were pleased with the room. We were upgraded from VF category. Our stateroom is directly below the Lido, but being towards the aft, we were not bothered by moving chairs at night. Yes, we heard the chairs being moved early in the morning, and while we were dressing for dinner, but definitely not during sleep times (we had late seating for dinner). The room is comfortable, but we would have liked more drawer space...there is an abundance of closet space though!
Our cabin attendants were efficient, very willing to accommodate our few requests, and did a good job keeping my ice bucket full all the time. We brought our own drinks so we requested our mini fridge be emptied of all the pre-stocked drinks. The stateroom service was very good. We had room service coffee each morning and they were always on time if not a bit early.
We got to our VA cabin on Navigation deck and were pleased with the room. We were upgraded from VF category. Our stateroom is directly below the Lido, but being towards the aft, we were not bothered by moving chairs at night. Yes, we heard the chairs being moved early in the morning, and while we were dressing for dinner, but definitely not during sleep times (we had late seating for dinner). The room is comfortable, but we would have liked more drawer space...there is an abundance of closet space though! Our cabin was 8120.