Review Westerdam Jan. 3, 3010

[jerseygirl3]

This was our third time on Westerdam, same itinerary (HMC, Aruba, Curacao). Here are some observations:

 

Precruise: Stayed at Renaissance Hotel at Port Everglades. Wasn't impressed with the hotel and probably won't stay there again. Couldn't check in early although we are Marriott Reward members. Sat around in the lobby for 5 hours and finally were given a handicap room, as they said that's all that was available. Asked for extra towels and never received them. Because of it being a handicap room, there was no vanity in the bathroom, just a sink which left no room to even put a toothbrush. The bathroom floor flooded when we took a shower. Room looked a bit shabby. I had heard the hotel was recently renovated, but this room didn't appear to be. However, location is good. We met up with a group from Cruise Critic at Embassy Suites (thanks, Andrea, for arranging the get-together) the night before the cruise and that was a lot of fun. Embassy Suites looks really nice. We usually stay at Hyatt Pier 66 and will probably opt for that in the future, although wouldn't mind giving Embassy Suites a try.

 

Embarkation: Arrived approx. 11:15 and lines were quite long. Took a bit longer to board than previous cruises, but wasn't an excessively long wait. Approx. 45 minutes from start to finish. As previous HAL cruisers, we were invited to lunch in the MDR, which was very nice. We'll do that from now on and skip the crowds at the Lido Buffet on embarkation day.

 

Cabin: Decided to pay more and upgrade from a VD cabin to an SS. The cabin was nice with more square footage and more storage space, but honestly, I don't think I'd bother next time. It afforded us no extra amenities, such as priority embarkation, etc., so we don't feel we'd do it again. We're perfectly happy with Westerdam's standard balcony cabins. It's especially nice that their cabins have bathtubs instead of just showers. One annoying thing is that the hairdryer requires that you hold down the button to keep it on. I read on Cruise Critic where someone mentioned bringing tape and taping down the button....what a brilliant idea! I did that this time and it worked like a charm.

 

Ports of Call: We love this itinerary, which is why we've done it three times in the past 3 years. HMC was a disappointment due to cool, drizzly weather. Certainly not HAL's fault, and had a very nice time sharing a cabana with our new friends. Since we arrived in Aruba late due to engine problems, we decided to skip going to the beach and just hung out at the pool. Someone mentioned in a previous review that it was never hard finding lounge chairs by the pool, but I respectfully disagree. Unless most were off the ship at a port, it was very difficult to find a lounge chair. One day we scoured the ship from front to back on several decks and finally found a chair up by Crow's Nest. And even that was difficult. We found one for me, but none for DH. People tended to put a towel on a chair and never return. I don't know if they were saving them or simply forgot to discard their towels when they left. I wish people would be mindful to remove their towels when they leave so others would know the chair is available. We love Curacao and on a previous visit, we found a cheese shop that we fell in love with. It's called "Say Cheese" and the owner, Boi Van Munster, is a charming young man from Holland. We decided to head over and pay him a visit and found he had moved. He is now near the new Renaissance Plaza and if you want to find some really excellent cheese, please pay him a visit. His shop is small but he carries many varieties of cheese. He recommended to us an aged gouda and it was outstanding. Bring some back to the ship and pair it with some wine, and you won't be disappointed. We also purchased some more linens at Little Holland linen shop. Their prices are outstanding. I got a linen tablecloth embroidered with Christmas poinsettias. It fits an oval table that seats 12 and the table cloth with 12 embroidered linens cost $65 US.

 

Spa: Didn't book any spa treatments, but went to the gym almost every day. Since we've been on the ship before, no surprises there. Typical gym equipment and it was nice that I never had to wait for a treadmill, although the treadmills are quite old and need to be replaced. Several of them had signs that said "walking only". I guess they wouldn't stand up to jogging. And these older ones had absolutely no cushion on the track.

 

Food: I actually thought the food on this cruise was the best of all our 3 Westerdam cruises. The Lido buffet offers many varieties. There is one entire breakfast station devoted to eggs benedict, made many different ways. Except for one soup being overly salted at dinner in the MDR, I had no complaints at all about the food. We had dinner at the Lido three times this cruise, and this was a bit of a disappointment. We went because we were meeting friends there, and that part of it was nice as it gave us a chance to chat at a smaller, quieter venue. However, I didn't like having to get up and get all my own courses (I was under the impression that the entrees would be delivered to our table). And on two out of the three nights, I was trying to balance a dish that was scorching hot while several staff members walked right past me and never offered to assist me. The biggest problem I had with this dining venue is that it is open only until 8 p.m. After that, it's a challenge even to get dessert. Also, since we purchased the 7 bottle Wine Navigator Package, we were told it would be no problem having it sent to Lido. We were told the first night we ate there that it would take at least 25 minutes for it to be sent up. After that, DH went to the MDR when it opened and picked up our bottle and we brought it with us to Lido.

