Sailing in 1 week to Alaska, some questions about Oosterdam

Dear Veteran cruisers,

This will be our first multi-generation cruising. I tried to read some of the blogs online and there were quite a few discrepancies about Oosterdam. Maybe some are just not up to date. I am so glad I found this forum and really looking forward to getting some answer.

1.We will be in VC and VB cabins on deck 5. Some reviews said the cabins (Not the suites) are shabby with stain sofas and carpet? Is this true? Did they update anything in VC & VB cabins during dry doc? The photo on HA website seems old. This is worrisome. Is there new carpet at least?

2. HA said they have a free online ship app for us to use. I wonder how it works. Many blogs recommend us turn cell phone to Airplane mode once on board so we don't get hook up to the ship cell service which could be expensive. Can this app still work if we turn to airplane mode? Can we text each other on board so we can find each other?

3. Is there still High Tea (Dutch High tea, or Indonesian Tea on Oosterdam? HA website talks about it, but some blogs said it was eliminated?

4. Is there still dance lesson on board? Is there dancing at all? Any ballroom dancing?

5. If I bring my own bottle of wine to MDR, what is the corkage fee?

6. Do you need to tip in-room dinning service? if so, how much is appropriate?

Thank you all.

My family and I love the Lady O having sailed on her several times. We almost always sail with large portions of our family, grandparents, kids, in-laws, you name it. Be believe that cruising is a wonderful way for a family to travel and see new places and people. We have not been on the Lady O since the refit so I can't speak to her carpeting, but I am not the type that goes onto a ship and starts looking for shabby this or that.

Every cruise I have been on has had dancing available of one kind or another. Dancing is one of the activities on a ship that can happen pretty much anywhere, you just have to look and if you can't find an organized event, find a spot and start dancing. Everyone will watch with wonder that you can dance on the high seas when most of us can't get to our cabins without bouncing off a wall or two.

I believe there is a corkage fee for bring your own wine. I think it is nominal, like less than $20.00 but if you paid less than that for your wine I can see that may be problematic.

There are a lot of teas on board. Usually one a day including a cupcake tea. Please lower your expectations now, there are a lot of cakes and sandwiches at the shipboard teas but not the normal formal presentation you would expect at some high end restaurants. I have enjoyed the teas very much. It is a relaxing time in the middle of a busy day. My only problem is that if you have early dining, you have to limit your consumption of the tea cakes so that you can eat. Late sitting dinner - not a problem.

We have not had any experience with the app. We do put our phones on airplane mode to avoid the high shipboard rates. We use post-it notes and conversation to make arrangements to meet other family members at specific times, etc. I personally have never had any problem with cell phones not picking up any of the land based cell towers in Alaska. If you take an inside passage cruise, other than sailing around Vancouver Island, you are usually within eye site of land and cell towers.

Alas the tipping question. It is a personal choice. The daily gratuity that is added to your bill is supposed to cover all crew members. I personally believe that if some crew member does something special for me, I should tip them. I do not see anything wrong with giving your room service person extra for bringing your food to you, maybe something like $5.00 per person. There will be folks on CC that will say that is horribly low and others will say that the crew member is just doing his or her job and they should not be tipped. Same goes for the lido people that bring drinks and fill you coffee cup, tip yes/no. We generally tip crew members who have gone the extra mile for us at the end of the cruise as a thank you.

Sorry this is long but your question was long. Enjoy your cruise. My family will be on the Lady O this July and can hardly wait. I would cruise to Alaska every year if time and circumstances would allow. Enjoy your cruise.

I have not cruised on Oosterdam since before her dry dock, so I can't really answer your questions about her with much accuracy, however I can state that she was a well-appointed and well-run ship, and we enjoyed excellent service on her.

The corkage fee for wine brought to the dining room is $18. Many recommend tipping a couple of dollars for in-room dining, but that is entirely at your discretion, and the trick is giving them the tip before they leave, because they work fast, and really do not expect the tip (at least in my experience.)

Sorry I can't answer your phone app question, because we are low-tech, and simply leave each other hand written notes in our cabin.

We have not cruised HAL since last September, and changes do seem to be rampant, and entertainment varies depending on the class of ship. But we did enjoy the Indonesian and Dutch High teas at that time. The Oosterdam will have the Blues Club, and there is dancing there.

Bon Voyage:D

The ship app works on wifi, so will work with the phone in airplane mode. The only thing you can access is the Holland America site. You can view the daily activities and view shore excursions. You cannot send emails or texts with it. It will not use data

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To use the ship app, put your phone on airplane mode and then turn on wi-fi. That will keep you from using cellular data. As cabinluvn said, it won't give you the ability to communicate onboard. If you want to use the internet, you still have to pay for that, either a by-the-minute rate or a package.

We have sailed the Oosterdam post-refit and we loved her. I can't help with cabin furnishings of the balcony staterooms as we got a PS upsell for that cruise, but the public areas were great. Until the rest of the Vistas get the refit she is our new favorite.

Dennis

Please post your experience when you return. We have not sailed on Hal for 10 years. We are taking our 13 year old grandson on the cruise July 2 from Seattle. I am interested in shore excursions.

