tompaddyelle

there weren't any when we went last December.

The staff got dressed up for country night and 50s and 70s night but no passengers did.

Hi,

i was on the Diamond for Christmas.

- the middle pool was covered

- movies shown on muts sometimes during the day. This was out by one of the uncovered pools. Movies in your room are on demand so you can watch those whenever.

-there is an onboard library and they had quite a range of books

-entertainment we found very dull and "clublike". Totally zzzzzzzz

-there were meet ups for solo cruisers but I have no idea how many turned up.

Hope this helps :)

I am on the Diamond for Christmas and New Years this year. Cannot wait! My children have been counting down the days. This will be our first time to New Zealand too!

Your photo review has arrived just at the right time! :):)

I have only done princess and HAL and HAL's food wins hands down!

Gee you had me worried there for a bit! :eek:

I was trying to figure out what I was going to do for my birthday instead. :(

We just cruised on the Oosterdam in December. I did a review of it and posted it on here somewhere :rolleyes:

Anyway we had a group of people ranging from 81 to 12 years and whilst we enjoyed the cruise we did find that we were bored at times.

There isn't a lot of entertainment and we found ourselves sound asleep by 9 some night :eek:

So if you are looking for some partying - Skip It!

I don't believe all children are "dumped".

There are some children you see on board that I would be happy to "dump" though. :rolleyes: Those children don't ever seem to be in kid's club though unless kid's club is held in lifts ;)

My children love going to kid's club as it gives them a chance to meet children from other places sometimes from other countries. They always spend sometime with us but then are eager to escape us and join their friends.

Have you considered that children sometimes want to "dump" their parents?

Ok I am Back!

Now for a summary.

DS12 really enjoyed the cruise and thought the kids club was wonderful. He enjoyed the food and ate cheese burgers and ice cream every day!

He has only been on a princess cruise previously and he says he likes Princess better.

DD16 had a ball! She loved the teen club but felt that the teen club on Princess was better.

DS20 plus his friend met a wonderful group of 20 somethings on board and also made friends with the entertainment staff. They found they had to make their own parties as their wasn't much on board for them.

DH46 loved that he could always get a deck chair. He liked the cheap US spirits delivered to our cabin. Liked the variety of food in the buffet. Disliked the coffee and speed of service at the Cafe. He would have preferred more night life.

And me! Well I loved that the ship never once felt crowded. You could always get a seat in the theatre whatever time you arrived. I loved the staff I met and conversed with. I LOVED dancing with the stars at sea :). I really, really disliked the cranky old people on board that complained that there were children on board (sheeeeesh stay in your nursing homes I say!). I loathed the decor on the ship. it felt like you had walked into a musty old person's home with too much money and no taste.

See below for a photo of one of the ugliest chairs at sea!

I was really disappointed in the lack of activities. A lot of the time there was nothing to do at all .. yawn.

Would we sail HAL again?

Maybe if there was a great deal going but otherwise no.

We had a great time on this cruise but I think on looking back we seemed to have had to make the fun ourselves and HAL just supplied the venue.

I would highly recommend cruising for Christmas and the New Year though and have already booked for this year.

Cheers and happy sailing.

I wish I could say I won but alas it wasn't to be :(

But I got a wonderful certificate and the knowledge that I danced on stage with a professional on a cruise ship! :D

My husband was very proud

I will be back with a run down of what we all thought of the cruise when I get back.

Toodle loo!

And now for my FAVOURITE part of this cruise.

Every sea day they hosted a "Dancing with the Stars at Sea" lesson.

There was a routine to learn and then four passengers were chosen to compete.

This was soooooooooooooo much fun.

Anyway I won the Cha Cha!!! Whooooohooooooooo! which meant that on the evening of the last sea day I ,and 5 other passengers (my 20yo DS being one of them), had to compete to see who would become this cruise's Dancing with the Stars champion.

I have never had so much fun. We had half an hour to practise with one of the professional dancers on board and then we took to the theatre stage for the competition.

So here is my son dancing

and here is me!

When we were finished we had to pose for photos with the entertainment team

Before i leave again for a weekend getaway (I have not been home on a weekend since November I think :rolleyes: ) Anyway i will post some more photos. These are artworks around the ship that my 16 yo DD found amusing. A teenager's mind often finds things amusing :p

Did they not have NYE in the show lounge? It was so crowded in there on our cruise.

No we had it up on deck. I think they have finally realised that we aussies like to party outdoors. i would have hated to be crowded in the Theatre. :(

Now we know the" real" reason it is taking so long to post this review:rolleyes::rolleyes:

Sheeeeeesh!

I have just returned from a weekend in Melbourne so will get back to this when I can.

Life has a habit of butting in :p

After dinner DH and I were in the Marriage Game.

I have no photos of this as I think my children were cringing under their chairs so they couldn't see to take any photos. :D

Anyway it was a hoot!

Though I think the kids learnt a bit too much about their parents "private lives" :o

From that day on until the end of the cruise we were constantly stopped by people smiling at us or slyly winking at my husband. Oh dear! :o

So from the Marriage Game we went up to the deck party.

Now that was FUN!

At midnight the Captain let rip with the ship's horn which in a "slight" inebriated state was quite exciting. :rolleyes:

And here are some photo of what we ate (well some of what we ate :o )

Hmmmm I guess we ate too fast because they seem to be the only food photos I have. Oh well.

Ok I have no idea where I am up to.

I know we stopped at some ports but I think I will jump ahead to New year's Eve.

That was a blast!

We has a great night.

It started with a great dinner where they gave us hats to wear, whistles to blow and noise maker thingymajigs to spin.

My daughter decided to take food photos at Christmas. So here you go ........................ YUM!

Sure beats cooking!

Oh and that dessert was oh so scrumptious! (and this is from someone that doesn't like desserts!)

Ok now back to our regular programming.

My thanks go to my comedy team that filled in for me while I was at work :D

Rightio now where the heck was I??????

I have no idea so will move on to Christmas day on board.

The day started with Egg nog and carols in the Vista Theatre. All of the children gathered there to wait for santa. My lot (who are too old for Santa) also gathered there. ;)

Anyway Santa arrived with gifts for every child.

Hmmmm we didn't seem to get a photo of Santa ..... oh well.

At dinner there were bon bons on the table and the atmosphere was very festive (or it might have been all the beverages I had consumed before hand :rolleyes: )

That's my mum and my youngest looking "festive"!

Good to see the bar stools are spread out quite a bit...don't want the people to be packed in..... like....... like......"sardines"

ok that one made me spit out my drink!!

This guy walks up to THAT bar..... his hairstyle....yep.. you got it.. a "mullet"

ok that one wins! :D

All of your jokes are much better than those hideous bar stools!

I will be on the Oosterdam starting on Jan 19 out of Sydney and am a little leery about my trip. The recent reviews on CC have all really emphasized the bad food, poor service, bad sanitation and general rattiness of the ship. So I went to see the sanitation score; found that the last time she was inspected, she was just 2 points above failing and no improvement plan was submitted. Someone please tell me it isn't so.

We had a wonderful cruise!

There was Norovirus on board but then I think there is always Norovirus on board :rolleyes:

The service was wonderful though I must day the staff were extremely overworked.

As for the rattiness ... well yep some areas look worn but who the heck cares! You are on a ship being treated like a queen or King, squint your eye, wash your hands and enjoy I say!! :D

Work????? One must get their priorities in order:D:D:D

 

Kate just a question....What time did you check in for your cruise? we just got our Edocs today for our cruise in March and check in time is 1pm Is that the norm? I am normally going back for seconds at the buffet by then:eek:

I think we got there about 12 or so and people were already on board by then.

I think you will be safe turning up early and your 2nds of lunch will be safe! :D

When we were doing our safety drill up on deck we saw a couple arriving just before 4pm (sailaway time). I still don't know if they made it on board.

Ok so next I will show you some of the things and places around the ship.

Below are the ugliest bar stools I have ever seen. These were by the Lido pool. Oh and they were cold so I cannot imagine sitting them on a cruise to Alaska :eek:

Christmas decorations in the Atrium

Thanks for all the photos etc Tompaddyelle We are sailing on Oosterdam on 3rd March so it is a a great insight into the ship........one thing though.......do you think you will be finished posting all the photos by then:D:D:D

 

I will do my best!

Work gets in the way :rolleyes:

I have started a photo review of our cruise on the oosterdam.

It can be found here http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1966153

Just thought some of you might be interested. :)