Embarkation did not go very well. People were jammed all over the terminal waiting. Why? Holland did not allow enough time with the ms Oosterdam returning from Europe and having to have the crew go through Customs and Immigration on arrival at Ft. Lauderdale, and still have the ship prepared for embarkation at the time Holland stated. If you have ever embarked on a Carnival cruise from Long Beach you will understand how bad it was. We elected to try a guaranteed cabin for the first, and now our last time. We informed Holland that we are non-smokers, so Holland assigned us a smoking cabin that the previous cruisers had smoked heavily in. It was so bad that even the cabin stewards were embarrassed and had an ozone machine in the room when we arrived after 1400, to try and make it more bearable. My wife went to the pursers desk to see if there was anything that they could do to assist us. We already knew that the ship was full from cruise critic chats, so we knew that there would be no upgrade available, but maybe some help in ridding the room of the smoke smell. They told my wife that there was nothing that they could do and went on to the next customer. Thankfully our cabin stewards, Yon and Abdul, were great and realized the problem and spent extra time attempting to make the cabin more bearable for our first night. My wife woke up the next morning hardly able to breathe as she was so congested from the smoke residue. She was very happy to take the tender to Half Moon Cay and get out of the cabin. The cabin stewards then shampooed the carpet while we were gone to try and help us. The next day they had to wash all of the curtains too as the smoke smell was still so strong.

There were also many people who complained of not receiving their luggage until well after dinner, once again due to the crew Custom and Immigration check. Food in the dining room, first seating, was very good with a varied choice each night. Food On the Lido deck was also very good, even though some people did not like the fact that Holland does not have trays anymore. I thought that it worked very well myself. The ms Oosterdam is not in as good a shape as her sister ship the ms Norddam. There were rust spots along areas of the Promenade deck and the carpet is getting a bit worn. Some deck chairs were broken, were they could not be moved from the up-right position, and a few did not have a cushion. One day the crew water sprayed the Promenade deck and then proceeded to chip and scrape paint off above the deck so the paint chips fell all over the deck. They did not close off that section of the deck so that as people walked over the chips paint was all over the place. Poor planning on the part of the crew. Disembarkation was very good, the only complaint being one could not always hear what they were announcing.

The Panama Canal was the highlight of the cruise and is worth the time and effort to go through it. Great lectures from Mr. McCLelland on the area. The port of Fuerte Amador ( Panama City ) is not listed in the port reviews section so here it is. We did the El Valle tour and it was very good. Our guide was very informative and helpful. Some of the dining table mates went to Panama City and enjoyed it Read more