This was our first time on Holland America, though we've been on their sister line Princess multiple times. We'd heard that HA's food and entertainment were comparable quality, and the disembarkation port was convenient to us, so we decided to give HA a shot. Important note: we are in our early thirties and most of HA's guests are 60 and up. We were clearly the youngest couple on the ship (though there were a couple teenagers on board) and apparently known to guests and crew around the ship because of that!

Overall, we enjoyed our time on the cruise. We were happy with the entertainment (mostly music and dance-based shows)...it had a "arts and culture" flavor, more so than Princess' entertainment. It's a slow-paced ship; as a couple that enjoys playing board games and shuffleboard and being by ourselves, we had enough to do, but those looking for more fast-paced activities during the day might be bored. Most of the interesting events, including trivia, took place after 6 pm; earlier in the day was mostly shopping talks and other things that weren't interesting to us. No dance classes or fruit carving on HA.

We were happy with the food. We loved the way Lido market was laid out. It was easy to put together a full meal in one spot without going up and down the entire buffet, though we sometimes did that for fun, too! The service was excellent. Read more