First Holland America Cruise, Many More to Come!

So let me start out by saying that my wife and I are optimists, and easy to please. We had only been on one cruise prior to this, and it was a Disney cruise line (which was amazing, minus the squadron of children running around screaming all day). We took this ship on our honeymoon for 14 days through Asia. The average age of the guests on this cruise was approximately late 50s to early 60s. The rooms looks a bit dated and the beds were pretty hard, but it was very clean as well as inviting, and that made up for it.

The only recommendation I have is DO NOT buy any drink packages... We bought a 17.95 a day all soft drinks, water, tea, coffee, etc. and drank tons and tons of fluids and 2 to three specialty tea lattes daily, and doing the math... there's no way we could have even come close to coming out ahead. The alcohol packages are the same... the drinks are so reasonably priced (8 dollars for a rocks pour of top shelf liquor and 4-5 dollar pints) that you don't need any type of package... unless you plan on downing 3-4 bottles of wine every day consistently.

On to the good things! The staff across the board was so friendly, so polite, and went out of their way in every aspect to make sure you were having the best possible time. Our housekeeping staff was 2 gentlemen named Made and Joni, and they made it their mission to find us every day to say hello and wish us all the best. The dining staff at the Rotterdam was equally as entertaining and despite being exhausted from walking for 6-8 hours on the daily, we made an effort to get to the sit down dining because the food was fantastic, but the staff made it something to look forward to. The food on the ship as a whole was good. Even the buffet style breakfast, lunch, and dinner weren't boring and had many options.

The ports of call for this specific cruise were also mostly great stops. My wife and I didn't book any excursions, but we looked through their daily itinerary for specifics, and made our way around town with help from those as well as tripadvisor which made it more of an adventure for us.

The entertainment was also a lot of fun... Taylor was a young jack of all trades for entertainment that went out of his way to get to know us as well as other guests who attended some of the daily entertainment such as Bingo, trivia, music, etc. and once again having the staff be so friendly that it made everything that much better. The exercise equipment is limited from the viewpoint of a fitness enthusiast, but there's more than enough to get a good workout in daily. I do however recommend to the Holland American line that they ease up on pushing their spa services... I know that's their business, but when you're done getting a massage and the therapists push so much in sales that it's kind of awkward, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth about coming back.

All in all, the Holland America line was a great experience and we had such a good time that we plan on sticking to sea cruising for the majority of our vacations. We also plan on using Holland America again for our future cruises. Enjoy!

Need a bit of updating, but very clean, quaint, and inviting.