We had used Holland America about 14 years and decided to give it a try once again as a lot of our friends were going on this cruise and it was just a 1 day cruise Embarkation:- we had arrived at about 3 the embarkation process was very smooth and we were on this ship in less than 15 minutes. We did find it odd that held on to our passport and Green card and gave us a receipt for just the passport. (when we went back and pointed it out they said sorry and added US permanent card on the receipt) They told us that they do this for the getting the customs and immigration clearance and that we will get them back on this ship. Dining Lido - they were running out of food and did not refill any of it. I took some pasta and it was dry. Cabin - the cabins were a bit small but they were neat and clean. Fries on the swimming deck. One of the best fries that we had. Main room dining - We were in the 8 o clock sitting. They were running out of food clearly. they had prepared Indian and offered it to us. they were in small tiny cups and the dal was only half filled. When people asked for refill they said sorry that they had run out of it. The salmon dish that I had ordered for my entrée was not brought when others on the table were ready to order the desserts. When I enquired about the Salmon he said they were backed up for this and that it would take a while to bring it out and asked me if I still wanted it. When I said yes they brought it 15 minutes later and it was overcooked. One of the couples in our party were celebrating their anniversary but they left as the service was slow and the showtime had begun. After they left the servers came and said they had a cake for them. When they found out that they had left they took their cabin number and said they would deliver it, but it never got delivered to the room. Show - The show was decent IMO, but the others in the group liked it. so will leave it at that Public restroom. They were clean and I personally like the rolled up hand wash towels. Early morning phone call - We still hadn't heard anything regarding our passport / green card. However at 6:35 on the morning our phone rang and they informed us that we needed to be in the Hudson room at 6:40 for immigration process and they wanted all of the family members there. When we went there they made us all sit in the room and they started taking a roll call of the people present and asking if all of the members in the party were present. There was no communications as to what was happening and the process involved. When I raised and asked my hand if they would announce what we should expect the lady rudely explained that they would do it. After about 30 minutes of roll calling, the supervisor arrived and said the immigration officers would come and clear the passports and would pick a small size of people to see them face to face and to sit tight. After about another half an hour of wait a few people were called and one of the couples they wanted to see could not be located. even during the roll call they were missing. after 10 minutes later they came and said that the ship was cleared and one person was announcing the room number to come and pick up the passports. we got ours back in about 15 minutes but I am sure they would have take another 15 20 minutes. The whole process IMO was ridiculous and disorganized. Silver lining - the breakfast they brought to the room was good and on time which we were not expecting. They earned some brownie points Bottom Line - they lost us as customer for sure. Never again are we going to cruise with Holland America. Read Less

We were a party of four (my wife and I and my brother and his wife, all late 60’s early 70’s) and we booked Neptune suites on either side (port and starboard) of the Neptune Lounge entrance. That way you don’t miss any views and one side always gets the sun. However, if you have to pick one side starboard is better as you spend more time on the veranda coming back. The weather was mostly very good, some rain but sun when it was important. We booked 6 months early got a free beverage and no gratuities perk, and the price was less than brochure. The cruise – If you enjoy cruising then you must do this one at least once. Ours was the end of season seven-day Alaskan cruise. Average age 65+; few children (who seemed to have a good time.) I suspect the ship was not sold out and other than the Lido buffet things were pretty quiet. Smoking section is outside aft of the lido and was a sensible solution – heard no complaints and there were quite a few older smokers. Clothing – For excursions and on the boat deck during Glacier Bay - I read everything in Cruise Critic (advice varied) and planned accordingly and was very cold the first day as I did not have any fleece or wool layers. Bought a sweater in Juneau for the rest of the trip. My recommendation – • thin long sleeve thermal undershirt(UNIQLO heatex), • light to medium wool sweater with high neck – zip up was best, • cotton hoodie • unlined rain jacket (NorthFace), • light scarf • light wool gloves These layers were pared down according to condition. Fully dressed in the 45° rain on one of the whale boats on their outside decks. Extras – You don’t need: • Binoculars – the ship has them (in the suite) and all the tours have good ones as well. • Bug spray – never saw a mosquito • Sun block – you welcome any sun There were two ‘formal’ nights and most folks dressed up – some in suits and a few in tuxes – for the main dining rooms. I brought a jacket and tie and black slacks. Embarkation – we arrived at 11:15 and they opened the gate at 11:45 and we were in our room shortly after. We snacked in the Neptune Lounge and had salads in the Lido. The stateroom – Neptune suites are really gorgeous – this was our 4th time and they have only gotten better appointed. Very spacious and a large balcony, although this was only used on sunny days when we had them. Free laundry and binoculars. We have gotten used to booking suites which means we cruise less but cruise better. Our favorite is the Haven suites on Norwegian but Holland is our favorite after that. Both offer some dining advantages especially breakfast and sometimes lunch. Entertainment – we did not partake except to listen to the classical ensemble. Typically we retire after a late dinner Neptune Lounge – This lounge area is a really nice respite from the rest of the ship, offering a quiet escape and great snacks and beverages throughout the day. Plus there is a concierge on duty to assist with any kind of planning. Having it across the hall made it real easy to grab coffee (one of those wonderful cappuccino machines) and get back to the room. Wifi – standard package (day and capacity based) was fine for email and news – 89$ for the week. What we did – • Juneau – 50° - mixed rain and cloudy - we took the whale watch catamaran and Mendenhall Glacier package - about 5 hours. Saw 10 whales, some see lions and a few eagles – and then a bus ride to the glacier. Good guides throughout. I would recommend just doing the whales and skipping the glacier – not much of it left and you miss Juneau. Or if you can afford it – do the float plan tour of the glacier. Saw a little of Juneau at beginning and end of trip. • Sitka – 47° - Mixed rain and sun - we took the another catamaran and saw plenty of otters. Then a bus ride to a raptor sanctuary and bear sanctuary. Missed seeing Sitka. • Glacier Bay – 45-50° - Mostly sunny – This is why you do this cruise – Seeing whales and sea otters is fun, but this part of the trip makes the whole trip worth it. It consumes most of the day and the scenery is visible from many venues on deck, even from your staterooms. Really spectacular landscape and great narration by park rangers. We saw bears, mountain goats, eagles, a whale or two and many glaciers – even caught a double ‘calving’ at one. • Katchican – 42° heavy Rain and then sun - we took the another catamaran. Aside from a 45-minute tour of the beautiful Misty Fjords, most of this 4.5 hour trip is getting there and back. And you have zero time in Katchican, the best ‘town experience’ on this trip. If I did it again I would do the float plane tour of the fjords, otherwise skip it. • At sea to Vancouver – 50° sunny – we arrived at 6 so we never left the ship. Dining – • Lido – better than I remember – really good curries. • Main dining room – Ate there four times –always good - the gala night was the best menu. • Pinnacle – Beautiful space. The rib eye and NY strips were tough and either under or over cooked. The 7 oz filets were perfect, as where all the sides and the service was just great. • Rudi’s Seafood dinner night at the Pinnacle was well worth it – best meal of the trip - we had the dover sole on the frame (skillfully filleted in front of you). My wife had perfect rack of lamb. Big portions. Sides and desserts were really good. • Tamarind – had a really good experience there – We felt that the food and venue (and service) are underrated. I had excellent sashimi and the others had a combo of Asian appetizers and a filet. Great appetizers and sides as well. • Room service – didn’t have any – My sister in law loved it. Overall – I give this cruise B+ that with a few tweaks (regarding excursions) it would have been an A. Read Less

Alaska & Glacier Bay itinerary. I've been on 7 cruises to Alaska, this was the first time for a good friend. I'm a 2 star Mariner on HAL, and like their no hassle approach, no hard up selling etc. Food was good in the MDR for the most part and excellent in the Tamarind and Pinnacle Grill. Great service from waiters and cabin steward. My one reservation with HAL nowadays is the lack of daytime activities and music on board. If you don't cook or enjoy classical music and jazz, your options are limited. A great shame, since the majority of baby boomer cruisers wanted rock and roll and oldies. This was evident by the folks wanting to dance to the Billboard Onboard piano duo that was unfortunately sub par. In the space between them and the casino, folks tried to dance & join in the singing, but we would have all preferred a venue that catered to original hits and the ability to have a dance party. During the day the options were few and unimaginative. "How to Decorate a Mug" was offered many times, as was making a metal picture. Seriously, we're over 50/60 but not dead yet! I was told by the entertainment host that all decisions on activities came from corporate these days. What a bad decision! Gone are the days of the cruise director having the flexibility to change.customize activities to the crowd. What ever happened to FUN at HAL? No music during the day either. The main stage shows were great though, however on the last night in Victoria, there was no show available. It was assumed all had gone ashore, even though the ship was late arriving & was only in port for a few hours. Loved the spa and thermal suite. Was the perfect place to watch the glaciers in the warm. Unfortunately, I may not sail HAL again until they offer more fun & activities at the appropriate time (music trivia at dinner time, when everyone is eating??) Come HAL, you have a unique mid-ship up advance that draws an upmarket crowd. Time to upgrade your thinking on what baby boomers want!! (Or do 20 somethings make the decisions & think we're too old to play?) Read Less

We had an amazing cruise! We missed Ketchikan, which was very sad but we had a full afternoon and evening in Victoria. We traveled with 10 of us ages 9-79. We had 4 staterooms and I personally had an interior and it was large and comfortable. The show were great, we only got one because of the missed port. Magician and comic were fine but the music walk is AMAZING! Dancing at BB King was so fun and be sure to listen to the billboard piano players. They are amazing. My 9 year old found a friend at the pool and she swam with her everyday instead of the HAL club. She wasn’t much interested in the club. Too many young kids for her. Not too many kids in the club and it would have been fine if she hadn’t found a friend. Food was amazing! We only ate at the Lido and main dining room. Not sure how you couldn’t find enough food at those 2 places. Oh. And we went to tea everyday we could. I read so many conflicting reviews before I left that I wanted to write and say, it’s a beautiful ship, the covered pool is amazing and the staff and food could not be better. If you’re going to have a good time on a cruise, it’s up to you to make it fun. We went to the shows, swam and hot tubbed, tried all the food, danced at the Bb king and sang with the billboard artists. We also took games to play in the crows nest and at the poolside. Thanks HAL staff for taking such good care of us. Read Less

This was my wife's and my brother/sister in law " Cruise of a Lifetime ". Started off fine. Staterooms clean and the cabin staff very nice. Now for the fun parts: - LIDO so full, one could barely walk through. Food Service staff rude, close to being downright nasty. Same goes for bar staff on deck 9 stern. Terrible. - Food - Marginal at best. Dining room dinner maybe 1/2 star better. - Magician - I think he had three tricks. lasted 40 minutes. Pretty much a joke. Casino - Small and , well, never saw a roulette table with a 0, 00, and a Special third 000. - They should just eliminate it, but with odds further stacked I'm sure a good source of revenue. - Juneau - Port area typical tourist trap,,,,nothing special there. Did go to Mendenhall and that was fine. Walked to Nugget falls, pretty neat. Then went out whale watching. Saw some humpbacks, uuh, well at least their tails. Saw more wales from the back deck just while cruising. - Glacier Bay - Awesome. 100% beautiful day ( 8/27/19 ) Couldn't have asked for anything more perfect weather wise. Surely a sight to behold even if the servers were jerks. -Sitka - Ditto on the weather ( We got lucky! 8/28/19) Cool place. Saw the salmon going up river which was really cool, rainforest walk, etc. Really neat. Then...…….. we were to depart at 6:00pm. Ship was moving nowhere. Mechanical problem. Not corrected until approx. 10:00pm. As a result, the captain indicated he was changing the intinerery!!!! We were scheduled to go to Ketchican the next day arriving at 7:00 am. We had booked the " Deadliest Catch " excursion and were so excited...……. We lost out on the visit to Ketchican and ALL related scenery. Now, I don't know all international travel laws, speed limits, port rules, etc,,,, but lets do the math.... We were delayed (4) hours +/-, and as a result we aborted a (5) hour stop in Ketchican, all kinds of scenic viewing in and out of that port. Instead the captain put the ship back out to the Pacific in high gear and we spent 1.5 days out at sea, looking at nothing but the shoreline from 10 miles out, and/or open sea. Why you ask, so we could get to Victoria Canada early and spend more time there, which frankly I didn't drop $7k on an Alaskan cruise to see Victoria. Now, Holland American realized that all on the cruise were "disappointed" and so was the captain. They wrote everyone a letter and gave us a coupon for 20% our next cruise. Are you kidding me?!?!?!?. I will never, repeat never, cruise with this train wreck of an organization again. Don't be fooled. I have cruised with RC, NCL, Carnival and HA is not even close. Forget about the breakdown and change, things happen, but the demeanor of staff, lack of good food, poor entertainment, and a slap in the face apology for a breakdown ruined the trip. Buyer Beware. Go to Alaska, be prepared for some rain, but do it with another cruise line. Read Less

I chose Holland America because the ship size was not so big that I would be lost. My family and I prefer a quieter experience, crowds, crazy dancing and rocking bars not really our thing. Embarkation was a breeze, went on the ship at 2pm, walked right on. Ship, a little dated, 70's like décor mirrors, velvet and geometric shapes but still in decent shape. Our cabin steward was wonderful. Dining in the main dining room eeeh…. it was fine. Dining in specialty restaurants Pinnacle Grill and Tamarind... fantastic! Dining in Lido crazy crowded and grabby people. Dive in burger bar and pizza always a wait of 35 to 40 min, food ok. Alaska is beautiful... cruise excursions helicopter ride to glacier and dogsled in Juneau and zipline in Ketchican (booked our own private whale watch in Sitka for $135 per head - this was not on Holland America excursion menu) all were fabulous. Kids ages 12, 16, 19 actually played board games in the game room on the ship, a lot!! That was awesome.. they all go to their separate corners at home. BBKings blues band was really great and magician and comedian entertaining as well. Overall a great family vaca to Alaska on the Eurodam. If I had to do it again I would do dining room for breakfast and lunch and book specialty restaurants for most nights of the cruise to stay away from crazy Lido, although convenient crowds take relaxation factor way down. Read Less

