Westerdam 5/18/08 - 5/25/08 Alaska detailed review

My wife and I have returned home safe and sound from our first HAL cruise - a 7-day roundtrip (from Seattle) Alaska run aboard the ms Westerdam that called at Glacier Bay, Juneau, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria, B.C. I apologies in advance of this long review, but I hope it is useful to many.

Although our first HAL cruise, we are veteran cruises and are, I suppose, most loyal to Princess. We were very excited to be part of the HAL experience and were eager to add it as our top cruise line. I will break this down in bolded headlines in hopes of making it easier on the eyes.

A bit about us: I'm 26, my wife is 27. We do not party, hardly ever attend shows and like quiet and relaxing cruises save for the ports where we spend the most of our time ashore. I will not be reviewing Alaskan ports here, only the cruise experience itself. I will say we had great weather - no rain, flat seas and two brilliantly sunny days in Glacier Bay and Ketchikan.

If you want a laugh but don't care to read the entire review, skip down to the AS YOU WISH DINING review and you all will scratch your heads about HAL's treatment of this new program. :)

In consensus, we had a wonderful time, but based on this experience I wouldn't call HAL our top cruise line and would have a difficult time believing someone who calls HAL a premium line above Princess, Carnival, RCCL, etc. We will sail HAL again (and probably very soon), as we believe the minor issues experienced are Westerdam-only problems. You can tell one thing about HAL, though, that other lines simply don't show: HAL is loyal to its customers, always asking for input. HAL also goes above and beyond in recognizing crew, which is a great, classy touch.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to assist!

THE SHIP

First off, the Westerdam is one beautiful ship. Not only is she easy on the eyes, she's easy to navigate! Seldom on a cruise ship can you walk forward to aft on every deck and not encounter a blockade of some kind - but on the Westerdam this was not a problem. The size is ideal, and we found it much more enjoyable that the larger ships afloat (Caribbean Princess, etc). The only time we felt crowded was at lunch in the lido, when no tables were available anywhere except near the aft pool. This is a problem experienced on every cruise ever taken, so you have to roll with the punches.

The lido setup is brilliant and all lines should replicate the same pattern - easy, efficient and attractive.

OUR STATEROOM

Our stateroom, 4115 (HH obstructed view) was ample for the two of us, we loved the bath in the restroom. Coming from a few consecutive Princess cruises, we felt the room did not have the storage of a Princess cabin and found we bumped into each other more (most likely because of the closet differences between the two). To be fair, we have not sailed on anything under a veranda on Princess, so perhaps the HAL verandas have a bit more room to navigate within. The beds were the best we have experienced on sea. The loveseat was great - something that Princess decided to eliminate in place of a "walk-in" closet system. Both have advantages, both have disadvantages.

FOOD

This topic has been covered ad nauseum - the food was great and the serving sizes were ample. To this day I believe Carnival has had the best food we've had at sea, but we won't sail Carnival again so it's not worth hardly pointing out. I feel most lines have the same quality food (save for NCL) and there is no difference here. I wish HAL had more fruit available in the lido throughout the day, but being in Alaska might have an impact on this.

Choices throughout lunch in the lido and dinner in the main dining room were ample and far-reaching, no one can reasonably complain about a lack of options while eating on the Westerdam.

AS YOU WISH DINING

One of the primary reasons we had neglected to book a HAL cruise was the dining situation - we simply hate being told exactly when to dine in the main dining room and don't feel the lido buffet can ever fully replace dinner. So, with this, we happily signed up for As You Wish dining when we booked our cruise in January. On the cruise documents received, they said AS YOU WISH dining. However, when we received our cruise cards we were giving a specific table for the 8 p.m. dining time. *****?

We immediately sought the maître d to have it changed. He informed us that 1,400 of the 2,098 individuals on board had requested As You Wish dining and HAL decided to randomly place people in traditional dining slots. We were scratching our heads, and asked to be placed back to our preference. He tried to talk us out of it - saying lines would be long, we would likely have rushed meals, etc. - but we knew the pros/cons and insisted to be placed back to As You Wish, which we were.

Not one time did we have to wait for a table (and only one time out of three when requesting a table for 2 were we told it'd be a 10 minute wait) and only saw large groups having to wait. We ate at all times - from 5 p.m. to 8:15 p.m.

The meals - which we were warned would be rushed - were the opposite. I'm sorry, but 2 and 1/2 hours for a meal is too long and we experienced this three times, one when we were at a table for 2! I believe the issue lies within the sheer number of waitstaff not being able to handle the amount of workloads they are now given. The kitchen could get backed up, but this is something we obviously can't see so I won't speculate.

