The Official LAFFNVEGAS "Live From The MS Westerdam Thread"

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Sunday March 13th 2005

 

Well, we have almost completed out first day on the MS Westerdam. I am a bit frustrated because I just spent the last hour writing a very detailed report only to push the wrong button and loose all 3 pages I wrote so this may be much shortened (UGH!!!!)

 

First I want to go back and tell about our arrival and the Amerisuite. Our flight was smooth, other than leaving Las Vegas almost 60 minutes late sitting on the tarmac to leave we still arrived in Fort Lauderdale on time. We had a continuing flight that stopped in Chicago. Thanks to having my laptop we watched a delightful movie called “Shall We Dance” that helped the time go by quickly. When we arrived in FLL our luggage was the first off the carousel, we then called the Amerisuite, they arrived with in 5 minutes of our call at the Hotel shuttle pickup area. The Amerisuites would not be our first choice if we were staying more than one night here but for a quick stay prior to boarding a ship for the price it was OK. Bear in mind we paid less than $80.00 total. It was clean and extremely easy. We walked over to Outback Steak House to have dinner, it was late about 9 PM and the place was packed, we did not get to eat till 10 PM

 

The breakfast in the morning was the typical free breakfast you find at hotels like Amerisuite. Nothing exciting was eatable. Boarding the free shuttle was easy, we did that at 10:30 and was at Pier 4 at 10:45 For the price we paid I would stay at the Amerisuite again.

 

A friend I work with was just getting off the Westerdam, he called to let me know they were at Pier 4 instead of the regular HAL pier. We met up with him, he had a great week. He left and then we got in line to enter the building, while waiting we met the ship Physician and her gentleman friend who was just boarding. It ended up that he lived in Las Vegas and only lived a few blocks from us. Check in went extremely quick and we were on board the ship at 11:20, we immediately went to the Neptune and met Mitch our concierge, she is very efficient. We were disappointed to find out that they discontinued out favorite Asti Champagne just recently. We usually order this for every dinner. We made our additional reservation for the Pinnacle for Friday (I had already paid for this evening ahead of time) We also registered our credit card with her. We then went out the door only to meet up with Prey who was our cabin steward. We already knew a little bit about him thanks to Krazy Kruizer, he was delighted that we already knew about him and his baby boy. He offered for us to put our carryons in the cabin while we took off for the Lido. We can already tell Prey will be a gem of a cabin steward.

 

Then it was off to the Lido, In the past we have always enjoyed the first days array of food in the Lido. Today was disappointing, there was no roast beef and the rotisserie chicken was extremely dry. I was surprised to see how empty the Lido seemed it was about 12:30 and there was no problem finding a table. The dessert selection was extremely limited not like previous first days at the Lido. The one thing the struck me odd was the ice tea was served in extremely small juice glasses.

 

Once we finished eating we decided to walk around and take lots of pictures, of course it really was the same as the Zuirderdam and the Oosterdam. I will say that some of the artwork was very impressive. We then went to sign up for the internet package. If you signed up the first day you received 20 free minutes with the $100 package and 10 free minutes with the $55 package. After doing that we toured the Spa. We then headed back to our cabin to see if the luggage had arrived, it had not so it was about 3 so we decided to head to the Lido Bar where the HAL CC Roll Call Board was meeting. What a great group, Many Thanks to Anne and Carlos aka gorka who made up wonderful name tags.

 

After meeting with everyone it was time to get our Life Jackets for the Life Boat Drill, that was the same as always. We then returned to our cabin to find Prey bringing in our luggage. I was a bit surprised to see it arrive so late, usually we have had much earlier when we arrive early. We then unpacked, I must say this is our first S Suite on the Vista Class and I am surprised how much smaller it is over the one we had on the Ryndam. I can honestly now see why everyone raves over the S Class, it is truly a much nicer cabin. Don’t get me wrong this is very nice but not near as nice as the Ryndam. We then unpacked, after that we decided to head up to the deck above the Lido Pool for Sail Away. This was nice but not the typical Sail Away one thinks of leaving for the Caribbean. No music of any kind, just an annoying Bingo game with the numbers being called as we sailed out of Port Everglades. I do enjoy sailing out of this port and seeing all the resident waving at us. Sail Away was right on time and the weather was perfect.

 

After Sail Away we returned to our cabin to enjoy the view from our balcony and finish our champagne that was in our cabin. We then changed for dinner in the Pinnacle. Before we did, our usual of being the first in the gift shops when they opened. Unfortunately this too was a disappointment, usually we spend several $100 with in the first 15 minutes the shops opens but we found the selection of clothes/shirts to be very bad compared to when we were on the Oosterdam for Alaska and the Ryndam for the Sea of Cortez.

 

The other disappointment was on the previous Vista Class ships they had Waterford replicas of the center piece in the atrium for the Zuirderdam and the Oosterdam, we have collected these and planned to obtain one for the Westerdam. It seems they did not make one.

