How Good Is The Oosterdam

[localady]

That is why I question the pictures, unless things changed drastically from when we were on last week of October and first week of November. Never once did we see anything to what they posted pictures of :confused: Like I said they must have spent a great deal of their cruise going around looking for this. In all honestly I saw nothing like this in the 15 days we were on board.

 

GTVCRUISER you spend a lot of time on the Oosterdam and more recently then me have you seen this?

The Chairs from the Crows Nest do not bother me, I just find it hard to believe those lounge cushions were out. Thinking more they were in some obsecure place, possibly even crew area :rolleyes:

 

Lisa- Just FYI I did see some very shotty looking lounger pads on the "O" in January as I walked the Promenade. Did it ruin my cruise??? :rolleyes: Heck no! :D

I have been reticient to even post my impressions here because anything we seem to say gets deflected with "she is a cheerleader". I like cruising HAL granted, but I always call it as I see it, and the dismissal of my opinion because I am a long time HAL cruiser just irks me to no end. :rolleyes:

 

We are all entitled to our opinion folks, we listen to yours, could you possibly afford us the same courtesy??

 

[gonzo1124]

Those monkeys look old, decrepit and torn to me...:-)

[iancal]

Why not just wheel out the 'knob argument'.

 

No, there are no knobs on any of the cabin storage areas that I have seen therefore everything you say must be a fabrication.

 

I agree, the poster must not be telling the truth or is simply trying to deceive people by taking pictures of torn and stained pads on crew area loungers and passing them off as pictures of the promenade deck. Some of these posters are very trickey. Not.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Lisa- Just FYI I did see some very shotty looking lounger pads on the "O" in January as I walked the Promenade. Did it ruin my cruise??? :rolleyes: Heck no! :D

I have been reticient to even post my impressions here because anything we seem to say gets deflected with "she is a cheerleader". I like cruising HAL granted, but I always call it as I see it, and the dismissal of my opinion because I am a long time HAL cruiser just irks me to no end. :rolleyes:

 

We are all entitled to our opinion folks, we listen to yours, could you possibly afford us the same courtesy??

 

Thanks Sher, yes I will admit I am a HAL Cheerleader but if anyone has followed by Live from threads over the past 7+ years I will comment on things that are not perfect. Our Statendam cruise in 2009 I know I spoke about the furniture seeing better days, as well as I was criticized big time about posting pictures of HAL's new robes that had huge yellow stains on them that looked like an animal decided to leave a surprise:eek:

But while these things were mentioned I did not take every opportunity on numerous threads after the fact to keep bringing up my posts and reposting my links. I am just suspecting a hidden agenda. If I had truly had a great time on the cruise I seriously doubt I would have even bothered to go to the work of having a special blog page devoted to what I saw on the ship :rolleyes:

The ship is constantly repairing things and I would not be the least bit surprised if pictures of what continually gets posted are not already fixed. We were on the RCI Mariner of the Seas the couch in our cabin looked like something my parents had in the early 70's and was sagging in the cushions. Once you sat down forget getting back up. I know I mentioned in that report how bad I thought so much of the shipped looked but while I will admit I will not sail RCI again I did not constantly post on their board and show pictures.

Just my opinion folks, like mentioned everyone has a right to their opinion.

Gonzo :D love it!!

[lavictoria]

What surprises me is that no doubt HAL supervisors and officers walked by those loungers at some point. Did they really not notice, care or are there instructions from HQ that promote this?

 

I work in an organization where all the staff take great pride in our service and facilities. However there is a budget that comes down from on high. While it breaks our hearts to see materiel that needs to be replaced and fret when we don't have enough staff to respond as quickly or as fully as we would like to customers we do the best with what HQ give us. And HQ normally just sees the bottom line.

I'm guessing if every comment card said "You need new furniture" things might start happening.

 

Lynn

[big green]

We cruised on the Oosterdam this last December to Hawaii in a SB aft suite.

We found the wear and tear in the suite to be very obvious with one bathroom sink faucet that fell apart when we first tried to uses it. Water running so slow in the tub that maintenance had to fix it. Balcony deck furniture in bad shape with lounge pads torn in various spots ( they needed to be replaced). DVD player not working properly. It was obvious that the quality control people had not examined this suite very well. the suite TV was very very small for a suite and furniture was outdated. Also amenities such as shower caps etc. were not provided in the suite. Their suite was far behind what is provide by NCL in their suites.

