Transatlantic for 17 days. What should we expect. Good Food - yes, Lovely Ship - yes, Entertainment 24/7 - no, everybody satisfied - no, complainers - yes, theft or damage - never heard of this before on a cruise.

I was on the transatlantic crossing on the Nieuw Amsterdam Oct. 27-Nov 13/11. Never sailed Holland America before but had done a transatlantic going the other way, from Miami to Barcelona. My expectations are always small so I can enjoy whatever comes along, but it blows my mind when I see what some people think is rightly theirs because they "have paid for it". No consideration for the other 2000 people on board. It's all about me isn't it, but you can't let this spoil your trip.

Yes, we had a long wait to get on the ship but you can't do anything about fog. We were in Venice for 3 days prior to getting on the 17 day transatlantic, had a wonderful time in the rain, with 7 inch deep water in St. Mark's Square, watching people with bags over their shoes to keep them dry and seeing how the Venetians have to cope with this all the time. They actually put platforms all around the flooded parts and you walk from platform to platform until a dryer part appears. All the merchants just go along like it happens all the time, and it probably does. We took a Vaporetto (which we had bought a 3 day pass) to Piazzale Roma and got the people mover for 1 Euro to the ship's terminal, very easy with our luggage. Rick Steves' book is a great source for all info on Venice. Read more