Holland America - Ms Rotterdam South American Explorer Feb 16 - March 4, 2007

This was our third cruise with Holland America and seventh overall. This cruise follows our Australia and New Zealand cruise in November 2006 on the Ms Statendam. This South America cruise was billed as an Explorer cruise and was heavy on visiting lecturers. Clearly this was the best cruise we've ever taken with the best crew we've ever seen. Our positive experience certainly colored this review, but I wrote it to give other cruisers on this itinerary a feel for the cruise and to answer questions that we had before leaving on ours. I hope it is useful for you. No flamers, please.

The passengers on this cruise were quite varied. The ship can accommodate slightly over 1300 passengers. There were only a couple empty cabins. There were several large tour groups: 1) Germans, 2) Canadians, and 3) New Yorkers. Two travel agencies appeared to have large groups onboard: Vanguard, and AAA Pennsylvania. Most of the passengers were on their 60's and 70's. We didn't see any children, no teens, a few couples in their 20-30's, a few more in their 40s and 50s (including us), and a few folks who were 80+. Read more