I will start by saying that I have never been on a cruise that I did not enjoy. We have taken over 40 cruises with 8 different lines. When I write reviews, I tell em as I sees em. We chose this cruise because it started by going to several islands in the Caribbean before entering the Panama Canal. This is very unusual and seldom done by other cruise lines. We had booked two southern Caribbean cruises in the past but both were cancelled by us or the cruise line and this was the first time we were to see any islands in the southern part of the Caribbean. Those stops and seeing the new additions to the Panama Canal encouraged us to select this particular cruise. After entering Gatun Lake, the ship made a detour to see the new lock that will take larger ships into the lake.
This cruise started on a sour note because the fare for our cabin was reduced by $1,000 per person just after we made our final payment. I called our travel planner at Holland America to see what kind of adjustment they would make to our fare and was told that they would not do anything except offering us an upgraded cabin. Of course, if we took the upgrade, we would have to give up the booking bonus we got when we booked the cruise. The booking bonus was $200 per person onboard credit and two dinners at the specialty restaurants onboard. The upgrade was not in the location we wanted and the cabin offered was not that much better than ours, so we chose not to make the change. However, I was very surprised at Holland America’s attitude, since we have never had a problem getting price adjustments, refunds or onboard credit on any of the other lines with which we have sailed.
CABIN