We enjoyed spending this cruise with our long time friends from Germany. The ship is beautiful, the staff are always smiling, willing to talk if you want and always are working hard.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Easy process, we were on the ship by 11:15 am. Our cabin was ready by 11:30.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Our group of 4 adults ate in the main dining room on Deck 2 every evening for the 21 days, almost every morning for breakfast and once or twice for lunch. Great service, excellent waiters and food. We are not usually a fan of buffets, but the Lido is good with lots of choices.
Onboard Activities
5 out of 5
We enjoyed swimming and sitting by the Lido pool at the back of the ship. Between 2:30 and 4:30 the DJ played great songs and took requests. 1 member of our group used the fitness center and said it was great. The Crows Nest and Game Room on Deck 12 is a wonderful place to relax, read and play games with friends. There are games and puzzles available to borrow. Trivia in BB King was also fun.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
The 2 Piano Players in Billboard, Rock Band at Rolling Stone and groups in BB King Lounge all played great songs, but the volume was way too loud in all 3 places. Our favorite entertainers on the main stage were Antwon Towner a magician/comedian and Elliot Finkle an amazing piano player from NYC who played a variety of music from classical to pop. He told a couple of quick stories and was better than the first comedian we saw on the ship. The entertainment is geared toward an older crowd.
Children's Programs
We didn't have any children on the cruise with us.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our room steward was excellent - he cleaned and gave us ice twice a day, always made sure we were happy and answered questions. The waiters and assistants in the main Dining Room Deck 2 were always smiling, professional, and fun to talk to. Excursion staff are great at their jobs.
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
We liked being on deck 4 aft - it was easy to get to the dining room, the aft pool and the Lido buffet. Everything on the ship was always clean and in great shape. We'd see staff cleaning, vacuuming and dusting different areas each day.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
We've been on at least 40 different cruises with a variety of cruise lines. Our cabin on the Rotterdam had the biggest, nicest shower we've ever had on a ship. The cabin had sensor lights in the hallway so when I got out of bed and the room was dark - a row of lights at the floor came on automatically. Our steward came in twice a day (unlike other cruise lines that now the steward comes just once a day), always gave us ice in the morning and evening, kept the room clean and helped us with questions.
Ship tip
If you like to read - visit the library and borrow a book, the ship has some new, great choices plus an exchange corner where you can leave a book you brought onboard and choose a new one to take..
As we waked out of the terminal, we rented a golf cart and drove to the lighthouse, past the salt flats, saw the wild burros. The port has changed and improved a lot since the last time we were there about 12 years ago.
This is Holland America's private island. It's a beautiful island with a wide variety of tours. We took the Eco Lagoon Glass Bottom Boat tour - it was excellent. Everyone on the tour loved it.
The port has a great animal sanctuary in the terminal area - lots of macaws, flamingos, some green parrots, sloths, turtles, ducks and peacocks. The 4 of us left the terminal and hired a taxi for a two hour tour. We saw the major sights of the city. Lots of traffic here - cars, buses, motorcycles, bicycles, carts - I'd never drive a car here.
This was a partial transit, we got up on the bow deck at 5:30 to get a spot to stand and watched the ship cruise past Cristobal, go under the new bridge and enter the Panama Canal and pass through the Agua Clara locks. There isn't much cruising in Gatun Lake because the tours leave from there around 12 noon and the ship just docks near the locks. We chose not to do an excursion since we've been to Panama many times and the excursions all leave from the ship at Gatun Lake and involve long bus rides.
The ship was only in Colon for a couple hours in the evening, so we ate dinner on the ship and just went to the terminal and duty free area for wifi. We didn't want to walk around Colon in the dark.
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