What would you do? Westerdam Aft VA vs SY midships

[Bonnie Voyager]

Heather, here are the perks for your SY cabin :D

 

Superior Suite

Exclusively available on Vista Class ships, Superior Suites offer 2 lower beds convertible to 1 queen-size bed, bathroom with dual sink vanity, full-size whirlpool bath, shower and additional shower stall, large sitting area, dressing room, private verandah, 1 sofa bed for 1 person, floor-to-ceiling window/sliding glass door leading to your personal verandah.

Category: SS, SY, SZ 389 sq. ft. with verandah

Superior Suites include all the Verandah amenities, plus:

 

• Personalized cruise stationery
  
• Elegant bathrobe for use on your cruise
  
• Fresh flowers and fruit assortment
  
• Oversized bath towels
  
• A selection of pillows (firm, medium and soft) are presented on each bed for the
  guests' enjoyment.
  
• Luxurious beds featuring Sealy� Premium Euro-Top mattresses and finely woven
  cotton linens
  
• A no-host mini-bar for easy entertaining in your suite
  
• DVD or VCR player and the use of an extensive DVD or VHS tape library
  
• 24-HOUR TELEPHONE CONCIERGE - Service available via special dedicated "At Your Service" telephone line
  

[HeatherInFlorida]

I competely understand switching for the Anniversary reasons Heather.

I did the same thing for the Celebrity cruise we will be doing in March 2010 it is our 8th :) but I switched from Sunset FV to Sky Suite :D

 

The Sky suites are great on Celebrity! You will love it. Happy Anniversary!

 

Heather, here are the perks for your SY cabin :D

 

 

Thank you Bonnie. Those appear to be the same amenities we had in our last Verandah cabin so I don't think of them as extra. From my personal experience I have to say I didn't notice any difference when calling the Concierge # than calling the Front Desk.

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Heather, actually I think they do treat the telephone concierge service a bit differently on the SY/SS on the Vista Class. When we had the SY on the Noordam sometime before Life Boat Drill they called us and the Concierge called to introduce herself and said anything we needed to just call. We did actually use them when we wanted bottles of champgne picked up from our cabin to be taken to the Dining Room and the Pinnacle. The service was as good as when we have had the Neptune. Of course I am sure it can change from ship to ship just like other services do but we felt it was a nice touch. Especially since regular verandah cabins on the Vista Class do not have this service.

[HeatherInFlorida]

Lisa, you know the Vista class much better than I do. I've only been on the Oosterdam once and that was in 2004. But I remembered having the Concierge Service on Veendam so I checked HAL's website.

 

They list the exact same services for Verandah cabins as they do for SY and SS. It may be I didn't use it correctly, but truthfully I've always had super service just when calling the Front Desk and didn't find it any better when using Concierge.

 

But Concierge Service is listed on HAL's website as an amenity in all Verandah staterooms. Here it is from their website:

 

Verandah

2 lower beds convertible to 1 queen-size bed, whirlpool bath* & shower, sitting area, private verandah, no-host mini-bar, floor-to-ceiling windows.

284-398 sq. ft. with verandah*. See deck plans for specific information.

Include all the stateroom amenities, plus:

• Personalized cruise stationery
  
• Elegant bathrobe for use on your cruise
  
• Fresh flowers and fruit assortment
  
• Oversized bath towels
  
• A selection of pillows (firm, medium and soft) are presented on each bed for the
  guests' enjoyment.
  
• Luxurious beds featuring Sealy® Premium Euro-Top mattresses and finely woven
  cotton linens
  
• A no-host mini-bar for easy entertaining in your suite
  
• DVD or VCR player and the use of an extensive DVD or VHS tape library
  
• 24-HOUR TELEPHONE CONCIERGE - Service available via special dedicated "At Your Service" telephone line
  

[LVSue]

I totally agree with Lisa. I thought the telephone concierge was just as good (if not better) than the NL. We used her several times and got great service. I can't help but believe that someone with fewer passengers to deal with can provide better, quicker, more personalized help than the Front Desk that deals with the whole ship.

[jerseygirl3]

Lisa, you know the Vista class much better than I do. I've only been on the Oosterdam once and that was in 2004. But I remembered having the Concierge Service on Veendam so I checked HAL's website.

 

They list the exact same services for Verandah cabins as they do for SY and SS. It may be I didn't use it correctly, but truthfully I've always had super service just when calling the Front Desk and didn't find it any better when using Concierge.

 

But Concierge Service is listed on HAL's website as an amenity in all Verandah staterooms. Here it is from their website:

 

Verandah

2 lower beds convertible to 1 queen-size bed, whirlpool bath* & shower, sitting area, private verandah, no-host mini-bar, floor-to-ceiling windows.

284-398 sq. ft. with verandah*. See deck plans for specific information.

Include all the stateroom amenities, plus:

• Personalized cruise stationery
  
• Elegant bathrobe for use on your cruise
  
• Fresh flowers and fruit assortment
  
• Oversized bath towels
  
• A selection of pillows (firm, medium and soft) are presented on each bed for the
  guests' enjoyment.
  
• Luxurious beds featuring Sealy® Premium Euro-Top mattresses and finely woven
  cotton linens
  
• A no-host mini-bar for easy entertaining in your suite
  
• DVD or VCR player and the use of an extensive DVD or VHS tape library
  
• 24-HOUR TELEPHONE CONCIERGE - Service available via special dedicated "At Your Service" telephone line
  

 

We were just in an SS suite on the Westerdam last week. As far as the "perks" there really didn't seem to be any. We got no personalized stationery. We had no fruit assortment, in fact, no fruit at all. We didn't have a selection of pillows. As a matter of fact, I left an extra tip the first day and requested extra pillows, and was initially told by my cabin attendant that they didn't have any extra pillows. HUH? He did manage to find me some. BTW, I had to call the 24 hour concierge to even locate my cabin attendant. We were onboard the ship for about 7 hours, and we still didn't see our cabin attendant. I had left him a note on our bed with the extra tip requesting the extra pillows, and he didn't show up all day. By 7 p.m., I called the Concierge and said I would like to see the cabin attendant, as I had yet to meet him, and they immediately sent him to my cabin. I also had to ask that they provide more than 2 bath towels each day (since that just isn't enough for two people), and some days he remembered, and some days he didn't. We love Westerdam and this was our third time onboard her (and booked again for next February), but I didn't think what we paid to upgrade to an SS from a VD was worth it. We found no extra amenities, so other than the extra space, it wasn't worth it to us. For next year, we booked an aft VA (5184). The cabin itself is larger than the standard VA cabins, and the balcony is extra large. Plus we love aft cabins.

 

Jo-Ann