Amsterdam Review
Panama Canal Cruise, Mother and Daughter
Rating by category
Additional details
We had a delightful time on this cruise. My mom and I had cruised before about 12 years ago on Princess. This was a different experience because of the older clientele Holland American tends to draw.
We really enjoyed the lectures/speaker series on board in the afternoons for the days at sea on the history of the area. The virtual tour of the Panama Canal by our Location Guide Wallis was also excellent and a great introduction to what we would be seeing. We didn't attend the shows as much as we did the movies in the early evening. We liked that some of the movies and food were themed around a port or activity.
There were some negatives to our trip, but nothing to dampen our time. Due to the older clientele who had traveled extensively, we often felt out of place because everyone talked about going to Honduras or Puerto Vallarta for the winter. My mom and I have actually both travelled quite a bit ourselves, but it just didn't seem to compare. We booked all of our excursions in advance so we were prepared for each day and so we could attend the excursion we wanted at the time we wanted. It seemed like many people waited until they were on the ship to book an excursion or would just get off the ship and do their own thing. We felt much more comfortable and safe with our pre-panning. Again, though, many people at dinner would react like we were wrong to book in advance when asked what our plans were for the next day.
Cabin Review
Large Ocean-View Stateroom
Our cabin steward gave us two bags and two copies of the schedule each day so we could each have one. The room was technically a quad, so it was quite spacious for the two of us. We were disappointed to see only one outlet - I guess that comes with our expectations now with hotels having multiple outlets. The water temperature in the shower tended to fluctuate and didn't always stay hot throughout our showers, but if that was the least our problems, we were good!
We had one incident with a pipe bursting somewhere and flooding our bathroom, but we were able to get ahold of someone and they were able to fix it immediately.
Port Reviews
Half Moon Cay
Nice overview of the area. Interesting facts during commentary. A little disorganized at the beginning with checking tickets. We got a sticker before getting off the ship for our tour. On the island, they took tickets at the booth for everyone and didn't really check your ticket. We ended up with more people on our tour than were supposed to be there. Not everyone had the same sticker from the ship. Some people said their ticket told them to meet at the booth when everyone who was supposed to be there met in the Queen's Lounge on the ship. It worked out though. Passengers have to also take some responsibility in following directions and reading their tickets, too.
Island BBQ provided by Holland America was good. Nice to have lunch provided since there were no other options on the island. Not advertised when booking cruise so we weren't sure what we were going to do for lunch at first. It was a nice surprise.
Sat on the beach the rest of the day. We reserved a clam shell in advance since I read online they are popular. We couldn't find anyone to help set it up. We were told to just walk down the beach and find someone in a yellow shirt. We ended up just sitting down at one that was unoccupied. No one ever came over to check our ticket. If we hadn't purchased the reservation they would have been full. So even though we could have not paid it was still probably better we did.
Tendering was easy and organized. Short ride. Tenders went back and forth often enough so we never had to wait very long.
Not a lot of shopping. Really just one gift shop. There were stalls for other stuff but nothing there. One higher end jewelry place. Gift shop didn't have much. I was looking for stuff for my kids. They had some stuffed animals, but didn't say anything on them like Half Moon Cay. I didn't see any t-shirts in kids sizes so that wasn't an option either.
Puerto Quetzal (Antigua)
Low key tour. Bus ride to Antigua. Walked around main square. Back on the bus to the jade factory. Short talk at jade factory and time to look around. Small museum on history of Mayans in Guatemala and jade. Karla was our tour guide. She was excellent. We decided on this excursion that the tour guide can really make or break a tour. Had a driver and an assistant. Not sure what the assistant did, but felt like we had to tip him as well as the driver and guide. Karla talked for the entire hour and half drive to Antigua and most of the way back as well. Much different experience than the previous day in Nicaragua (unable to choose this port in the list, so I was unable to write a specific review). Guide knew a lot of the history and really tried to show everyone about the people and how they live. Answered a lot of questions about education, history, politics, healthcare, & the economy. Could tell she wanted us to leave knowing a lot about her country. Very passionate and proud of her country. Excellent market to shop at right at the port. Lots of vendors. Need to be careful on how much interest you show because they will haggle and negotiate until you buy from them. Very pretty stuff, but as soon as you inquire on price, they are trying to get you to buy. Water bottles on our seats provided by tour company
Huatulco
Scenic drive, lots of good photo opportunities. When pulling out of port, we could see where we had been up on the hill. Went to La Crusceita. Walked around the square on own. Did some shopping. Had a small presentation at a local store first and had a taste of mezcal. Very strong alcohol. About an hour on our own. Snack stop at local restaurant - tortilla with salsa and guacamole. Drinks offered - water, corona, and Coke. Bus was comfortable. Guide was decent - Jose. Sometimes hard to understand with his accent.