I Stayed in a Signature Suite on a Holland America Line Cruise Ship, but was it Worth it?
I took a cruise in a Signature Suite onboard a Holland America Line cruise ship. I book all different room types when I cruise and, truth be told, I’m no stranger to the less expensive end of the spectrum of accommodation. In other words, I often love to cruise in an ‘inside’, or ‘interior’ cabin.
As I was cruising with a friend this time, we made the decision to upgrade out of our standard ‘Verandah’ stateroom (Holland America Line-speak for a ‘Balcony’ stateroom) into a ‘Signature Suite’. We both expected it to be a real treat, but did it live up to our expectations? Well, in this post I’m going to show you everything there is to know about this grade of stateroom, to hopefully help you to decide if you’d like to cruise in one in the future.
First, let me tell you about the ship that I cruised on, and I’ll then move on to show you the specific cabin that I cruised in.
Our ship was Nieuw Amsterdam, which is a Signature class cruise ship that launched back in 2009. She underwent her most recent refurbishment in December 2023, which meant that I was expecting to find a relatively fresh ship as we took this cruise in March 2025. Our cruise was a 7-night Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in March 2025.
I cruised onboard Nieuw Amsterdam, a Signature class ship operated by Holland America Line.
The specific cabin that we were allocated was 6094, which is a Signature Suite on the Port (left) side of the ship on Deck 6.
Before we’d even entered the room, I was impressed to see that the number was available in the usual font on the door tile/plaque, but also in Braille for those who might need it. Although this is quite a small point, I would add here that I was incredibly impressed with the overall accessibility on this ship - so much had been considered to adapt various parts of the cruise experience for those that could benefit from it. I’ll tell you more about this in a future post - make sure you’re subscribed to my newsletters if you’re interested in finding out when this one goes live!
Here’s our door plaque, which had our stateroom number displayed both in the usual font, and also in braille.
On the Holland America Line website, the following amenities are promised when you book a Signature Suite:
Daily Housekeeping
Complimentary 24-hour room service
Elemis Aromapure soap, lotion & shampoo
Luxurious bathrobes
Hair dryers, make up mirrors
Generous storage
Fresh fruit (upon request)
Safe
Ice service
Shoeshine
TV with on-demand movies
Binoculars
Whirlpool bath
For anyone who’s cruised with Holland America Line in the past, you might be thinking that you don’t get a huge number of extra benefits when you upgrade into a Signature Suite from a Verandah stateroom - no private lounge, no personal member of staff - these benefits are more likely to be the case if you’re cruising in a Neptune Lounge.
Besides the whirlpool bath, binoculars and a few minor bits from the above list, the main benefit of upgrading from a standard Verandah stateroom is the additional space on offer - these suites are pretty generous size-wise. Here’s a few shots of my Signature Suite, to give you a feel for the room itself…
Looking into the room from the entrance - what do you think?
Here’s looking back into the room from the door heading out to the balcony - a great size, isn’t it?!
As you can see, this room is a good bit bigger than a standard Verandah stateroom. The easiest reference point I can offer you is if you look at the above picture that looks across the room towards the balcony door. In a standard stateroom, you wouldn’t have all of that excess space to the side with the additional window.
This room couldn’t have been much more perfect for me to share with my friend. We each had a desk each, with the sofa then being communal opposite the bed. Only one of the desks is equipped with a make up mirror, which meant it was an easy choice which would be mine (to confirm, the one without…!). On this point, it was great to see that little touches like the make up mirror were fully lit by the desk - this got a big thumbs up, although admittedly I never benefitted from this during the cruise…!
The make up mirror was lit all around the edges - thumbs up!
Due to the fact that my friend and I weren’t sharing this room as a couple, we requested to have the beds split into a twin format. We did actually request this at the point of making our booking, so we were a little disappointed to arrive into the cabin to find just one bed. That said, our cabin attendant was incredibly quick to rectify this while we were at dinner on our first evening, and the positive is that I was able to get photos of the room set up as above for all of you!
Here’s the bed set up as a twin, for anyone who’s curious to see what it would look like:
Voila - we now have a twin room!
We really liked this room when set up as a twin!
Let’s move on to talk about bedside power. For a ship launched in 2009, I didn’t have the highest hopes of any bedside power, never mind modern elements like USB outlets.
However, I was delighted to find power sources for both European and American (US) plugs by the bed, with a regular USB port there, too. I’m assuming that this must’ve been looked at during the 2023 refit, if not before.
Bedside power isn’t critical for me - I just like to be able to charge my phone beside me using a USB charger while I sleep. I’m sure that anyone reading this with an overnight electrical need will be delighted at the range of options!
Here’s the bedside power, and also bedside lighting!
A Signature Suite doesn’t come with an included minibar - this is something to be aware of. My overall rule - don’t assume that anything is included - always check before you consume!
If you do want to drink a soft drink from your minibar, then it’ll cost you $2.95, with a water costing you $4 (small) or $6 (large). If you’re thinking about the bottle of wine which is presented for you on the tray, well that’ll be $19.50. You get the picture - be careful!
Look out - the minibar isn’t included when you book a Signature Suite!
Next, let me show you one of my favourite aspects of this Signature Suite, an area which I reckon made our upgrade cost worth every penny - the bathroom.
Here’s our bathroom - I was surprised to find both a bath with shower, and also a stand-alone shower cubicle in here!
Here’s the other side of our bathroom - double sinks!
There was so much about this bathroom that I absolutely LOVED.
First, the double sink made it so easy to share this with a friend - we both had our own space.
Second, the BATH! This was such a luxury for a cruise ship, although shockingly I never got to use it. During our 7-night cruise, there was only 1 time window where I was ready to relax and enjoy a bath. Annoyingly, there was a little red light showing on the bath panel during this period, which I assumed to be to do with the fact that the ship was sailing as it was a little rockier than normal. This meant that I wasn’t able to use the jets in the tub, which was SUCH a shame. Yes, I could’ve filled the bath to have one similar to what I’d have at home, but I didn’t see much point - I really wanted to have a jetted bath on a cruise ship!
The next big difference between a Verandah stateroom and a Signature Suite onboard Nieuw Amsterdam is the size of the balcony. I couldn’t believe how generous the space was out there!
Our balcony was such an impressive size. Also yes, of course I had to demonstrate the loungers!
Our balcony was much deeper and wider than those in the regular Verandah staterooms elsewhere on the ship. We had two rattan reclining chairs (with small footstools) out there, which offered us some wonderfully private sunbathing space during the day. There was also a relatively large table, which was perfect for room service lunches during our ‘sea days’ - bliss!
So, a Signature Suite on Holland America Line - is it worth the extra to upgrade from another grade of stateroom? Well, to be honest, it’s always going to come down to price.
You need to remember that the benefits of cruising in this room type are localised to the room. In other words, you’re not getting any ‘special treatment’ elsewhere around the ship as a guest in a Signature Suite. For us, we felt that our cost to upgrade into this Suite was well worth the money, especially as we weren’t travelling as a couple. This room gave us so much more space, and so many elements of it made it great for sharing with a friend.
Our Signature Suite did feel far more ‘luxurious’ than the standard Verandah cabins look on YouTube tours, although I can’t say for sure as we weren’t able to view one of those rooms while onboard.
If you’ve enjoyed this post, then why not come and check out my full room tour of this Suite over on YouTube? The link’s below!
To see more posts from my time cruising with Holland America Link, click here, or use the drop down at the top of the page!