My husband, our daughter, and I used to cruise on Holland America ships years ago when our daughter was young. We have many great memories of those cruises. In particular, we remember how the gracious staff went out of its way to provide excellent service.
For example, on our first Holland America cruise, our daughter was too little to cut her food. Our waiter, Oka, made a great ceremony of cutting her meat into bite-size pieces each time he served her. Several years later, on another Holland America cruise, we ran into Oka again, and we were delighted when he greeted us warmly and pretended to perform the meat-cutting ceremony for our daughter, then fully capable of cutting her own meat.
Memories like this made us return to Holland America with our now-college-age daughter. While we thoroughly enjoyed our vacation, our experience on the ship was marred by disappointing lapses in quality, service, and management oversight.
The veranda is terrific and quiet most of the time. Occasionally music drifts in from sailing away parties on the Lido deck. The room is small to be classified a suite. There is a couch, but you cannot use it easily because the chairs and coffee table prevent access.