St. Louis Sal

Here is my 2 cents from a recent charter, also on the Eurodam.

We were assigned to a table of eight at 8:30 dining which we liked but one night when we arrived we were told it was open seating and just go find a table. That was weird and awkward. Our usual table was taken and we found ourselves wandering around. Fortunately a couple from our regular table was already seated at a foursome and called us over to join them. I assumed that was the choice of the charter but wasn't sure; no one seemed to know what was going on.

I don't think a charter is a good representation of a normal HAL cruise. Many of my favorite venues (like the Crow's Nest) were full of chairs and usually scheduled for performances. DH doesn't like Tamarind so I forgot about the Silk Den; should have checked it out.

We did the Pinnacle Grill one night. That was our second dining experience in the Pinnacle and it's now 2 strikes; maybe we'll give it a third chance some day.

The charter was a lot of fun but definitely very different from a regular cruise.

St. Louis Sal

This is a little off topic but my husband has been having some back and knee problems so he has been traveling with a cane. On our recent Westerdam cruise we received a letter from the front office saying it had come to their attention that someone in our cabin might need assistance. If there was anything we needed we should let them know. I'm assuming that maybe our room steward, Kiri, passed this on. I was impressed.

St. Louis Sal

Reading this thread reminded me that our recent New Year's cruise on the Westerdam was partially chartered by a religious group. I had actually forgotten because except for the first day or so when I met a few at lunch and at the muster I was never really aware of them. They had their own meetings and I believe they had their own New Year's Eve celebration in the Crow's Nest (non-alcoholic). There were a lot of them, I think about a thousand. Is it possible that some people didn't want to sail with a religious group and that is why we got the fantastic upgrade to a Neptune Suite? If so I'm quite grateful.

St. Louis Sal

PS: Think the group was called Turning Point.

PPS: Love Sandi Patti and would like to be on that cruise. Does anyone know if she performs for the ship as a whole or only for her group?

It would be great if someone could report on the Westerdam Neptune Lounge sideboard selections for sailings subsequent to this one...

I am curious now too as to whether we had something special thanks to Mr. Donald.

And to answer startwin: I didn't really pay attention to the times things were served but there was always something available when I went in. I'm not sure when the breakfast stuff left and the lunch stuff came out (loved the wraps they served everyday). I will say that sometimes the items on the sideboard were somewhat picked over and maybe not replenished the way I would expect. For instance there might be one strawberry left on the dish and maybe just half a plate of cookies, a partial tray of truffles and chocolates etc.

I know there is plenty of food available but one thing a friend traveling with us noted is that once the Lido dinner stops at 8 there really isn't much available unless you do room service until they put out the late night snacks. I guess I never notice this because we usually eat around 8-8:30 in the dining room.

I don't usually review my cruises but I will say that we got stuck with open seating because we booked the cruise so late. That was my first experience with that except for one time in the past when we missed our dining time and in November they did it one night on my theme cruise. I really, really hated it. The first two nights the whole process was messed up and led to long lines even for those with reservations. I never sat at the same table twice even though we would always have the same table number on the reservation. We ended up eating in Canaletto twice and having dinner served in our cabin on one of the formal nights. We would have probably even done the Pinnacle (which is not really a favorite of mine) but they were booked when we wanted to go.

St. Louis Sal

Welcome Home

Hope you had a great cruise.

How did you know that they were on your cruise?

I don't know what they look like so would not know if they were on one of our cruises.

My daughters had the Neptune Suite close by theirs. The girls also had two room stewards and those gentlemen said that one of them was brought up to help out because the CEO of Carnival was on board. I remembered reading about him but didn't note his name so I looked him up online and saw his picture. He's pretty distinctive looking so had no trouble identifying him in the Neptune Lounge.

St. Louis Sal

Hazel was you concierge, that is great, we had her a few years back and she was wonderful.

We had Hazel and Spencer and they were fabulous. Just an odd side note: Arnold Donald's wife is named Hazel too.