 

We also found the service in the Pinnacle for breakfast to be so slow that we only dined their once for breakfast--it was horrible service. The service at night in the Pinnacle was also very very slow. The food at night in the Pinnacle the one time we dined there was not very good in our opinion wnen compared to other cruise line upscale restaurants we have dined in. We were disappointed so we cancelled our other dining reservation for the Pinnacle;

 

Despite what you hear from all the cheer leaders--the Oosterdam needs some work in cabins and service in the upscale restaurant.

 

 

 

Big Green

[Okie1946]

I work in an organization where all the staff take great pride in our service and facilities. However there is a budget that comes down from on high. While it breaks our hearts to see materiel that needs to be replaced and fret when we don't have enough staff to respond as quickly or as fully as we would like to customers we do the best with what HQ give us. And HQ normally just sees the bottom line.

I'm guessing if every comment card said "You need new furniture" things might start happening.

 

Lynn

 

Well put, and closer to the truth that what many are willing to accept.

 

As a retired Hilton employee I can vouch for the fact that the supervisors were well aware that certain areas that needed touching up (or updating) but MANAGEMENT would advise the supervisors that they had to make the best with what they had - the budget did not allow for changes at "the" time. The hospitality industry has been hit extremely hard by the events of 9-11 and with the ups and downs of the stock market, the banking scandal and other events over the past 5 years recovery has been very slow.

 

Agree that comment cards are the guests strongest weapons at getting management to sit up and notice that changes need to be made. So instead of "flaming" a person who shows evidence of "wear and tear", remember to make a comment on your survey the next time you fill it out. it is that simple.

 

Mean time - hope everyone enjoys whatever up coming cruise they may have on the schedule, I know I plan on it. :D

 

Previous Cruises:

Alaska - Westerdam - September 2009

Alaska- Rotterdam - September 2010

Mexican Riveria - Oosterdam - April 2011

[erewhon]

Cruising in 10 days on the Oosterdam

 

Have a great cruise.:)

[GTVCRUISER]

I was on board the Oosterdam Jan. 28 , 2012 , it looked in good shape to me , and I had a great cruise

[Copper10-8]

....................The Chairs from the Crows Nest do not bother me, I just find it hard to believe those lounge cushions were out. Thinking more they were in some obsecure place, possibly even crew area :rolleyes:

 

The crew doesn't have lounge chairs in their areas Lisa! No lounging there, just sitting;)

[LAFFNVEGAS]

The crew doesn't have lounge chairs in their areas Lisa! No lounging there, just sitting;)

Oh I am sorry did I say Crew area.... I meant to say Security Officers area :D

[Copper10-8]

Oh I am sorry did I say Crew area.... I meant to say Security Officers area :D

 

Ha, only wooden benches and handcuffs in there!;)

[garydm]

Vince and Lyn-thanks for your posts and for the photos. Your experience was exactly the same as ours in January. Like you, it did not ruin our trip but the furniture in many parts of the ship is long overdue for attention. That is the reality of the situation.

 

Gary

[GTVCRUISER]

Cruising in 9 days , I cruise for the Fun not the furniture

[Duck Duck Cruise]

That is why I question the pictures, unless things changed drastically from when we were on last week of October and first week of November. Never once did we see anything to what they posted pictures of :confused: Like I said they must have spent a great deal of their cruise going around looking for this. In all honestly I saw nothing like this in the 15 days we were on board.

 

 

The Chairs from the Crows Nest do not bother me, I just find it hard to believe those lounge cushions were out. Thinking more they were in some obsecure place, possibly even crew area :rolleyes:

 

ROFLMAO

 

[iancal]

Only good reports and nice pictures are wanted.

 

Anything else can be ignored, explained away, denied, or put down to a personal vendetta or an overly picky cruiser.

 

I am certain that it is a wonderful ship. But clearly, it could use some TLC at some point in the near future. And maybe some management training on what constitutes acceptable condition of lounge pads in public areas of the ship.

 

The bank that I do business with was robbed recently. Even though I did not see witness the event, I have no doubt that it occured as reported.

[Knightsbridge]

It is really quite a nice ship. We have been on it four times.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Only good reports and nice pictures are wanted.

 

Anything else can be ignored, explained away, denied, or put down to a personal vendetta or an overly picky cruiser.

 

I am certain that it is a wonderful ship. But clearly, it could use some TLC at some point in the near future.

 

Personally I think it is important to post things that need improvement and I have even posted pictures myself such as a stained robe. I have done this all myself (so obviously many here have not read many of my previous Live from posts I am not always "everything is perfect on HAL" ) I would gladly find the posts of my previous Live from the ship threads but that would be doing what I find to be wrong.... what my comment was that what bothers me is when a poster has to continually go into several threads to post what they have posted several times before about the same thing. Either there is a hidden agenda to keep repeating this or it really did upset them and they did not have as good of time as they proclaim to have had. The efforts made to do this tell me a whole different story. I will post once and explain a problem but I do not continue to keep posting links (Or prepare a whole special blog page devoted to terrible things I found on board a ship, sorry just my opinion there is an agenda there) and repeating the problems over and over. Once is enough....end of story, because we all know things change from cruise to cruise as well as what is perceived by others ;)

OK I am off my soapbox and done with this.