 

Service: This was a disappointment. In the past, the service was outstanding. Everybody seemed to learn your name almost as soon as you boarded. Not so this time (at least, it wasn't our experience). When we boarded, I knew that cabin attendants would be busy, so I left a note (along with a cash tip) in our cabin requesting extra pillows. We waited and waited, and our cabin attendant never showed up. Finally, by 7 p.m., I grew tired of waiting and called the Purser's Desk and asked how I could get ahold of my cabin attendant. They said they would call him. He did show up immediately and informed me that he didn't think he could get me any extra pillows. HUH??? He saw my disappointment and after we returned from dinner, the pillows were in our cabin. However, after that, I never saw him the entire week. Yes, he cleaned our room, but not thoroughly. Our glass table was never wiped down until the last night. We did run into his asst. a couple of times, but we were never once addressed by our names. We had some people over to our cabin one day and we left an add'l cash tip for the cabin attendant and his asst. with a note apologizing that a glass had broken on the balcony. They took the cash, but never cleaned up the broken glass (nor did they remove the glass with water and cigarette butts we were forced to use on the balcony since the original ashtray had disappeared). I had to leave another note the next day requesting that it be cleaned, and then it was. DH and I are very low maintenance cruisers and leave our cabin extremely neat, so it wasn't like they were overworked when it came to our cabin. I realize they have a lot of cabins to clean, but honestly, I even fold and place our dirty towels together to make their jobs somewhat easier. While most on the ship were very pleasant, it just didn't give off the same warm feeling we've experienced on our previous HAL cruisers. I don't think one staff member remembered our names the entire week, even though we frequented the coffee bar every day, and the Ocean Bar almost every evening. Don't get me wrong....nobody was nasty, but perhaps we've been spoiled by our previous cruises where it seemed the staff went out of their way to be friendly and get to know us by name.

 

Condition of ship: With the exception of a few minor things (a couple of shower faucets by the pools didn't work), I thought the ship was in great shape. There was constant cleaning going on and we were quite impressed with how well the ship is holding up. We have noticed the enormous amount of floral arrangements have decreased in number, but that's not surprising given the state of the economy and cost-cutting measures. Certainly not something that detracts from our cruise experience.

 

Overall Impression: I would have to say that our first two cruises on Westerdam were a tad better in some areas (service mostly). I don't know if I'll do As You Wish Dining anymore. The service in the dining room was pretty awful. Others who had traditional dining said their service was wonderful, so I think traditional dining is the way to go. HAL is headed in the right direction with the quality of their food. With each cruise we've taken on Westerdam, the food has gotten better and this time was excellent.

 

We had the absolute best group of Cruise Critic friends on this cruise. It's not often that a group our size (20-30) gels like we did, but we had a fabulous time with our newfound friends. We had two wine crawls (more like wine standstills!) and it was a blast. They were some of the greatest people and we look forward to sharing more cruises with them in the future.

 

We did two future cruise deposits while onboard. We booked the Westerdam for next February (and talked a couple of our fellow Cruise Critic friends to book with us), same itinerary. So you can see there weren't enough negatives about this cruise to dissuade us from cruising Westerdam again. I just hope the service picks up a bit. People who had never cruised HAL before thought the service was great...I guess we've just been spoiled by how outstanding it was in the past, and this time just didn't live up to our expectations.

 

If anybody has any specific questions, I'll be happy to answer.

 

Jo-Ann

[mommyto2girls]

Thanks for the mention...the pre-cruise party was great. I am so impressed with your review, you really summed it up perfectly. I think you may be way ahead of yourself you posted the year 3010. All of you would be the only reason we would consider ever cruising HAL again.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review.

 

We sailed on her for 21 days April/May 2009 and thought the Westerdam had the best food of all the ships we have been on -- their food was far better than the new menus we had recently on the Zuiderdam.

 

Glad you had a wonderful cruise and will be sailing on her again.

[pris993]

We cruised on the Westerdam in 05 and 07, considering another one. Glad to hear the ship is still in good shape.