Let me start by saying that this was our tenth cruise on Holland America since the 1980's. The first was on the S.S.Rotterdam, the Grand Dame of the line. We have experienced a series of changes on the line that have not been for the better since the turn of the millennium. Now to this cruise:
Embarkation - We arrived at noon and were on the ship relatively quickly.The terminal staff were very good and expedited our boarding without difficulty.
We boarded to find that the cabins would be available at 1:30 so we made our way to the Lido and proceeded to a light lunch followed by a self tour of the ship. Of course we were dragging our hand luggage with us. We decided to "sneak" up to our cabin. There we found our steward who let us put leave our two bags in the cabin.
We were in cabin 7020. It was generally quiet. However, on ocassion at night, the cabin felt like we were driving on a road full of pot holes. It made me think that the bow of the ship was taking a heck of a pounding.
The layout was nice except it has no drawer space. Everything lays out on shelves in the closets. Well, there are a couple of tiny drawers in the night stands. My wife's big peeve is that the desk, with the hairdryer, where she puts on her makeup & does her hair has no drawers. All her stuff had to sit on the desktop. The veranda furnishings were two different chairs, a tiny table & a footstool. It was not a comfortable layout for room-service on the veranda.