Review Oosterdam 12/26

[scopewest]

This was our first HAL trip and about our 12th cruise. We stayed at the Embassy Suites and after a slight hassle managed to get to the port around 11:30 a.m. We were onboard eating at the Lido deck at noon. This was the fastest and easiest embarkation we've ever had. The fact that we had ALL our paperwork filled out ahead of time, including the credit card stuff, may have helped.

 

We were in cabin 6136, aft. Our cabin steward Budi was the best steward we've ever had on any trip. He couldn't do enough for us. We were on two packages, Just for Us and Renewal of Vows (which I'll discuss under another thread) and we had a table for two next to the windows in the rear. Although at times there was vibration and noise, I ignored it. Our waiter and asst. waiter introduced themselves and our service was excellent, but I could tell they were rushed. They did their best to talk to us. We enjoyed the food and found the Lido deck selections to be far superior to what we were used to. Imagine, someone would actually help you carry your tray to a table! Imagine, fresh orange juice! Was the coffee poor? Since I dump a ton of sugar and cream in mine, how would I know what it really tastes like??

 

We also ate at the Pinnacle twice (due to our packages) and frankly we weren't all that impressed with the service. Yes, the food was beautifully presented and my filet mignon was good...but so was the one in the regular restaurant. Now I at least know what the volcano cake is! The restaurant was also nearly empty every night.

 

The weather was cool and windy which was fine with me, I live in the desert where it's hot nearly all the time and I was delighted just to see a large body of WATER. My disappointment with shore excursions is that we docked too late in Grand Cayman and they cancelled. I was sorry they couldn't rebook it but it's understandable. We wandered away from town to see local sights and there's still hurricane damange although the dock area looks pretty cleaned up.

 

HMC is as beautiful as everyone says. To me (who likes to swim in bathtub temp water) the ocean was too cool to go in but the sun was hot enough. Thanks to everyone who said to rent a clamshell. It saved me from getting burnt. We did the eco lagoon cruise which was enjoyable.

 

I felt sorry for some people whose suitcases were still arriving long after we sailed. As we started to sail from GC, the captain stopped the ship and announced some luggage had just arrived at the airport and they were sending it over in a tender. Yeow.

 

My only complaint about the cabin is the bedside nightlight is useless for reading in bed. I was sorry I didn't bring my $1 booklight to read by.

 

I found the crew very friendly. I found the ship not very full as the shows drew only about 1/3 to 1/2 the seating in the showroom. The shows were very poor, NCL is the clear winner in this area, but what did I care? A show is a show. And they even had a slightly overweight crew singer/dancer. I was thrilled to see that HAL didn't discriminate against entertainers who weren't a size 2. She had a fine voice.

 

I loved the free popcorn at the movies and we stocked up the day before we came back to port to eat on the plane. Thank god we did as it took us 13 hours to get home but that's another post.

 

As for nickle and diming, WHAT nickle and diming? Go on a Carnival cruise and then you'll see nickle and diming!!! Even my husband commented on the lack of that. Not to mention the lack of announcements about activities.

 

I can see where HAL has changed from reading everyone's comments. But please, people, HAL is NOT Carnival. It's still superior. We can't wait to try another HAL ship.

[localady]

Thanks for your review! Glad to hear you had a great trip!

 

I have to admit, that first dive into the water at HMC in December was "brisk" but once I'd done a bit of swimming it felt really refreshing. It's something to consider when booking the stingray excursion, the early tours seem great until you hop into that "very refreshing" lagoon at 9AM!:eek:

[doone]

Scopewest, thank you for your review, I enjoyed reading your more positive comments about HAL. Nothing is ever perfect no matter which cruise line you choose.

 

I will sail on the Zuiderdam in March, my first time on a Vista Style ship, I have always enjoyed the other ships of HAL and I am sure I will have a wonderful cruise on the Zuiderdam, maybe just a bit different experience than I have had before. After the Zuiderdam, I will sail the Volendam and am anxious to compare the two different style ships for myself.

