After reading several reviews on cruise critic my husband I I were a little wary of cruising with Holland America Line. I am here to tell you that we had a wonderful cruise. We arrived at Port Everglades at 1pm and were on the ship by 1:20pm. Our cabin was ready as soon as we boarded and our luggage was delivered by 4pm. Lunch at the Lido buffet was wonderful and we were pleased with the food choices offered. We ate breakfast and lunch in the Lido everyday and had dinner their one evening. We never had to wait for a table and we were able to sit by the floor to ceiling windows during most meals. We usually had breakfast around 8am and lunch around 1pm.

Our cabin was spacious and had plenty of storage space. One thing to note is that the closets hanging spaces do not go all the way down. I had to fold the bottom of my dresses on the shelf below the hanging rack. We found that there was ample room to store all of our things including all of our diving equipment. Our cabin stewards were wonderful and our cabin was always cleaned by the time we returned in the early afternoon. The beds were so comfortable and we enjoyed the extra pillows that were on the bed. The only issue that we had with the cabin is that the air conditioner or heat is always on. You can control the temperature but the vent is above the bed and the fan is always on. We forgot about this after the first night, but if you are a light sleeper you may want to bring ear plugs.

Dinner in the Manhattan dining room was always a treat. We enjoyed meeting new people during each meal. The only night we had to wait for a table was the evening that we wanted to eat along and we only had to wait 10 minutes. A little secret that we found out early in the cruise is that you can make a reservation one day ahead of time. The reservation desk was located at the entrance to the Lido buffet and there was usually someone there at 8am. Read more