Two years ago I was lucky enough to be able to go on a cruise with basically my entire immediate family. My parents had been planning to take a trip themselves, but decided to extend an invitation to myself, my then newly married wife, and my sister and her fiancee. It was a blast. When my sister finally tied the knot this past year, my folks again asked us all to take a cruise with them that started in San Diego and traveled along the Pacific side of Central America, cut through the Panama Canal and then ended up in Ft. Lauderdale. I had a few reservations about how our now nearly 2 year old daughter would fare, but the opportunity was of course too good to pass up.
I'm going to break up talking about each place we visited a bit, so I can get all the details. But I thought a TL;DR overview and a bit about the cruise ship we were on was due first. Overall this was an amazing trip. We visited Cabo, Mayan ruins, beaches, wonderful cities and verdant forests. The excursions we booked all through Holland America, and it was a good experience. Some long bus rides awaited us, but overall each place was worth the travel time.
For this cruise we were on Holland America Line. This was the same line we traveled with the last time, and it was fantastic then as it was this trip. We were aboard the MS Volendam, one of company's older boats proudly now serving her 20th year. This did mean there were a few things we could wish for, like more than 2 outlets in the room, and a smart TV instead of the small one with a DVD player that it had. These though are minor complaints, because the stewards had power strips available and a large collections of movies to choose from. The rest of the ship was still awesome, with an elegant formal dining room and a large Lido pool area and buffet line. No part of the ship felt in disrepair or in real need of modernization, apart from the outlets.
The staff aboard the ship was wonderful. By the end of Day 2 aboard almost everyone knew our daughter. It would be tough to miss a toddler who runs around screaming in delight at riding an elevator or ascending a large stair case over and over again. But the staff went out of their way to say hello to her and in many cases help keep an eye on her as she took off for the next bit of excitement. And this was not always an easy environment to be friendly, as we went through time change after time change and some choppy seas during our trip. I cannot say enough good things about the staff on the ship.
If you love to eat, a cruise is one of the best places to do it. The Holland America line provides some of the best tasting food I've had on our trips. This year was even better because there was an America's Test Kitchen chef aboard to do demonstrations for some good recipes to try at home as well. The Lido featured good buffet options each day, as well as fresh sushi. Breakfasts there included Eggs Benedict with a great Hollandaise, and Congee as well as made to order omelettes and waffles. Also present was the Dive In grill, a burger and dog grill near the pool that offered some of the best fries I've had with their Dive In sauce. I easily had a plate of sushi and some fries for lunch half the trip. For dinners we made our way to the main Dining room each night. The chefs prepare exquisite options, and I definitely found myself ordering something extra almost every night.
There was only one thing that really detracted from our enjoyment on the ship. This would be the Club HAL staff and Holland America's age policy thereof. Club HAL is the children's area of the ship. Holland America essentially offers a babysitting service for children 3-17, as a service for guests. It also can be much more entertaining to play and climb than attend a lecture on the history of rum for someone that can barely sit through an episode of the Wiggles. Our daughter though is just a bit shy of 2 years old though. After learning that there were only four children aboard though, we hoped that the staff would work with us a bit and maybe allow her to play in the room if my wife or I were present, and would leave if any of the other children were to come to use the facility. I hate asking for special treatment, but with so few children aboard the facility was going to go unused. We were told no, it was against Holland America policy.
Disappointed, we left but did lodge a criticism via the onboard feedback option on the ships online feedback form. The cruise director contacted us shortly thereafter to say they were going to contact the corporate offices and see if there could be something arranged to let our daughter visit the Club HAL facilities. However, that was the last we heard form the cruise director. The next thing we got was from the Service Desk staff asking if we wanted to waive the daily Hotel Fee for Blake. This fee is essentially the tip given to the crew, and we felt like this was not the way to address our concerns. The staff was wonderful at every step, and deserved this fee. This was the wrong way to handle the situation by the Cruise Director, and seems a bit cowardly instead of coming and speaking to us directly.
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