 

Welcome home and so glad you had a wonderful first experience with HAL.

[xeena]

you were right on about the reading light....but maybe if the beds are not pushed together it's OK. next time we bring little book lights !

 

sounds like you enjoyed yourself......we too enjoyed our Westerdam cruise this Dec......

[PaulaJK]

-I'm mostly in agreement with all of your comments.

-Obviously, our cabin experience began differently and certainly

negatively impressed us.

-I certainly don't count Pinnacle or spa as nickel diming....but do feel

that charging for yoga class is. I haven't sailed Carnival. In my

previous experiences classes,etc were part of the cruise pkg.

[KSCnCA]

Regarding the reading lamps: the lamps in our cabin on the Zuiderdam were directly over the center of each side of the bed (they were made up together) and didn't really help unless you were laying down flat reading! But then I noticed in my friends cabin that her lamps were positioned more toward the side of the beds and seemed that they would be better in those positions. I don't really understand why they would be different, but in the 3 verandah cabins I was in they all seems slightly different - in size, configuration of closets, what kind of extra stuff was stored in the drawers or hassock, etc. I guess it must be difficult to make every single cabin the same, but something like a stationary light should be installed in the appropriate place! Besides that I really had no complaints about our cabin.

[scopewest]

PaulaJK: I agree, if I had walked into a dirty room I'd be upset. We did have some glitches with our packages (see another thread). I found like you the NYEve celebration to be not what I expected, but there were noisemakes and horns. They passed them out at 11:45 p.m. but made no annoucement about it. If you weren't on that side of the deck perhaps you missed them. I took mine home but I left the hats they gave us in the dining room.

 

I also think that charging for classes may be considered nickel and diming but I don't take classes. I do have some complaints about the couples massage we got but that's a Steiner problem, not HAL. For the record, my husband the licensed massage therapist, who did the couples massage to see how they do it, was very disappointed in the treatment. He says if that was his first massage he'd never get another one.

 

I joked with him that he should have stood outside the massage area at HMC and when someone approached to get a massage to hand them a card saying I can do it better for less!

[scopewest]

Forgot to mention the soda cards were alive and well on our cruise. But has anyone ever commented that half the bars you can get soda at aren't open until 4 p.m.? Something to keep in mind.

 

I drink lemonade since I'm cheap so it didn't bother me but I wanted to point that out.

[Oceanwench]

Your review was enjoyable reading.

 

What I liked was the way you didn't let small things ruin your cruise! You have that "if we couldn't laugh, we'd all go insane" attitude that I embrace [being a Parrothead].

[scopewest]

I've taken many land vacations but to me a cruise is the best value there is. If you want to hear the horror story about our cruise, it was getting to Ft. L and getting back home!!! But at least we had all our luggage and we made the cruise.

 

My husband was upset with the way our packages were handled (see my other thread) but said that the good points of HAL far outweighed the bad. And to me, HAL did a good job. If I had any other complaints, it's that they need a proofreader on board. Telling me my shore excursion was at 7:45 a.m. and then reading in the daily program that we dock at 8 a.m. makes you think just who proofs this stuff? And misspellings on our package vouchers, in the elevators, in the daily program.... well, I do it for a living so it bugged me enough to write a comment on it (don't tell me you're Dutch, the home office is in Seattle!) But did it ruin my cruise? NO.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Many thanks for your review ... I enjoyed it. I agreed with almost everything. There are good and bad things, of course, but I think in the end it's your overall feel. Glad to hear that for the most part you enjoyed HAL. I definitely think it's one of the better lines and cruising is without a doubt one of the best value vacations you can have.

[Oceanwench]

scopewest,

 

Funny about the proofing ... since I do editing for a living, I try really hard not to do it when on vacation! But yeah ... the mistakes!!!