We choose this cruise because we had grown weary of cruises on the mega-ships. This was our ninth cruise; first on Holland America. Holland America has a reputation for being more low key, quality service and good food. What a mistake. The embarkation was lackluster. No one greeted us as we boarded the ship except two frowning guards who checked us in. When we found our way to our suite, my wife checked our account online to see if all payments and other credits were in order. We were told we had a $400 on board credit. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that our credit had already been taken by the company and applied to gratuities. This was just the beginning.

The problems became numerous. Examples: very poor tasting food, very poor variety of food especially in Lido Market, poor food service, toilet clogged four times and took one to two hours each time to repair, We were sent apology letter by front desk for toilet issues that appeared to blame us for the toilets not flushing. (We later found out, in this instance, that several toilets in out area had issues. On the second incident we were told that the reason it took the plumber so long to come was because of a flood on ship.) It took a phone call, while at sea, by my wife to Holland America customer service in Seattle to get the toilets flushing.

The front desk was awful. During one trip to the desk over a billing issue I was told there were no managers on duty.This was in the middle of the day. We never saw the ship's officers. We went to dinner early the first night and asked for a table by the window. We were told there were none available. The dining room was empty. (My wife and daughter are African American.) We were seated next to the waiter's station in the dining room. When we left, there was just one other table taken - by a white couple at a window. After complaining we were given a table by the window on subsequent evenings. Read more