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We are currently aboard Oosterdam. This is our 6th HAL cruise. Boarding went pretty smoothly in Trieste. There was one other ship in port. We've noticed a few things not up to standard (slow water refills in main dining room, our bathroom trash not emptied for 3 days, no room service breakfast menu in our room, etc.), but nothing major. Some notes: tea served only on sea days, no Rudi's in the Pinnacle (Pinnacle manager said he's hopeful it will happen in the next few weeks), so far no cooking demos, no chai tea in the explorers coffee shop in the Crow's Nest. We went to the "Ask the Captain" meeting. The captain is very personable but seemed reluctant to answer some specific questions. When asked directly how many passengers on board currently, he answered that there are approximately 1800 "souls on board." We're guessing that means maybe 1100 passengers. Ship is definitely uncrowded. We have no major complaints. Capt also didn’t answer a direct question about why Santorini was dropped. We're having a very nice time and meeting some interesting people. We have, however, heard a number of pretty serious complaints. One person said it took 3 days to get their shower to have warm water, that it was only hot water at first. Another complained that their toilet didn't flush and that the shower leaked badly. They were finally moved to another cabin on day 4. We've heard several people complain about rude servers in the dining room, but we have not experienced that. We've spoken to a number of people on-board who are taking their first HAL cruise. Most have said they are underwhelmed and not one is planning another HAL cruise. Overall, we are pretty content and enjoying the ports a lot!

We used emed.com last week and it worked great. Biggest challenge was keeping the camera on my phone pointed down at the test card for the 15 minutes required. We were told we'd have official test results in our email within 24 hours. We received the emails within minutes. Super convenient!

Just did the same yesterday! LOL

I went ahead and purchased the "7 day pass." Thanks for the suggestion about printing the details. For our past few cruises, the pass was cheaper if purchased pre-cruise. For our 2 week cruise in Jan/Feb 2022, the two week pass was more than what is listed for our upcoming 2 week cruise. Guess I'll find out when I board!

Was this Oosterdam's first cruise since the start-up? I sure hope they get their act together before we board in a few weeks. Thanks for the report. Sorry you experienced so many issues.

We are going on a two-week cruise on the Oosterdam later this month. When looking to purchase a thermal suite pass, it lists a 7-day pass and no other options. It's a port-intensive cruise, so having the option to just pick the first or second week would be great, but I don't really think that's what that means. Has anyone else had this happen on their cruise? Thanks!

RuthC, I so agree with this. On our Alaska cruise a few years ago, we booked an excursion that included a 2 mile-ish "hike." That's what the written description said. There were three women near us who were asking the Shore Excursion Rep very specific questions about the walking. She kept telling them it was "just a bit of a stroll." It was not. It was not an intense hike by any means, but one of the women used a cane and another a walker. They enjoyed most of the excursion but stayed back for the hiking portion and said they were disappointed that the rep had made it sound like it was a short, easy walk, but that they weren't going to slow down the rest of the group. HAL needs to make their descriptions realistic.

Many thanks for the replies. I appreciate the information!!

We did an at-home covid test before our cruise in January 2022 and it was very easy. For our upcoming cruise, we will have to be tested after we arrive in Italy (spending some time there before the cruise). If I purchase the at-home test, can I do the "medically supervised" part on my phone (android). I used my laptop for the previous test because we were at home when we did the test. Not planning to lug my laptop on the cruise, although I do have the option of bringing an old iPad or tablet. Also, does anyone have a link to the HAL page that lists approved tests. I've tried, but I can't seem to locate it. Many thanks!!

We had trouble selecting seats for our return flights (booked through Flight Ease) and got conflicting information from HAL/Flight Ease and the airline. While I was dealing with that, our outgoing flights "disappeared." Called the airline and got that resolved and was finally able to select seat on our return flights as well. Long holds (over an hour for couple and over 2 hours for another) on all calls. Very frustrating!