This was our fifth cruise and second with Holland America. Our previous experience with HAL was in March on the Zuiderdam. We booked this cruise about 3 weeks after returning. Some of you may have read our Zuiderdam review and are aware of Diane's phobia on flying. Well, there was no wine on the plane to go with her "feel good pills" so she drank champagne. Let me assure you she will NEVER try to replace wine with champagne again. The flight was an utter disaster.

We flew into Orlando a day early, rented a car and stayed at the Clarion near the airport. The room was nice. They had a complimentary cocktail hour and breakfast. The breakfast was supposed to start at 7 a.m. but was not set up until 8 a.m. It took me 30 minutes to check in and 45 minutes to check out. We had reservations for the end of the cruise but we canceled them. Saturday morning we drove the 45 miles on 528 E to Port Canaveral. Again, Diane's fear of traveling in anything moving faster than "It's a Small World After all" ride at Disney World resulted in an 1.25 hour drive. Anybody else can make this trip in 45-50 minutes.

Embarkation: Holland America makes this process so easy. There were porters there taking our luggage from the shuttle van onto their cart and we walked into the terminal. No hauling luggage at all. We arrived at the pier at 11:45, security check line took 20 minutes and check in took 5 minutes. There is a separate line for suite guests. Read more