stratixman

Thanks for the replies. We really liked the original crow's nest design and it sounds like that has been retained. We did not like the redesign that was done when Westerdam was refurbed.

Haven't been on the NS but sailed the Kdam, twin of the NS, in it's first year. We are youngish old farts and totally enjoyed the Kdam. Cabins are a bit on the small side (but who spends most of their time in their cabin?). Other than that the ship was gorgeous, and by inference the NS ought to be equally awesome.  We are going again on Kdam this coming week. Its just out of a drydock refurb visit so should be like brand new. We thought the music entertainment venues on Kdam, same as on NS, were outstanding with a great variety. The addition of the new Rolling Stone spot will only make it better. The main shows were excellent as well; dining was very good  too. Holland isn't a party till you drop atmosphere. Its a bit more refined an laid back - no belly flop contests and jello shots (darn), but that doesn't mean there isn't plenty of  stuff going on to keep most folk busy. 

Has there been any change to the Konigsdam crow's nest from what was originally designed when launched?

If the shut down continues and if TSA agents continue to call in sick or just walk off the job then you better be planning for additional time to get through security. This would be of particular concern if you have a early morning flight booked to get home with an already tight time frame.  Also airports might be forced to consolidate flight arrivals and departures to  fewer and/or different terminals/concourses due to TSA agent shortages; which means you need to pay close attention to any flight changes for your trip. Just today Miami Airport announced it will be closing Terminal G early this weekend. 

https://www.miamiherald.com/news/article224281915.html

There is a large and very well provisioned taco bar on the lido deck outside the buffet area near the Dive-In burger bar and pool. It opens at 11:00 am and runs till late afternoon before the buffet opens. The taco bar is also always stocked with pitchers of water, ice tea and lemonade.

We used to do fixed dining but have switched over to anytime dining for all of our cruises on all lines. We much prefer the flexibility it affords to work around both on board activities and port excursions. Second seating is too late for us and early seating often conflicts with late arrivals back from port activities. We have never found waiting times to be a issue.

The Westerdam shops were finished being remodeled/converted over during our Feb. 4-19 Panama Canal cruise. If one is into shopping on board then they are likely to be very disappointed. The shops are small with a limited selection of very pricey merchandise. They were open (after the conversion was completed a few days into the cruise) only during the evening of sea days. We wondered through a few times and never saw more a than a very few others browsing. Disclosure: I am not a shopper and could care less about buying over priced stuff stuff on a cruise ship; my wife might be a shopper but she quckly decided not on the Westerdam. Compared to our experiences on various Celebrity cruise ships the Westerdam shops seemed pretty lame. There were no special sales or events held like happen on Celebrity.

It's all relative to the specific cruise, the dates, and specials being pushed by both the lines and the independent travel agents. It behooves anyone looking for the best cruise deal to check each booking option out and do a fair item to item comparison ( and if time permits do so frequently). We have booked cruises directly with the lines and alternatively with independent agents. Without wracking my brain to remember all our experiences and costs, I would say the best deals we have gotten have been through independent travel agents.

I posted this over on the Fort Lauderdale forum. Thought I would ask here as well.

We have never had need for a car rental in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise before. But on my upcoming cruise we will be in Fort Lauderdale for several days before sailing. I have done extensive research on car rentals from the Airport to be dropped off near Port Everglades. My question pertains to how much hassle is likely to be involved in dropping off the rental car at any of the the port drop of locations on the morning of the cruise, especially given that on our sailing day there will be 6 ships accounting fort over 20,000 possible passengers trying to board ships. I'm thinking there could be a lot of folks with luggage trying to drop off rental cars and get a ride to their ship on the car rental port shuttles. I have seen posts by various people on Cruise Critic describing long, slow lines at the return counters and long waits to get on a car rental shuttle (as long as couple of hours in line) on such days due to the large numbers of people and large amounts of luggage (shuttle vans can carry only so much luggage per trip).

1) Are there any of the car rental firms that would be a better choice in thinking of returning a car near the port, e.g. better or worse locations, less hassle, etc.?

2) Some have suggested driving to the port first to drop off our luggage before returning the car, which means then that boarding a car rental shuttle would be quicker by not having any luggage to be transported. But having seen the traffic jams on occasion at Port Everglades I'm not sure I want to deal with that either.

3) Would it it maybe be more efficient to just drop the car back off at the airport and then take a cab to port?

Any advice is appreciated.

We have never had need for a car rental in Fort Lauderdale pre-cruise before. But on my upcoming cruise we will be in Fort Lauderdale for several days before sailing. I have done extensive research on car rentals from the Airport to be dropped off near Port Everglades. My question pertains to how much hassle is likely to be involved in dropping off the rental car at any of the the port drop of locations on the morning of the cruise, especially given that on our sailing day there will be 6 ships accounting fort over 20,000 possible passengers trying to board ships. I'm thinking there could be a lot of folks with luggage trying to drop off rental cars and get a ride to their ship on the car rental port shuttles. I have seen posts by various people on Cruise Critic describing long, slow lines at the return counters and long waits to get on a car rental shuttle (as long as couple of hours in line) on such days due to the large numbers of people and large amounts of luggage (shuttle vans can carry only so much luggage per trip).

1) Are there any of the car rental firms that would be a better choice in thinking of returning a car near the port, e.g. better or worse locations, less hassle, etc.?

2) Some have suggested driving to the port first to drop off our luggage before returning the car, which means then that boarding a car rental shuttle would be quicker by not having any luggage to be transported. But having seen the traffic jams on occasion at Port Everglades I'm not sure I want to deal with that either.

3) Would it it maybe be more efficient to just drop the car back off at the airport and then take a cab to port?

Any advice is appreciated.

I am a real book lover, but I far prefer taking my Kindle Fire tablet loaded with not only books but also games and films when I travel. A kindle loaded with such can eliminate a lot of bulk and poundage that I use to have to cart around on trips.

These days, especially with the tech advantages, libraries on a cruise ship strike me as inefficient and uneconomic uses of space. Plain simple, there is no way a cruise ship library could ever compete with the selection of desired reading material I can load onto my Kindle. So, loss of the actual "library" with its physical book collection on various ships doesn't upset me in the least. However, I do think that losing quiet, lounge space where one might plant themselves out of the sun and away from their cabin to enjoy reading or quiet socialization time is another matter. The Crow's Nest used to provide just such a space. Now it seems that with the ship refurbs HAL is undertaking that the traditional Crow's Nest ambiance is is being supplanted with other functions. Good or bad? I will have to wait to pass judgement until after my upcoming Westerdam cruise.

This from the official HAL website.

"Travel document requirements vary based on cruise itinerary and whetherinternational flights are required. For voyages that are scheduled to endoutside the U.S., a passport that is valid for six months beyond the completiondate of your travel is required. Passports or Western Hemisphere TravelInitiative (WHTI) compliant documents are required for cruises to Alaska,Bermuda, Canada, Caribbean, Hawaii, Mexico and the Panama Canal. U.S. and Canadiancitizens ages 16 and above may present one of the following validWHTI-compliant documents:

• Passport (recommended travel document) (valid for travel by

air, land and sea)

• Passport Card (valid for land and sea border crossings only)

• State Issued Enhanced Driver’s License (EDL) – (valid for land

and sea border crossings only, not valid on Yukon Land+Sea

Journeys due to air travel included in the Journey)*

• Other documents approved by the Department of Homeland

Security

U.S. citizens on closed-loop cruises: U.S. citizens on cruises in the

Western Hemisphere that originate and terminate in the same U.S.

port are required to have proof of citizenship such as a valid U.S.

passport or a government issued birth certificate combined with a

government issued photo I.D. Other approved proof of citizenship

documents such as a passport card, an enhanced driver’s license

(EDL) or certificate of naturalization along with a government-issued

photo ID are also acceptable. A passport is still the preferred

document. PLEASE NOTE –WHTI-compliant documents are

acceptable for entry or re-entry into the United States. You may be

required to present additional or different travel documents when

entering foreign countries, including some countries in the Western

Hemisphere."

(WHTI is Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative)

https://www.hollandamerica.com/assets/cruise-vacation-onboard/KBYG.pdf

The cruise you are considering is a closed loop cruise, so the answer would seem to be that you don't need a passport. But.... to satisfy any lingering concerns I would call HAL and confirm before booking.

Very nice review. We sailed the Koningsdam in February andhave many Celebrity cruises under our belt. The K is a beautiful ship; but wethink the Celebrity Solstice class ships are still a better design. My comments on Celebrity pertain to their S class.

The entertainment on K, both lounges and main shows, wasbetter superior and more varied than what we have experienced on our lastCelebrity cruises. The World Stage is really unique and the idea of three showsper night is smart.

The K continues the outdated design of single threaded buffet lines in theLido whereas on Celebrity S class the buffet is comprised of multiple,free standing food stations which we find more efficient. Also the Celebritybuffets were far less crowded for seating. We did like the table service in theLido on K; such doesn't exist on Celebrity. K's Dutch Cafe is also unique andhas probably the best coffee of any cruises we have been on. We really likedthe Crow’s Nest; but I see newer refurbs on other Holland ships are making big changes to theCrow's Nest concept - too bad (maybe?). Maindining edge we would give to Celebrity both for quality and service. K was veryslow for service at dinner, every dinner. Maybe that was just an aberration (hopefully) but it was consistently very slow to the point of almost being painful. Open dining experience on both K and Celebrity S - wait times and seating- pretty much equal. We agree on the Dive In and New York Pizza& Deli. Great Pizza and deli sandwiches. Especially liked the Deli for later evening snacks. We dined in Pinnacle once and like it, butthink Murano on Celebrity was better. We did not use the other venues, butcomparing the Canaletto menu and restaurant space to Celebrity’s Tuscan Grillwe think Tuscan wins.

Inside cabin sizes on K struck us as smaller and more confinedthan on Celebrity. They are – 143 sq. feet vs 174 sq. feet on Celebrity. Increasedsize on Celebrity allows for a small sofa, none in the K cabin.

Which line would we sail in the future? Either would be onour list. All things being equal though I suspect we would opt for Celebrity – beautifulships, bigger cabins, slight edge in dining overall. But, as we go forward I suspect things are not typically going to be equal. Celebrity has been bumping up in prices, cutting back on some stuff, andtheir itineraries are getting pretty stale for us. HAL has more interesting for our desired future, western hemisphere destinations. So, we have booked Westerdam this coming February for afull Panama Canal transit. We couldn'tfind a Celebrity offering that really interested us (been there done that) nor a price that we thought we wantedto pay. Westerdam has been newly refurbed so we are quite interested to see how anolder HAL ship measures up to the Celebrity Millennium class ships.

Joe's Cafe is an excellent breakfast spot. We eat there every trip. Kelly's Landing? Eh..........Why eat New England style seafood when in Florida? We found out why; pricey for what I would call at best average tasting dishes. Copious amounts of deep fried, tasteless breading/batter smothering the flavor whatever treasures of the sea were buried within. Save your seafood budget for Boston. If staying in the Harbordale area, i.e. along the17th street causeway or thereabouts, then Southport Raw Bar ought to be on your list for lunch or dinner. Always on our dining list. Outstanding fresh, local south Florida seafood. Order the fresh MahiMahi prepared one of several different ways. Nice happy hour. Sit outside on the canal sipping your favorite libattions and noshing on conch fritters. Yum. Located on Cordova across the street from the Quarterdeck about a block down from Kelly's. Also, 15th Street Fisheries, located on 15th just before the bridge. Very nIce waterside setting, decent food, plus the fun of watching monster tarpon feeding right off their dock. Nice happy hour too.

Anyone know if the super bowl will be broadcast on the Westerdam on Feb. 4th? If so how and where? Bars and/or show room?

Value of a drink package is very relative. We have had drink packages (some bundled with promos) on both Celebrity and Holland, most recently being last year when on the Konigsdam. Though each line's beverage packages vary, in almost every case when comparing the value of the package to the cost of pay as you go, we have found that we maye broke even on the packages once or twice. A couple of thoughts to ponder: 1) would having a package that costs as much as you describe encourage a heavier alcohol consumption than other wise you/your family members would indulge in, perhaps to their detriment? And would that be ok? 2) would all those in your party consume sufficient beverages (of whatever type) so as to break even on the package price? and 3) how much additional for beverages would you contemplate spending when off the ship on port days, which adds to the total cost for beverages over the 7 day cruise (especially consider the amount of time spent ashore which reduces the amount of time to chug alcoholic drinks on board). My guess is that the cruise lines have done sufficient research to conclude that at the stated price of the drink package the majority of buyers will not break even. In our case a major consideration is that my wife imbibes far less than I do, so being forced to buy her package if I buy one is really less economic approach than just paying on the fly.

Considering Westerdam for a Panama Canal crossing and looking at inside cabins on either Rotterdam deck or Observation deck. Anyone have an informed opinion as to either location?

Visit the Casino and make sure you win.

I vote no. Formal or semi-formal dress on a hot weather cruise is dumb in my opinion. Too hot to wear comfortably and takes up valuable packing space for one or two occasions you feel pressured into wearing. At most maybe a sport coat, but then no. You are going on a cruise vacation for relaxation and perhaps cultural enrichment; not sailing the north seas on the a luxury liner where dress codes were used to identify the class of passengers, which btw is the era from which the nonsense of formal night on contemporary cruises sprung. LOL. Watch the movie Titanic and see how comfortable it might have been trying to scramble into the few life boats dressed in tuxes and ball gowns. If that's not sufficient then watch Poseidon Adventure and cancel your reservations. RFLMAO.

Some ideas. Brimstone fortress. Cockleshell Beach (busy) or Shipwreck Beach (less busy and our favorite). Romney Manor (Thomas Jefferson's great great great grandfather owned it. BTW, Alexander Hamilton was born on St. Kitts) beautiful plantation with locally owned Batik fabricator and shop.

Watch out for monkey business in the port area. Literally. Locals swarm the port with little monkeys they throw on you and then want to take pictures of you for $$$. Do not have your camera out as they will grab it from you, snap a photo or two and then hold your camera for ransom. LOL. My wife fell for this even after I told her not to go look at the cute monkey's in diapers. When you see the guys with the monkeys walk the other way.

Thanks for your informative review and photos. We will be sailing the Konigsdam in February as our first intro to Holland (long time Celebrity cruisers). One question regarding the Sel de Mer. Sounds to be great. Ala carte pricing? Did you snap a photo of their menus, or can you inform regarding the prices? Thanks again for sharing your experiences.

It is a toss up. Both are good itineraries and both depart from Puerto Rico,one of our very absolute favorite islands. So make sure to add a couple days before or after the cruise to enjoy Puerto Rico.

Dominica is a drop dead gorgeous volcanic island that is essentially an entire rain forest.The last indigenous Caribbean indian population lives on Dominica. There's a lot of outdoor adventure stuff to do, buy not as much beach stuff as other islands. It is not highly developed and not as frequented by cruises as other islands but is a not to miss port of call in our opinion if one has never been. St. Maarten is very interesting due to the split between the Dutch and French, plus Orient Beach if you are into skin, or Maho beach if you like to get blasted by incoming jets. It is pretty upscale and has a lot of nice shopping. It is a big favorite for us. St. Thomas has a lot of shopping and several world class beaches, or you can ferry to St. Johns for the day which has fantastic beaches too. St. Croix doesn't offer a lot, but you can visit the rum factory (I like rum factories). St. Lucia is quite beautiful and offers some nice beaches. We found Barbados quite interesting due to the history. Of the many ex British islands Barbados is one of the more upscale with some great history. Plus if she's in town you might be able to visit Rihanna (just kidding, if you try they will say she isn't home). It has been a few years but Grenada and Antigua probably impressed us the least. St. Kitts is quite lovely with a ton of history and some nice beaches. Just be careful and dodge the monkey business at the port (locals tossing monkeys on you, taking your picture and then demanding money.

If I had to pick I would probably pick the 1/13 itinerary.

One suggestion is that you check the US State Department advisories for these various islands regarding safety issues. Many of them are on advisory watch for crime, both personal and property. I don't say this to scare you away, only to alert you to items of some concern to be aware of at some of the ports of call.

PS: The Summit is a very nice ship and you should have a great time.

I read the OP's post and many of the replies. Let's consider some of her points.

“They (her children) were quickly told that it was not time to play and was just open house for sign up.”

What doesn't the OP grasp here? " just open for sign up". Duh. By the OP’s own admission there was one person signing up participants. That means there were no other celebrity staff present at that time to monitor and supervise children who might engage in play at that time. Since the parent(s) would have been busy signing up who would they have held responsible for oversee the children? OP post later complained about an inadequate number of supervisory personnel. In this case there would have been zero supervisory personnel.

“ dangerous ratio of staff to children”

That is a subjective opinion on the part of the OP. Neither right nor wrong. My state regulations for child day care providers mandates a minimum staff to child ratio of 1:10 for preschoolers and 1:15 for school aged children. A 1:11 staff to child ratio she observed thus does not strike me as an extreme or unsafe ratio. If that is not the norm in the UK, ok. But chastising the cruise line about this seems inappropriate. Plus wouldn’t it be the OP’s responsibility to inquire about this prior to enrolling her kids instead of carping about it several sessions on board later and implying that the cruise line is irresponsible because it doesn’t match up to her home country’s standards? Once underway did she expect them to airlift in an additional personnel just to watch her children?

“The Fun Factory area is not secure and children can get out without adult help in to the rest of the ship with open deck only being one level below.”

I have no way of knowing this to be the case. But the OP's s assertion appears to be contradicted or discredited by others who have posted responses stating that the Fun Factory door is locked during operating hours.

"Large age range together”, and then “The age ranges had been put together so it was 3-8year olds.”

What does the OP think an appropriate age range would have been? The OP said she counted 11 children. What were the ages of of the eleven? If it is assumed an even split across say 4 different ages, is the OP suggesting that Celebrity should have segregated them into four groups each with separate supervision, thus needing 4 supervisors for 11 kids total? Or if there was one 8 year old and the rest were 5 and under, one staff for the 8 year old and one or the rest? I'm perplexed by her complaint. In the US it is probably most common for day care providers to supervise single groups comprised of children spanning the age range, or even greater, that the OP is complaining about.

“By this point my children were playing Lego (which we had gone out and purchased ashore) and Uno in the martini bar or Sky Lounge (when available as this is often shut at peak times for 'private functions').”

I must be missing something here? The purpose of the Martini Bar and Sky Lounge are anything but to provide alternative play areas for children. So why is the OP complaining that these might not have been available to address the demands for her children to have an alternative play space to the Fun Factory? If indeed the areas were not being occupied then I doubt anyone would object to the children playing with their legos there. However the OP comment seems to imply there were no suitable alternatives for where her children could play. I haven’t been on the Eclipse for a while but I seem to recall there being a card room on Deck 9 and a library on Deck 10, not to mention numerous other seating areas about the ship in every public area.

I personally believe that the OP’s complaints are overly critical. Warning others to avoid taking their children on Celebrity is totally off the wall. My personal impression is that I think the OP was expecting the Fun Factory experience to be a some enhanced form of one on one baby sitting service for her children. Wrong. If she wanted baby sitting she could have paid for that as a cruise option. I am somewhat surprised she didn't complain about not being compensated by Celebrity for the cost of the Legos and Uno game she bought.

My bad. I was wrong about the drop in the amount of OBC perk. It is still the same. I had a brain fart and didn't double the $150 per passenger credit amount. However, it does appear that they have been adjusting cabin rates higher. It is a bit difficult to confirm when comparing off to a same booking made a few months ago because other factors could come into play for pricing besides their perks. But, for the exact same cruise out of San Juan departing Jan. 30 the current cost as listed for an OV with 2 perks and taxes included is and no prepaid gratuities is $1345 pp versus 2 months ago when it was $1262.00 pp including 2 perks, taxes and prepaid gratuties for two as required because of select dining assignment. Draw your own conclusions.

Ok. as follow up to my earlier post hypothesizing that will the change to drop prepaid gratuities for select diners Celebrity would more than likely walk back down the amounts of OBC offered as one of the perks offered in their promos, it would appear that is exactly what they are doing. I just did a cursory check on the the Celebrity website and it looks like for sailings going forward from here that the OBC perk has been dropped to $150. I haven't compared cabin prices, so I can't say if or how they might have changed the cabin pricing, but it also appears that the perk offer now starts with the better perk package including choice of 2 perks, vs just 1 perk choice starting offer previously.