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We board the Oosterdam on Tuesday but have not been on her before.

As far as your question regarding the HAL App....we just used it last month on our Caribbean cruise. We always keep our phone on airplane mode. There will be instructions for you how to use it-you can check your statement, find out what is going on on the ship, excursions, etc. all free using the Navigator app. To be honest, it wasn't exactly accurate for some things like when in port so just be aware of that. Hopefully your experience will be better. I did use it to keep track of my account though and it was accurate. You can not use it to communicate with each other though.

Have a great cruise!

We will be watching return from first Alaska trip from somewhere along Puget Sound. Weather people on TV are hinting that while next week will be rainy this may be the last week of solid rain and start getting more dry patches. We'll see. It might clear up by that weekend. Hopefully a nice as it is today (Space Needle Cam) .

To use the ship app, put your phone on airplane mode and then turn on wi-fi. That will keep you from using cellular data. As cabinluvn said, it won't give you the ability to communicate onboard. If you want to use the internet, you still have to pay for that, either a by-the-minute rate or a package.

You can also view your onboard account to keep up with charges made with your key card. Daily menus for the MDR are also posted to the app.

I checked it once a day in the morning and if I saw any questionable postings would go to the front desk and get it corrected. Better than waiting for the statement to come to the room at the end of the cruise and have to deal with it during disembarkation.

We were in V8032 on a November 2016 trip right after the drydock. They did not have new carpet or even touch up wall dings, but the TV and electrical/USB outlets were upgraded. I understood that on the suites received the cosmetic upgrades.

We do love the "O", mostly for the size. The crew was great, food service in MDR a little slow because they seemed to be understaffed (open seating). Casino staff was great as well.

Enjoy you trip.

Believe each adult can bring one bottle of wine on board, must be in carry on luggage. If consumed in your cabin, no corkage charge. Combo that played for listening and dancing in Ocean Bar is gone. BB Kings seem to be the big draw. Usually Happy Hour in Ocean Bar and Crows Nest, your daily bulletin will list the times.

Believe each adult can bring one bottle of wine on board, must be in carry on luggage. If consumed in your cabin, no corkage charge.

Each adult can also bring aboard as many additional (750 ml) bottles as they wish, both at embarkation and every port, so long as they pay a $18/bottle corkage fee. That charge is due no matter where the wine is consumed.

Thank you all for the informative feedback!

How was your cruise? Hope it was wonderful!

I have posted my answers to each of the questions I am able to comment on below:

2. HA said they have a free online ship app for us to use. I wonder how it works. Many blogs recommend us turn cell phone to Airplane mode once on board so we don't get hook up to the ship cell service which could be expensive. Can this app still work if we turn to airplane mode? Can we text each other on board so we can find each other? The app does work in airplane mode with the ship's wireless internet. However, you do not have access to much -- basically things like your onboard account, dinner menu, etc. The app does not allow you to text or communicate with other passengers. That being said, if you need internet access, it was better than on previous cruises (although we are still talking ship internet so it's not like what you may be used to at home but not as horribly slow as we have encountered in the past - plus we can use it on our device in our room).

3. Is there still High Tea (Dutch High tea, or Indonesian Tea on Oosterdam? HA website talks about it, but some blogs said it was eliminated? Yes, they hosted High Tea on the Oosterdam during our cruise to Alaska in May. I took pictures of the daily program and will try to get these posted as tea times are listed.

4. Is there still dance lesson on board? Is there dancing at all? Any ballroom dancing? Not on our cruise. This was an area of disappointment for us. The only dancing on our cruise was in BB King so if you want to do any "slow" or ballroom dancing, you won't find it. We are not huge entertainment people but we noticed a marked decrease in evening entertainment on this cruise - especially music. We like BB King (although we did not enjoy the BB King group on this cruise as much as on our December cruise) but not every night.

5. If I bring my own bottle of wine to MDR, what is the corkage fee? $18 per bottle. As others have said, each adult in the cabin can bring on one bottle with no corkage fee if the bottle is consumed in the cabin. If it is consumed in any of the dining venues, the corkage fee will be applied. You are charged the corkage fee when you bring the bottles onboard and they will put stickers on the bottle so the dining room staff knows the corkage fee has been paid.

6. Do you need to tip in-room dinning service? if so, how much is appropriate? Again, as others have said, this is a personal decision. Some believe that gratuities are covered by the daily surcharge while others typically tip anywhere from $2 - $5 per room service visit -- again, this is a very individual decision. One thing I will say is that you will never be made to feel like you have to tip by the room service staff

Thank you all We really enjoyed our cruise on the Oosterdam and hope you do as well.

For communicating with family groups, we have put a sticky dry erase sheet on our cabin doors, with the marker velcroed on. We only had one cruise (out of New York) where the markers disappeared and rude things were written on it.

I would be really interested to know how teens enjoyed the Oosterdam.

...most of us can't get to our cabins without bouncing off a wall or two.

Lol.. I only experience this 'problem' after leaving one of the bars and heading back to my cabin! ;p