gabby218

Myself and two friends (we are all 60ish) had a fantail cabin on deck 6. The weather was wonderful the whole time, and only a couple days of a wee heavy seas. We had a wonderful trip! The food, the staff, the stateroom, were all great. We were really impressed by the crew, almost every single one greeted you with a pleasant smile, anywhere you ran into them on the ship.

There were a couple times we observed waiters in the dining room trying to satisfy the demands of some rude and ungrateful guests, and they never missed a beat, just kept being gracious and doing their level best to accommodate.

Our only complaint was in our stateroom. Three ladies. So two had the twin beds, and I took the couch bed. The first night we came back from supper, and our beds were made down, complete with chocolates and some cute towel art...and my couch bed mattress felt like a bock of concrete.

The next morning I was pretty stiff and sore, so I took a look under the sheet...and it was obvious that mattress had long outlived it's life.

So I asked our room stewards if they had a replacement mattress, or perhaps a memory foam.

The next night, there's my bed, all made down for me. It feels softer...but weird. So off with the sheet, only to discover they'd put three random sized pieces of thin foamie on top of the mattress. And they looked like the type of foamie you'd throw down on the floor of the tent while camping...in fact they looked like they HAD been on the bottom of a tent.

Not wanting to cause a fuss or make my friends feel guilty, I kept quiet about it. It certainly wasn't the end of the world, and not worth souring our long awaited vacation.

My point being - we paid a dear price for that cruise, and something as simple as that crappy lumpy mattress is so UN-classy. I expected more from Holland America. At least the foamies eliminated the concrete floor sensation, and I slept well enough.

They sent me a questionaire when I got home, and I had glowing reviews for everything except that darn mattress!

Of interest - a great percentage of the passengers were people our age, many older. Lots of walkers and wheelchairs and scooters. It wasn't a party boat, which was exactly what we were looking for.

Highly recommend. :)

I'm reading the helpful hints you're getting, because myself and two friends are also cruising in March (11th) to Panama Canal. Small town senior ladies from rural British Columbia. We'll arrive the day before our cruise, possibly after flying all night, so an early check in would be helpful. Three travelling together presents a bit of a quandry because my two friends have difficult sleep issues so we really need 3 separate beds. I'd be grateful for any suggestions - our price range would be in the $200 CAD range, depending on amenities.