FOR USHA - Welcome Back!

[BurgerBits]

So how was your back-to-back cruise????

 

You were missed around here. Can't wait to hear all about it!!!

 

Dawn

[BurgerBits]

Wait... you guys ARE back, right?

 

Oh. Probably unpacking... :)

[BurgerBits]

Still waiting... did you have a wonderful time??? :D

 

Heard you missed a few ports due to high seas and had an (almost) rescue mission...

 

want to hear all about it!!!

 

Dawn

[Gonzo70]

Still waiting... did you have a wonderful time??? :D

 

Heard you missed a few ports due to high seas and had an (almost) rescue mission...

 

want to hear all about it!!!

 

Dawn

 

Now you got me intrigued! Hopefully she does a review.

 

Welcome back Usha. :)

[usha]

oh, WOW! I was really surprised to see THIS thread!!!:D (thanks, Burger Bits)

Earlier today, I composed a succint and very well thought out mini-review to post on the HAL board, and when I hit "submit reply", it was gone in cyberspace.:(

Briefly, we really loved our cruise on Westerdam. It's a spacious, well maintained ship. We loved our balcony cabin, and the great service from a very friendly, courteous, hard-working staff.

We were most wowed by the food on this cruise (which we both felt honestly was the best of all the cruises we've taken, including X):o Chef Rudi is AWESOME. The diningroom food, as well as the lido food was consistantly excellent, and seemed very freshly prepared and well presented. We weren't so wowed by the Pinnacle Grill tho. It's not much of a step up from the regular dining, and certainly no comparison to X's specialty restaurants.

We did have to skip Grand Turk because of high winds, and the Captain substituted St. Thomas for the regularly scheduled St. Maarten. There was an amazing amount of complaining from pax about the missed ports, but we survived.:rolleyes: We don't cruise for specific itineraries anyway, so we weren't too terribly disappointed. No doubt about it tho, Half Moon Cay was the perfect beginning and ending for a 14nt cruise! That is just the most lovely private island I've ever seen, with sand like powdered sugar and crystal clear water. I want a house there!

The entertainment was okay, but we more or less entertain ourselves.:)

The singers & dancers were the typical cruise ship stuff, not especially bad or wonderful.

There was some sort of Dutch(?) reality show that came aboard the second week of the cruise. I could have done without the contestants & the film crew & the whole entourage that week. They pretty much ignored rules like smoking areas, babies in pools, and even held up the ship for a full half hour from leaving St. Thomas. I think the captain should've left them behind to find their own way home, and I wasn't alone.

DH & I both really loved the cruise, but we'll most likely come back to Celebrity, mostly because we smelled more Dam smoke (especially cigar smoke:() than we can remember on any previous cruise. Until HAL adopts a smoking policy more like Celebrity's, we're in no hurry to set foot on another HAL ship.

[FinelyCruising]

Celebrity must love that Dam smoking policy on HAL.

 

The suits in HQ must be like...hahahahaha......hahahahahaha....hahahahaha.....they must be ROFL :D

[BurgerBits]

oh, WOW! I was really surprised to see THIS thread!!!:D (thanks, Burger Bits)

 

No doubt about it tho, Half Moon Cay was the perfect beginning and ending for a 14nt cruise! That is just the most lovely private island I've ever seen, with sand like powdered sugar and crystal clear water. I want a house there!

 

Ooohhhh..... me, too! (I've actually been shopping for a 2nd home on a Florida waterski lake - unfortunately, there are very few of them in the southeastern part of the state. When we find it, you can come visit!)

 

When I read about the 'high seas' and 'possible resuce assist,' I was wondering how y'all had fared. Figured you would roll with it and have a great time anyway.

 

Thanks for checking in. You were missed around here. LOVE the new avatar pic!! Hopefully we can sail together someday...

 

Dawn

[Texed]

Usha,

Thanks for the review. :)

[usha]

When I read about the 'high seas' and 'possible resuce assist,' I was wondering how y'all had fared. Figured you would roll with it and have a great time anyway.

Since it was our captain who picked up the tanker's "mayday", the coast guard requested that Westerdam be on standby for possible rescue of the tanker's captain & 33 crew members. Luckily, OUR captain could read maps, and knew not to run the Westerdam through the shallow reef in that area and run us aground, as the bright bulb running the tanker ship did. It was spilling a lot of oil into the ocean, and I'm sure that a lot of sea life will die as a result of that captain's stupidity.

As soon as coast guard helicopters & cutters reached the tanker, we were released to continue on our way. It was a little extra adventure (no extra charge:)) and it didn't even affect our schedule.

Thanks for checking in. You were missed around here. LOVE the new avatar pic!! Hopefully we can sail together someday...

 

Dawn

thanks! :o