The main problem we had with this cruise was that Holland America hosted a gospel music program with 850 attendees, who dined together. For dinner, all reservations past 6:30 were reserved for the music group. When we did happen to have a sit down breakfast or lunch with members of the music group, easily identified my their badges, the usual cruise conversation of “where are you from” was replaced by “what church do you attend”. Needless to say, we ate breakfast and lunch at the buffet so as to eat in peace.

The clientele for this cruise was decidedly senior, partly due to the 850 cruisers attending an onboard gospel music program. We witnessed several incidents of these seniors being exceedingly rude to the foreign crew, and the crew being exceedingly patient. The service crew: waiters, stewards, servers, who were mostly Indonesian, were fantastic.

The food was well presented, but mediocre in flavor. Overly seasoned foods probably don’t play well with the senior cruisers. The buffet foods are overly buttered and salty. The pastries appear to be previously. The Mexican buffet near the poor area was sad, but the burgers, cooked to order in 20 minutes, were worth the wait. The served dinners were the best dining experience: good variety and imagination, multiple courses, decent flavor, and good presentation. Read more