Just off Oosterdam

[iowacruiser]

DW and I are back home after 11 days on the Oosterdam. It was somewhat of a homecoming after sailing on her 20 years ago and I thought I would add some observations about the ship, crew and ports.

As you would expect Oosterdam is showing her age and anyone who has sailed on the Pinnacle class ships would consider her tired and dated but if you can get past the older furnishings and decorations Oosterdam has aged pretty well. The crew works hard to keep ship clean and almost constant maintenance has kept her in pretty good shape.

We were in cabin 7093-a Neptune suite on the bump out. On the N Amsterdam and Eurodam these would be SS or SY suites. We like the angled balconies which are more spacious then regular NS (except of course the aft end wraparound corner suites) On Oosterdam the suite itself it notably larger than the SY on the other ships. Plenty of storage and very open living area.

The bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub but the shower is too small so we used the shower in the tub everyday-no big deal. Our cabin stewards Gede and Sitig were great and provided exceptional service. 

We had access to the Neptune Lounge and took advantage of the snacks, honor bar and coffee machine daily. The Concierge, Kristine was wonderful. We booked air with Flight Eaze and flew Air Canada- Orlando-Montreal-Athens and Barcelona-Montreal-Orlando on the return. The AC pilots were threatening a strike that would have grounded our return flights home. Kristine was in daily contact with FE about our options but fortunetly the strike was settled at the 11Th hour.

We had Club Orange with our suite and ate in the dining room several nights. CO allowed us to get a table for two each night even at peak times-never a line. Dinner options were pretty weak. What we did order was good not great except for the Halibut ($25 upcharge) was really good. We ate breakfast in the PG most mornings. Service was great but the menu was the same you could get in the MDR-again, food was good not great.

Had dinner one night in the PG. I ordered the "Prime Ribeye" with the upcharge-not worth it. The cooks in the PG don't understand the difference between medium rare and medium and I'm not sure it was actually prime.

All of the ports were good and we did more excursions than normal. If you have not visited Rome before the "The Best of Rome" tour was worth it. We did get inside the Vatican and St Peters late in the afternoon so the crowds weren't too bad. It's a long day but you hit all the top sites.

We booked a small group tour (8 of us) through our TA for the Amalfi coast and glad we did. We stopped in Amalfi, Positano, and Sorento and had plenty of time at each stop.

The cruise line changed our port in Sicily to Catania which made the drive to Taormina longer.  We ended up taking a makeshift tour that was basically and bus ride to and from. We had 4 hours in Taormina on our own. We both wish we could have had more time.

Corsica was one of our favorite stops. The locals had a farmers market set up at the port entrance and we picked up some local cheese and olives for happy hour in our cabin that night. Olympia, Albania and Nice were all nice but we just walked around on shore and lunch and drinks at each stop-delightful.

Our only real complaint about the cruise was maintenance being done on our balcony two days in a row. Crews were sanding down rust spots and re-sealing and painting. Paint fumes made the balcony unusable one of the evenings.

Kristina told us the ship had 1990 passengers on board which is a little more than double occupancy, but we never felt crowded. Bar service on the pool decks was slow at times but I'm guessing that's a staffing issue.

As usual the crew was outstanding and always greeted you with a smile and a hello..

We don't care for the megaships which seem to dominate cruising these days so even though Oosterdam is showing her age she provides a cruising experience we prefer..

 

Edited 20 hours ago by iowacruiser
typo

[Sir PMP]

Thank you, I'll be on her in a few weeks.

[CNSJ]

Thank you for your to the point review.  We are booked to sail Oosterdam to South America & Antarctica.  

[Haljo1935]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts - sounds like overall you had a good cruise.

🙋‍♀️ question about PG - you daud there was an upcharge on the prime ribeye. You mean above the PG charge itself, there was an additional charge for the ribeye?  That's disappointing - I always order the ribeye and have not had a surcharge. 

Did you have the new menu in the PG? 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing.

[bigbeergut]

Thank you for your review and it helped confirm our decision to stay on the Pinnacle class ships.    We prefer the improved Club Orange and an updated appearance.  

