This was a bucket list trip for my husband but I was worried that we could be happy on a ship for ten days. We had also never sailed Holland America so for a treat we booked a signature suite. The ship had just come from dry dock and it was beautiful and the cabin was terrific. Just a side note to Holland America who thought it was a good idea to put the tv over the couch? On the plus side the tv had a lot of tv shows and movies to watch. Have since done Royal Caribbean and Holland was better in every way including food and entertainment. We flew into Fort Lauderdale and stayed at the Hilton. Not our best Hilton as they were having air conditioner problems. We took a cab to the 15th street fisheries to eat upstairs and it was quiet, probably better in the more casual restaurant downstairs. Embarkation and debarkation very easy. Buffet was the best ever and we have sailed RC , Carnival, and Celebrity. We ate lunch that first day in the main dining room. Great food there too. The dueling pianos were great and the singers in the Blues Club were so talented.

Half moon cay was ok, not beach people, so we should have done an excursion. Aruba was fun since we were there for so long really felt like we got to know the island. We did a ship's excursion around the island, ate at the Iguana Joe's restaurant, and visited the casino. We were probably the last people back. In Curaçao we took the train through town but we should have done a longer excursion to get a better feel of the island. In Panama Canal we stayed on the ship and it was great but I wish we could have done an excursion, nothing offered that seemed interesting. The port of Colon was terrible. Costa Rica was my reason for the trip and we did the Canal boat excursion. We saw monkeys and sloths. Limon did not seem safe so maybe not the best introduction to Costa Rica. All in all a great trip, great weather, and we did ten days with no problem!