This is our seventh cruise and the first with Holland America. We are a couple in our thirties traveling without children.

Hotel: Flew in the day before our cruise and stayed at the Hyatt Regency Pier 66 that we booked through Hotwire.com. Grounds were beautiful with large pool. Our room had a marina view and the bed was clean and comfortable. Unfortunately there were other parts of the room that were quite dirty (upholstery on chair was dirty as was the bathroom floors). The poolside restaurant was overpriced and the food was overcooked and just didn't taste right. We went to the Pelican Bar for an evening snack and drink. It had a beautiful view overlooking the marina and the food was good although the service was a bit slow. We had breakfast in the morning at Mariner's which was again super overpriced where they charged $10 for a bowl of oatmeal. One piece of advice: if you can walk a mile over the bridge there are several good dining options as well as an enormous wine store called "Total Wine and More" where you can pick up a couple of bottles to bring on the ship (Holland America allows you to bring wine on board). The location of the hotel was nice since it only cost $12 to take a taxi to the port.

Embarkation: We arrived early so had to stand in a long line to get registered and then wait for our number to be called. Luckily the line moved pretty quickly and the gentleman that checked us in was incredibly nice. Probably about a half hour process. Read more