This cruise was the most relaxing and enjoyable of the many vacations we have had. The boat is super clean, easy to get around, lots of things to do and the food was fine. We had a signature suite and the room was spacious, the bathroom was large for a cruise ship and the balcony had the best views. We could not do everything on board but we would recommend the Eco talks, BBKing Lounge, Lincoln Center and the Billboard Stage. I did a couple of the sessions of the American Test Kitchen which were simple and OK. The Humanity Show was a highlight. The weather this week was terrific. The day in Glacier Day was magnificent. The crew is extremely helpful and nice. I would take a pass in the spa our massages were not very good and they only wanted to really sell you stuff you don't need, so skip the spa. Pinnacle Grill was a good one night upgrade for steak. For excursions, we did the Bear Walk in Ketchikan and that was amazing and highly recommend that. You are back in plenty of time for more shopping if you need to. We would sail again with Holland America. In Juneau, we went out whale watching and the salmon dinner at the lodge and we must have seen 20 whales that day. Mendenhall Glacier even had some bear sightings. In Sitka, we highly recommend a food truck Captian JuJu's for fish. Fish so fresh that even the fisherman in town were eating there. Read Less

We chose an Alaskan cruise to celebrate husbands 60th birthday with our four adult children. We’ve been regular cruisers on Hal, so very disappointed with some of the changes.. Ship is in great shape and the wait staff and cabin stewards fantastic as usual. Front desk folks not helpful or friendly...took Many trips to resolve a couple of small issues. Wait staff in Pinacle were surly and unfriendly. New photo policy requires you purchase the digital image for each photo for $29.99 plus an additional $10.00 if you want a print...no option for print only. Pkgs only bring down to $20 each....as i have no intention of reprinting, each print costs $39.99. We used to pay $10 each .... Shore excursion talks were 60 min long infomercials for the diamond gem shops owned by Holland . Total waste of time. The new daily schedule format lacks basic information about activities and length of programs. Most activities were just an opportunity for Hal to sell you something. Shows were poor to mediocre at best. Scheduling was poor... 3:00 bingo ran late into the 4:00 trivia time and left no seats for the Trivia crowd...Catholic mass was in an open room next to Crows Nest bar during Happy Hour..poor priest had to shout over reveling drunks and whirling blenders. Could they have changed Mass tme or move happy hour to a different bar? Not scheduling another Hal cruise any time soon. Read Less

This was a very last minute cruise booked within one week of travel. Got a decent price for a partially obstructed stateroom, which was actually larger than I expected. Having just gotten off RCL's Mariner of the Seas one week earlier, I was worried that the Eurodam was going to be boring by comparison. But our experience was better than I expected. For this cruise, it was just my 6 yo & me (late30s). We normally travel as a family of 4 (my husband & our 9 yo), plus grandparents. In complete honesty, this ship would probably have bored my 9yo who has become accustomed to our previous cruises' "bells & whistles" from the likes of Disney, Norwegian, and Royal. But my 6yo & I enjoyed the slower, more relaxed pace. I think the more "chill" vibe was very fitting for the serenity of Alaska. Compared to our most recent cruise on the Mariner, Eurodam 's food at the Lido & MDR was much better, although HAL needs to have more vegetarian options. Service in Lido was hit or miss. I often had to get my own drink or clear my own table. I appreciated that servers served portions, versus allowing guests to handle the tongs. Entertainment was good, especially the magician show as well as BB Kings. I do think HAL needs to up their entertainment options, compared to their rivals, who have more lively entertainment often. Fitness Center was sufficient and I even saw whales a couple times while I was using the elliptical. My 6yo enjoyed the kids club, but compared to Disney, Royal, & Norwegian, I thought HAL could do a better job with kiddie activities, playroom, and hours. Excursion & Guest Services did a good job addressing my questions and I appreciated being able to use Port Valet service. Overall, I recommend the Eurodam for an Alaskan itinerary. I'd consider cruising HAL again given the right itinerary and price. Read Less

This was my 12th cruise. Fourth to Alaska. First on Holland. We chose this cruise because I love Alaska. The scenery is amazing; the excursions can be great, and, if you get great food, service, entertainment and accommodations, it can be blissful. There were things I really like about this cruise that lift it to an overall rating of 3 stars. There were things that were poor, which brought the overall experience down. We stayed in a Neptune Suite -- 6109. There were 3 of us, and we needed the space. Let me begin by saying embarkation and disembarkation were flawless -- probably the best I ever experienced. Our Suite. The room and verandah are wonderful. The room was clean. We had space to roam and enjoy the sights from inside the suite or out on the balcony. Our room attendants, Heru and Tri were excellent. They represent HAL so well and did a great job for us all week. The suite, however, was tired. The carpet and couch were tattered and worn. The furniture was old and in need of replacement. . Some of the wood was chipped or scraped. At the price of a suite, I did not expect that.Despite that, Heru and Tri were great and keeping our room feeling fresh and tidy. One major complaint was the sofa bed. On the first night, after the bed was open, I sat on it. The mattress was completely worn and you felt springs on your bottom, on your back, every where. No one could reasonably be expected to sleep or even rest on that uncomfortable mess.If you are going to charge for a suite you should deliver a suite. Fortunately, that night I ran into Heru and asked for a mattress pad. fortunately, he installed it when we were at dinner. Meals. As suite customers we were able to eat breakfast at the Pinacle. The staff there was awesome and we had the best service there and the best dining experience there bar none. We ate there 6 mornings. They were fantastic. We felt special. Dining in the Main Dining Room and in the Lido Buffet are another story. The MDR is noisy, chaotic, rushed, and the food is not that great. They seemed under staffed.The portions are smaller than I would like. Salads were scarce. They rushed around. They some times rushed us. Every dinner we had there was not served hot. Every meal was warm or cool. They are disorganized and it should be better. Even though we purchased three drink packages, we struggled to get a wine steward to get us a glass of wine or even a drink from the bar before we were being hawked by the waiters to give our order -- and this was before we got to examine the menu. This happened every night. it made me feel they wanted us in and out of the MDR as fast as possible We took a shore excursion in Juneau that was outstanding. We got back late, dropped our belongings in the room, went to the rest room and got to the MDR at 9:05 pm. The maitre'd would not seat us. He said it was closed. There were plenty of diners still eating. We explained we just got back from the excursion (it was a HAL excursion) and could they please seat us. He told us they close at 9 PM We were denied and told to go to the Lido. The stations in the Lido were mostly closed. The one small portion that was still open had a line of about 50 people and it was moving slowly. Very frustrating. I noticed a few items in the Lido market. I put 4 pieces of cold poached salmon on my plate and went to the back deck to eat it. My wife joined me and our adult daughter went back to the room and went to bed with no dinner. When I sat to eat, I discovered that all 4 pieces of salmon were RAW, disgusting and inedible.I had no choice but to push them away. My wife and I then waited 45 minutes to be served a pizza. This was such a bad experience -- to be denied seating -- then to be directed to an over crowded understocked location that served RAW fish was just incredible on a premium cruise line. nothing like this ever happened on my other cruises where it seems the staff cannot do enough for you. One more note on the Lido. It is jammed packed all the time. The lines are long and the aisles are not clear. It is bumper cars with your fellow passengers. We never once found seating all week in the Lido. When chairs were empty, the tables were not been bussed and were messy and probably full of germs. we occasionally bussed and wiped our own table after 2 PM when things calmed a bit -- all while carrying our plates. One time they ran out of an item I wanted at that time. Lido is chaotic and messy. I felt like cattle Two nights after we were denied service in the MDR, the maitre'd in the Club Orange (not the one who would not seat us) just happened to ask us how the cruise was going. I told him how disappointing the night in Juneau was. He was great. Highly professional and apologetic. For me, dining is such a big part of a cruise and HAL fell way short of my expectations. The concierge in the Neptune room as great Glacier Bay was fantastic and the park ranger(s) were amazing. The comedian and magician were good too, I really liked the Lincoln Center and BB King rooms at night although there was very little variety -- same stuff every night -- but they were good. Dueling pianos were boring and the first dance show was disjointed so I walked out after 15 minutes. The gym was well equipped and clean. Used it 5 times. The kayak excursion in Ketchikan from the ship was good. I would have loved another hour in the water. I am not sure I would give HAL another try given the experience this time and the experiences I have had elsewhere Read Less

