We booked this cruise a while back, hoping that Covid would be a distant memory. We had tried Carnival (too mess/noisy), Norwegian (Liked it a lot if only a little antiseptic) and took a shot at Holland America. Our room was lovely (Neptune Suite) with an enormous living room area, big bathroom, a dressing room for all my lady-crap and closets for days. We even had a teak dining table on the big balcony, which we never used because, damn, it's cold out there!

It took some getting used to where things were but we explored. Everyone who worked there was absolutely charming and friendly and bent over backwards. The bed was a little hard for me and I was glad I brought my own pillow but that was the end of the complaints.

We learned to get a good table in the main buffet restaurant (Lido Market) and that there were 'hot and cold running Eggs Benedicts' (I have no idea how I'm going to live without that now...!) Read more