This was my 7th cruise having cruised 5 times with Royal Caribbean and once with Azamara. I wanted to try a different cruiseline and am so glad I chose Holland America. I had a wonderful cruise on the Westerdam to the Southern Caribbean 20th January 7 nights. Boarding in Fort Lauderdale was really easy and took about 20 minutes. We went to the Lido for lunch and as expected, it was really busy and hard to find a table. Staff were serving from the buffet to prevent the spread of Norovrus, although this slowed things down a bit, it is to be applauded as makes you feel safe. After 48 hours you could serve yourself more items but staff still served the hot food.

CABIN - I booked a standard interior and this was fine. A large enough bathroom (more space then some balcony cabins) with Elemis toiletries and plenty of towels. The cabin attendant, Jani, was excellent.

FOOD - The food was excellent. We had breakfast in the Lido and there was a vast array to choose from. The buffet staff were wonderful, particularly Renato and Eva, really friendly and so helpful, as was the lady wearing glasses, didn´t catch her name. The orange juice was freshly squeezed, what a surprise that was - RCCL take note, there was no supplement to pay! We also had lunch here and once again we were spoilt for choice. There was a roast of the day along with pasta and pizza, several hot dishes and an Asian station serving Indonesian specialities. One thing that put me off a little were the amount of staff eating in the Lido, whether they be spa or shop staff or whatever, there seemed to be a lot of them and I think they should have their own place to eat. Read more