Westerdam Thanksgiving Cruise

[NapTown Jim]

Its been a few days since we've been home and I finally had a chance to write a review of our trip. A great vacation, but too short.

We flew to Ft Lauderdale from Indianapolis on Air Tran non-stop. It was actually a good flight. My first time with Air Tran...pity that Southwest will gobble them up. We stayed at the Marriott Springhill Suites because there was a free shuttle to/from the airport and to the cruise port. We waited at the hotel pickup area outside the airport for nearly 30 minutes watching the shuttles for nearly every other hotel come and go once or twice. We finally called to have them send someone to pick us up. Another 15 minutes later and we were on our way. The hotel is very nice and comfortable. The staff was very friendly and helpful. There was limited capacity for the cruise-port shuttle so we signed up for it as soon as the man who was in charge of it reported into work.

Embarkation

They seemed a little disorganized here. We did not arrive until nearly noon and had to wait for our luggage to be unloaded from the bus before we were released to go in. Immediately we were greeted by stevedores asking for tips to take our luggage. We reluctantly paid their shakedown fee and went in. Overall I'd say embarkation was not nearly as good as in Seattle but just a little better than in Montreal. Just a little.

Our previous two cruises on HAL had been on the Maasdam, then the Amsterdam. So we moved up a size larger still on the ships. The Westerdam was in tip-top shape and her crew was very friendly and helpful. Our Cruise Director Drew set himself apart from our earlier experiences with HAL by being very involved and visible everywhere in the ship. There were many children on board and I'm happy to report an equal number of baby strollers to senior walkers on the ship. I attribute the younger demographic to the Thanksgiving Holiday.

Another surprise from earlier cruises was that Executive Chef Andreas was also very visible walking the public areas of the ship, talking with passengers and also checking on things in all the food service areas of the ship. We loved the Westerdam, but didn't like that the Explorations Cafe shared space with the Crows Nest.

The entertainment was very good. The first night we were entertained by ventriloquist comedian Willie Tyler and Lester. It was a superb act. The next night was Joel Mason’s tribute to the Eagles. That was possibly the best show I’ve seen on a cruise ship.

We dined ‘As you Wish’ just to try it out. We found the service in the ‘anytime’ Dining Room to be better than at the traditional fixed Dining Room. We may have become converts to AYW dining. We ate in the Lido a couple nights and found the food there to be good, but the dining room was better.

Ports

We visited Half Moon Cay, Aruba and Curacao. This was our first time at each of those ports. We were impressed by HMC. I spent the day in and around the Bahamian Church making sketches so I may paint it during the cold long dark of our Indiana winter. My mom & sister roamed the straw market and the beach. We were not too impressed with Aruba. Yes it had fantastic beaches and even more fantastic mega-million dollar resorts with accompanying tourist shopping traps. We were disappointed because we were expecting a more Dutch colonial look and feel of the island. Something Curacao had all that and more of. We loved Curacao. We wished we were docked there longer so we may mingle more in the old Dutch city of Willemstad.

My wife was afraid she’d be bored with all the sea days, but there was plenty to do and we found this to be a very relaxing trip. That said, of the four cruises we’ve taken so far this is the first one we would not want to repeat mostly because of the disappointment of Aruba.

Disembarkation

We each paid the $20 fee to enroll in the “Luggage Direct” service. For this fee they print out your boarding pass and luggage tags. They take your bags from the ship straight to the airport and you don’t see them again until you pick them up in your final destination. What a breeze! This was by far the easiest disembarkation we’ve ever done. We were the first ones off the ship, were quickly ushered through immigration.

Final Thoughts

We really didn’t mind the children on the ship at all. I’ll take a playful child over a grumpy old curmudgeon any day. Our only real disappointment was that it all ended so quickly! We really need to look at doing longer cruises.

[jeffs55]

Thank you for a well written review. We look forward to the same itinerary in January.

[blj]

Thanks for the review--will be on the same itinerary Feb. 11.

[Roz]

I couldn't agree with you more about Aruba. I just "don't get" Aruba, but I'm giving it another try. I'll be doing the same itinerary on the Westerdam January 21.

 

Curacao is amazing, and I can't wait to go back there. I took the trolley tour the last time I was there, and visited the synagogue on my own. Afterwards I sat in one of the outdoor cafes by the floating bridge and drank an Amstel.

 

Roz