Brief Review of Oosterdam Hawaii Cruise February 25 – March 10, 2012

[Duck Duck Cruise]

This cruise was our third cruise in the past 3 years to Hawaii on 3 different cruise lines, our second HAL cruise on a Vista Class Ship, and our fifth cruise in the last 3 years. Our other HAL cruise was on the Zuiderdam doing the inside passage to Alaska. We booked VA5185 cabin, a stern veranda cabin.

 

We always have a wonderful time on our cruises and this cruise was no exception. Lin was excited before we left to be cruising on HAL and was anticipating that this would end up being our cruise line of choice for future cruises.

 

Let me start by saying that the crew on the Oosterdam were the happiest (genuinely happy, not corporate mandated happy) crew we have ever sailed with. We saw behavior of some passengers that was absolutely atrocious and the crew handled themselves with a dignity and respect that made the offending passengers look like idiots.

 

Embarkation was a breeze. We arrived early and when we were allowed to board, were one of the first people on-board. This was actually the easiest embarkation we have ever had on a cruise, even compared to two previous cruises where we were in suites.

 

We did not have a cabin steward on this cruise, we had a cabin elf. Everything was always magically done and any request was met with a smile and was accomplished promptly. Our cabin elf was named Harry and we left a “Let Us Know” card praising his work at the front desk.

 

We purchased the Thermal Suite package for the cruise beforehand knowing that the price would be cheaper on embarkation day. Upon embarking the ship we went to the spa and verified our reservation and they told us that since the special was $200 less than what we paid beforehand they would only charge our on-board account for the special price, in effect giving us another $200 of on-board credit. We absolutely love the Thermal Suite and made good use of it during the cruise.

 

Our cabin was a little larger than I thought it would be and our veranda was huge compared to regular veranda cabins. It was about 15 or 16 feet deep. It was outfitted with two of the faux-wicker loungers and two faux-wicker chairs and the obligatory small table. This was our first time ever having a fully covered veranda and we found it to be perfect.

 

You can find more details and photos in our blog at: http://thegeomonkeys.com/2012/03/our-cruise-to-hawaii-on-holland-americas-ms-oosterdam-2012/

 

We love the promenade deck on the Vista Class ships as you can walk completely around the ship on one deck unlike some other ships that require you to go up and down stairs at either end of the ship to make a complete lap.

 

The first night out of San Diego we had 30 foot seas and 20 foot seas the first full day at sea. Neither of us are bothered with motion sickness and slept like babies with the rocking motion. Many others were not so lucky and the bags and medication were readily available for those who needed it. This is the first time that I have ever seen a formal night canceled and rescheduled due to rough seas. We don't do formal nights and had made reservations for the Canaletto Restaurant for those nights so on the rescheduled night we ate in the Lido instead.

 

The food on this cruise was good overall, probably better than we expected based on previous cruises.

 

The shows were hit and miss, as expected. We always sit near an exit so we can escape if need be and we did that several times.

 

We don't do Bingo, Karaoke, or Trivia, although we will sit in occasionally on Trivia or Karaoke to have a good laugh. We felt the cultural program left a lot to be desired. We attended the first one and left when the “expert” was basically reading a script.

 

We don't do ships excursions because they are generally overpriced and we aren't sheep and don't like to be herded. We had arranged our own things to do while in Hawaii and enjoyed them immensely.

 

It was nice to see that the muster drill had a little more importance placed on it although HAL needs to tweak it some. Roll was taken, under threat of not being able to sail if you weren't there. That is a good thing. However, to have everyone meet at their muster station and have a crew member try to show everyone how they should put on their life jacket when only the people in the front row could see them is rather silly, especially for first time cruisers.

 

Our first stop was in Lahaina, Maui. This is a tender port (thankfully the only one on this cruise) and the tendering process was absolutely horrible. We have been here on two other cruises, on different lines, and HAL really screwed this up. They put 5 tenders in the water and found that two of them were broken down. REALLY! SERIOUSLY! Rather than putting in two others to replace the broken down ones, they decided that they would work on them in the water to fix them. Maybe they thought the other eleven on the ship were broken down also. These are the life boats that would be used in an emergency and they weren't working properly. So much for the enhanced muster drill procedures. From the time we got our tender tickets (#10) it took us 2 ½ hours to be put on a tender. I feel sorry for the people who showed up for their tickets 45 minutes later and had ticket #36. On our other cruises we never had more than a 20 minute wait after getting our tickets.

