I booked this cruise less than 3 weeks before sailing. I was vacationing on the West Coast and decided to hop on a reposition of a ship leaving Alaska headed for the Caribbean. This was my first trip through the Panama Canal and I was looking for a cruise that had a great itinerary and that would end in FL where I live. Because of a scheduling conflict, I was not able to book a departure from Seattle, but instead we had to fly down to San Diego to start the cruise. For whatever reason, Holland America didn't give us any break at all on price for selecting this 18-day voyage, as the price from Seattle for the 21-voyage was the same. I was traveling with my friend from Seattle. It was my first trip through the Pamama Canal, and my friend's 3rd voyage. This was also my 9th HAL voyage, and 18th cruise overall. I have traveled on Princess, NCL, RCCL, and Azamara.
Our early morning flight down to San Diego was uneventful and we arrived in plenty of time to take the inexpensive public bus right to the cruise ship terminal. Two other cruise ships were in port along with the Westerdam. Embarkation was very quick, no lines, and we were checked-in and onboard before 12 noon.
We had an inside cabin in the aft of the ship. We liked this location because we were very close to the lido dining and pool area. The stateroom was a good size, there was plenty of storage room for clothing, but the room lacked drawer space, especially at the desk. There was a nice flat-screen TV that we used sporadically, turning it on to get views from the ship's video Cam. The bathroom was an adequate size and everything worked as it should during our voyage. The room also had a small frig that we used quite a bit. Our stateroom steward was very efficient and friendly. He and his assistant introduced themselves within minutes of check-in. He removed all the contents of the mini-bar and bottled waters on the desk as instructed. This gave us a bit more room to work on the desk with my laptop. The room was always cleaned and in good order each day and evening thanks to our cabin stewards.