This was my 30th cruise, 5th with Holland America, and 5th New Year's cruise. It was my 3rd time on the Ryndam. I had high expectations for food, service, and relaxation, based on past cruises, and looked forward to the highly touted ship renovations. Unfortunately it turned out to be my 2nd worst cruise experience.
We took advantage of early embarkation and boarded the ship around 12:30, although the staterooms weren't ready until 1:30. When we arrived at the stateroom, we were informed by passengers in the hallway that none of the toilets were working in our section, Main deck forward. The hallway smelled of sewage. Finally just before sailing at 5:00 the toilets were operational. On the last couple of nights, the hallways and gathering areas on several floors smelled of sewage.
Our cabin steward, name unknown, never introduced himself/herself during the entire cruise. The stateroom wasn't vacuumed for 4 days. Instead of changing visibly soiled sheets, the beds were just made. We had to specifically request that the sheets be changed.