Eurodam 7 day to Alaska August 10, 2019 My wife and I decided to take a cruise for our 15th anniversary leaving the kids with grandparents for the week. This is our story. Before the Cruise We had initially booked and fully paid almost a year ago for an N interior room at $699/ea. By the time two months before sailing rolled around I saw prices had dropped significantly for the trip so I called up the booking company and managed to get upgraded first to a HH then to an E outside stateroom. I almost had the chance for a guarantee verandah for $50 but the best deal that I could actually get an offer on was $80 for a Guarantee Verandah. I decided the room we had was fine. If we didn’t need to have everything set up for kids it would have been $200 cheaper to book about a month out than what we ended up with. Something to know for the future. Arrival, embarkation We arrived at 10:30 am dropped off by my inlaws and our bags were promptly picked up by a porter. We wandered over to the terminal where there was a huge line that almost reached to the outside of the terminal. It turns out this was the line for dropping off luggage, which we avoided by having tags made ahead of time and using the porter outside. We went up to the desk and got all squared away in under 20 minutes from showing up at the terminal to being at the gate. We were in boarding group C and we didn't start boarding until 11:30 so we had a bit of a wait but once boarding started we were on the ship by 11:40 and our rooms were ready at 11:45. Our First Room The outside view room we were assigned was 1126 which seemed perfectly fine. Generally speaking the room had everything we needed. The window was totally sufficient for looking out and viewing the whales that passed by the early on the second morning. I'd have had no problem staying in the room assuming everything worked as expected. There was a little wear on the wood coverings on the desk and tables which made everything feel a little dated but there were plenty lots of outlets (all located at the desk) and USB plugs on the nightstands and on the desk, most of which worked. The room is shower only which is actually pretty nice as the bathroom feels bigger than shower bath combos and we didn't have any plans to use the bath. The Problem I had read a post from 2015 saying that the air conditioning in the room didn't work. I'd figured that through dry docks and several years passing this wouldn't be a problem. I was wrong. It was still broken. Now this is on a Holland America ship and the vast majority of passengers would likely not have a problem with a room that could only cool down to 72.5F. But this was the lowest possible temperature after several adjustments. We initially reported it the first night. They checked it and gave us a fan. The fan really did help the second night and the room was workable at that point but the next day we were in the BB King Blues area and the AC there was in full swing and we were suddenly comfortable. This made me realize that the issues we were having in our room weren't just a matter of cruise ships being hot in general (which it was) so I continued to bring this up with guest services. Eventually, after bringing down one of the technical managers who determined that they couldn't fix it we were offered a change in rooms. When I walked into the new room it was actually a comfortable temperature which felt like a godsend at that point. Our Second Stateroom We got upgraded to a VB 4045 which was an extended balcony verandah. Considering we had paid rock bottom prices the upgrade was amazing. Still the best feature of this room for us was working AC but being able to watch the glaciers in Glacier Bay from the verandah was nice. Otherwise the room was incredibly similar to the old room. I did have to ask guest services to push the beds together which they did promptly, however, while doing so they also turned up the heat in the room all the way. I caught it pretty quick because I was only out of the room for about 30 minutes while this was going on. More funny than anything else. The room is right by the forward elevators which had more traffic than our room down in the back but nothing problematic. Just more likely to hear stateroom doors opening and closing at some points. Having had a verandah I'm not sure that I would need one in the future assuming we had working AC but having a window that you can open and close seemed useful after our AC challenge. Entertainment Overall most of the entertainment was fine but in no way outstanding. Vince, the Travel director, was really good onstage. It took us multiple shows to realize that he had a teleprompter since he felt so natural. The Captain's Toast which came with free champagne, was interesting and fun as was the kitchen tour where I got to meet the executive chef and get an advance peek at the upcoming dinner menu. I was hoping to be able to do the America's Test Kitchen classes, the ones that cost extra, but only one was offered all week, there was a waiting list which was reserved for 5 star mariners for the first 24 hours and it was an Egg class which I wasn't at all interested in. The actual onboard cooking sessions weren't great. We decided we'd stop by for the recipe cards and watch old episodes of the show in our state room, which we did plenty. The mainstage entertainment wasn't anything special. The BBC Alaska that we thought was the symphony was just an audio track which was really just an unimpressive discovery channel special. The dancers putting on a show called Humanity had a cool gimmick but it wasn't executed to the level that it was exciting to watch for the entire 45 minutes. Their second show Stages was really fun, as was the Crew Show. The comedian was good fun for both of his sessions. Instead of many of the onboard options we spent time in our room watching movies like Captain Marvel, Avengers: Endgame, Crimes of Grindewald, Rampage, and Jurassic World 3. We ended up skipping the magic show due to a two and a half hour dinner at Tamarind (more on that below). Food We had dinner in the main dining room every night, except for one, which was always great. Little tip: if you can wait until after 7pm the crowd dies down significantly and it's way more chill. We had one server named Jeffery who was awesome. He even found us in the morning on the lido and had a table for us in the Canaletto area. Food there was solid everytime we had it. Some requested customizations never happened but nothing that was too significant. Every time we ate there we left feeling pleasantly satiated without being stuffed which was a great experience for a three course meal. The Lido was frequently crowded for breakfast at around 8:30-9am but was generally pretty empty by 9:30 and wasn't as bad at 8am either. We decided to try to avoid the busy time there. Busy times for lunch were unpredictable due to schedule of events and docking times but we had to make multiple trips to find a seat after viewing the Margerie Glacier. Afternoon tea was a bit of a cattle call with no customization and very little attention paid to each guest. After going once we decided to avoid it for the future. Though several of the little bites there were great, having tea seemed unnecessary when the entire Lido was still open. Fine Dining We had one meal at Tamarind which was incredibly disappointing. Several of the dishes were great but even with the restaurant half empty it took two and a half hours to get through the meal, our water glasses ran empty multiple times, and we never really seemed to get service. They totally drenched the lobster roll I ordered in Mayo which wasn't even listed as an ingredient on the menu and I brought it up with 3 servers who never did anything but apologize. No offers to take it away or get something else. My wife ended up eating most of it but about half was taken away at the end untouched. I never leave sushi on the plate. This has pretty much turned me off of specialty dining entirely. I wouldn't have been happy paying $50 for that dinner and service in a restaurant under regular circumstances. The fact that I had to pay extra for lower quality service and in some cases worse food than the Lido is unacceptable. In the future I'm perfectly happy with the MDR. Service was also incredibly slow. Ports We didn't plan any excursions at port as we were hoping to explore on our own. This may have been a mistake. Juneau was heavily inundated with Cruise Port jewelry shops, places with locations in major cruise ports in Alaska and the Carribbean with locally themed swag. If you weren't looking for jewelry or something with the words ALASKA on it, you were probably out of luck. The entire area by the port is a big tourist trap with a number of the rudest sales reps I’ve ever met. I did manage to walk far enough to get to some local shops, local artists, and local native wears, but it was a few blocks back away from the main drag. Sitka was a pretty cool small town that reminded us of Friday Harbor in the San Juans. Having more time helped but we managed to hit the entire downtown in just a couple hours. I don’t have any particular drive to return to Sitka but it was pleasant being there. Kechikan seemed like a town I could spend more time in. The Creek Street area is super cool and I’d love to have time to hang out for coffee there. I really feel we didn’t have time to explore the area very well. As it was we spent a good 3+ hours wandering around there and came back at almost noon for a 12:30 departure. I wouldn't mind a fuller day there but the stop was pretty short. Victoria is a beautiful town that was somewhere I’ll definitely visit again, but our stop from 6 to 11 was too short to do much of anything. We walked to chinatown which looked like a cool place to eat but had nowhere to shop at 8pm. I’d love to explore the town more but there’s only so much still open at 7pm. I’d prefer to spend a long weekend in Victoria than a cruise stop. If I had another 5 hour stop there I probably wouldn’t get off the ship. In the end we decided we enjoyed our time cruising much more than our time in port. Watching the world go by outside of your window while relaxing, reading, and having access to unlimited food is pretty nice. Each of the stops didn’t really give us a chance to get more than a brief view of the town and we never stopped to eat or shop for local food since everything was free on the ship. If you really want to know what a place is like, cruising isn’t the best way to see it. In the future I think I’ll care less where the cruise stops and think about what I’d be seeing from the ship. Navigator App The Navigator App is a good development that hasn't really come together yet. First thing, don't register on it until you are on board. It just confuses the poor thing. Second, be careful because it doesn't update as quickly as you'd hope. I was still getting alerts in Seattle time while we were in Alaska for a few days and we still had the previous day’s menu until after dinner the next day. It's also fairly slow to load. That said, it's a pretty cool feature compared to nothing so I'd get it and use it onboard. Overall Cruising was a fun experience and pretty good for a couples getaway. Imaging the differences with kids takes away a lot of the potential relaxation that was present. The fact that ports are tourist traps makes it difficult to use cruising as a method of experiencing specific locations you might be interested in. Previously I had a lot of interest in a carribbean cruise where you got to see several eastern carribbean island but I feel like it would be difficult to get much more than a casual glance at each one and that view would be heavily skewed by the scenes that existed at port. I feel like cruises where a lot of the point was what goes on outside of your window would be more exciting. So in the future things like a Panama Canal, fall New England/Canada or European River cruise seems really interesting to me but I’m not sure that paying $300 more for a flight is worth the change in scenery. Excursions also don't really interest me as I don't generally want a curated experience. This means that the ports are less vital than the route. Read Less

