Westerdam 5/18/08 - 5/25/08 Alaska detailed review

[Tatianablue]

Thanks for this review. I will be cruising on the Westerdam in a few weeks.

 

I have been on many cruises, I have found only 3 great cabin stewards.

 

The Panama Canal cruise sounds lovely, I hope to take my H there also.

[sppunk]

I didn't mention this in my review, but for anyone going to Alaska and hoping for complimentary hot chocolate on deck on a glacier day - forget it. It was available to purchase for $6 and $9, but not free as I had thought (much like the Dutch pea soup is free during those days from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.).

 

After reading Captain Albert's blog, I tend to take my comments back about not seeing the captain and certain senior officers around often. Never did I realize the captain spends so much time on the bridge at incredibly odd hours on Alaska runs, which would greatly decrease his ability to walk about and interact with guests.

 

To whomever asked if this cruise had a Meet and Greet - it did but I didn't attend. I believe a few officers were present (they were scheduled to be, at least).

 

To anyone sailing soon, don't be afraid: We had a bad experience with a steward you most likely won't have, and that sullied our experience a bit. Other than that, very very few things went amiss during our voyage and we had an absolutely wonderful time onboard.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I didn't mention this in my review, but for anyone going to Alaska and hoping for complimentary hot chocolate on deck on a glacier day - forget it. It was available to purchase for $6 and $9, but not free as I had thought (much like the Dutch pea soup is free during those days from 1 p.m. - 3 p.m.).

My guess from the previous 4 Alaska cruises was that the $6 hot chocolate was with the Holland America Souvenir Mug and the $9 one was with the souvenir mug spiked with your choice of spirits:D They do have some thermal paper cups there for free hot chocoate but of course since it is the Bar Staff that is out on the Bow selling this, they are out there to make money so were not freely giving out the "free" Hot Chocolate but if you ask for the free one it would be there;)

[sppunk]

That saddens me - I spent my entire day on the bow and asked if only the mugs for sale were available and told yes. :( If I had known they had cups for free, I would have insisted, but I never saw anyone with a cup.

 

Live and learn - I'll have to use that trick on my next HAL cruise to the Great North!

[ctsally]

Sspunk, I'm saddened to hear of your unhappy experience with the cabin steward. He must have simply been "burnt out". We have gone on several cruises on the Noordam as well as the Ryndam and Veendam and had nothing but stellar service.

 

I am concerned. For years I have been singing the glories of HAL to a friend, encouraging her to get going on a HAL ship. In July she will be doing the seven day Alaska cruise on the Westerdam (her very first cruise ever) and I want her to enjoy HAL as much as we do.

 

We've been through the Panama Canal both ways, once on the Veendam, and once on the Noordam, and I can say that both ships and both crews are fantastic!

[Sandy Sails]

I was on the Westerdam in March and we had a different captain who was very visible and always making fun announcements.

 

Wasn't there a huge turnover of officers just before the transition cruise in April (except for CD Jason Venner)? I've been reading bad reviews on this ship starting from the transition cruise and into the Alaska cruises. A large turnover like this could affect alot of crew attitudes.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise anyway. Hope you had a chance to enjoy Seattle also. Thanks for the great review.

[dlbaqua]

$6 for hot chocolate? Wow

I hope I can find the free stuff, or I think I read somewhere you can make your own in the lido with hot water and free packets?

Thanks for your review. I'm a bit concerned about the Westerdam, lots of things seem "off" from recent reviews. I'm sure I'll have a good cruise, but for the money this is costing compared to our usual cruise fares, I really wanted to have a GREAT cruise.

I, too, would love to read about your land experiences as I'm going insane trying to decide which excursions to book.

[Alaskabound77]

dlbaqua-

When are you going on your cruise?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

$6 for hot chocolate? Wow

I hope I can find the free stuff, or I think I read somewhere you can make your own in the lido with hot water and free packets?

 

Actually what you are paying for is the tall Thermal/with lid Souvenir HAL Mug that cost about the same in the HAL gift shop. If you look at it that you are buying the mug it really is not that expensive. I personally like the spiked one. You are getting a tall Hot Chocolate with a tasty Liquor for only $3 more:D Unfortunately you cannot use a drink card for this.

