Upon planning our family trip to Alaska we originally booked with Celebrity leaving out of Seattle and then disembarking in Seattle. We eventually cancelled this trip as we changed our plans to attend a wedding in Europe. These plans fell thru and alas we were looking again to rebook the Alaska vacation. Holland America had an itinerary I had seen once before but ignored as I thought the airfare would be cost prohibitive to fly into Anchorage and back home from Vancouver. Upon checking for airfare I found a flight that was the same price has round trip with the Seattle port. Long story short we booked our cruise with HAL leaving Seward June 12th on the MS Statendam. The price we got was even less then the Celebrity booking and the ports of call were much more appealing. BUT after booking I began to read negative reviews regarding the Statendam and had some fears this would be a big mistake. Thankfully all the issues previous critics had DID NOT apply to our trip, Simply said, we had an Magnificent time aboard the lovely Statendam. The cabin was wonderful, Massive amount of storage, with two closets.Extremely comfortable beds, sofa (I fell asleep on the sofa twice), excellent toiletries, superb quality in choice of linens and towels.Embarkation and Disembarkation were SO easy. Choice of dining was AWESOME, We ate like KINGS AND QUEENS, Every dish was excellent. We ate two meals in "The Pinnacle" This was well worth the surcharge. The entertainment blew us away. I NEVER expected this quality of entertainment, Each act, every vocalist, every musician were flawless. Several have cut CD's and all deserve a greater audience. I could go on and on but suffice it to say that for the price a 7 night cruise on the Statendam is an incredible value. We could never eat out everyday for the price we paid let alone the entertainment and the stateroom. I really believe those who write critical (negative reviews) need to keep this in mind went being so harsh. One last thing is I noticed several times when I overheard complaining which was of no fault but the passenger simply because they DID NOT read the information given to everyone regarding policy, or news etc...I will say this one thing though which I believe needs changed, smoking is still permitted in the Crows nest and the casino, the smell in the crows nest is so bad you can not really enjoy it, unless of course you smoke. Real shame as we would have enjoyed spending more time there, otherwise Well done Holland America...We WILL sail again with you!!!