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This was our third cruise with Holland America. I find the service, and accommodations very good.
For a vegetarian, eating can be a challenge on Holland America. The menu presents vegetarian options that include chicken, and the chefs have offered me vegetables in aspic and jello as a dessert. They are unknowledgeable about what constitutes vegetarian and vegan food. My inability to digest most dairy products made matters worse for me. My family, with no dietary restrictions, liked the food a lot.
Our adjoining rooms were nice, with comfortable beds and enough closet space for a week of clothes. We spent virtually no time watching the LCD TV with DVD player. Our room was directly under the nightclub, so we heard loud thumping until 2am. They offered to move us (with an upgrade), but we decided to stay put, with earplugs for one of us.
We missed our first stop on Grand Cayman because high winds closed the port. Our activity there was snorkeling, so that was not going to happen regardless. Ocho Rios, Jamaica was an easy stop and the river tubing was fun. Our third stop was at Holland America's Half Moon Cay. In the morning, we had some okay snorkeling (we've snorkeled Australia's Great Barrier Reef and Belize, so the rest of the world is at best good to very good). In the afternoon, we planned a bicycle tour of the Cay, but in between, we were told we could eat at a barbecue, which was unfortunately, a logistical disaster. Instead of one ship, there were two at the Cay, and it took an hour to get through the lines to get to the food. Some of use grabbed some cookies for lunch and went biking, but others were too hungry and missed the biking to eat. It was astoundingly badly organized, with salads right next to where burgers were served. They ran our of burgers and all the lines stopped for 15 minutes. Holland America refunded two-thirds of a missed biking trip fee. The biking would have been better if the seats were easily adjusted, or if our guide had a wrench. Fortunately, the Cay is very flat, so our inability to extend our legs was just uncomfortable, not an obstacle.
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