Background Information: We have been on several cruises, with many different lines, and this was our first Holland America experience. We have 2 disabled guests, and 2 children in our group.

Hotel Info: When leaving from Ft Lauderdale, we ALWAYS stay at The Hilton Garden Inn. It's just a couple minutes from the port, and they allow you to leave your car for the duration of your cruise. They also provide transportation to and from the ship. The rooms are great and the breakfast is amazing! Ship Info: We booked basic balcony rooms for myself and my parents (my sister and her family had one of the penthouse suites and it was amazing!). We also booked the first seating dinner, and studied all of over options before sailing.

Activities: This is where it got kind of dicey for us. There were few activities geared towards young people or families. The major problem we had was when there were activities we were interested in, they were often taking place at the same time as something else we were interested in. So there would be times where we wanted to do something and missed it, and then the rest of the day nothing else was offered. Things were not spaced out very well. In addition the daily update of things to do was not listed in your normal chronological manner, it was more of a highlights format. It made it difficult to plan your day, as you would have to look through it several times to find out what was next. Read more