Westerdam February 20 Large Group - Cruisin'Chris

The thread that Cruisin'Chris started regarding his Westerdam February 20th sailing with a large group was closed and unless I missed it, I don't think he's been back to report on how it went. If you're out there Chris, I for one am interested in hearing about your week on Westerdam with the gospel group. :)

I was on this cruise. There were 6 of us in our group. We only knew about the dining and group situation because of Cruisin Chris's thread. We were never notified by Holland America. During lunch at the Lido right after embarkation, the dining room supervisor was making rounds in the Lido and looking for passengers who were not with the large group so that he could make dinner reservations for us. We were told that we could make reservations for 5:00, 5:15 or 9:00 pm. The excuse was that we were such a large group(6 of us). We made reservations for 5:15 for the whole week. I told the dining room manager that this was my 6th cruise with Holland America and that I had never had a window seat at dinner and asked if he could make that happen. He did. We had a lovely aft table for the whole week. The dining room was about half empty every night that we dined there. It was very quiet, the service was excellent, the food was delicious and we had a great time. The 6 of us ate in the Canaletto one night and the same thing. Very quiet and excellent service and food. The whole ship was very quiet. If you wanted a window seat up in the Crow's Nest, no problem. Bar service was exceptional since almost no one on this cruise was drinking. During the day the large group was in the show room all day. The functions that were usually held in that space were moved to the Queen's Lounge. There were very few people at Bingo, evening shows etc. If you wanted a quiet cruise, it was perfect! If you were looking for more excitement, you would have been disappointed.

I was on this cruise. There were 6 of us in our group. We only knew about the dining and group situation because of Cruisin Chris's thread. We were never notified by Holland America. During lunch at the Lido right after embarkation, the dining room supervisor was making rounds in the Lido and looking for passengers who were not with the large group so that he could make dinner reservations for us. We were told that we could make reservations for 5:00, 5:15 or 9:00 pm. The excuse was that we were such a large group(6 of us). We made reservations for 5:15 for the whole week. I told the dining room manager that this was my 6th cruise with Holland America and that I had never had a window seat at dinner and asked if he could make that happen. He did. We had a lovely aft table for the whole week. The dining room was about half empty every night that we dined there. It was very quiet, the service was excellent, the food was delicious and we had a great time. The 6 of us ate in the Canaletto one night and the same thing. Very quiet and excellent service and food. The whole ship was very quiet. If you wanted a window seat up in the Crow's Nest, no problem. Bar service was exceptional since almost no one on this cruise was drinking. During the day the large group was in the show room all day. The functions that were usually held in that space were moved to the Queen's Lounge. There were very few people at Bingo, evening shows etc. If you wanted a quiet cruise, it was perfect! If you were looking for more excitement, you would have been disappointed.

That is very interesting and quite good to hear. There was a fair amount of pre-cruise anxiety on this board over potential loss of access to ship venues (in addition to the restricted dining times) due to this group but from your description it appears the fears did not materialize. :)

Dana, thank you for that informative review and happy to hear that you were not that affected by the group. Did the MDR become more crowded toward the end of your dinner? Wondering where and when everyone was eating. Do you know how many were in the group? Our potential problem on summer cruise with a group is that we really prefer late set seating.

I was on this cruise with my husband & my grandson. He celebrated his 17th birthday while onboard. I agree that for the most part it was a quiet cruise! Karaoke was great, I was amazed at the talent of other passengers!!! The three of us thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We were in a balcony cabin, 5090 and although it was a little crammed when the couch was made into the extra bed at night I would book that cabin again.

Next week we are on the Oosterdam for 10 days. It will be our first time on her. Any tips?

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That is very interesting and quite good to hear. There was a fair amount of pre-cruise anxiety on this board over potential loss of access to ship venues (in addition to the restricted dining times) due to this group but from your description it appears the fears did not materialize. :)

If I had to make reservations for a 5:15 dinner each evening I wouldn't have been happy camper!

I was on this cruise. There were 6 of us in our group. We only knew about the dining and group situation because of Cruisin Chris's thread. We were never notified by Holland America. During lunch at the Lido right after embarkation, the dining room supervisor was making rounds in the Lido and looking for passengers who were not with the large group so that he could make dinner reservations for us. We were told that we could make reservations for 5:00, 5:15 or 9:00 pm. The excuse was that we were such a large group(6 of us). We made reservations for 5:15 for the whole week. I told the dining room manager that this was my 6th cruise with Holland America and that I had never had a window seat at dinner and asked if he could make that happen. He did. We had a lovely aft table for the whole week. The dining room was about half empty every night that we dined there. It was very quiet, the service was excellent, the food was delicious and we had a great time. The 6 of us ate in the Canaletto one night and the same thing. Very quiet and excellent service and food. The whole ship was very quiet. If you wanted a window seat up in the Crow's Nest, no problem. Bar service was exceptional since almost no one on this cruise was drinking. During the day the large group was in the show room all day. The functions that were usually held in that space were moved to the Queen's Lounge. There were very few people at Bingo, evening shows etc. If you wanted a quiet cruise, it was perfect! If you were looking for more excitement, you would have been disappointed.