 

Returning to the ship was excruciating also. We stood on the dock for over an hour for a tender to show up to take us back to the ship. There was no traffic in the harbor and the seas were calm. The tendering process was ridiculous. HAL definitely dropped the ball on this one.

 

We did our own things on the other islands and getting off the ship was easy since all HAL had to do was make sure the gangway was secure.

 

Unfortunately a huge storm pretty much canceled anything on Kauai. Roads were washed out and torrential rain dominated the agenda. Amazingly, some passengers were absolutely incensed that their tours were canceled and blamed HAL for it. More childish, spoiled, entitled people!

 

Disembarkation in San Diego was a breeze. Unusual to be sure, so we'll take it and enjoy it for a change.

 

Now for something new in my reviews. Ahhh! To Dream.

 

IF I WERE KING: :) (and I had unlimited funds)

I understand some of these thoughts are not possible, some are funny and some could be put into service.

 

1) Make it so that you could view your on board account on your stateroom television.

2) Make the atrium large enough to feel like a destination of it's own.

3) Make the Vista Showroom large enough to accommodate everyone that would like to attend a show there so you don't have to show up 45 minutes early to get a seat.

4) Have muster roll call taken with hand held mobile scanners that they use when you disembark the ship.

5) Hold muster drills inside (requires more seating in the Vista Lounge, etc) so that elderly people aren't standing for long periods of time while roll is taken. Everyone might be able to see the life vest demo that way also.

6) Make sure all tenders (life boats) are operational prior to needing them.

7) Use more tenders to get people ashore in a reasonable amount of time.

8) Install a button to turn on the T-Pool jets that can be reached while IN the T-Pool.

9) Install sensors in the Thermal Suite that will sense when someone on the tile loungers is snoring that will drop down a “Cone Of Silence” (remember Maxwell Smart) around them so others don't have to listen to them snoring.

10) Install a human wash (similar to an automatic car wash) at the entrance to all hot tubs, pools, and T-Pools so that everyone has to take a soapy shower before entering the public pools.

11) Cappuccino Bomb would be on the dessert menu every night.

 

 

 

Prior to our cruise we saw posts from people on Cruise Critic that have sailed on the Oosterdam who said they were disappointed with the condition of parts of the ship. These people, some of whom are long time cruisers and posters to CC, were vilified, attacked, and called trolls from other boards because they dared to say something was “wrong” with the “O”. We heard many comments while on-board from people who were upset about the condition of some sections of the ship. So we did a little investigation while on-board to see for ourselves.

 

Feel free to yell at me now for what I am about to post. There are areas of the “O” that are in need of repair. Should they ruin someone's vacation? I don't think so, but everyone needs to decide for themselves.

 

It's very easy to attack someone you don't know when it is your word against theirs, so I decided to take pictures to support what I found and people can make their own judgments.

 

The “O” underwent a dry dock a few months ago so I expected her to be in pretty good shape throughout. Yet, some items were not addressed during the dry dock, but someone had to make the decision that these conditions were acceptable for HAL's standards.

 

You can view the photos and what the complaints were that we heard about while on board at the following link: http://thegeomonkeys.com/2012/03/holland-americas-ms-oosterdam-march-2012/

[andeesue]

Enjoyed reading your trip review very much. I got such a kick out of your suggestions- the Cone of Silence should be marketed!

[Westcoast girl92]

I really found your review helpful- thanks for taking the time to go into detail on your blog :)

[kazu]

Interesting review and well done. Thanks. Love the cone of silence:)

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

Your pictures are great.

I think HAL needs to address the issue that all the chair and lounge pads on all ships need to be replaced.

The pads on our chairs and loungers were very faded and had quite a few paint spots and food spots on them -- Maasdam. We noticed that several of the whicker chairs on the sports needed to be thrown out. I didn't take pictures of them.

[dobiemom]

Thank for the review. Started to read your blog but have to get up to do that work thing (to pay for cruises :D).

 

I have a question about your itinerary: You went to Maui first then the Big Island, Oahu, Kauai. Was that planned or did your itinerrary chang because of the weather? We sail this Saturday and our itinerary is the Big Island, Oahu, Kauai, Maui.

 

Welcome home!

[portofrome]

Thank you for the review.

