We selected the Holland America Westerdam for our Thanksgiving week cruise. My wife and I are in our early fifties and our son is 13. We were joined on the cruise by 10 other family members ranging in age from 13 to 83, occupying five cabins. We are an active family, and our previous four cruises have been on NCL, which we like. My father, who was on this cruise, is an experienced Holland America cruiser with over fifty five days on board. We decided to try Holland America because the timing worked for everybody, we hoped to make a step up in food and cabin quality, and we were curious about how Holland America would contrast with NCL.

We traveled to Port Everglades by US Air from DCA to FLL, which I arranged myself. I never use cruise line arranged air because if you have to cancel your cruise, you will forfeit all of the airfare, even any amount the airline may refund. The only protection is to buy travel insurance. This forfeiture has always seemed unfair to me, so I arrange my own air travel. The flight and airports were trouble free. A 10 minute and $15.00 cab ride had the three of us and our luggage at Port Everglades with no hassles. We generally use a cab for the airport transfer because it is less expensive for the three of us than shuttles which charge per person, not to mention the cab is faster.

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