 

I did find a women’s golf shirt that was on sale I purchase and Tom did not find anything to buy.

 

We then headed to the Main Dining Room to introduce ourselves to our tablemates and let them know we would see them tomorrow night. We find we were at the exact table requested and it seems we have a great group of tablemates.

 

The Pinnacle was wonderful, steak delicious and service was excellent. We are now feeling like we have been on HAL many times, this is our first time to start running into employees we have seen on other cruises from other ships. This does make it fun.

 

This time in the Pinnacle we did not over eat so we could enjoy the dessert. I had decided that this night I would have the Volcano cake and dedicate the first bite to Ruth C and the second to sail7seas. I did but I think you both would be disappointed in the volcano cake. There was no cake to it, it was basically a runny fudge pudding, extremely undercooked. I could of made of fuss but the servers were so wonderful I did not think it was worth the fuss. After dinner we went to the Suite cocktail party in the Neptune. It was nice and we met some nice people, we just missed greeting the Captain which is Captain Jack van Coevorden for the first 3 days. He was also our Captain on the Zuirderdam in 2003. We did meet Rene’ Tuinman the hotel manager. The party seemed to be well attended despite the fact we arrived a bit late due to having had dinner.

 

Well, I think that brings me up to date, I am now exhausted and fingers hurt from typing. I will tell much more tomorrow.

 

Signing off.. Live from the MS Westerdam

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Lisa and Tom

 

Have a great trip, I know you guys will. We enjoyed you both so much on the Ryndam. Is this the anniversary cruise or Toms birthday????

 

Mary:p

 

 

Mary, we are actually celebrated both our 28th wedding anniversery and Tom's B-Day on this cruise.

 

 

Dave, How did you get that picture of me at the airport, isn't it amazing how much younger we get once we relax and start the cruise vacation.

 

BTW I am using my WiFi here in our suite, the speed is great and having no problems, so it can be accessed from the cabin with no problems.

 

Any questions feel free to ask, we are finding the staff to have the usual smiling faces and it is already going way too fast:mad:

 

We are at HMC tomorrow so I need to place my breakfast order for room service and do my wakeup call for 6:15 so I can be at the gym by 6:30

 

Looking froward to slleping in those beds:p

 

Good night

[Ziggy7]

Happy Anniversary Lisa and Tom!

and Happy B-Day Tom !!!! Wow turning 21 on a cruise ship must really be something huh ???

We are glad you are having a good time, forget the little oops, they are not worth it :)

Lisa, I got dibs on the first bite of bread pudding please :)

Enjoy HMC and when your standing next to the little bahamien church, think of my DH and I last Aug. renewing our vows in there for our 28th Anniversary :)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Monday March 14th 2005

 

Good Morning, just a quick note here while waiting before we go ashore here in HMC. It is a absolutely beautiful morning, seas are calm and oh so blue. We just finished having breakfast out on the balcony. It did arrive on time but everything that was suppose to be hot was cold and some of our order was missing, oh well that is to be expected.

 

I got up at 6:15 and went to the gym by 6:30 to my amazement it was packed, I got the last treadmill and most of all the other equipment was all being used. After doing 30 minutes on the treadmill I found there were 4 people waiting for treadmills and others waiting for the elipticals, I did use the stair mast for a few minutes and then the bike. By the time I left the gym was down right crowded. This to me was truly a first to see it so crowded this early in the morning. I am thinking it is because this does not seem like the normal HAL crowd, in what I have seen so far this group is extremely young with what I am guessing only about 5% to 10% of the passengers being over 65 and most of them are traveling with families.

 

One more BIG disappointment as many of you know one of my many favorite foods on HAL is the Swiss Mueslix. It has always been pretty close to the same on the Zuirderdam, Oosterdam and Ryndam well, it is not even close or would I call it mueslix it is more like a creamy fruit (mostly apple) salad with no mueslix. I am beginning to wonder who the main chef is here he cannot be from HAL?????

 

Well better stop for now so I can up load this and some of the pictures from yesterday. I will share with you some of embarkation and Sail Away.

 

Signing off…. Live from the MS Westerdam.

 

[WindyCity]

Hi Lisa,

 

So glad you are enjoying (overall) your cruise in the Westerdam. Please say hi to Prai from the couple in 7055 right before Christmas (We had the garland on the verandah)! He is a wonderful cabin steward!!

Hope your cruise is great!

Kris

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Here is a picture of my co worker and Tom and I at embarkation.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Here is Sail Away...

[LAFFNVEGAS]

And last picture for this morning is the HAL Roll Call Board with our first Get Together.

 

Back row you see Charlie aka Charliewesley, ML (Marylynn) and her friend Andrea, then Carlos. gorka's DH, the sitting is Anne aka gorka and myself. Anne and Carlos have the orange cabana today so we plan to stop by there and tomorrow afternoon we will also all be meeting together.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Lisa, you're looking so good!!!:D I thought that was how the volcano cake is supposed to be. Ours was cakey around the outside and warm fudgy (like lava) inside.

 

I'm looking at my Buddy List and seeing you on it and it feels so strange!!! I'd IM you, but I don't want to take up your time.

 

How were those beds???!!!! So fun reading as you go. Enjoy the day and think of poor us!!!

[JaniceB]

Lisa,

 

Thanks for sharing so much information with us. The pictures are great. It sounds like you are having a wonderful time except for a few glitches. I am looking for to reading more of your review.

 

Janice

[localady]

Lisa-

 

Glad you are having a nice day at HMC as I type!:) Sorry the Mueslix isn't what it should be.

I suspect the difference in demographics is due to Easter break, we set sail on Saturday on the Zaandam and there seems to be alot of families going. My teens will love it no doubt, and I'll have a full report upon return.

 

Continued safe seas and blue skies!!!!!:cool:

[jhannah]

We just finished having breakfast out on the balcony. It did arrive on time but everything that was suppose to be hot was cold and some of our order was missing, oh well that is to be expected.

Just curious ... why would you say this is to be expected?

 

Looks like you're having a great time. I can just feel those warm blue waters of HMC!

[QuitMyDayJob]

What a great review! We're booked on the Westerdam and have been wondering how it measures up.

 

A technical question: In the past we have arranged for our dinners at Pinnacle once onboard, but after reading CC for awhile, I see how pre-arranging/paying is the way to go. Lisa, you mention that you had pre-paid but were having the concierge make the reservation, so now I'm confused, do you just select the night when you pre-pay but not the exact time, or how does that work? (Please feel free to tell me to go find the thread if that's more appropriate!!)

 

Sounds like you're having a wonderful time!!

[Debi_D]

We have the Orange Cabana on our next cruise, let me know what you think of it.....Looking forward to more of your post....

 

Debi

[Himself]

Lisa:

 

Glad you and Tom got ashore at Half Moon Cay. It is a beautiful place.

 

Enjoy the cruise and keep posting.

[Cruising Jake]

Happy anniversary and happy birthday!

 

 

BTW, I am jealous of the sunshine and warmth.

[Rosarymb]

Take good care of the Westerdam, I'll be on her in 4 weeks! Let me know about any "must see" or "must do" things on board ship!

 

Countin' the days....

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Just curious ... why would you say this is to be expected?

 

Looks like you're having a great time. I can just feel those warm blue waters of HMC!

 

Jim all the times we have had room service each time something was always missing and the food was luke warm. This is our 4th HAL cruise and I would say about the 8th time we have had room service. At first I thought it was our luck, I have just decided that is how it is much of the time.

 

We just finished an absolutely perfect day at HMC 85 degrees extremely calm waters, no wind and the water is warm. We hung out at the Orange Canbana with fellow Roll Call board members. Tonight when I write my full report I will give more details but this was night and day different from our first time at HMC aqnd this was wonderful:D

 

QuitMyDayJob, we had prepaid and made reservations for Sunday night our first night ahead of time, then when we boarded we made an addidtional reservation for this coming Friday night which we will pay for that night.

 

I will post later and giving you more pictures.

 

Signing off..... Live from the MS Westerdam...location Half Moon Cay Bahamas

[DonMaryCar]

Lisa

 

We are all getting to enjoy your christmas gift of the laptop. Sounds like a wonderful cruise so far. Hope the weather continues to be lovely

 

Mary:)

[ekerr19]

Lisa -

 

Hope things are looking up... sounds like you are making the best of the little things, so don't let them get you down!

 

Looking forward to hear more... :)

[JaniceB]

Sounds like HMC was wonderful. I hope we have a nice day next week on the Zaandam.

[stanford's girl]

Does this mean we have a new "Grumpy and Slinky" for the Caribbean?;)

Enjoying your posts and pics Lisa. Glad you had good weather at HMC.:)

[HeatherInFlorida]

Lisa, we're planning (possibly) a group cruise on the Westerdam in the Caribbean in October 2006!!!!! We would have a blast!

 

Are you in??? We're only in the planning stages right now so just getting an idea.

 

Great to get your IM today! What a strange feeling .. you out there on the sea and me here on the land ... typing away.

[lori99320]

Lisa,

 

Your day by day is great...thanks for taking the time to do these posts! I was wondering on the internet packages - you said how many free minutes came with each package, but could you tell us what is included? Total minutes, is it by room or by person? How is the speed?

Looking forward to meeting you on the Oosterdam in October.

 

Lori

[Renorita]

Lisa, sounds like you and Tom are having a great time! Looking forward to our first time at HMC. Are the Cabana's really worth the price? Is shade at a premium there? Sigh, I wanna go crusing! :)

 

Rita