We should have done more research before selecting Holland America. We were not aware that it catered to a much older crowd and we were traveling with 4 children. This is not the cruise lines fault, but it did affect our experience. The crew and passengers were all very nice to them, but their were only 7 kids on the boat and they were a bit isolated.
The biggest disappointment was embarkation. We filled out the immigration forms on line as requested. The web site said that this would speed up the process. In fact it was the opposite. They set up the same number of agents to handle both groups, so the 25% who did not fill the forms out on line breezed right through while the rest of us waited 2 hours.
The ports were great with 2 exceptions. Guadeloupe was a mess. We were told that no ships had been there for 11 years. We could tell why. The locals did not seem to want us there. Taxis would not pick up ship passengers. It was a very unfriendly place. The other bad spot was Grand Cayman. The island was great, but there were 7 cruise ships there at the same time. The 15 minutes we got to spend at the Turtle Farm and 30 minutes at Stingray City were awesome, but way to short.