Ready to cruise 🚢 ? I had no experience on Holland, but had taken 10 Carnival cruises or more!
When I learned that HAL (Holland America Line) was part of Carnival, my joy was palpable and now I want to only travel this wonderful, amazing, caring cruise line because other cruise lines (not mentioning because of legal purposes) had bad food, over-crowded lines, under-par service and were in need of remodeling! The Nieuw Statendam was a brand new ship but exceeded my expectations and the Godmother is Oprah, what more could you want? A great experience was had by all and I personally did not want to leave the ship. And we didn’t! The group of Oprah Magazine Insiders, dignitiaries from the Bahamas, Carnival and Holland Cruises came on board after the shipped docked and the guests departed. We/I were honored to stay for the dedication of the ship by Presidents, the Captain, original engineer and of course, even OPRAH when she “christened” the ship. The privilege of the dedication and meeting/joining with 2500 like-minded people for an enlightening week of Conversations with Oprah, Author reviews, yoga, meditation, spa and excellent dining was perfect for R&R, fun and unplugging from every day routine to recharge my batteries…. next time who knows where we will go…but I’ll be there!