[cccole]

As I posted on another thread......I always pack a couple of "souvenir mugs" so that we can use them for coffee, cocoa, or whatever. They are just the right size to pack my jewelry in wrapped in a sock. I love my "souvenir mugs" but the cupboard is full. To those on their way to Alaska - have fun!!!! Cherie

[tayl]

I returned from the 1st Alaska cruise on May 19. During the glacier day (which was fantastic);besides the pea soup, I asked the staff person selling the spiked hot choc, where I could just get a cup, with nothing but hot choc. He tried to push the the alchol and mugs. I finally said that I thought hot choc. was free. He then reluctantly gave me a cup, but wasn't happy when others saw and wanted the same.

[Xoe]

A fine review, helpful and relevant to us as we are booked in September for one of Westerdam's late-season Alaska cruises. We've cruised Alaska 5x (Princess, Celebrity, HAL) -- easy for us since we can drive to either Seattle or Vancouver in a couple of hours.

 

We just returned from Carnival Spirit's 12-day Hawaii cruise, our first (& likely our last) time on Carnival. We thought the food quality below our other cruises (HAL, Princess, NCL, Orient Lines, Windstar, & Empress of the North); the ship's decor was on the glitzy/gaudy side and lacked the fine wood and good art work of other ships, more the style of a Las Vegas hotel as distinguished from a soothing spa resort.

 

Crew have been fine on all of our cruises; I can't imagine a steward like you had! We too do not drink and do not like the high level of on-board activities and entertainment that Carnival had on offer.

 

Itinerary is our first consideration when choosing a cruise, and the 12-day Hawaii was perfect for us, so, no regrets. But, other things being equal, Carnival would/will not be our choice in future. Windstar is my own favorite, but my husband prefers a larger ship. HAL is a great choice when ready to "spring" for a suite, as the Neptune Lounge is a marvelous extra.

[sppunk]

That's unfortunate to hear about the food - it's been several years since I sailed CCL, so I wouldn't be surprised if food quality was lower now than then (2004, if I recall correctly).

[lvcruiselover]

Thanks for the detailed review, I enjoyed reading it. My husband and I were on your same cruise, it was our first one. I'm sorry to hear about your cabin steward. We only saw our steward twice, once when he introduced himself and once we came back while he was cleaning. So we didn't really have a chance to talk to him, but he did do a great job.

 

I thought the food was ok, but I wasn't really expecting that much. The salmon and other seafood was really good. I do agree that most of the desserts looked a lot better than they tasted. I still managed to gain two pounds LOL.

 

I really enjoyed cruising and will definitely do so again. I would cruise the Westerdam again and definitely will try HAL again.

[cruiseapril]

Hi- Interesting review. Does anyone know if the crew on the Westerdam changed for Alaska? We certainly found the crew- on the Caribbean Southern in April-to be upbeat and helpful. Was it the same crew?

[LillyBelle]

I was on the Westerdam 05/18/08 sailing also and we did not have any problems with any of the staff. Our room steward was a little shy beginning of the week, but by the end of the week he was very friendly and did a great job. Our dining team was excellant as well (we had traditional 8pm seating). We did not run into anyone with a negative attitude. We saw the captain many times through out the ship and was invited to a reception with him one evening. (Thanks to our CC meet and greet!) He was very pleasant and seemed to enjoy talking to his passengers. We met the head chef during the galley tour, he was also very friendly and was constantly up in the lido deck checking on things. Our cruise director was fantastic! He was very funny and kept us laughing every night with the game shows and the karaoke competition.

[atudorquene]

However, luckily I can say that our experience was not at all like yours, excepting the good parts. We love the Westerdam, Captain Harris, deck officers, front office staff, our steward Ferdy [albeit a few things did slip in the rush and running about on a few days], and the overall experience. It was our first cruise, and we would sail on the Westerdam again in a minute, and with Captain Harris again in a nanosecond.

