Rotterdam Review
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This was our second cruise (my wife and myself) and we anticipated an enjoying week. For the most part it was,if a little boring, mostly due to the dearth of shipboard activities and the ports of call that mainly catered to those wanting to buy souvenirs (most of which were made in China) from tourist "traps." The most interesting Port, we missed due to, ostensibly, the ship's inability to dock because of windy conditions. We say ostensibly because we saw other cruise ships in port from our anchorage outside of Victoria, BC. We believe, as many fellow cruisers did, that the Captain was over an hour late in arrival to Victoria, which was to be a short stay of 4 hours anyway and chose to use the excuse of high winds and unsafe conditions. Neither of these conditions was experienced by many of us onboard and obviously not by the Captain of the Golden Princess who was able to safely dock his ship in Victoria for all to see. The Holland American Line would not reimburse anyone for missing 1 out of 4 ports. I think a voucher for a couple of hundred dollars off our next cruise would have been a nice gesture.
The best way to experience Alaska would be to purchase excursions (not from the cruise line) from the vendors on shore or those running the excursions themselves (save a bunch of money that way).
The cabin was a little cramped but clean and well taken care of. The food was mediocre and repetitious; frequently calling the same salmon dish by a different name does not change it. The serving staff was good and attentive but the ability to select a desired table was difficult as they frequently closed off sections of the dining room until they filled every seat of another section so getting a desired location was more a question of probability rather than trying to please. Many of our fellow cruisers complained of overflowing toilets which, thankfully, was a problem we didn't have but felt badly for them as they frequently had to wait long times to get it fixed, some more than a day. They were told to use the public rest rooms until repairs were done, not very helpful at 3 in the morning.
Cabin Review
Large Ocean-View Stateroom
We were in 3386 which was a little cramped and was also too close to the view of a wall, so 3388 or 3390 and corresponding cabins on the other side of ship would have been better.