SERVICE

HAL calls itself a premium cruise line because of service, but seldom did we notice a difference between HAL and Princess (worst service, to us, is RCCL with Carnival coming in very closely to HAL and Princess). The crew was friendly - but we've never had a problem with unfriendly crew.

We don't drink, so we don't have the opportunity to get to know bar staff which can admittedly make a huge difference. But, overall, we did not see a noticeable difference here.

We had no problems (save for our room steward which I will make a separate section) and were treated very well, we simply just didn't see the hoopla we had been reading about. :shrug: Ships can vary, so we very well might have been on an "off" week (more on this, too, in the MISCELLANEOUS section).

CABIN STEWARD (please read, feedback wanted)

When cruising, speaking to the cabin steward is usually the highlight of our trip. Getting to know them, a bit about their family, etc. is enlightening and wonderful. Our steward for this trip immediately set a bad tone and never saved face. Sunday, after boarding, he came and introduced himself and asked our names and where our parents were (this was curious, but we let it slide). A bit later, I asked how his day was going and he responded, "Very bad - too much work." WOW. I was taken aback but chalked it up to a bad day and not feeling well, everyone is entitled.

Unfortunately, this never ceased. Only one day did he respond to that question other than "bad" or "too long" or the like. As a paying customer, this frankly bothered me a great deal and we let it be known on our comment cards. We will likely write HAL on this matter shortly - but we will of course praise the overall trip.

The one thing that set this over the top was on Thursday, when we were leaving the ship for Sitka, he asked if we were going to go ashore and spend lots of money. We responded no, we aren't big spenders and are after sights more than trinkets. He then proceeding for five minutes telling us about his poor salary, how he has to rely on us to send his kids to school. He even gave us numbers ($50/month) to back up his claims. This was insulting to me. Maybe I am jumping the gun, but this is inexcusable behavior anywhere, regardless on land or sea.

We do not blame this on HAL, as you can always have a bad apple in the bunch - but it is very hard to look past this. Anyone experienced anything similar to this before? We had not and hopefully will not again, it made us feel uncomfortable around him.

One smaller note, he somehow took off with my wife's medication holder. It was returned later in the day (we didn't realize it was missing at the time), but he came back before dinner and said he had lifted it to clean, placed it on his caddy and forgot it was there until now. This wasn't a problem, and we don't believe it was intentional, just another bit of salt on the steward wound.

MISCELLANEOUS

When cruising, I take pride in seeing senior officers wandering around the ship. Unfortunately, not once did we see this on the Westerdam. The captain for this sailing was Peter Harris, who we saw only once (at the welcome reception). I believe a captain who is not seen sets a bad precedence for the crew, and I strongly believe this had led the Westerdam to be an unhappy ship. No other officers were seen about by us - could be happenstance, could be a trend. The captain seldom gave a captain's briefing - I believe we only experienced three in our 7 day cruise.

On the other hand, the cruise director - Jason venner - was by far the best CD we've had at sea. Not obtrusive, genuinely funny, a great attitude, etc. He is an asset to HAL.

The Westerdam - as we experienced Monday - can flat-out fly on water! Due to a mishap in Seattle with the oil boom breaking and wrapping around the propeller, we were four or so hours late leaving. To make up time, the Westerdam kicked it up to 24.3 knots for a good part of Monday. Never had I seen this and it was pretty awesome!

Ah, and now the dress! We say jeans on formal night - the ship stopped in its track, clothing police flew in by chopper and escorted the offended couple off immediately! OK, that didn't happen but we did see jeans on formal night more than once. And on smart casual, all bets were off - never saw shorts but t-shirts were not hiding. Alas, I couldn't care less about what others wear and enjoyed dressing to the code.

OVERALL

Again, we had a wonderful time - HAL has a very nice product and we will sail it again shortly (most likely on a Panama Canal run). The few problems encountered could easily be remedied, and I think the Westerdam suffers overall from the attitude problem addressed before. I doubt any other HAL ship has this problem, at least to the extent of the Westerdam.

Thanks for reading, and ask any questions you wish!

I really enjoyed reading your review. I think you were very fair and objective in all your observations. Can't imagine why they would confirm AYW for you only to move you to Traditional when the whole idea of offering the alternative is so you can dine when you wish:) . Still, I'm glad that AYW worked so well for you even though you felt dinner lasted longer than you would have wished.