[Moriah]

Thanks for your review!! My first cruise ever was on Oosterdam in a Neptune Suite (in those days called a Deluxe Verandah Stateroom !) - in 2004! I love all four Vista ships and I guess because I can remember, like you, when they were the newest and biggest in the fleet, they never seem "small" to me.  Long may they sail! 

 

I'm curious, when you say Oosterdam is showing her age, did you mean the furnishings and decor is "dated" or were there places that were actually run-down or in disrepair?  

[FlaMariner]

Great review....We love the Oosterdam....great size, beautiful, aging gracefully.....we were on her in April....crew was top notch.

 

Thanks for taking the time to pass along your experience.

[iowacruiser]

59 minutes ago, Moriah said:

Thanks for your review!! My first cruise ever was on Oosterdam in a Neptune Suite (in those days called a Deluxe Verandah Stateroom !) - in 2004! I love all four Vista ships and I guess because I can remember, like you, when they were the newest and biggest in the fleet, they never seem "small" to me.  Long may they sail! 

 

I'm curious, when you say Oosterdam is showing her age, did you mean the furnishings and decor is "dated" or were there places that were actually run-down or in disrepair?  

22 years at sea results in a lot of corrosion. That's what maintenance was doing on our balcony for two days. They are keeping her up as she cruises. Oosterdam hasn't had a substantial dry dock since 2018. She is scheduled for one next April I believe.  That said, the ship is very well maintained and the crew takes pride in that.

[albingirl]

Really nice review, thanks.  This always reminds me of how much there is to see in Europe and there's never enough time. Great itinerary.

[FlaMariner]

19 minutes ago, iowacruiser said:

They are keeping her up as she cruises.

 

We were on her in March 2023 going thru the canal and the captain made a comment about "we got a few scrapes on the side" going thru and sure enough, they were out painting parts of the hull when we were at the next port of Aruba......She's aging better than I am. 

[doobieb]

Thank you for this report. We board next Sunday-so it was good to read your report. 

We like the size of the Oosterdam, and appreciate NOT having 3000+ fellow cruisers on board!  It is impressive how HAL maintains all the ships. 

[Sir PMP]

4 hours ago, iowacruiser said:

DW and I are back home after 11 days on the Oosterdam. It was somewhat of a homecoming after sailing on her 20 years ago and I thought I would add some observations about the ship, crew and ports.

As you would expect Oosterdam is showing her age and anyone who has sailed on the Pinnacle class ships would consider her tired and dated but if you can get past the older furnishings and decorations Oosterdam has aged pretty well. The crew works hard to keep ship clean and almost constant maintenance has kept her in pretty good shape.

We were in cabin 7093-a Neptune suite on the bump out. On the N Amsterdam and Eurodam these would be SS or SY suites. We like the angled balconies which are more spacious then regular NS (except of course the aft end wraparound corner suites) On Oosterdam the suite itself it notably larger than the SY on the other ships. Plenty of storage and very open living area.

The bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub but the shower is too small so we used the shower in the tub everyday-no big deal. Our cabin stewards Gede and Sitig were great and provided exceptional service. 

We had access to the Neptune Lounge and took advantage of the snacks, honor bar and coffee machine daily. The Concierge, Kristine was wonderful. We booked air with Flight Eaze and flew Air Canada- Orlando-Montreal-Athens and Barcelona-Montreal-Orlando on the return. The AC pilots were threatening a strike that would have grounded our return flights home. Kristine was in daily contact with FE about our options but fortunetly the strike was settled at the 11Th hour.

We had Club Orange with our suite and ate in the dining room several nights. CO allowed us to get a table for two each night even at peak times-never a line. Dinner options were pretty weak. What we did order was good not great except for the Halibut ($25 upcharge) was really good. We ate breakfast in the PG most mornings. Service was great but the menu was the same you could get in the MDR-again, food was good not great.

Had dinner one night in the PG. I ordered the "Prime Ribeye" with the upcharge-not worth it. The cooks in the PG don't understand the difference between medium rare and medium and I'm not sure it was actually prime.

All of the ports were good and we did more excursions than normal. If you have not visited Rome before the "The Best of Rome" tour was worth it. We did get inside the Vatican and St Peters late in the afternoon so the crowds weren't too bad. It's a long day but you hit all the top sites.

We booked a small group tour (8 of us) through our TA for the Amalfi coast and glad we did. We stopped in Amalfi, Positano, and Sorento and had plenty of time at each stop.

