We sail every December, usually in the Caribbean. Embarkation was a bit slow and the entry room reminded us of "Ellis Island" that so many immigrants used to enter America. Once boarded, our cabin was ready and all went initially smoothly. This was the perfect itinerary for us with lots of ports on one of Holland America's smallest oldest ship. Our cruise started off in Ft. Lauderdale and our cabin was aft port side on the lowest deck which we expected would insure better stability. This became important when we hit rougher seas that were due to master selecting an Ocean northerly route and his lack of us of the stabilizers. What we did not expect is to have several small children in our section who had a proclivity to for crying.

On first entering our cabin we noticed that the bathroom had not been cleaned and their was powder on the shelves. Our cabin steward apologized and this was the last time was had a problem with our steward who proved to be the best part of the trip. He kept our cabin immaculate, always with fresh fruit, but rarely if ever was in our way. That is the sign of a good cabin steward.

After exploration, we noticed that the ship felt older and a bit tired. For example, the fitness equipment was mostly the original 1993 Cybex equipment. Only the Treadmills and Elipticals had been replaced. The elevators also looked worn and even one of the railing fell off when another passenger leaned on it. Read more