I'm surprised by your experience with your Cabin Steward. It's very unusual because generally all the crew is extremely upbeat and cheery and while I've often criticized certain aspects about HAL, the crew's attitude has never been one of them.

So glad that despite a few issues, you had such a good time.

Hi Sppunk:

Thanks for an insightful and interesting review; it's always helpful to read comparisons between cruise lines.

As to the feedback on your cabin steward: We have never had a cabin steward on HAL like the one you had:eek: What a turn-off that would be! It sounds to me that perhaps your steward might be close to the end of his contract, has been on the ship too long, and has gone over the edge. Not good, not good at all.

I have only cruised on the Noordam, the Amsterdam, and the Zaandam. They were well-run ships, with officers that were visible and approachable throughout the cruise, with good morale among the ship's staff and crew, at least from my passenger's perspective. To be honest, this is not the first time I have heard of personnel issues on the Westerdam, but as I myself have never cruised on her, my statement is based on the observations of others only.

Thanks again for taking the time to write an excellent review.

Thanks also for writing up the cabin steward.

While it is true that some passengers can seriously demoralize the cabin stewards or wait staff by stiffing them on their gratuity, the solution still isn't to complain to the next passenger on the next cruise.

It is always possible that a crew member may want to be fired, instead of quitting. That may get them transportation home. Perhaps one of the maritime law gurus on these boards would know.

I can't see that a cabin steward would last long making those kinds of complaints.

Thank you for your review. We were on the week before you. My DH, who usually has no criticisms on cruising said he felt like the crew just didn't care much - he felt there was an attitude that we will do the minimum required to take care of you on this cruise. Just the minimum.

As far as the cabin steward, I have never had that happen. Ours, while he may have had issues with helping us with the laundry, was always very pleasant and efficient with taking care of our room. I do think the room stewards have an added load and strain placed on them trying to figure out when they can refresh the rooms in the evening because of AYW dining. I told our room steward we had fixed early dining as soon as we met him so he would know our schedule. He seemed grateful to know that. But, your cabin steward should not be discussing his work issues with the guests.

Glad you had good weather. Glad the AYW dining went well for you, too. Interesting that so many people wanted it! I guess there is a demand for it. We saw quite a few empty tables on the upper level during early dining.

Thanks for taking the time to do a review.

I too want to thank you for a very well written easy to follow review. I too am surprised by the comments of your cabin steward but I have heard others make similiar comments. I have neve encountered this but it too would upset me.

It seems to me with reviews on the Westerdam that cruisers either love the Westerdam or it tends to be their least favorite ship. I have to admit in all my HAL sailings we cruised on the Westerdam in March 2005 and yes we had the same feeling as you back then and she to date is our least favorite HAL ship.:o I often think that there is a certain vibe or feeling just like personalities of people that ships also have. She was the only HAL ship that just did not give us that feel good feeling. I cannot put a finger on it but to others they may walk across the gangway the know that they will have a perfect cruise on the Westerdam. For us the best feelings have been on the Oosterdam and the Noordam but others may not feel that.

I am glad that you are willing to give HAL another try and a Panama Canal cruise sounds great:)

Thanks again for writing a very objective review.

Thank you for taking the time to give such a compete review. I have cruised on a HAL ship about 9 times and have only had one not so good steward. Yes, it can happen and it sounds like you handled it well by passing the information on in your comment card. My last cruise was on the Westerdam in January with Peter Harris as Captain. I saw him every where and at disembarkation I saw him on the gangway as I was leaving and we both stopped and laughed about not seeing each other all the time since I was disembarking. Anyway, sometime it just works out that way. He really is a personable guy and has a rather funny but dry sense of humor. Thanks again for the great review and I know you will continue to enjoy great cruises not only on HAL but also on your other favorites. HAL is my first choice but I have also enjoyed other lines as well.

Wendy

middle-aged mom, you raise a good point about the end of the contract. During his little rant on salary, he informed us he had been on the Westerdam for 10 months, 15 days. But he then said he'd been cruising since 1990 so I didn't even consider burnout a factor, which very well might be the cause.

He was effecient in cleaning, although not once did he fill our fruit basket (even after been asked). We ended up going to the lido at lunch and grabbing what we wanted for the next 24 hours. But that's hardly anything to get upset about for me!

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

That is not right the things your cabin steward said to. Totally unexcusable.

2 1/2 hours for dinner -- too long for us.

