My partner and I were so looking forward to our Southern Caribbean cruise on Holland America Westerdam. I am 41 and he is 53. We have sailed on the Oosterdam, Zuiderdam and Westerdam once before and knew we would be young, but we generally don't mind older passengers. On this cruise on the Westerdam, this was not the case.

We chose this trip because we really think the Westerdam is a beautiful, comfortable ship and we had the best food of any cruise when we sailed her in late 2006. In addition to the 4 Holland America sailings, we have really enjoyed sailing on Jewel of the Seas, Enchantment of the Seas and especially Radiance of the Seas! We live in the Ft. Lauderdale area and hopping aboard a ship is easy for us. We like mid-sized ships with a large focus outward towards the sea. We are very unhappy with the new developments of Royal Caribbean building HUGE inward focused ships, but they have moved their ships of the size we like to longer voyages that we cannot afford or take that much time off. Radiance of the Seas (twice) and Zuiderdam have been our favorite cruises.

Embarkation: Easy. Still prefer the way Royal Caribbean does it better, but it was quick and painless and we were on the ship before noon. Read more