Bill and I began cruising five years ago and consider it the most relaxing and romantic way to spend vacation days, which are considered "gold" in our "work-a-day" lives. Prior to this cruise we have been aboard RCCL (3) and Carnival (1). Years ago, on a trip to Vancouver, we saw a Holland America ship docked at Canada Place and Bill said, "We have to do one of those ships." Well, we finally did!

BOOKING

We had originally planned on running away to the Mexican Riviera for Thanksgiving as I still suffer from Post Traumatic Turkey Syndrome brought on by too many years of doing "the bird". All was set with deposits until I came across a Five Day Flash and discovered Holland America was "portioning" a twenty-one day Panama Canal reposition cruise and one of the available segments was Vancouver to San Diego (five nights). Though it did not fall into any Thanksgiving schedule, Vancouver and San Diego are two of our favorite places on earth and there were also two days at sea. WE LOVE DAYS AT SEA! So, I quickly called my travel agent and cancelled Mexico and Booked the Zaandam for a guarantee B (outside mini verandah suite). About a month before the cruise our documents arrived. These were unlike any we had ever received as they were in substantial leather tri-fold wallets with all your cruise tickets and a special place for your passport. What a classy presentation and they proved to be an excellent way of keeping everything very organized and easily retrievable. We were assigned cabin 000 since we were on a guarantee, but with the advise of a Cruise Critic post I began to access my booking information via the Shore Excursion section of HAL's website. About fifteen days before the cruise we suddenly became a Category A #6177 mini suite. Things were going about as smoothly as we could have imagined and the anticipation was pretty much pervading my consciousness. Then again, we believe that looking forward to the cruise is at LEAST as wonderful as the cruise itself. Read more