[boards]

We were on the Oosterdam to Hawaii last and we made mention of the condition of the pads on the lounges on the comment, about their sad condition. Sad to hear nothing has been done about. We also experienced the sight of a tender having problems. We highly recommend Hal, but the more we read lately of the poor service and conditions on some of the ships, we are having second thoughts. We are on the Volendam next week and are sure hoping for good things to happen.

[kakalina]

Thanks for the great review. You have a wonderful sense of humor. I too would be extremely upset if the tender/lifeboats were not in working condition. I had hoped on the larger ships there would be more tenders in the water.

[jmelnick]

We were in 5184 the previous week and loved Harry! He was the best.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Sounds like you had a good time on one of my favorite ships, the Oosterdam.

[sue117]

Nice review. I like seeing the geocaching comments too! :)

[woody73]

Excellent review. Thanks.

 

Woody

[KirkNC]

Thanks for your review, glad you had a good time. The only unlimited money item I disagree with is meeting inside (I understand your reason). I think it is important to actually know where you life boat is and get some idea of what the process would actually be like in an emerency. But I also think you should be required to actually put on your life jacket (again I know why they stopped, people tripping on cords).

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Thank for the review. Started to read your blog but have to get up to do that work thing (to pay for cruises :D).

 

I have a question about your itinerary: You went to Maui first then the Big Island, Oahu, Kauai. Was that planned or did your itinerrary chang because of the weather? We sail this Saturday and our itinerary is the Big Island, Oahu, Kauai, Maui.

 

Welcome home!

 

Not sure why they changed the order of the stops from the normal order. However, we were informed of the change several months before the cruise. It wasn't weather related.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

We were on the Oosterdam to Hawaii last and we made mention of the condition of the pads on the lounges on the comment, about their sad condition. Sad to hear nothing has been done about. We also experienced the sight of a tender having problems. We highly recommend Hal, but the more we read lately of the poor service and conditions on some of the ships, we are having second thoughts. We are on the Volendam next week and are sure hoping for good things to happen.

 

i think there are some upholstering issues they need to address but the service was excellent. We were more disappointed in the attitudes of some of the passengers.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

We were in 5184 the previous week and loved Harry! He was the best.

 

Like we called him on our blog. He wasn't a cabin steward....he was a cabin elf. Excellent!

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Excellent review. Thanks.

 

Woody

 

Loved the formal nights with you two. Great company!

[sail7seas]

Thanks so much for your review.

I really enjoyed reading it. We are sailing Oosterdam to Alaska and though we've done many HAL cruises, it will be our first time sailing her.

 

One small point of interest.

Sorry the tendering process was so bad and we've experienced it when there was a long wait and were impatient and frustrated but they cannot simply put more boats in the water if they have a problem with one of the tenders. All of those orange boats on the side of the ship are life boats but only some can be used as tenders. Those designed to be used only as lifeboats are configured differently inside and are not intended to be used for tendering.

 

Also, it is a signature of HAL ships they have wrap around Promendade Decks. We love those teak decks that go all around the ship and often walk laps for exercise on whichever 'dam' ship we are on. Three times around on a Vista ship equals one mile. :)

 

Welcome back and thank you so much for all the effort that went into writing such a good review.

 

 

[Duck Duck Cruise]

Thanks so much for your review.

I really enjoyed reading it. We are sailing Oosterdam to Alaska and though we've done many HAL cruises, it will be our first time sailing her.

 

One small point of interest.

Sorry the tendering process was so bad and we've experienced it when there was a long wait and were impatient and frustrated but they cannot simply put more boats in the water if they have a problem with one of the tenders. All of those orange boats on the side of the ship are life boats but only some can be used as tenders. Those designed to be used only as lifeboats are configured differently inside and are not intended to be used for tendering.

 

Also, it is a signature of HAL ships they have wrap around Promendade Decks. We love those teak decks that go all around the ship and often walk laps for exercise on whichever 'dam' ship we are on. Three times around on a Vista ship equals one mile. :)

 

Welcome back and thank you so much for all the effort that went into writing such a good review.

 

 

 

I did not know that about the tenders being designed differently. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

 

However the 5 tenders they used are also to be used as lifeboats and 2 of them were broken down. One of the ones being used as a tender was our assigned lifeboat (it wasn't broken down).

 

Since some of them are dual duty vessels - two out of five of them should not be broken down at anytime. It is still a safety issue. If they were being used to evacuate the ship and they didn't work I can only imagine the questions that would be asked of HAL.