I travel extensively and this was the most expensive and one of the worst trips I’ve ever taken. We upgraded to a suite and executive lounge. The lounge service was good but the food stale, pedestrian and you had to pay for liquor. Dining Room and Lido deck food lacked quality, taste and freshness. We ate burgers and hotdogs because they cooked to order. The only free beverage was lemonade and tea. A coke was $2.50, latte $3.50 + tax, tip. We brought 2 bottles of wine and they charge $18 corkage fee at the restaurant! After spending $7000 (2 people) for this 7 day trip Holland America Eurodam continued to have unexpected costs. The better restaurants cost more to get in and if your wanted a good steak there was an up-charge! The excursions on average cost $150 a person. $30 per person to play Bingo. I’ve been to many around the world the cost for what you did was exorbitant. Also frustrating was the daily schedule was placed in your room the night before. They constantly changed the restaurant open and closed times. We missed breakfast because they close at 8:30am. This was confusing for many people. The most frustrating was the big day to see the Glaciers. They limited the amount of chairs on the top deck, did not offer to set out more and left many of us standing for hours or had to sit inside and only have partial views. The Ranger talk was at 7:30am. We missed it. The day was so unproductive and unorganized because we did not have a central place for the family to enjoy this spectacular event. I was beyond disappointed! I would not recommend this for big family groups or handicapped person. It was difficult to keep organized, most tables only had 2-4 tops that you can’t move. Limited seats for the classical music nights, shows were set at 7:30 or 9:30 which were on top of dinner timelines. Not much activity during the day unless you want spa and workout time. Overall, not worth the money and I would highly recommend NOT using Holland America Eurodam to see Alaska. Read Less

First time sailing Holland America. We a frequent Celebrity and RCCL cruisers, but liked the HA Alaska itinerary, plus there were some pricing specials that made this cruise very affordable. We booked a category VD balcony cabin (guarantee), and we were assigned our cabin 10 days before sailing. Location was pretty good....all of the VD cabins are either in the front or towards the rear of the ship. We had a cabin towards the front of the ship. Long walk to the dining venues (as they were on the other end of the ship), but we got used to it. The pros.....spacious cabin, quiet, large shower/bathtub combo, nice balcony. Service was first class and very friendly. Embarkation and disembarkation was so incredibly fast....HA blew away their competition on this aspect of the cruise. A nice choice of shore excursions, but pricey (as all Alaskan shore excursions tend to be). The highlight for us was the Tracy Arm Fjord/Sawyer Glacier excursion in Juneau. A long day (7 hour excursion), but well worth the time and money (tour is run by Allen Marine...wonderful tour folks). The one day we were cruising Glacier bay was an experience Holland America does best. This was the main reason we chose this cruise and HA did not disappoint. Had several other shore excursions which were ok....fortunately we got into Victoria before nightfall and got to Bourchart Gardens while it was still light. Had about 2 hours to visit and by the second hour it was nighttime. You cannot get the beauty of these gardens if you only have the night time to visit...so if you can't see the gardens during some daylight time, it is not worth going to (in my opinion, if you are a first time visitor). The not so good stuff had to do with the food and entertainment. The Lido restaurant is where the buffet is and we found the food selection and quality adequate, but nothing compared to the quality and selection you find on RCCL and Celebrity. We ate in the main dining room twice and the good was good in that venue (the gala night surf and turf was excellent.....probably the best we have had on any cruise ship). Service was fine. No quick way to get a slice of pizza or a quick hamburger/hotdog. HA does not do this part of their food routine very well. Also deserts were so so; cookies were lousy. Not much in the way of entertainment, but HA is not known for their big productions that RCCL and Celebrity have. We booked the premium wifi package ahead of time, as it was priced attractively but it was somewhat slow (but expected), and stopped working completely on our Apple devices that had IOS software under 10.0 (because of an HA wifi upgrade while we were at sea). So if your IOS software is not 10.0 or higher, their wifi will not work on those devices (primarily older Ipads). Very easy to catch a taxi from the cruise terminal back to the airport. They all charge a flat fee of $42. Lots of taxi's available despite two large cruise ships arriving at about the same time. Hope this info is helpful to any of you taking the Alaska inside passage cruise on HA. Read Less

