MS Rotterdam

Cruise line listings don't always make those differences obvious, and that's how people unfortunately sometimes book a partial transit while they wanted a full crossing, or they just book a port of call in Cologne and spend a week on their cruise waiting for a canal crossing that was never part of the itinerary.

I sailed a partial transit on Holland America's Rotterdam, and I definitely would book that version again.

It gave me the lock experience, a full day inside the canal, and a round trip itinerary from Florida, so I didn't have to fly into one city and back home from another.

But it also came with a restriction nobody explained until I was on board.

So the night before, your ship's captain will be given an estimated time.

They'll pass that along to passengers, but it's definitely not a guarantee.

And in my experience on Holland America Lines Rotterdam, our times did shift.

We were told a little bit of a later entry, but the announcement that we were approaching the first lock actually came before 7 a.m.

Nikki and I are down in Miami.

We just got off Holland America's Rotterdam ship.

And we are actually meeting Mark in Miami.

as he is getting off the MSC World America, and we are just trading spots.