Just back from Westerdam 11/16 W. Carib.

[Roboat]

It was a great cruise. As some know, we were blessed by the Upgrade Fairy into an A suite. Wonderful suite, our first ever suite of any kind. Loved the cabin size and balcony size.

 

Service was excellent throughout the ship, except for the dining room. More on that in a minute. Our room steward Asril went out of his way to help me with a tire problem with my scooter. And staff were very cordial, smiling, and greeting the passengers. The Neptune Lounge concierge staff was exceptionally cordial and professional, and seemed genuinely interested in helping pax enjoy the cruise.

 

Room service was excellent, other then being delivered 30 minutes early twice. We ordered off the dining room menu several times. Accuracy was 100% and food was hot. Despite several calls, we could never get our trays removed until the room was made up.

 

The food was generally very good, well-presented, and served hot. A few standouts for me were the lamb chops, scallops, flounder, and brie appetizer, all from the dining room menu. I also enjoyed the bami goreng, having had it for the first time. In the Lido, food was fine, not great. Except, of course, the unfailingly popular bread pudding.

 

Not so good: any of the crepe desserts, which were consistently doughy, and the Grand Marnier souffle, which lacked GM flavor.

 

We had the AYWD. Our waiter was clearly overwhelmed. When we did have a small request (swordfish was wayyy overcooked, and I wanted seconds on the delicious carpacio appetizer) we couldn't get the waiter's attention.

If the waiter had taken the time to debone the dover sole, as he did for other diners, my wife would have enjoyed it rather than the mouthfuls of bones she endured. He came over later to apologize.

 

We brought 3 bottles of wine aboard and were charged only 2 corkage fees.

 

Oh yeah. The acupuncturist. I hurt my back about 3 weeks ago and it isn't getting any better. My mother had benefited from treatment many years ago and I was really hoping it would make a difference. And DW has developed a plantar fascia problem. We went to the spa and met with the acupuncturist, who assured us we would both feel some relief immediately. We each booked a session at $120 per. Money down a rat-hole, IMHO. Oh well, so I didn't donate my usual $200 to the casino this cruise.

 

There were very few kids aboard, they were generally well-behaved.

 

I noticed the printed literature said "swimmies" were OK for the kids in the pool. I thought they were banned. It also said saving deck chairs longer than 20 minutes was not allowed, and you could turn in any items left on the chairs to a crew member.

 

Dress code suggestions were followed by the vast majority, maybe more than 95%, of those in the dining room. On formal nights, I would guess at least 25% of the men wore tuxes.

 

I stopped by Club HAL to see if the kids were happy with Courtney, the counselor, who had rendered such poor service to Zesty Italian's kids on a cruise about 4 weeks ago. A boy about 10 pointed Courtney out, and I asked him whether she was doing a good job, did he like the things they were doing, etc. and he gave a definite yes. So maybe Courtney had a crab in her britches on the earlier cruise. Regardless, she was spared the sting of my rebuke. ;)

 

As usual for us, we never left the ship. Grand Caymen was turned into a sea day due to the forecast of heavy swells.

 

Pax were generally polite and quiet. We are 62, and I would guess that the average age of the pax on our cruise was about 65.

 

We enjoyed the shows we saw. We skipped the magician and the crew show, and one night there was no show at all. The broadway show had the best dancers I've seen on any cruise, and the singing was good. Though I did miss the live band, the sound system was superb.

 

Alas, Kung Fu Panda was not on the televison this week. But Mamma Mia was - so DW and I had Abba songs in our heads all week long. :rolleyes:

 

Disembarking was a pain. There seemed to be a very workable plan whereby you disembarked beginning at 8:15, in 15-minute increments, based on your assigned color. But the pax did not comply, and people of all colors (not like the Beneton ads) showed up at 8:15 creating a line that ran over half the length of the ship. But it did move along fairly well.

 

With the economy as it is, unless some major wealth is redistributed our way, this may have been our final cruise. If so, it was a good one to end on. :)

[~Jo~]

Thank you for your review, we are looking forward to trying Holland of America in April.

~Jo~

[Snorkel2Much]

Thanks for taking the time to check in on Club HAL. Sounds like the kids were pleased. How far along into the cruise was it when you stopped by there?

[matondo]

Thank you for the review. We sail Sunday (11-30-08). You have made DD's day knowing that she will get to see Mama Mia again. We are a party of five and three in our party will be first timers. I was getting worried as I kept hearing not so good reviews :(. Do you know why there was not a show one night? Do you remember what other movies they were showing?

[auntdana]

where there alot of activities in the day for adults

 

thanks

[Roboat]

Thanks for taking the time to check in on Club HAL. Sounds like the kids were pleased. How far along into the cruise was it when you stopped by there?

 

It was day 3 or 4.

 

Thank you for the review. We sail Sunday (11-30-08). You have made DD's day knowing that she will get to see Mama Mia again. We are a party of five and three in our party will be first timers. I was getting worried as I kept hearing not so good reviews . Do you know why there was not a show one night? Do you remember what other movies they were showing?

 

I do not know why there was not a show one night.

 

I'm not sure how often they change the TV movie schedule, so Mamma Mia

might not be available when you sail. Others were Sleepless in Seattle, Incredible Hulk. The also have an extensive DVD library aboard for $3 a pop.

 

where there alot of activities in the day for adults

 

thanks

 

IMHO, there were not as many events during the day as on other cruise lines.

[Williebill]

I hope Mamma Mia is playing on the Zuiderdam in a couple of weeks. I thought I was going to miss that show.

[cruzincurt]

Thanks for the review, we'll be on her next week.

 

I suspect the "acupuncturist" is another "spur of the moment impulse" type buy decision. I was always told for acupuncture to be effect takes at least 6 visits.

 

Next cruise I expect to see brain surgery or eye surgery being offered.:rolleyes: