Just returned from Westerdam

[Live4cruises]

We got home last night from the 7-day Eastern Caribbean Christmas cruise on Westerdam, and I want to share some of my thoughts. We tend to be very quiet cruisers, so I don't have a lot of impressions about some of the activities; we also tend to make it a point to have a good time, and try to let any annoyances roll right off. This is far from our first cruise, but this was our first experience in a HAL suite; we were in SC 6177, and we were very happy with the cabin and the service.

 

The ship was nicely, but not lavishly, decorated for Christmas. Waiters and visible staff (other than stewards) wore Santa hats on the 24th and 25th. I'm sure they were glad when the 26th dawned! The ship was very clean, and seemed to be in good repair. The temperature seemed fine to me everywhere we went, and our cabin was always comfortable with a touch to the thermostat. We did have drainage problems in our cabin on two evenings when the floor drain under the vanity backed up into the bathroom. It was definitely nasty, but we were able to navigate the bathroom enough to get put together and out, and the problem was dealt with promptly. NO, we didn't do anything to cause the plumbing problem, just took showers!

 

Families - there were a lot of them! We saw absolutely no examples of bad behavior from any of the children or young adults. Regardless of the time of day we went through any of the cabin areas, they were always quiet.

 

Smokers - we are non-smokers, and while I'm not troubled with respiratory problems, I don't like to be around smokers. The only time I encountered smoke that was annoying to me was in the casino. Considering our run of luck, I would have been wise to have let it bother me enough to leave it!

 

The first night was Christmas Eve, so the stated dress code was "formal optional". We had planned for a formal evening "just because". Most people were nicely dressed, but we saw the entire gamut. There were special holiday dinner menus for the 24th and 25th. The food was special for the occasion, enjoyable, but not exceptional, which was our impression of the food in general.

 

We ate lunch twice at the Pinnacle - I particularly enjoyed the shrimp and crab cake entree. After some of the spotty reviews about Pinnacle dinners on this ship, we decided we were happy with continuing the MDR. Most breakfasts for us were coffee and muffins from the Neptune, but we went once to the Lido, and were surprised at how tasty and fresh the food was. After being excited about having suite breakfasts in the Pinnacle, we just never got around to it. Next time . . .

 

Ports

This was the first time we'd been to Grand Turk, and we loved it. Preferring to escape the cookie-cutter environment of the shops created by the cruise lines, we rented a golf cart, drove all over the island, and saw some spectacular scenery. It was Sunday, so any shopping or food away from the cruise area was closed. It is a very small town, and not commercial. We'd like to go back sometime and explore some of the real people areas more.

 

Since we've done excursions on both in the past, we just walked around the town areas of both St. Thomas and San Juan, and found them to be pretty much the same as the last time we were there. We asked a friendly local artist in St. Thomas for a recommendation for lunch, and were directed to Gladys's. The food was very good, and the service was friendly. We got there on the early side of lunch time, but it soon was packed with lots of people waiting. Recommended, but go early or late.

 

We thoroughly enjoyed our day on Half Moon Cay. We rented a clam shell (VERY glad we did that!), and enjoyed walking along the beach and marveling at the beautiful water.

 

We had some fairly rough seas for a couple of days. Fortunately, it started about half way through, so we had our sea legs well established, and had no problems with seasickness. However, we did see the dreaded seasick bags strategically placed around the ship, so I'm sure there were some miserable people. One evening in particular, we were really rocking and rolling, and the ship was creaking at the seams - great sleeping! While some things slid around, nothing in our cabin crashed to the ground, so the seas were definitely not as bad as some of you have experienced!

 

As far as we were concerned, it was a great cruise!

 

As I read back through this, I see it is far from my finest literary effort, but I did want to get some impressions written. I'm happy to answer any questions about the ship that I can.

[jhannah]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts on the Westerdam and your cruise. Sounds like a good time overall. Those HAL suites are really nice, arent' they?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home

 

Glad you had a wonderful Christmas cruise.

 

Westerdam is a lovely ship.

[Oceanwench]

Thanks for the review!

Did you go to any of the shows? I am curious as to who is entertaining.

Who was the CD? The captain?

[IRL_Joanie]

Welcome home and thank you for the great review.

 

While you say you did not do a geat literary review, I disagree:) You did an honest and open review and I love it!!

 

Any photos??

 

Joanie

[OVgirl]

Thank you for taking the time to write down your impressions. Looking forward to our cruise in a few short (long) weeks and hope that we can also be as relaxed as you were regarding any shortcomings on our cruise. Of course, our expectation is for a great cruise.

Thanks again.

[aliaschief]

Very nice review. Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise experience.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[GoldenLover]

Thanks very much for your "just the facts, mam, just the facts," review. I got a good sense of the Westerdam, as well as the "flavor" of a holiday cruise - something we are considering for next year. I doubt that we'll spring for a suite, but - you never know. We're very content just to be aboard any dam ship.

[Crusing Bob]

Very nice review.

 

This year will be our 4th cruise on the Westerdam and we love her.

[Steelboat]

Thanks for the informative review. We are on the Westerdam for the first time, departing Jan. 14th. After reading all the recent reviews, I think we'll like the Westerdam just fine.

[Pokeynose]

We've sailed on the Westerdam 4 times, same suite and loved it. There were a few minor problems but didn't spoil our cruise. We are going on her in Feb., trying an aft suite with a wrap around balconey. We'll see how the long walk to everywhere will work for us. Both of us have problems with our legs and more but we will give it a try. There are benches along the way where we can rest a few minutes. The end of Feb. can't come soon enough, cold and windy here today..........Westerdam take me away.;)

[Live4cruises]

Oceanwench - I'm a little embarrassed to say that we didn't do any of the shows, but that's us. The CD was Drew, the Master was Captain Harris - who certainly didn't sound Dutch!

 

Joanie - we do have some photos (I asked DH to take some pictures of our room before we cluttered it) - I will send them soon to see if you'd like to post them.

 

Pokeynose - 6177 is one of those heavenly aft wraps. It is a long way to most places, but I think that you will find that wonderful balcony and the quiet location to be well worth the extra steps.

[IRL_Joanie]

Oceanwench - I'm a little embarrassed to say that we didn't do any of the shows, but that's us. The CD was Drew, the Master was Captain Harris - who certainly didn't sound Dutch!

 

Joanie - we do have some photos (I asked DH to take some pictures of our room before we cluttered it) - I will send them soon to see if you'd like to post them.

 

Pokeynose - 6177 is one of those heavenly aft wraps. It is a long way to most places, but I think that you will find that wonderful balcony and the quiet location to be well worth the extra steps.

I really cannot wait to see the photos of 6177 as we are in the same stateroom in April on the Oosterdam:)

 

Joanie

[luvcdays]

It sounds like you had a great time! Can you tell me more about the golf cart rental on Grand Turk? Did you make a reservation or just walk up and rent one? Also, how much was it and how long was the rental for?

 

Thank you.

[Pokeynose]

.

 

Pokeynose - 6177 is one of those heavenly aft wraps. It is a long way to most places, but I think that you will find that wonderful balcony and the quiet location to be well worth the extra steps.

 

We're in 7151. A friend, Cheryl and her husband Terry, we met on our two previous cruises always books that suite and so we thought we would give it a try. She had our first M&G on their balconey, we had a wonderful time. We made great friends on those cruises and hope to cruise with them again.:)

[Live4cruises]

Luvcdays, we read about golf cart rental on the CC port boards. We debated about renting one in advance for $80, but chose not to in case of bad weather. Walk out of the shopping area on the main road (we went first out the beach route, which was not convenient). Just outside the port entrance was a local entrepreneur with about 8 golf carts lined up for rental. We were the only ship in town, and it looked as if their business was VERY slow. "How much for a cart?" "$80.00" "Will you take $50 cash?" The proprietor had to make a phone call, then it was a done deal, and all in US Dollars. You have to sign a waiver and have a valid driver's license.

 

The time frame is for as long as you're in port. The carts hold 4 people if you're with friends, but I don't think I'd care to ride on the back! They are gas powered, and come with 1/2 tank of gas, and you are to return it with 1/2 tank of gas. Gasoline is about $5 per unit (we saw 3 gas stations, all similar prices), and we put two units in it at the end of our rental. I don't know if these were gallons, imperial gallons, or liters, and in the scheme of things, it really didn't matter! We saw only one other couple with a golf cart the whole time. Motor scooters were also readily available to rent, but I don't know any details about those.

 

We've said that we'd love to do this again, and next time we'd make an effort to have a little picnic with us. If that sounds good to you, you might think about taking an insulated sack to hold some bread, cheese, and libation. If this is tucked in your beach bag, I doubt you'd be challenged about it, although we did not see any signs forbidding food. I probably would not take fresh fruit ashore though. Also, there is very little traffic, so we felt quite safe.

[luvcdays]

Luvcdays, we read about golf cart rental on the CC port boards. We debated about renting one in advance for $80, but chose not to in case of bad weather. Walk out of the shopping area on the main road (we went first out the beach route, which was not convenient). Just outside the port entrance was a local entrepreneur with about 8 golf carts lined up for rental. We were the only ship in town, and it looked as if their business was VERY slow. "How much for a cart?" "$80.00" "Will you take $50 cash?" The proprietor had to make a phone call, then it was a done deal, and all in US Dollars. You have to sign a waiver and have a valid driver's license.

 

The time frame is for as long as you're in port. The carts hold 4 people if you're with friends, but I don't think I'd care to ride on the back! They are gas powered, and come with 1/2 tank of gas, and you are to return it with 1/2 tank of gas. Gasoline is about $5 per unit (we saw 3 gas stations, all similar prices), and we put two units in it at the end of our rental. I don't know if these were gallons, imperial gallons, or liters, and in the scheme of things, it really didn't matter! We saw only one other couple with a golf cart the whole time. Motor scooters were also readily available to rent, but I don't know any details about those.

 

We've said that we'd love to do this again, and next time we'd make an effort to have a little picnic with us. If that sounds good to you, you might think about taking an insulated sack to hold some bread, cheese, and libation. If this is tucked in your beach bag, I doubt you'd be challenged about it, although we did not see any signs forbidding food. I probably would not take fresh fruit ashore though. Also, there is very little traffic, so we felt quite safe.

 

Wow! This is great information. It sounds perfect and we always like to have a picnic on our travels. Do they grow any fruit on this island?

 

Thank you for your help.

 

BTW-I have 17 cruises also & 3 more booked.

[bear99]

Im 19 and this is me and my familys first cruise and we had a blast. We didnt really know what to expect but we had an amazing time. We didnt have anything to compare it too but we just were in awe the whole time.

 

The food was great pretty much everywhere except for a few things at the lido, but you can pick and choose in which the selection was good.

 

The shore excursions and ports of call for us were also great. We did the dune buggies on grand turk--a blast,the dune buggies and margaritaville basically made this island great for us. San jaun-- was a lot more commercialized and we didnt have great weather there, but a tour of the Bacardi rum factory and old san jaun was fun. St thomas--was probably our favorite island overall. We toured the old Haggensen house which was immaculate. The island was very clean, nice people, and the most beutiful scenery. we also walked around the shopping mall which is nice. Last was Half Moon Cay--just a great beach really..not much there except shore excursions and one of the nicest beaches filled with clam shells which made the experience so nice and cant wait to go back. Here we just relaxed on the white sandy beach with clear water and a drink on the beach. Very nice having the drinking age 18 at all the ports, basically the icing on the cake for a teenager.

 

Overall great experience, one of the best vacations my family has ever had, and cant wait to do it again soon.

 

Did run into a couple at dinner that really liked to complain about things on and off the ship, but said Holland America line and the Westerdam doesnt compare with Royal Carribian and there massive ships. Is there any truth to this or was he just blowin smoke?

[alpal1993]

This will be our first cruise in March and we are a little concerned with the water temperature(especially since we are having a cooler then normal winter here in FLL).Was the water a comfortable temp for snorkling and other wather activities?

[Live4cruises]

Joanie,

 

I just e-mailed photos of 6177 to your yahoo account - I hope. It's a new computer and a new photo program; I think I did it all correctly. Please let me know if you need me to send them one at a time.

[IRL_Joanie]

Joanie,

 

I just e-mailed photos of 6177 to your yahoo account - I hope. It's a new computer and a new photo program; I think I did it all correctly. Please let me know if you need me to send them one at a time.

 

I have them up and running now, along with parts of your reviews:)

 

Thank you so much!! They are awesome!!

 

Joanie

[lakemurraykid]

I enjoyed reading your review. It was concise and to the point, which I like. We're on the Westie February 4, so I was so happy to hear that you had a good experience. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

[barbarah33]

Thank you so much for your review. We are also booked on the Westerdam for the 4th of February and seeing how this will be our first HA cruise we were starting to think perhaps we had made a mistake trying a new line. It's great to hear positives. (We are also two who try to see the good and always enjoy a vacation no matter what happens.)

 

Did you receive all the 'perks' that they promised for a suite? I have also read where they are no longer offering some, like the champagne in your cabin, upon embarkation?

 

Welcome home!

[CaliforniaAC]

This will be our first cruise in March and we are a little concerned with the water temperature(especially since we are having a cooler then normal winter here in FLL).Was the water a comfortable temp for snorkling and other wather activities?

 

Here's the website that will give you the water temps-

 

http://sailwx.info/wxobs/watertemp.phtml

 

This site can also tell you ships locations.

 

We have cruised in February and March, and the water was still comfortable. At HMC the water can always be a little chilly, but always warmer than here in SD:).

 

 

Have a great trip!