I drove to Fort Lauderdale the day before the cruise. Stayed at the Hyatt Place Hotel ($157). It was depressing, unorganized, and overpriced. However, it was overbooked with cruise passengers. The Eurodam is gorgeous but at 2100 passengers, it is larger than I like. There were 12 of us, 4 children and 8 adults, on the cruise. We booked verandah cabins and the inside cabins across from them. We found the personal attention we received on the Veendam lacking on the Eurodam. The Thanksgiving cruise was fully booked with 300 children on board. It is also more expensive to do a holiday cruise. The embarkation was well organized. My grandson was allowed to board early with me because of my Mariner status and use of a cane (recovering from broken leg.) We were directed to the Rembrandt Dining Room for a lovely luncheon. I reserved two cabanas on the Lido Deck for the entire cruise. The stewards combined them into one wonderfully private space with special service all day. Fruit baskets, lunch service, water, Evian spray and little fans, champagne, and chocolate covered strawberries. Highly recommended. Our stewards exemplified HAL service. We rewarded them at the end of the cruise with a very nice tip. I found the Art Tour disappointing. Perhaps I wasn't impressed by some of the art. I am not a modern art fan. I went to three shows which were mediocre. However the new show lounge is incredible. I went to two movies in their new movie theater. Wonderful home theater type seats. There are only about 50 seats so it fills up quickly.

The Rembrandt Dining Room is beautiful. Our major dining problem was that we were unable to seat 12 at a table. This was disappointing, especially on Thanksgiving. The Pinnacle grill is outstanding. The decor and service were superb. And the dinner (I had Porterhouse) was one of the finest I've ever had. We enjoyed the Tamarind Asian Restaurant. It is free at lunch when they serve a form of DimSum. However, I recommend spending the money for dinner. The Canoletto Italian Restaurant is free but you need reservations. Skip it. Not worth the bother and the Rembrandt Dining Room is lovely. The Grand Turk was the first port. We rented a golf cart ($80) for the day. And returned it in 2 hours. We toured the entire island.... very little to see. A waste of money. San Juan, Puerto Rico. Toured the El Morro fortress. Excellent. Took free trolley to and from it. Trolleys were packed... standing room only. St. Thomas. Took the skyride to the top of Paradise Point ($19 each). View spectacular. However, the open taxis cost $65 for the five of us to get there and back. The shopping which used to be very up scale has become t shirt and jewelry shops. Not worth the money. Half Moon Cay, Bahamas. The HAL owned island is a marvelous place; however, it was cold and windy and gray. My grandsons parasailing was cancelled. I went over and froze and returned to the ship. The debarkation was well organized. I was unable to find my car in the car park and finally had assistance after I almost had a heart attack. My son in law had parked it and we obviously had a communication problem. Parking was $105. Next time I definitely will fly and use the excellent HAL transport to and from airport. We have decided to skip crusing over the holidays. Too expensive, too many people, too difficult with air. For those who feel I am critical of HAL, I might say that I love HAL!! However I am definitely a destination cruiser. Am booked for 74 days beginning in February.