We were excited about taking our first cruise on Holland America Cruise Line. Although we had heard that it was mainly for older people, we wanted to give it a try and found a very great rate for a balcony room. We were two married couples celebrating our wedding anniversaries.

Ship: Sadly to stay, Holland America's ship Nieuw Amsterdam did not meet our expectations. Compared to the ships we've been before, it is a conservative and smaller ship. Other than the NYC chandelier on the smallest atrium we have seen on a ship, it had nothing that visually could stand out or that you would remember.

Food: Most of the time was under seasoned, cold and the waiting time between courses on the Manhattan dining room was more than 20 minutes. The exception was the soups, always excellent and hot! Twice in the same dinner I had to return the food because I asked for a medium steak and they kept bringing me a well done overcooked steak. They got it right the third time after all the people in my party had finished eating their food. Not even in their specialty restaurant, The Pinnacle Grill, did they have it right. I got a bloody rare filet mignon instead of the medium filet that I had ordered. They charge $25 p/p on this "beef specialty" restaurant so the least you can expect is the steak to be perfect. On this particular sailing the food on the Lido buffet was always served by the waiters. You could not cater yourself for the food. Needless to say the portions were very controlled and we even thought that they were running out of food. The Tamarind was a very nice and different restaurant! Read more