This was our 6th cruise, but the first on Holland America.

Ship: This ship is old (1994) and has problems despite renovation. On this cruise, our room was hot. When nothing improved after two calls and 4 hours, we were given a fan. We heard from others that the A/C problem was throughout the ship and that HAL ran out of fans. I personally noticed cold areas (casino) and hot areas (movie theatre) throughout the ship. As much as we were in a warm cabin, some others were in cold cabins. There were also complaints of flooding (water backing up from toilets) on the lower floors. The Hudson room had a water pipe break making the room unusable the day following.

Embarkation: We drove to Norfolk and used the Cedar Grove parking facility. We chose to drive into the terminal drop off and give our bags to the porters. After dropping off my wife and bags, I drove over to the parking lot. This is a city of Norfolk parking facility that provides cruise parking at $10 dollars per night. No reservations are required and the parking fee is paid in full upon entering the lot (Major credit cards and cash), so they wanted $110 in advance for the 11 day cruise. Norfolk's cruise terminal (Nauticus) is not finished and processing is done in a tent-like structure. Despite arriving earlier than the 1PM start time, there were long lines that were help by those who had their documents completed on line. However, there were still two forms that were not made available in advance (one was given upon entry to the tent and the other when we reached the check-in counter). Handicapped individuals (wheelchairs, scooters, etc) are taken thru a side entrance and do not have to wait in line. Read more