Newbie Questions Oosterdam Cruise Booked for May 2023

[DAF7065]

We just booked 12 Day Med on Oosterdam starting end of May.  This is our first "real" cruise and our 40th anniversary gift.   As there is a lot of time from now till then I want to understand how best to make all this work and have a great cruise. 

 

 I am trying to understand how all this site works.   I think there is a place just for the cruise we are on so we can talk, ask and try to understand the cruise and destinations.     So first off any advice or is there any FAQ or so on how the site works.

 

Second one of the big questions / thoughts we have is sharing some private tours in a couple of ports.   How is it best to make these kinds of connections?

 

Basically right now I am looking for any advice as to how all this works and how to get connected in preparation for our cruise 

 

Thanks

 

Dave

[oaktreerb]

I was hoping someone else would answer and give you the link.  

 

Go to ROLL CALLS

Choose HOLLAND AMERICA

Choose Oosterdam

 and look for the date of your cruise.  If anyone has started a Roll Call it should show up there.

[oakridger]

Welcome to Cruise Critic!  

 

~Nancy

[ski ww]

Welcome to Cruise Critic another place to check is go to the Ports of Call, look under Europe and get info about some of the ports on your itinerary. 

[DAF7065]

Thanks for all this, I checked and it looks like I check for my month  and ship then there are posts for all the cruises on HAL for that month and just have to check postings for my ship.   I get it now and will start watching and posting.  Looking forward to May 2023.   

[crystalspin]

On 6/24/2022 at 4:34 PM, DAF7065 said:

Basically right now I am looking for any advice as to how all this works and how to get connected in preparation for our cruise 

Hi Dave and welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

If you look up near the top of any screen, there is a blue banner (the second blue banner), and the first link is Forums. Click that, scroll a little, and you will find the following.

 

Forum Assistance section, with three "boards":
Need Help Using the Forums? Check Here!  
TEST FORUM  -- you don't need this, you're doing fine
Announcements (usually posted in several places)

 

New Cruisers section, with three "boards":
Ask a Cruise Question 
Cabin Selection Tips  
First Time Cruisers

 

Scroll some more and you will see special interest topics that may or may not apply to you.

 

To confirm (in case you doubt yourself), your cruise does not have a Roll Call yet. You may not feel comfortable starting one! But you can keep watching, and if there is not one by the time you have got your CC sealegs, start one by the same format in the title as others you observe. As far as shared private tours, all contact/negotiations should be done within your Roll Call. Ideas and companies may be found on the Ports section.

 

Hey, you might like to look up HALFACTS.com and look at passenger submitted photos of actual staterooms and some other aspects of your ship. (Oosterdam is a Vista Class ship, and photos from all four of them are indexed on one long 'page'. The arrangement of furniture etc will be the same from ship to ship in a Class, although the decor may vary.)

 

There is another site, CruiseDeckPlans.com, that has more photos (from all major lines), but it is subscription to see anything but tiny thumbnails. So check HalFacts first! Also, you can try searching the web and especially YouTube, for videos of the Oosterdam and sometimes get lucky and find a cabin in the same floorplan (same deck, same category) as yours.

 

So far my favorite HAL ship has been the Zuiderdam, sister to Oosterdam! We were booked to go to the So.Pacific on the Oosterdam in late March 2020... 😞

 

Finally, fyi, the Vista ships are named for the cardinal points of the compass:

North -- Noor

East -- Ooster (ooster rhymes with toaster)

South -- Zuider

West -- you guessed, Wester!

 

-- E.

Elizabeth

Edited June 26, 2022 by crystalspin

[DAF7065]

Thanks Elizabeth,   All that helps.   I have many questions but lots of time..so I will take it one at a time for now.

 

Dave

[kasey68]

My husband and I are booked on this exact cruise as well!!  We are SO excited about it!!

[crystalspin]

5 hours ago, kasey68 said:

My husband and I are booked on this exact cruise as well!!  We are SO excited about it!!

Hi Kasey! Welcome to Cruise Critic!

 

Your Roll Call, where you can "meet" others on your journey, is here: