If we have just experienced Holland America's Signature of Excellence, then I am unable to understand their Banner Statement as they did not live up to this reputation.

This was our first cruise with this line after being repeat customers of NCL and Celebrity. The boarding process was very easy, the cabin and the early arrival of our luggage was very good. We were very glad to see the unobtrusive measures the crew went to in keeping the dreaded food born virus at bay, including not letting anybody serve themselves at the buffet for the first 48 hours, that was forward thinking.

From that point on, however, everything else was a disappointment. We learned that this was the final leg of a "Round The World Cruise" and the ship was going into dry dock immediately following this leg of the journey. We also learned from the people who had remained on the ship that many of the crew including the galley chefs had left in San Diego and it showed. For the first few days, the chefs in the kitchen and servers in the restaurant appeared to be learning their craft and food always arrived cold at the table and with extremely long wait times. The servers would come and apologize for the slow service, and report that they had gone again to the galley to collect our food. The food left a lot to be desired, quality and quantity were not acceptable. The main problem was that the Menu did not exactly explain what you were going to get. For instance, one main evening meal for me, a small portion of appetizer, less than a quarter cup on a decorated plate, a green salad, followed by the main entrEe, which was a quarter cup of couscous, two large shrimp and some julienne carrots. This would have been acceptable but after watching the show, at nine o'clock, there was nowhere else on the ship to get a small snack or ice cream because everything was being cleaned and closed down. The quality and quantity of the meals were suspect, several at our table complained that their steak never arrived as requested and had to be returned, a couple stated that they asked for steak well done and it was almost raw when it arrived. For example I have never had Pacific Cod before that was so tough, my first thought was that it was uncooked, as the fish didn't flake. Also food was called something on the menu which it wasn't, one example of the misnaming of food was the Black Forrest Gateaux, it didn't have any chocolate cake layers, the only resemblance was the chocolate chips on the top. In fact, the descriptions were so bad, it was part of the evening's entertainment at our table to guess what we were going to eat. Read more