 

It also makes you wonder if out of the other 11 lifeboats, 4 or 5 wouldn't be operational if they were needed in an emergency since they aren't used as often since they don't do tender runs.

 

I would hope not, but people will panic in emergencies and that could get very ugly, very quickly.

[sail7seas]

I did not know that about the tenders being designed differently. Thanks for bringing that to our attention.

 

However the 5 tenders they used are also to be used as lifeboats and 2 of them were broken down. One of the ones being used as a tender was our assigned lifeboat (it wasn't broken down).

 

Since some of them are dual duty vessels - two out of five of them should not be broken down at anytime. It is still a safety issue. If they were being used to evacuate the ship and they didn't work I can only imagine the questions that would be asked of HAL.

 

It also makes you wonder if out of the other 11 lifeboats, 4 or 5 wouldn't be operational if they were needed in an emergency since they aren't used as often since they don't do tender runs.

 

I would hope not, but people will panic in emergencies and that could get very ugly, very quickly.

 

 

You can be absolutely sure those tenders were worked on immediately and put into proper order. They are constantly checked, tested, and maintained. None of us probably know exactly what the story with any of those tenders really was/is. But you can count on the those tenders getting whatever attention they needed, if any.

 

[V'sGirl]

Enjoyed your review; loved your blog. I sure could make use of that "Cone of Silence" in the middle of the night when DH is sawing logs!

[Dbedros]

You can be absolutely sure those tenders were worked on immediately and put into proper order. They are constantly checked, tested, and maintained. None of us probably know exactly what the story with any of those tenders really was/is.

 

Please let us enjoy the factual knowledge given by the reviewer. It is obvious that you are one of the flamers for HAL. The reviewer stated what happened with the tenders/lifeboats during their cruise. Another person stated there had been problems with tenders/lifeboats during their cruise.

 

But you can count on the those tenders getting whatever attention they needed, if any.

 

This was totally unnecessary as both posters stated there was some problem that caused a delay. It had to be the tenders as the sea was calm.

 

We come to Cruise Critic to get information, good, bad, or indifferent. I appreciate this type of review. The condition of the furnishings has been mentioned in other reviews and the flamers immediately say that they never noticed it. Now we have pictures and if you visit any of these areas you would have to be blind not to notice. I suspect that it is also visible in most cabins. Is it a deal breaker? No, as the reviewer stated it should not stop anyone from enjoying the cruise. What it does is let me know not to ask for another chair if the ones in my cabin or on my balcony or worn as this is currently the general condition of the ship. I will simply cover them with towels and enjoy my itinerary, let the ships crew pamper me and enjoy the ambiance of the ship. I will get there early to get tender tickets just in case.

 

Thanks very much for the review and pictures.

[woody73]

 

You can be absolutely sure those tenders were worked on immediately and put into proper order. They are constantly checked, tested, and maintained. None of us probably know exactly what the story with any of those tenders really was/is. But you can count on the those tenders getting whatever attention they needed, if any.

 

 

Please let us enjoy the factual knowledge given by the reviewer. It is obvious that you are one of the flamers for HAL. The reviewer stated what happened with the tenders/lifeboats during their cruise. Another person stated there had been problems with tenders/lifeboats during their cruise.

I was on this cruise.

 

To illustrate how painfully slow the tender process was in Lahaina, these are from my notes:

• 12:00 noon: The cruise director announced tender tickets were available. (We went right after the announcement was made, and received tickets for Group 9)
  
• 12:45 pm: Groups 1 & 2 called
  
• 12:58 pm: Group 3 called
  
• 1:30 pm: Groups 4 and 5 called, and so on.

 

How I wish "those tenders were worked on immediately and put into proper order." Hopefully next time they'll do that before they're needed.

 

Woody

[ladybird1956]

Thanks for your wonderful, detailed review of your latest cruise. I also meandered over to your blog and read up on some of your other cruises, as well as the detailed version of this one. Your writing is clear, detailed and easy to follow. I love it. I also wanted to find out more about geocaching so did a bit of research in the middle of the night (A good way to spend time when you can't sleep). Its all so interesting! We leave for a cruise to Hawaii in a few weeks, so I plan on going through your information in more detail. Thanks!

The only quibble I have is the White Pass Railroad in Alaska. We loved it. But I think that was more due to the guide we had - so much interesting history - but, to each his own!

Carol