I had cruised with Holland America to Alaska with my father ~10 years ago. I wanted to now share the experience with my son and my wife, so I picked Holland America again. My expectations were high, especially for the food. When I cruised with HAL before, the food was fantastic. Every meal at the MDR was excellent. Unfortunately, the food was the most disappointing aspect of this cruise. MDR food quality was exactly the same as buffet quality (the MDR selections were also available from the Lido). Both were average for the most part. It appears they are looking to force people to eat at the specialty dining restaurants to get high quality food and have let MDR food quality devolve. Lido was ok as a buffet, but food quality was also just average. And the lines! Be prepared. The hours of Lido were limited, so be prepared for lots of lines and lots of waiting. It wasn't unusual for us to take 20-30 minutes or more to get all the food after stopping and waiting at multiple stations. The Dive In had good food, but it closes at 530? Why??? And the minimum order time for food was 25 minutes, at one point got up to 45 minutes. For a burger. Pizza was good, but again, be prepared for waiting. Most times wait for a pizza was 25 minutes, and it closes at 1130. So if you're looking for a late night snack options become limited, and lines and waiting are likely. Entertainment was great - i enjoyed the Billboard pianists, the mainstage acts (magician and comedian), and the blues club. I wish they would bring the movie theater back, the mainstage setup for movies isn't great. Crow's nest is beautiful - make sure you spend time there. Gym machines were ok - many treadmills don't work. On one treadmill the machine just stopped while i was running, luckily i didn't fall. My family and i had cruised on Princess last year. I was telling them how much better this cruise would be, in particular the food, having cruised with HAL before, but it appears that my expectations were set too high. Read Less

We wanted a cruise that our daughter and son-in-law wanted to take, and they liked the idea of taking their first Alaskan cruise. We had been once, and had bad weather in the Northern stops. This time, the weather was reversed, with great weather in Juneau, Glacier Bay, and Sitka, and rain and cold in Ketchikan and Victoria (B.C.). The ship itself has been recently refurbished, with nice new furniture in the suites (and elsewhere), and large flat-screen TVs with free movies. The service has always been exceptional, and this cruise was even better. We also enjoyed the Lincoln Center string quintet, with excellent young musicians playing a wide range of lovely music from Baroque through Broadway, tangos, and jazz. The main dining room's food was the best we've experienced, with great choices and lovely presentation. Free room service, with a good selection of choices throughout the day, was a nice touch as well. Read Less

This was a wonderful vacation with siblings. The food was amazing! I tried Duck for the first time and absolutely loved it. The Pinnacle Grill was great! The Cannaletto was awesome! I did feel there was a bit of downtime during the day, but that was okay as I was able to go to the spa and do the hydro-pool and thermal lounge suite which is the best way to relax. The Billboard Onboard was great as Kiersten and Will did a great job on the pianos and singing. The Lincoln Center Stage was amazing and I absolutely loved to hear them play. Be prepared to wait awhile for your food if you order the pizza or from the Dive In. The Lido had good food as always and yes, it is busy during the peak times, so choose when you want to go. The in-room dining was nice as well. All of the staff was very friendly and helpful. I loved the casual portrait nights in addition to the formal (gala) pictures. When we looked through all the photos, the casual ones actually came out nicer and better than the formal ones. This was my 4th cruise with Holland America (my first 3 were on the Amsterdam), and I can honestly say it didn't disappoint and I'm ready to go on another cruise. Read Less

terrible experience nothing to do on this ship they were horrible with my disabled wife even canceled excursions that we booked for handicap accessible people never ever again all the activities on the boat close at 10 at night the last lounge is only open at 10:30 casino was very small as maybe three or four tables to play on nothing for the kids to do just terrible absolutely terrible they messed up my room keys my arm board acount the money I put in my account disappeared five separate trips the customer service in two days and we still didn't get the shore excursion I would never recommend anybody use Holland America when we got back to shore and I contacted them about all the problems I had the only thing they had to say was I apologize didn't even attempt to make it right or make it up to making my disabled wife feel like she was an inconvenience these people Read Less

The stateroom was perfect aside from the air not working. It was clean and roomy for the two of us. We had great shows to watch and cozy veranda. There was plenty of storage room, and we even had numerous USB ports. Standard plugin was limited, but we were prepared for that. There was no outlet near the bed. My husband has a cpap and they brought a power trip to help it reach. Our air didn’t work the entire trip so thank goodness we had the veranda to leave open all day. They called everyday to check on it but didn’t do anything about it. Dining room Awful experience. The back of the ship was so loud and shaking you had to talk quite loudly to have a conversation. Therefore, everyone around you talked loudly as well. We ordered the Spinach and artichoke dip with bread which came with two breadsticks from Nutella. While we were eating, the captain came on to talk about the evening festivities, weather, location and more. We could not make out but a couple words that he said something about Glacier Bay and the spa. You can never hear any of the announcements because they only are in the hallways and stairwells. My husband ordered a New York strip steak medium and I ordered one done. Besides the fact that there were flank steak and not NY strip wasn’t the worst part. I received his steak and he received mine. The asparagus and carrots were saturated in butter. The pecan pie was stale and about two bites worth of pie. The NY cheesecake was not your typical cheesecake. It had more of a cake texture than a cream cheese texture. There is only food available during certain times so it throws off the eastern time zone people. Then when it’s time to eat, there are 1000 people in line waiting for two people to serve you food. The food is not buffet style or self serve. If you want a piece of pizza, it can be an hour wait. There are 30 people selling beer and two people serving food and clearing tables. You have to clear off your own table because there aren’t enough outside. If you want a waffle for breakfast, it can be up to a 7 minute wait. The food isn’t even all that tasty. Most of the choices are the same every day. The ranch for salads is watered down, scrambled eggs are runny and bacon is transparent. The chicken Caesar salad was divine. The omlet station was really good too but there again one person making omelets for 40 people. I’m sure like every other cruise line it’s all about tourism. I paid $4000 to see Alaska. Not buy $3000 jewelry made in China worth $10. I want genuine jewels and custom made things. I want to support Alaska while supporting Holland America. The only activities on the ship were targeted towards women. Jason paid $120 to just play Texas holdem for a bit. We did not know that it was a Chuck Swindoll cruise - that would have been nice to know because most of the rooms and events were for those people. They took the main stage most days so the shows weren’t till 8 and 10:00 at night. That’s 2:00 in the morning for Easterners. I spoke with an employee who said they had most of the ship most of the day. Our travel agent was incredible and really help tailor our trip ideas to our desires. When we went to the excursion desk, she told us that our travel agent booked us for all the old people tours and obviously didn’t know what she was talking about because there was no way we could get a cap for $70 an hour in Juneau. When we arrived in Juneau the taxis said right on the doors, $70 an hour! Felt like we were lied to from most of the cruise line employees. Alaska was breathtaking and so glad we went to Sitka. I had no idea Juneau was as commercialized as it was. I wouldn’t ever have to go back there. It was totally not what we were expecting. Even our family members who go on cruises to and three times a year it said it was unlike anything they had ever experienced I would not be traveling Holland America again. Read Less

We went on this cruise because Max Lacado and Matthew West were on it as part of a package. We typically cruise on Carnival, so keep that in mind with this review. Cabin: we had an aft balcony, 7134. We liked it. It had enough storage space in the closet and shelves in the closet. The bed was comfortable. And there were two night stands with drawers in them. Dining: The food was fine. I guess we were hoping it would be a clear step up over Carnival. But it wasn’t. I liked the pizza. You sometimes had to wait 30 minutes but they gave you a beeper so you can do other things than stand in line. I’ve seen some folks say the lido was too crowded. Yes, it was crowded during peak times. But I find that on most ships. Entertainment: the entertainment was good. When something was going on. We loved the piano duo and BB King band. But during the day, unless you wanted a metabolism talk, not much going on. Two trivia per day, given the older demographics of HAL, seems light. And there were no bands or singers playing throughout the ship. And they might as well convert the casino area into something else. the piano duo and BB King saved the score from a failing grade. Service: service was good. Lots of places and people who serve drinks. Ship: I liked the ship. The layout was easy to navigate. Plenty of space to hang out. And a smoke free casino. And that’s huge even for non gamblers. Read Less

Just returned from our fourth time on the MS Eurodam. First things first, Eurodam is a great ship and still in really good condition. She is well worth a trip to any destination. The cabins are in good shape, as well as all of the public areas. The employees aboard all HAL ships, and in this case Eurodam, always go above and beyond to make sure that your cruise is the best it can possibly be. A special shout out at this time for our cabin stewards, Holqi and Ilyas, who made sure our cabin was always ready for us at all times of the day. Also special shout out to Marcel and Ryan, who rule the Pinnacle wine bar! They both made every day in their bar a great time. They went out of their way to have a special Bday cake made for my wife. It was very much appreciated. Now, some items that continue to trouble us on most cruises lately, but particularly Holland America. Entertainment continues to be cut back. On this particular cruise the main stage show was cancelled twice, due to a cast member "illness". It's amazing that there is no understudy to take on any role in a show, as is always done in this profession. Also, used to be two shows per 7 day cruise, now only one. The Pinnacle grill is always a highlight for us. This particular cruise, they just overbooked the room and the kitchen and the service staff could not keep up. There was a general feeling that they were trying very hard, but could not catch up. The food itself was fine, but the length of the experience ( 3 1/2 hours for 4 course dinner ) was a bit much. The Maitre'd always just stands at the door and NEVER helps the servers when they are in trouble. Also, in this type of dining experience, NO food should ever have to be auctioned ( okay, who gets the steak and who gets the fish)!! Really?? Come on, basic service training please!! Had to laugh that the Pinnacle Grill prices jumped $4.00 in the middle of our cruise! Yikes, couldn't even wait until the next cruise to implement!! The MDR was also under the gun each night and all I can put that down to is cutting of staff. Meals were auctioned, slow service and no wine service on three nights. The sommeliers are stretched so thin that when a few tables actually order cocktails and wine, they can not keep up. Again, everyone friendly, but you can see the stress in the MDR. Never see Captains or Maitre D helping. They always stand at the main door, nothing more. The food quality and portions continue to be cut. At least three nights out of seven, there are specialty menus, so you can not order other items, such as salmon or s Caesar salad. The portion continue to get smaller and smaller. We are not big eaters, and usually only eat three courses. You now have to eat all 5 courses to even feel some kind of full. Hawking of items that you can now purchase, such as a Tomahawk Ribeye or Alaskan King Crab legs gets really tiring. The proteins continue to be cut. Try to find a good cut of beef or chicken. Serving Chicken leg as an entrée on the menu in MDR?? Really? The Lido food is okay, nothing special. Just remember you are eating lots of processed foods and you will gain weight if you are not watching what you eat. Even the Mariner's Luncheon offers you Pot Roast instead of steak these days! We did not take any shore excursions this trip as we have travelled to Alaska 6 times. We did however, give lots of advise to persons looking for excursions. Alaska is one of those places where you really need to take excursions to see all of the beauty that it has to offer. Also, we always advise people who ask us to book Verandah cabins in Alaska, as you will really miss so much wonder if you do not. We have a few more HAL trips booked. We will continue to monitor the cuts made by the accounts and hope for the best. The perks we receive as three star Mariners are not that good, compared to the other lines that we cruise with. Read Less

Having been thrilled at our experience with H&A on our last cruise we had no second thoughts about choosing this company once more. Why? The staff, food and clientele were all first class. We especially like the fact that all the food has to be served to you, no scramble and self service that we have encountered on other ships. This also stops germs spreading. We were two of only 12 British guests. We were so blessed with the weather that we even got sunburned on one day! Having packed layers and waterproof clothing which we rarely used apart from times out on deck whilst sailing into winds. Always good to be prepared as the weather can change. Locals were amazed how hot it was 24 degrees! Food was top draw once again. This is fine dining and good to see more people dress up this time. One tip if you want to eat alone is book early and in advance. Excursions are down to you, however June is fine regarding bears but I would be worried after that once the salmon come to town. Remember this is bear country so if you are concerned then read the signs and ask for sightings. Glacier bay is unbelievable and meets all expectations. Juneau, glacier and waterfall is excellent and make sure you walk to the whale statue. Sitka and ketichkan just use shuttle bus to explore yourself. Sitka museum certainly worth a visit however the Russian dance so is worthy of a Monty python sketch. Ketichkan will take you 40 mins to walk round! The lumberjack show was worth a look and book on ship as it is literally 2 mins walk from dock and saves queuing a a slow ticket booth. Victoria was get off and on in a couple of hours. Arrived at 7pm, so no point in going to the gardens which is probably the highlight here. Chinatown was a joke . We stayed in Seattle for 2 nights and had a day on the way back. Boeing factory and flight museum are excellent value. If you get the elvis driver to the factory you are in for a treat. Space needle and skyview for sunset are a must visit. Seattle however is worse than New York for beggars, homeless so be aware. Go to pike place market to have the best fish and chips at athenian restaurant. Read Less

