Three Generations, One Ship, Zero Regrets (Mostly)

By Community Member · Rotterdam (Holland America Line)

When my mom, my kids, and I boarded the Rotterdam, I thought I had a handle on family travel. I was spectacularly wrong—in the best possible way.

I'm standing on the Promenade Deck of the Holland America Rotterdam, watching my 78-year-old mother argue with my seven-year-old son about whether the shuffleboard court is actually a "magic portal to another dimension," and I'm thinking: this is either going to be the trip of a lifetime or the reason I need therapy. Spoiler alert: it was both. The whole thing started innocently enough. My mom called me in February and said she had some frequent flyer miles expiring and wanted to take the family on a proper cruise. Not a spring break madness situation—an actual, classy cruise. Holland America Line, she said. The Rotterdam specifically. I should have known something was up when my 14-year-old daughter Emma actually got excited about it instead of giving me her typical eye-roll response to family activities. Fast forward to embarkation day in Port Everglades. My husband Mark drops us off at the terminal with three large suitcases, two backpacks, and my mom's ridiculous "emergency kit" that she swears contains everything from seasickness remedies to formal wear to what I'm pretty sure are antique hairpins. "You never know," she kept saying. She was right, as it turned out, but not in…