The cruise line changed our port in Sicily to Catania which made the drive to Taormina longer.  We ended up taking a makeshift tour that was basically and bus ride to and from. We had 4 hours in Taormina on our own. We both wish we could have had more time.

Corsica was one of our favorite stops. The locals had a farmers market set up at the port entrance and we picked up some local cheese and olives for happy hour in our cabin that night. Olympia, Albania and Nice were all nice but we just walked around on shore and lunch and drinks at each stop-delightful.

Our only real complaint about the cruise was maintenance being done on our balcony two days in a row. Crews were sanding down rust spots and re-sealing and painting. Paint fumes made the balcony unusable one of the evenings.

Kristina told us the ship had 1990 passengers on board which is a little more than double occupancy, but we never felt crowded. Bar service on the pool decks was slow at times but I'm guessing that's a staffing issue.

As usual the crew was outstanding and always greeted you with a smile and a hello..

We don't care for the megaships which seem to dominate cruising these days so even though Oosterdam is showing her age she provides a cruising experience we prefer..

 

Do you remember who the captain was?

[NCTribeFan]

I'll be on her, but not until November 2025.

 

I love the Pinnacle class, but also really like the Vista and Signature class, mostly because I sail solo and love those large interior cabins. 

 

I've been on Zuiderdam twice and liked the ship.  I just really like the size and layout.

 

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[sunviking90]

Thank you for your report. Appreciate it as we will be on her next month. Do you know if there is a new style library as was installed on the other ships recently?

[iowacruiser]

2 hours ago, Sir PMP said:

Do you remember who the captain was?

First name was Kevin... That's all I can remember,

[iowacruiser]

32 minutes ago, sunviking90 said:

Thank you for your report. Appreciate it as we will be on her next month. Do you know if there is a new style library as was installed on the other ships recently?

Sorry I didn't notice.. It used to be in the Crows Nest but I think now it's on a lower deck.

[sunviking90]

1 hour ago, iowacruiser said:

Sorry I didn't notice.. It used to be in the Crows Nest but I think now it's on a lower deck.

Thank you anyway.

[FlaMariner]

1 hour ago, sunviking90 said:

Thank you for your report. Appreciate it as we will be on her next month. Do you know if there is a new style library as was installed on the other ships recently?

 

The "new" library was on the Oosterdam in April 2024.....It's past the shops....where the Microsoft classrooms once were located.....Very nice.  Found some Grisham novels.  Lots of books. 

[sunviking90]

1 minute ago, FlaMariner said:

 

The "new" library was on the Oosterdam in April 2024.....It's past the shops....where the Microsoft classrooms once were located.....Very nice.  Found some Grisham novels.  Lots of books. 

Thank you! That’s what I was hoping. 

[Haljo1935]

10 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

Thanks for sharing your thoughts - sounds like overall you had a good cruise.

🙋‍♀️ question about PG - you daud there was an upcharge on the prime ribeye. You mean above the PG charge itself, there was an additional charge for the ribeye?  That's disappointing - I always order the ribeye and have not had a surcharge. 

Did you have the new menu in the PG? 

@iowacruiser apologies if I missed your response - can you confirm the surcharge for ribeye in the PG was on top of the PG charge?

And do you know if you had the new menu? Thanks!!

[0106]

5 hours ago, iowacruiser said:

First name was Kevin... That's all I can remember,

@Sir PMP  Kevin Beirnaert was the captain of the Oosterdam on our SA & Antarctica voyage in February.  Although he said he was the youngest captain in the fleet, he was the BEST captain I have ever sailed with on HAL.  

[LetItSnow]

Thanks for the review!  We'll be on Oosterdam (for the first time) in March for the last sailing before she goes into dry-dock.  I hope that's not when maintenance starts to wane. 

Edited 8 hours ago by LetItSnow

[MaxThrusters]

Interesting review. I've been looking at some Oosterdam European sailings for 2025-26 lately myself although I'd rather if they had a pinnacle class chip for them. Perhaps those ships are too big. Thanks for writing that up!

[Alphabetguy]

Thanks for the update.  We’ll be on the Oosterdam in two weeks.  BTW, I lived in Adel for 30 years.