This cruise was booked last minute at a reasonable price. I had been to Alaska several times before, but my first time solo. Since I found it more cost effective to take the HAL shuttle to the ship, I followed the directions on my paperwork and contacted a HAL employee near baggage claim. They directed me to an area where I dropped off my luggage. It was quite a walk out of the airport, across the bridge through the parking lot and down to a holding area. It was so loud and crowded, it was difficult to hear what was going on and when the colored tags were called to board the bus. I was able to snag a seat on an earlier bus, as being solo, one of the buses had just one seat left and I got it. If not for that, I don't know how long I would have waited. My suggestion is to take a taxi if you have more than 2 people. It's only a couple of dollars more and much less hassle. I chose a guarantee verandah stateroom and was pleasantly surprised to have my room assigned in advance. I had plenty of storage room. It would have been fine for two, but no more. The verandah was an added boost as it was always refreshing to step out and watch the scenery go by. The air did not work even set on the coldest setting. I reported it the first day and by that evening, maintenance had come in and solved the problem. I ate at all three for fee dining venues. The food was good in both Tamarind and Canaletto. Food was brought out cold at Pinnacle Grill and I felt rushed, no heed taken when I mentioned the cold food and my pre dinner cocktail had a piece of aluminum foil in it. I wasn't expecting a free drink, but the bar service could have apologized. Service was excellent at Tamarind, and iffy at Canaletto. Yes, I cruise solo and usually dine solo. It does not mean that you can ignore a single guest to the point of being disrespectful. Or give sloppy service. The entertainment at the main stage was okay. The headlining show never performed due to an illness, and the comedian and magician just had additional performances. The BB King Blues band had the best lead singers I have heard on a HAL ship. They were a delight to hear and their interaction with the audience endeared them all the more to me. I booked all my excursions through HAL. The tour I had in Juneau was overbooked by one. Being a single I was asked to forfeit my time and come back later for the next tour. When I went back for the second tour, it was cancelled. I asked for my money back and was told that I had to go to the ship for a refund. I went back to the desk and was told that they didn't know of any excursions being cancelled, but if I could wait for the excursion leader to come back they would find out. I received a call a few hours later by a very rude woman telling me that someone in the Neptune concierge booked a couple on the same excursion with the wrong date on one of the two tickets. She then stated If I had any problems with that to call guest services, and yes my refund was back on my statement before she made the call. No sorry, nothing. Very rude! I was disappointed to miss the excursion and lack of sympathy on HAL's part. The other excursions went well, and the final tour of Seattle with transfer to airport was a good overview of the city and a good way to spend time while waiting for a late afternoon flight. Read Less

We chose Holland America and Eurodam because it was going where we wanted, when we wanted to go and we are so glad we did! This was an amazing experience. From the moment we boarded the ship until we stepped off to head home it exceeded our expectations. The ship itself is just beautiful, no detail overlooked. Having never cruised before, we wanted to ensure a memorable experience and so we booked a Neptune Suite. If you can do this, I highly recommend it. The suite was gorgeous, had plenty of room for the two of us, and the "perks" that come with being in a suite are fantastic. The crew are all wonderful, full of smiles and very helpful regardless of what the question may be. We had a unique situation in that we recently lost my mother in law and she had wanted a burial at sea after being cremated. We worked with the ship prior to boarding to ensure we knew what we could expect and they were absolutely phenomenal in guiding us through the process. Once on board we worked with Inge, the Concierge in the Neptune Lounge, who made sure everything went beautifully. We cannot thank her enough for all she did. I have seen people comment about the ship vibrating, or that you can hear the engines. For those who may not quite understand, it's a moving vehicle. It is going to sway, and rumble, and vibrate. That was actually comforting to me, because if I could hear it and feel it I knew it was moving and taking us to the next amazing location. I am prone to motion sickness, so while many people say "You can't even feel it moving", yeah, you actually can and even though the crew indicated we had calm seas on this particular voyage, I did have to take Dramamine a couple times which fixed me right up. All that is left to say is thank you Holland America for making our first cruise so perfect. Read Less

Since my husband and I have never taken a vacation in 10 years together, and since we are Puget Sound residents, we decided an Alaska cruise would be a relaxing and easy getaway. Embarkation was extremely smooth. We parked at the SeattleCruisePark lot within the confines of the Armory. Took about 10 minutes to shuttle to the terminal. Once we got our bags inside, time from check in to onboard was about 20 minutes. If we hadn't have been able to use the Neptune Suite check in line, it probably would have been significantly longer; the regular check in was a verrrrryyy long line. Once on board we were impressed with the ship. The furnishings are tasteful and the art is interesting. There are many little nooks you can sit at and not be bothered. The ship was at full capacity but it never felt crowded other than at the Lido during peak times. Our room was 7132, an aft corner Neptune. We booked specifically for the balcony which we used extensively. We were very happy with the room and our steward, Aan, was great. We used the Neptune Lounge a few times and the concierge, Inge, managed to track down my husband's suit bag when it went missing from his returned dry cleaning. I found there to be a lack of daytime activites that weren't centered on shopping. Too many jewelry auctions, shopping presentations, shopping guides, ect. There was also a lack of any kind of live music or anything; there was an empty piano in the Ocean Bar where we went frequently. Why not have someone there playing? The shops on the 3rd deck also were lackluster. When an "end of cruise sale" is supposedly happening, why is none of the merchandise actually on sale? We got a couples deep tissue massage, which was worth every penny. No hard upsell for the products afterwards. Nighttime entertainment was good. The BB King band was awesome. We stayed for the whole 3 hour set. The comedian was funny as well. I was a little disappointed with the BBC Planet Earth "Alaska" show. I was under the impression that the Lincoln Center Stage performers would actually play live with the Planet Earth footage. It was just a screen with the music. It was good, just not what I had anticipated. Food was excellent. Cannot say enough good things about the Pinnacle Grill. Lido food surprisingly good, however VERY busy there. Loved having breakfast in the PG where it was nice and quiet. We only ate in the MDR once and found that the food was good and so was the service, however, it was absolute chaos in there and WAY too noisy from the engines. Dive In makes a great burger but the wait is too long, sometimes it was over 20 minutes. The pizza by the aft pool is some of the best I've had. We did not do any shore excursions. Lots of them were "walking through a rainforest" type things, which, since we live in Washington, we see all the time. We opted to do self guided walking tours: In Juneau we saw the Governor's Mansion and St. Nicholas' Orthodox Church. We were given a tour by the clergyman inside. In Sitka we went to the Russian Bishop's House and took the upstairs tour, which was one of my favorite parts of the entire trip. We also went to St. Michael's church and saw the New Archangel dancers. Tip: eat at "Agave". Very good food. In Ketchikan we just walked around. Kinda tourist trapy. We were there on a rare sunny day. Got some coffee. Didn't even get off the ship in Victoria. Disembarking was very easy. When they called our group we were off the ship in about 5 minutes. No one was blocking any hallways or elevators so it was quick and painless. All in all, there were just some minor things that certainly didn't make our trip any less special and we would consider HAL again for our next cruise. We had a great time. Read Less

This was our second sailing from Seattle to Seattle inward passage cruise. Getting on the ship was very easy until someone forgot to purchase a couple bottles of wine. My wife and I took Uber to a grocery store to purchase four bottles of wine for the two couples. Overall no problems and everyone seemed to enjoy this process. On Sunday morning I went down to the fitness center for my daily treadmill walk. This day was a disaster. I ended up completely tearing my hamstring and actually used the medical staff onboard. They were outstanding! Everything about the ship was outstanding from the room to dining. Our cabin boys were really nice and went above and beyond to help us. The other couple had minimal complaints mainly about the cost of alcohol and other meaningless things. My wife and I are currently planning a trip for 2020 and will travel alone next time. I really enjoy Holland America and their clientele. If you enjoy kids take another cruise line! When we embarked I had a person who wheeled me through customs and collected our luggage. I was extremely impressed with their support staff! Read Less