This was to be a very special cruise for us ...not our first on Holland America, or to Alaska ...and having for the most part enjoyed balcony cabins in the past years felt it was time to move up to the top ...literally the best available and we saved for a whole year to afford the Penthouse Suite, again for this very special cruise. We certainly didn't get what we paid for or more importantly what we expected. Apart from a very large cabin (over 1,000 sq ft) we could have been on any "budget cruise" in the smallest, least expensive cabin offered.
The cabin was not ready when we boarded at 12:45 PM. We were pointed towards the Neptune lounge (for suite passengers) and told to wait there ...no escort, no offer to take our hand luggage or assist us in any way. We waited in the lounge until just before 2 pm and I discovered that the cabin ...the Penthouse, still had not been serviced from the previous guests. It took some very "assertive" words to the lounge hostess and we got into the cabin just before 3pm. The steward had changed the linen and vacuumed and remarked he would return later to complete the cabin ...he did not and we found ourselves at the front desk at 10PM getting soap, towels, room service menus, etc., and other standard cabin items. There was no "orientation" to the suite or the function of the lighting system (27 light switches) the whirlpool tub (more on that later) or any of the other suite services.
More on the suite ...er cabin: the whirlpool tub in the bathroom was out of order for the entire 7 days. An attempt to repair it was made twice with up to 9 people in an out of the cabin over a 2 day period attempting to repair it. We feel as if we lost 2 days of privacy ...or use of the suite due to the constant coming and going of the repair people. The separate shower stall with multiple jets had no pressure until the filters were changed on day 3 of the cruise and there was some improvement. For the first 2 days we were told we could use the showers in the spa, one floor up. The steam room and sauna (one floor up) and directly above our suite was being remodeled. for 3 days we were woken at 8:00 am daily with the hammering needed to remove the ceramic tiles ...this went on all day for 3 days. Remember this is the Penthouse suite ...no tub or shower, no privacy, and constant noise from the remodeling. The microwave in the pantry did not work and the coffee machine had no supplies of coffee or filters until I purchased some in Juneau. The cabin steward stated that they were out of the filters and coffee to fit this "Mr Coffee" machine. We left dirty breakfast trays in the pantry for removal despite calling room service to collect them and they stacked up for 3 days before rough weather caused most of the dishes to break when they "lurched off the counter".