After our unpleasant experience with Norwegian back in January 2009, we were ready to give up on cruising.  Friends talked us into an Alaskan cruise and we agreed, but I was worried that seven nights might be too long especially if we ran into the same disappointing service that the other cruise line, NCL, had provided.We need not have worried!  Holland America's Westerdam was staffed with top notch, friendly staff that went out of their way daily to make our cruise enjoyable.  Our room steward was so good we tipped extra.  The food was wonderful, every single night, and there was enough to do onboard that we seldom found ourselves with nothing to do.I would not take another 7 night cruise to Alaska, but that is only because Juneau/Sitka/Ketchikan did not offer very different scenery, unless you were willing to splurge hundreds of dollars for shore excursions.  In Juneau we paid a $14 round trip shuttle to take us to Mendenhall glacier, and it was so fascinating and inexpensive I highly recommend it to anyone.  We saw whales, dolphins, seals, otters and many eagles on the cruise.  Our balcony suite was fair sized, and the balcony was so worth the extra money we paid.  Like I said, our only complaint, and it's a minor one, is that after Juneau, the stops were mostly the same with nothing but shopping unless you were willing to spend a whole lot for excursions.  I mean, how many thousands of shirts with ALASKA embroidered on them can you browse through?  Also, we donated way too much at the casino, where there was not even pretense of pretending to allowing passengers to win - you should be careful not to spend too much there!Holland America has convinced us that we will continue cruising, and we look forward to our next cruise with them next year.