Thank you for explaining what all happened with dinner reservations on that cruise.

Glad it all worked out for you and you had a great cruise.

I was on this cruise with my husband & my grandson. He celebrated his 17th birthday while onboard. I agree that for the most part it was a quiet cruise! Karaoke was great, I was amazed at the talent of other passengers!!! The three of us thoroughly enjoyed every minute. We were in a balcony cabin, 5090 and although it was a little crammed when the couch was made into the extra bed at night I would book that cabin again.

Next week we are on the Oosterdam for 10 days. It will be our first time on her. Any tips?

 

 

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Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Read this thread from retiredmustang:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2307712&highlight=retiredmustang

I was on this cruise. There were 6 of us in our group. We only knew about the dining and group situation because of Cruisin Chris's thread. We were never notified by Holland America. During lunch at the Lido right after embarkation, the dining room supervisor was making rounds in the Lido and looking for passengers who were not with the large group so that he could make dinner reservations for us. We were told that we could make reservations for 5:00, 5:15 or 9:00 pm. The excuse was that we were such a large group(6 of us). We made reservations for 5:15 for the whole week.

If I had to make reservations for a 5:15 dinner each evening I wouldn't have been happy camper!

I'm glad to hear it worked out for some people and the large group didn't impact the cruise. That said, my husband and I would also not have been happy if we had to eat at 5:15 or 9:00 in order to enjoy dinner in the dining room.

My husband and I were on this cruise and didn't have any issues with the large group on board. We had early seating, by choice, and it was usually half empty. I felt there wasn't enough to do on board though, I don't know if this was normal for Holland America or if they felt more activities weren't needed because most of the passengers with the large group had activities going on.

On another note, we were both very disappointed in the food. We had cold and underdone food several times on the buffet and one of our table mates at dinner had raw pork one night and overdone lobster on surf & turf night. The waiter never even offered to bring her a new entree. He knew the lobster was bad because he was the one who took it out of the tail for her, he said "oops" and walked away, leaving her with a plate of mush.

I'm glad to hear it worked out for some people and the large group didn't impact the cruise. That said, my husband and I would also not have been happy if we had to eat at 5:15 or 9:00 in order to enjoy dinner in the dining room.

I too would be highly disappointed if forced into those dinner times if they were not my first (or second) dining choices. I also didn't mean to trivialize that issue because it was Cruisin'Chris' main complaint. But it sounds like the other potential inconveniences were not to be found on this particular cruise.

If I had to make reservations for a 5:15 dinner each evening I wouldn't have been happy camper!

Me, too. I don't think I've ever had dinner before 7, we usually eat around 8. Having to have dinner in the MDR at 5:15 would be a huge downer

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My husband and I were on this cruise and didn't have any issues with the large group on board. We had early seating, by choice, and it was usually half empty. I felt there wasn't enough to do on board though, I don't know if this was normal for Holland America or if they felt more activities weren't needed because most of the passengers with the large group had activities going on.

 

On another note, we were both very disappointed in the food. We had cold and underdone food several times on the buffet and one of our table mates at dinner had raw pork one night and overdone lobster on surf & turf night. The waiter never even offered to bring her a new entree. He knew the lobster was bad because he was the one who took it out of the tail for her, he said "oops" and walked away, leaving her with a plate of mush.

OOPS????? That is not acceptable! He should have apologized and offered to bring a new plate. Either remove the mush so she could eat the rest of the food while he brought a properly cooked tail or remove the whole plate and bring a new complete dinner. Very disappointing to hear about that.

I'm glad that the group didn't have too much impact on your cruise. But I'm curious, were breakfast and lunch crowded? I'd imagine that if they had programs all day, the whole group would be having those meals at the same time, too.

Stupid question for anyone who was on this cruise. Did the group spend EVERY day in the showroom for their meetings? What about port days? Were they able to take tours or go ashore on their own?

Had brief conversation with rep. from Inspirations concerning our July Alaska cruise. She indicated most group activities would take place in the evening hours. Suspect that would not be true on sea days.

I was on this cruise too. We had dinner at 5:30, which I think is way too early. We normally finished dinner around 7:00, and shows and entertainment did not start before 8:30, 9:00 or even later, so the time after dinner felt long and boring. Almost every night we went to bed before midnight.

The large group did not affect the cruise in any other ways (some in the group did actually drink alcohol) - they did not take over the pool deck or anything.

This was my first cruise with HAL, and I am not sure, that I will cruise with HAL again, as the nightlife was too quite/non existing. But it may be wrong just to judge after this cruise.