 

We were in a SS Verandah Suite on the Navigation deck, and it was quite nice with very little noise. I suppose that in a warmer clime it might be a bit more noisy, but we only heard some bumps and knocks on those nights when the seas were rough. I always saw the Officers out and about on the ship, and we met a very nice Third Officer name Jared on the Promanade Deck on the Glacier Bay day and he gave us tips on where to find the otters, seals and to look for the whales. Then we went upstairs to our stateroom and took pics from our verandah. The weather was quite fine, and I wasn't seasick even once, which was a miracle.

 

I could always get the phone concierge when I needed to, excepting three times that were not crucial, so that worked out well for the most part. The food was always quite good, and we liked the AYW dining, as we were never down there the same time any evening. In a pinch we ate at the Lido, and that was quite good, as well. The PG was fantastic, excepting the Prime Rib portion was too large, and I felt guilty leaving a fourth of it on the plate, and they wouldn't let us take the remainder to our stateroom. I understand the why's of this, but I like cold beef, and I had a fridge to put it in. I would suggest that they have petite cuts for all the meats at the PG so that the light eaters don't have to feel so guilty about wasting food, and therefore the life of the food animal. I would say the nickel and diming over the sodas was a bit out there, and when we went to 'trade' in our gift Champagne they only gave us on bottle of Martinelli's [we don't drink alcohol] whereas I think three or four bottles of sparkling cider would have been more of a fair trade, LOL!

 

The one real problem we had was when our regular steward was off for one day, and we didn't know it. Our room was not cleaned until very late in the day. Also, one evening there was an unpleasant odor in the hallway, we informed the front desk and they had it fixed within an hour or so. Very responsive. The folks that I can remember from the Front Desk are, Andreea, and Johanna - and they were fab. Veronica the party planner did us up a great Renewal of Vows Ceremony, and Captain Harris was a hoot during the rituals.

 

I do think the Photographers were doing their best, but things were very rushed, and for the amount they were charging for their pics, I would like a bit more time and perfection. However, I am used to headshots and professional studio photos, so I am a bit spoiled. For our formal night pics, my hubs shirt was bunched up a bit, and a photog with a bit more time would have seen that and fixed it before snapping. The prices were a bit steep, as well.

 

Speaking of formal nights, I LOVED them, and had a great time prancing about, well flip flopping more like, I wore flats, in the formal get-ups, and my hubs looked ever so cute in his tux. So, we loved it, and on the smart casual nights we dressed nicely, but not over the top. I wore nice tops and long skirts, and he wore a nice jacket and tie. What we would wear out to dinner in our home town.

 

We were only bothered with smoking a few times, I think the cabin next to us smoked and a couple of times it wafted heavily either down the hall or from their verandah to ours. I dealt with it as best I could. Took some meds so I wouldn't get sick.

 

The only negative thing that I would have to say is that I would like more time in the ports, esp Victoria! That was a lovely little city, and a couple more hours there would be welcome.

 

My hubs took 7000 photos of the cruise. Now we have to weed them out. He got some great otter, seal, and orca photos [they were out hunting in pods while we were on the way to Victoria], and a few whale tails in Glacier Bay - but I am not sure what kind of whales those were. He got some great eagle shots, both at the Raptor Center in Sitka, and just all around. Oh, and FAR too many seagull photos to my way of thinking, but he likes flying things.

 

Sorry I missed the M&G, and then the party with the Officers, that's a bummer, but I suggested that they put clocks in each stateroom that are synced with the ship's time. That would have saved me a lot of misery on the first two days.:eek:

 

The Casino was okay, but we felt rather rushed, and once they changed out three blackjack dealers in what seemed like five minutes, and the second dealer didn't even ask if I wanted a hit, just took my chips - and I NEVER hold on a 10! Otherwise, it was fun, but I am not a big gambler, I grew up around professional gambling, and it holds no charm for me. A bit of fun, for a half an hour, or until my pot runs out - and one never dips into one's winnings.

 

As for shows, we only saw the end of one, and to be kind I will not comment on that, other than to say that the backup band was REALLY good.

 

It was a great cruise, and now I am looking at HAL cruises in the Med and Europe.

 

Fair Winds to you all...