BACKGROUND: After flying to San Diego the day before our cruise, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Harborside. This is conveniently across the street from the dock. In fact, we watched the Westerdam arrive early that morning from our hotel balcony.

EMBARKATION: We walked our bags across the street at 10:30 and checked them in outside the terminal. Inside the terminal there was just a 5 minute wait to get our paperwork done. Since I had a dental emergency the day before and was able to find a dentist to see me at noon, we could not immediately board the Westerdam. Instead we went downtown to the dentist office, returned around 3:00, and walked directly to our cabin.

SHIP INFO, ACTIVITIES, and ENTERTAINMENT: The Westerdam is a "happy ship", Staff is pleasant and helpful, and the ship is always sparkling. The beds are very comfortable and our veranda cabin on deck 5, is quiet all conducive to a good night's sleep! Hadi and Lianny, our cabin stewards, do a great job. We prefer small tables to those that seat 6 or 8, although we enjoy meeting other cruisers at large tables for breakfast and lunch After calling for tables of 2 or 4 for the first week, we were able to secure a table for two at 5:45 for the rest of the cruise. Read more