[erewhon]

We are considering a cruise on this ship.

Thanks to everyone who posted their experience of the Oosterdam.

[auusie]

I disagree with LAFFNVEGAS to the idea of posting a number of times as I asked for members reviews on the Oosterdam and the post in question was only a reply to that.

I as others no doubt found it a very good review and the pictures a bonus.

All I can say is that if HAL can't fix a few chairs why not get rid of them.

As I understand the idea of CC is to tell the Good Bad and Ugly on our experiences on any ship and help each other on all aspects of cruising.

If Mac Donald's can get it right why can't HAL.

My experience with management at HAL not the Captains and crew that they couldn't care less as there ships are full.

[hvsteve1]

I've been a member of CC for quite some time and use this, along with other sites such as Tripadvisor and Timeshare Users Group to plan my business travel and vacations. Where CC is different is that posters are often dedicated to their preferred cruise line, no matter what, while hotel guests and timeshare users may have their preferences, they're not in love with them. I may stay at Marriott or Four Seasons hotels, but I won't hesitate to report that I was disappointed with a threadbare carpet or shabby furniture. Even if I love a timshare, I'll report that I was unhappy with the condition of a swimming pool. I'm also a Disney fan and am on some of those web sites. Even the most dedicated Disney lover will complain if they go to a restaurant in Disney World and the food was lousy or the restroom wasn't as clean as they expected. They would complain on the boards and not be told they're "too fussy" or "unreasonable".

 

Oosterdam was my first cruise on a large ship line and I enjoyed most things about it. I thought the ship was larger and more crowded than I preferred, but that's a matter of taste. However, if I stayed in a four or five star hotel (which is the level of quality HAL professes to be) and had threadbare furniture in the public areas, cracked leather, stuffing coming out of deck chair cushions or the kind of rusted table I had on my balcony, I would probably complain to management. And, as another poster said earlier, management would probably take action to remove or replace the smaller items. Hotels, as a matter of fact, refurbish their rooms much more often than is done on cruise lines. And hotel rooms are used a lot fewer nights per year than is a cabin on a cruise ship.

[kazu]

I've been a member of CC for quite some time and use this, along with other sites such as Tripadvisor and Timeshare Users Group to plan my business travel and vacations. Where CC is different is that posters are often dedicated to their preferred cruise line, no matter what, while hotel guests and timeshare users may have their preferences, they're not in love with them. I may stay at Marriott or Four Seasons hotels, but I won't hesitate to report that I was disappointed with a threadbare carpet or shabby furniture. Even if I love a timshare, I'll report that I was unhappy with the condition of a swimming pool. I'm also a Disney fan and am on some of those web sites. Even the most dedicated Disney lover will complain if they go to a restaurant in Disney World and the food was lousy or the restroom wasn't as clean as they expected. They would complain on the boards and not be told they're "too fussy" or "unreasonable".

 

Oosterdam was my first cruise on a large ship line and I enjoyed most things about it. I thought the ship was larger and more crowded than I preferred, but that's a matter of taste. However, if I stayed in a four or five star hotel (which is the level of quality HAL professes to be) and had threadbare furniture in the public areas, cracked leather, stuffing coming out of deck chair cushions or the kind of rusted table I had on my balcony, I would probably complain to management. And, as another poster said earlier, management would probably take action to remove or replace the smaller items. Hotels, as a matter of fact, refurbish their rooms much more often than is done on cruise lines. And hotel rooms are used a lot fewer nights per year than is a cabin on a cruise ship.

 

The bold is mine. When we were on the Oesterdam she was in fine shape but it's not recent enough to help the OP HOWEVER as much as I love HAL (and I do and make no secret about it), I will report short comings, problems in my reviews and/or my live threads. Like Lisa, I believe in being honest. Dh and I have been on several lines and HAL is our preference for several reasons. I don't think it's fair to paint everyone on the board with the same brush. Many here are objective and want to hear the good, the bad and the ugly in a fair and balanced report.

 

Just because we LIKE Hal doesn't mean that we think HAL is perfect.

Where the majority of the reaction will be IMO is with a report that is not balanced and complaints are of the nature that a bit of research would have resolved (ie. didn't come here to ask, but first post is to complain - ie. the Lido wasn't open 24/7), etc. JMO though;)