The Good and the Not So Good

[regnig]

Having disembarked the Oosterdam on Friday 31 March I feelcompelled to make a couple of comments. The sailing was a 14 day cruise leaving from Tampaand going as far south as Aruba. Port stops were Key West, San Juan,St. Thomas, Antigua,Saint Lucia, Curacao, Arubaand the Cayman Islands.

Having sailed the Oosterdam last year prior to herrefurbishment we found the changes very tastefully executed. The Lido hasbeen updated although the chairs are still too heavy to easily move on thecarpet. The Stateroom changes are freshand the technology updates are sure to please most. The only negative is that they have removedthe drawers under the love seat and we found we really missed the extra storagethey provided.

With 2 exceptions the food was excellent. We eat all our meals in the Lidoas 2 ½ hour meals is just not our thing. The entrée menus pretty much matched that of the main dining roomincluding crab legs and lobster. Theexceptions were the lack of pineapple and the pork belly. While there were miniscule pieces ofpineapple in the itty bitty bowls of fruit the quality was nothing compared towhat it has been in the past. Guess itjust could have been a bad year for pineapple or perhaps the vendor used in Tampa is different than in Ft. Lauderdale. The pork belly, which can really be quitegood, was awful, all fat and no meat. There must have been a fire sale on it though as it was the “CarvingBoard” meat 3 times.

The entire staff we dealt with was wonderful. At no time were our needs not met and if anywere not happy with their situation of being overworked it was neverevident. Our day started with a smilingserver and a cheerful Good Morning by our room service attendant and continuedin like through out the day.

Now the not so good…..

Being one of the sinners who still smoke we spent themajority of our time onboard out at the Sea View Pool. I would estimate that on a consistent basisthe area was full with approximately 50 people both during the day andevening. With 5 full and 2 half sea dayswe were a captive audience in need of “something”. While we knew there was a Cruise Directoronboard never once did he or his staff provide any activities or decent poolside music. The closest thing to “entertainment”was kettle drum lessons for 30 minutes on 3 days. The same kettle drum player also played 3identical sets pool side during the cruise. It did no good to request a song as he was accompanied by a sideman andhad only one set of songs. The insipidpiped in music was one tape of about an hour in length that was played over andover and over again. While I enjoy AdeleI can go a long time without every hearing her sing “Someone Like You” again. The play list was as close to elevator musicas it can get. The CD needs tounderstand while the age group of HAL cruisers may be older than perhaps RCL orPrincess we are baby boomers and we are not dead. Music from the60s, 70s and 80s would have been gladly welcomed. Had the CD or someone from his staff made acursory walk through the area greeting passengers and inquiring aboutsatisfaction he would have rapidly learned how unhappy the group was. While no one desired silly pool games howcostly would something like music trivia, as HAL has done in the past, havebeen? Additional there were no “SailAway” events as in the past.

Will this “not so good” keep us from sailing HAL again? Of course not but we can only hope that wenever sail with that particular CD ever again.

[Cruise or Lose!]

I agree that more attention needs to be paid to that part of the ship. On all our HAL cruises, it has been very crowded (my mother is a lifelong sinner).

 

 

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[regnig]

I agree that more attention needs to be paid to that part of the ship. On all our HAL cruises, it has been very crowded (my mother is a lifelong sinner).

 

 

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While we spent very little time at the Lido Pool the situation there seemed to be identical to the Sea View Pool, NOTHING!

[Cruise or Lose!]

Weird! Cost-cutting, perhaps :-(

 

 

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[jhsocal]

How did you like the Crows Nest? Read on other posts some unpleasant changes since drydock.

Was there any entertainment after 10PM?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Sadly we have noticed many changes on HAL the last couple of years and I don't see HAL going back to the old ways.

[puppycanducruise]

Thank you for taking the time to post your comments.

Glad you had a good cruise.

[regnig]

While there were some obvious cost saving cut backs that we saw it is hard to consider this one of them. Unless HAL now assigns their CD's dish washing duties :rolleyes: this was just a case of a CD who did not understand or care to understand guest satisfaction and what very little it would have taken to achieve it.

[freestyling]

I agree that this situation with playing the same music over and over is just annoying. This clearly can be improved. On our previous Maasdam cruise the identical situation occurred. We mentioned this to the Cruise Director when we saw him at the explorations cafe and he was kind enough to ensure 5 different CD's were played. He had said that the CD player had 5 different CDs but someone must have hit the "repeat" button so only 1 CD played over and over! He thanked us for mentioning it to him.

[RocketMan275]

How did you like the Crows Nest? Read on other posts some unpleasant changes since drydock.

Was there any entertainment after 10PM?

We were on Oosty the first week in March. The Crows Nest was fine. Not unpleasant at all.

[boards]

Our last cruise was on the Oosterdam Nov, 2016 and we thoroughly enjoyed all the changes that we saw. We really liked the layout of our veranda cabin, the change of the Northern Light area into the "Gallery". The Lincoln entertainment Centre and the duelling piano's. The food in the MDR and the Lido was very enjoyable, thank goodness I didn't see the food mentioned by the OP. We were personally looking for a relaxing cruise, with enough activities to satisfy us and we got it. Happily the smoking on the ship was very well controlled and we were not bother by it, we just stay clear of that area. We enjoyed the cruise very much and improvements made to Oosterdam.:):)

[taxmantoo]

While there were some obvious cost saving cut backs that we saw it is hard to consider this one of them. Unless HAL now assigns their CD's dish washing duties :rolleyes: this was just a case of a CD who did not understand or care to understand guest satisfaction and what very little it would have taken to achieve it.

 

Totally agree. We were on from March 10 to March 31 and found Andrew Knox to be one of the most uninterested and least inspiring CD's we have ever encountered.

[regnig]

Totally agree. We were on from March 10 to March 31 and found Andrew Knox to be one of the most uninterested and least inspiring CD's we have ever encountered.

 

Oh dear :eek: and you had to endure 7 more days than we did. In the past I've always been sad to leave the ship but this time I was more than ready. I do hope you noted your dissatisfaction on the email survey. While I was hesitant to post anything here on CC I'm glad I have if for no other reason than to know there are others out there that felt the same way we did.

[Skipper's Mom]

Totally agree. We were on from March 10 to March 31 and found Andrew Knox to be one of the most uninterested and least inspiring CD's we have ever encountered.

Lou, wasn't there a female CD, Stone, on the 3/10 voyage? We called her the vanishing CD and I so noted in my survey.

Lynne

 

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[taxmantoo]

Lou' date=' wasn't there a female CD, Stone, on the 3/10 voyage? We called her the vanishing CD and I so noted in my survey.

Lynne

 

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Yes, Stone was the CD for March 10-17 and then Andrew for March 17-31.