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Sailed out of New York, embarkation was flawless, checked in and on the ship in under one hour of arrival. We were invited to a Mariner embarkation brunch which was very nice. After the brunch we went to our aft cabin on the Rotterdam deck. I was very pleased with the aft cabin and would definitely book one again, the views were terrific.
We enjoyed some great and not so great weather, seemed to worsen the further north we got. Newport was beautiful, as was Gloucester (we went over to Salem) and Bar Harbor. Can't beat the popovers at Jordan Pond house in Acadia National Park. We were tendered ashore at these 3 ports, if you wanted to get off early, you had to get your tickets early. We went down about 20 minutes before they started giving out the tender tickets and were off of the ship in the first tenders that were available.
I fell in love with Peggy's Cove during a Halifax excursion and plan to return there. We had rain in Sydney and Charlottetown, but enjoyed the excursions nonetheless. A storm kept us away from Saguenay and caused 2 days at sea instead of the one planned, the ship put on more activities to compensate and it was fine. The waves were very high, but the ship was very smooth considering the storm. We docked in Quebec the night before we were scheduled and had some extra time there.
Our cabin stewards were great, the dining room staff was fantastic. The cruise director was very good, loved his sense of humor. My only complaint would be the Lido for breakfast, very tough to find a table, once you did that, had to go several places for breakfast items, we enjoyed breakfast in the dining room most days, very relaxing way to start the day.
The cleanliness of the ship was evident as you saw staff all over sweeping, vacuuming and wiping surfaces, very nice.
Over all my husband and I, and two other couples we were traveling with had a great time. I found the 10 day length to be perfect. We will travel with Holland America again for sure.
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