Review of Holiday: 2/16-2/21/08

[nulf4me]

2/16/08—We got to the ship terminal around noon and were on board in about an hour, much quicker than I expected. We didn’t have passports, but had the necessary documentation and all went quickly. Once we received our sail and sign cards, we realized we didn’t get the requested 6:15 dinner time (as verified by our travel agent), but received 8:30 instead. We headed to the dining room to try to get it changed. We were told to come that evening at 6:30 and they would try to accommodate us and would send a card to our cabin if the time were changed. We went to our cabin to put away our carry-ons. I was surprised at the size of the cabin, I was expecting it to be much smaller. The bed was extremely comfortable. We headed to the Lido deck to eat. By the time we got through, our luggage was in our cabin. We went to dinner at 6:30 and ended up at a table by ourselves, which we didn’t like since we wanted to mingle. We decided to go the next night at our scheduled time unless it was changed, which it never was. We met some very nice couples at our table, though.

 

The next morning we woke to an announcement that we were headed back to Mobile due to a medical emergency. This trip back was quick (to me, anyway). We went to the lounge to play trivia or bingo (can’t remember which). The passenger was quickly unloaded and the cruise director showed up for the embarkation talk. There were some rough waters on the way out and back in, but nothing I couldn’t handle. I know there were some people complaining about it from time to time, but I never saw anyone get sick. The stop in Progreso was canceled due to the trip back for the emergency. Everyone was refunded the $25 port tax we paid. I think some people were disappointed, but skipping Progreso was not a big deal to us.

 

Dining: Our wait staff was excellent—Ben was our head waiter and he is a doll!! The food in the dining room was really good, and I tried a few dishes I had never had before. The breakfast buffet was good, but I didn’t really care for the buffet food during lunch or dinner. We did eat breakfast in the dining room once for breakfast, and it was also good. I tried the pizza and the sandwich bar, too, both were good.

 

Activities: We only stayed up late enough to see two shows, both were awesome. The singers and dancers on the Holiday are extremely talented. We went a couple of times to the Tahiti Lounge, the band there was excellent (Music Forever Band). We visited the piano bar and enjoyed that, also (Rick was the player). We went to the Karaoke Bar once, it left a lot to be desired. Not a lot of participation, and the girl that headed it up wasn’t very good. I was a little disappointed that they didn’t seem to have a back-up plan in place for the extra sea day due to the Progreso cancellation, but they did throw in a couple of extra things that day. We spent some time playing bingo and went to the Newlywed Game. We spent some time on deck, but never got in the pool or hot tub. We went to the casino a little, but I got bored with that pretty quickly. We spent A LOT of time napping and relaxing!!!!

 

Cozumel: We docked in Cozumel as scheduled and we went on the submarine excursion we had scheduled. Awesome!!!!! We rode a taxi to a boat, and then took the boat to the submarine. We went 100 feet below sea level. We saw all kinds of fish and coral, and even a sea turtle! The submarine was close quarters, but the staff was extremely professional and the tour was well done. After we got back to land, we got the taxi to drop us off at Margaritaville. We ate boiled shrimp, conch and fajitas. Very good! Bought a few souvenirs, and then went shopping. Other than the submarine and the blue waters, I was NOT impressed with Cozumel. Very touristy and high pressure…….some of the people in the shops were downright rude. I went in the $10 silver store to shop. The salesman gave me a small basket to shop with and I picked out three pairs of turquoise earrings. We didn’t want to use our debit card, and had $29 cash left. The guy refused to take it. To make things worse, he took the entire basket back from me instead of asking me if I wanted to just purchase two pairs! I told him that was fine. He ran over to another counter to start pointing out earrings that were $5/pair, but I left. We did buy some antibiotics, hot sauce, vanilla, t-shirts and some other things. We ended up at Pancho’s Backyard to use a gift card that we had gotten on the ship for a free sampler platter. We ordered that along with a combination platter to share. It was very good.

 

Photos: Bring PLENTY of money for ship's photos! I didn't go too crazy, but we haven't had photos made together in several years and they were soooooooooooooooo good! The photos were very professionally made, and I couldn't resist!

 

Ship: I loved the Holiday. Extremely clean. There was a little brown water in our cabin, but it stopped after running the water for a few seconds. The steward was good, but we had a difficult time getting him to keep Diet Coke and ice in our room, had to ask for it several times. Room service wasn’t very good. The morning we went into Cozumel, I put the card out the night before for breakfast to be brought to the cabin. We waited an hour after the time we specified, and it never showed up. The rest of the crew was very helpful and friendly, never had a problem there. The gift shop was nice, although we only purchased a few things there. Prices seemed to be good on the things we looked at.

 

Debarkation: We chose the relaxed debarkation. We were in the last zone to be called and went to wait in a loooooooooooooooooong line. Fortunately, we grabbed a porter when we realized that would get us through quicker. Next time, we will bring less luggage and do the self assist debarkation.

 

We will definitely cruise again and would definitely consider the Holiday again! As my favorite brother-in-law says, they could drop the anchor and never sail and I would still have a good time! Cruising is the life for me!

 

Karen

[jarrettdad]

Great review, I sailed the Hiliday in 2006 and loved it.

[luckycruzer]

I've sailed her 11 x since fall '06..and have 6 booked for this year. I can drive there in less than 2 hrs, but shop on they way, and spend the night. /i have made many friends fromthe staff/crew. The best for my "old age" $.

[qprrules]

Very nice review:) We are considering the Holiday for later this yr:eek: , so thanks again for the review. Any pics?

[frddyfrg12]

Thanks for this review. We leave in 10 days on the Holiday! I can't wait.

[CMK1970]

Thanks so much for the review! There have been a few posts lately that have become heated about the brown water and noro virus...its so nice to hear from a person that has actually sailed on her recently!

I could "what if" myself to death about brown water, noro virus, weather conditions(we are going in July) but that takes the fun and excitement out of it all!!

Its our first cruise and we cant wait...brown water or not...LOL!!:p ;) :D

[nulf4me]

I didn't hear of anyone onboard having norovirus.

 

I am trying to attach a few photos, hope it works!

 

Karen

[pacerzfan]

Thanks for the review.