Sppunk: Did your group from your roll call have a CC meet and greet?

We did and the Captain was there and he was the friendliest of all the crew members with us. The HM came and stayed very briefly. The food and bev manager was there at the beginning.

No CD :confused: . He never made an appearance - which I find interesting.

Sppunk: Did your group from your roll call have a CC meet and greet?

We did and the Captain was there and he was the friendliest of all the crew members with us. The HM came and stayed very briefly. The food and bev manager was there at the beginning.

 

No CD :confused: . He never made an appearance - which I find interesting.

You were on the May 11 cruise? On the prior cruise -- Panama Canal -- I didn't see any of the officers at the meet and greet. (We were about 10minutes late.)

Sppunk, great review (if you don't mind a compliment from a fan of the "Evil Empire") :D

We had a similar experience with our assistant waiter on Volendam.

We'd ask him things like how was your day, etc. and he then told us--lol. Well, I guess we did ask. He'd say things like "same ol', same ol'"....or "work, work, work." He was good otherwise...we just stopped asking how he was.:o

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review. Enjoyed reading it! Unacceptable behavior on the part of your cabin steward! Have never yet encountered that! He's got no business taking personal property (even a meds holder) out of the cabin w/o your permission.

Still laughing about the clothing police being choppered in:D Some captain and H/M's are more visible and outgoing than others. Some you see everyday i.e. having lunch in the Lido, some you see only at official functions. HAL used to have a H/M who gave Spanish lessons in the Crow's Nest. I think it comes down to luck of the draw as to who's onboard for a particular cruise

Enjoy your next cruise!

Great balanced review. I have only taken one HAL cruise and it was on the Noordam. I have taken several cruises on most all other lines. I would take HAL again under the right circumstances. I felt the crew on our ship and sailing was awesome, comparable with Celebrity. Really enjoyed the crew. In the morning I'd have about 4-5 crew members calling me by name in the Lido trying to bring me coffee and asking where my husband by name was. They were so sweet. One day I didn't feel well and they were trying to take care of me and next day asking if I was better. I think sometimes it depends on who you get for your cabin steward or waiter on any line that can help make or break your feelings of the crew, so sounds like you just didn't get a great cabin steward. The one thing I agree with is the food. I was not impressed with HAL's food at all and do not get the hype. I have had so much better on Princess and Celebrity. There was absolutely nothing special at all about HAL's food in comparison to other lines. Desserts were not great at all and their lobster/steak was worst I have had at sea on my sailing. I do think HAL is very different from Princess, Carnival, NCL, RCCL. I would still consider them, along with Celebrity, a more classy premium cruise line and is more a relaxing type of cruise. I also do prefer the newer ships in any line. Don't care for the smaller or older ones. Great review though!

Thanks Sppunk,

That was a most interesting and well written review of your trip last week on the Westerdam to Alaska.

Regarding the Captain's lack of visability around the ship: If you read Captain Albert's Blog (Captain of the Veendam) - he has given a very interesting and insightful picture of the Alaska cruise situation. As most people know, the Alaska run is a very tricky one navigationwise. He does say that often he has to be "On Standby" on he bridge for very long hours - sometimes up to 16 hours - depending on the weather and sea conditions. He did say in one blog a week or so ago that his "Social" activities are sometimes cut down in Alaska as he must grab sleep time at odd times. He is responsible for everyone's safety and even if there are pilots on board, he still is responsible for getting the ship through all those narow passages and around all the sharp turns. This is just one reason why you didn't see him out and about as much as you might see in a Caribbean trip.

I have been to Alaska 3 times and by far the best time was on Veendam back in 2000. The last time was in 2006 on RCCL and it was a terrible trip as far as service was concerned. The only thing that saved that trip was that I was with a group of 45 friends and we all had fun and it is the only reason I agreed to go on RCCL.

The cabin steward thing is so "NOT LIKE HAL".. The only time I ever had any ship or land hotel staff act like that was in Reno Nevada when the room maid came by, knocked on the dor and actually pleaded for a tip!!!!! We were so taken aback, we gave her $20.00 just to get her out of the room and then called the Housekeeping Manager who promptly went looking for the offending staff member, got the $20.00 back and then came to see us to apolgise for the behaviour and said that appropriate discipline was given. We fear she was probably fired on the spot . They would not confirm this. However, we did find out that this sort of behaviour is absolutely one of the worst things, other than stealing from a room, that staff can do.

