This was our 10th cruise, our 5th on Holland America and our 5th to Alaska . . . our 3rd to Alaska on Holland America. We chose this particular cruise primarily because of price and timing, but have wanted to sail on the Nieuw Amsterdam because of the good experience we had on the Eurodam, her sister ship.
Overall, we found it met our expectations - we really cruise with the idea that "Any day at sea is better than a day on land" and we know the HAL experience pretty well, So, again, it met our expectations and we were very pleased, highly recommend it and would do it again. But it didn't make us go "Wow!", really, at any time. There were a few highlights, but nothing that really leaped out as truly exceptional.
To break it down into the basic components: