This was my 2nd cruise overall and my 1st cruise with Holland America. (My 1st cruise was with the Carnival Conquest and I compare the Westerdam to the Conquest a few times below).

When I saw this cruise pop up on a "flash sale" I knew that I wanted to go there. I sent out an email to my family and friends and invited all who wanted to join the "Legendary" cruise. We ended up with 20 of us total ages ranging from Newlywed to Grandma and Grandpa. I am somewhere in between. We all left the kids at home.

Booking: I will never book directly with Holland America again. I am new to cruising with a group and I was told that I could reserve rooms and then change names later. I booked all the rooms I could and then asked family and friends who wanted to join us. Then I called to put their names on the rooms within the amount of days I was told to do so. It was then that Holland America told me I couldn't do that. It was very frustrating and I spent HOURS on the phone trying to work it out. We settled and when I say settled....half of my people had to pay a higher price because it was considered a rebooking. The other thing that was maddening; I received not ONE perk for setting up this party of 20. I didn't get my room, or anyone else for that matter, free or discounted. I didn't even get a thank you from Holland America...just headache. Next time I will book with a travel agent. Read more