I have been on several cruises - some long ones - and have NEVER had anything but absolutely wonderful care and service from ALL staff (except for the one RCCL trip to Alaska).

I noted that there was a review of the Westerdam repositioning cruise from FLL to Seattle in April hisyear that was less than one would expect from HAL. I can only think that this MUST be that ship and not the whole line. Our Volendam trip from FLL to Vancouver was absolutely outstanding in every way.

Please try HAL again if you enjoy relaxing cruises with great service as, in my opinion, that is definitely the norm for HAL. If you do Panama you will love it, believe me.;) :) :D

You were on the May 11 cruise? On the prior cruise -- Panama Canal -- I didn't see any of the officers at the meet and greet. (We were about 10minutes late.)

 

Sppunk, great review (if you don't mind a compliment from a fan of the "Evil Empire") :D

There wasn't any formal Meet and Greet on our 19 day cruise as no one made any arrangments through HAL to set one up. Thus no officers or any one else showed up.

You might have answered this in your review (which I will read very slowly and very carefully after the kids go to bed), but why won't you go on Carnival again?

Alaskabound, Carnival is a great line for many, many people - but not for my wife and myself. Carnival (and RCCL) puts too much into things we simply do not enjoy and find troubling.

We cruise for relaxation and ports - Carnival and RCCL are, imo, best suited for those who want a ship to entertain them fully and provide countless opportunities for activities. The demographic of a typical Carnival cruise (Caribbean I speak of, because I will not cruise in Europe on a mass market line) is simply not what my wife and I enjoy. Different tastes for different folks - you'd find many a Carnival regular very unhappy on a HAL or Princess ship, I'd bet!

Alaskabound, Carnival is a great line for many, many people - but not for my wife and myself. Carnival (and RCCL) puts too much into things we simply do not enjoy and find troubling.

 

We cruise for relaxation and ports - Carnival and RCCL are, imo, best suited for those who want a ship to entertain them fully and provide countless opportunities for activities. The demographic of a typical Carnival cruise (Caribbean I speak of, because I will not cruise in Europe on a mass market line) is simply not what my wife and I enjoy. Different tastes for different folks - you'd find many a Carnival regular very unhappy on a HAL or Princess ship, I'd bet!

I think that some of the new RCCL and Carnival ships with longer than 4 day itineraries are fine. We were on the Miracle in 2005 and the Navigator in 2006 and both were great ships, port intensive, and great cruises. We will be on the Splendor this summer in the MED and it is as port intensive as any of the other lines. We loved our first HAL cruise in February but are also looking forward to our Carnival cruise this summer. The new ships seem to have many things that the current HAL ships have plus extras that you can decide to enjoy or not to enjoy. I would cruise all of the lines we have used in the past if the itinerary was what we were looking for. I think any 3-4 day cruise can be considered a party cruise no matter what the name of the ship is. I may re-adjust my thinking after we return this summer but I think that some cruise lines get a bad rap for being too much fun, and that HAL gets a bad rap for being too old and boring. Just my opinion...Cherie

Thanks for your review.

sppunk - I apologize for not telling you how much I enjoyed your review. Cherie

sppunk,

As echoed by many others before me " thanks for the review". If you have the time, I would appreciate a brief review of your time on land. I am also sailing on the Westerdam in August and am still reviewing my "options" for our land based experience. Any "must do's or stay away from's " advice are greatly appreciated.

disneydiane61

Thanks for the great review. We will be on the Westerdam June 15th. This makes me a little nervous. We wanted fixed dining and couldn't get it. All that was left was anytime dining. I'm hoping that once we get onboard we can get it switched to early dining. We are a group of 8, so that might be tough to do, although someone here mentioned that on their cruise the early dining had empty tables. We will try at least. I sure hope we have a better room steward than you did. I'm sorry about your experience with that. We've only been on 2 cruises, the Carribean Princess and Rhapsody of the Seas and thought they were about equal. We loved them both. I hope that this ship doesn't disappoint us, especially since I talked the other couples into going with us.

We'd be interested in hearing about your excursians as well. What were the temperatures like? We're trying to decide how warm of clothes to take.

Thank you so much on your detailed review.

There wasn't any formal Meet and Greet on our 19 day cruise as no one made any arrangments through HAL to set one up. Thus no officers or any one else showed up.

Hi Yonnie. Thanks for the explanation. That was only our third CC meeting on HAL. there were no formal arrangements made. At the first one we went to, HM James Deering showed up, and was as gracious as his reputation. At the second one, only one other person showed up.