Just came back from a cruise to Alaska departing Seattle June 8, 2013. The best part of the cruise was a week spent with family and friends. Also, the weather in Alaska was perfect - sunny, not too cold. Perfect for taking pictures.

The worst part of the cruise was Holland America. The food in the Lido dining room was terrible, very repititive every day. The service hours were very limited. Do not expect to find any food after 11 pm and before 6 am. The food servers (mostly Indonesian and Phillipino in origin) were extremely rude and unhelpful.

The last night (Friday night) we went on a shore excursion in VIctoria (sold by Holland America on the ship). Came back to the ship at around 10:30 pm. So did most of the passengers. Of course the dining rooms were closed by then. But even the Lido deck service was closed at 11 pm. A whole lot of returing passengers were in long line in the Lido deck when they closed food service. So a lot of upset passengers had to go to sleep with nothing to eat that night. Read more