We had enjoyed a one week eastern Caribbean cruise with Holland America a couple of years ago and decided to treat ourselves to a back to back eastern and western cruise this year . The first week in the Western Caribbean was very good and I particularly enjoyed the stop in Key West. One of the elements that we enjoyed the first week was the open dining when we could arrive at the dining room any time between 5:00 and 9:00. We enjoyed dinning with different folks each night at a time that fit in with our day. On the second week we were not pleased to be suddenly informed when we arrived for dinner on Sunday evening that the dining room was closed in order to provide seating for a large group (1000 people) and this would be the situation for the remainder of the cruise.

This is where Holland America truly dropped the ball on customer service.

The front line staff were just as surprised as the passengers that this was going to be the arrangement for the dining room so they did not have any answers for us. Read more