While we are seasoned cruisers (this is our 11th cruise), this was our first experience on Holland America. I won this cruise on an auction site, so the value for the money was OK, although we've taken similar cruises for cheaper prices in the past on Carnival. We flew in the day before embarkation and stayed at the Hampton Inn closest to the port - I highly reccommend that hotel. The rates were very reasonable, they had a very organized free shuttle experience and they served a decent hot breakfast in the morning. The rooms were extremely clean and overall, it was a really nice experience.

Embarkation for the Westerdam was extremely well organized and we were actually on the ship by 1PM, having arrived at the port terminal around 12:15. We found all the ship personnel to be extremely friendly and responsive and we were directed to the Lido for lunch until the cabins were ready (which wasn't until 2PM). In retrospect, if we had wanted to go straight to our cabin (which we've done before on Carnival), we probably would have waited a bit before getting to the terminal. The food on the Lido was very good - overall, I would have to say that HAL beats Carnival on this point. Carnvial dining room food is wonderful, but HAL has a higher consistent variety of food in the Lido, a feature which we really enjoyed. Anyway, once they announced cabins were ready, we headed down to ours. We had been guaranteed an inside cabin, but were pleasantly surprised to see we'd been upgraded to an outside. It was on the bottom deck, but nonetheless, we had a nice sized window, so we enjoyed that. The only complaint I had about the cabin was that the brochures promise fresh fruit in the room daily and we never saw it. Aside from that though, the cabin was lovely - very well maintained and the bathrooms seemed larger than the Carnival cabins. Plus - added bonus - they all have bathtubs - or at least ours did! I did enjoy that, plus my husband enjoyed that the shower didn't leave water all over the floor - a problem we run into regularly on Carnival.

The Westerdam is a very lovely ship - although it does show it's age. The outside glass elevators are fun - we used them almost exclusively when we weren't using the stairs. The staff is extremely friendly and helpful - we never saw so much as a frown or scowl. We did participate in the "open seating" plan and enjoyed getting to know a variety of the other passengers as a result. The food in general is every bit as good as Carnival, in our opinion, and as mentioned above, I think HAL exceeds Carnival as far as the Lido food. We didn't find the lack of trays on the Lido (as complained about in other reviews) a big deal - we would just go get a plate of what we wanted and if we wanted more, we went back. After all, isn't the whole idea to R-E-L-A-X while you're on this cruise??? Read more