St. Louis Sal

Hopethey enjoyed their holiday cruise....... and hope you did as well.

 

Maybe because there was a VIP aboard, the Neptune Lounge put out all the treats sideboard cookies, fruit, pound cake, cheese and crackers, breakfast pastries, muffins, donuts, chocolates....... all those things served in all the other Neptune Lounges in the fleet but apparently not restored in Westerdam's Neptune Lounge.

 

Actually, maybe I am ill informed and they have corrected that deficiency recently and I am not aware. Were those items available each day for Suite guests to enjoy?

 

Thanks if you can set me straight.

 

All those things were definitely served in the Neptune Lounge this past week. I haven't been on the Westerdam for awhile and was not aware that they weren't available lately. Does anyone know why they weren't being served? I have only done a Neptune Suite 3 times but have done it both of my times on the Westerdam.

Anyway, my husband had donuts every morning while I had pain au chocolate and muffins along with little demitasse cups of muesli. And later in the day I had pound cake, cookies and chocolate covered strawberries. And maybe I should keep this a secret but one morning our concierge Hazel made sure that some of us got two of the same cinnamon rolls they serve up in the Explorations café.

St. Louis Sal

We just got home yesterday from our cruise on the Westerdam. I don't like to sound like a gossip but I didn't see this posted anywhere, unless I missed it.

I thought all of you who love to cruise on HAL would be interested in knowing that the new Carnival Corp CEO, Arnold Donald and his extended family were on the Westerdam, December 28-January 4.

They were treated just like any other family celebrating the holidays. They stood in line with the rest of us to board the tender to Half Moon Cay. My daughter said she frequently saw Mr. Donald having a late night snack in the Lido. Some of the family members were in her spinning class. They were staying in the Neptune Suites (naturally) and I ran into them several times in the Neptune Lounge where they were friendly and sociable. I was tempted to ask him a few questions but it was obvious this was just a low key family vacation and I thought I should respect that. Nothing was ever said publicly about him being on the ship as far as I know.

I hope he and his family had as good a time as my family and I did on the Westerdam.

Happy New Year,

St. Louis Sal

I paid $299 for 2 people for the week. You can get the daily pass for $40 a person. I booked it on embarkation day; don't know if I could have booked it in advance. It doesn't have to be a couple or two people in the same cabin-my daughter and I shared it.

I was impressed that there was no crowding and everyone respected the 20 minute limit on the loungers. My room steward must have wondered about our bathing habits since I only used the shower once-the rest of the time I used the showers in the ladies changing room.

They offered a do-it-yourself scrub when you check in each time (think there is a limit of four but no one seemed to keep track.) They have scents including vanilla-orange, chocolate-peppermint, lavender and patchouli. They scoop it into a cup (and give you a scrubby although they forget sometimes or are out of them) and they suggest you do the entire thermal suite (loungers, pool, steam room etc) and finish off by using the scrub in the shower.

The last night of the cruise they closed the thermal pool at 6 pm for maintenance before the next cruise. I thought that was a little disappointing for the amount you pay. I fully expected it to be available until 10 that last night. I tended to use the facilities around 5 each evening before getting ready for dinner.

You exchange your key card for a locker key and an access card for the thermal suite. The locker has a robe and plastic slippers. There are towels available everywhere-changing room, lounge area, thermal pool area. You can just bring the robe from your cabin which is actually much nicer than the ones in the thermal area (some of them are getting a little ratty looking.) After the first two days of no self serve they will have water and cups available by the thermal pool for hydration.

Can't think of anything else; just ask if you have any other questions.

St. Louis Sal

We received an email this Christmas morn telling us that we have been upgraded from our SS (Signature Suite) to an SA (Neptune Suite) on the Westerdam. Lots of cheering going on here. Our daughters are traveling with us and they were also upgraded. Only bad thing I can see is that we are now in 7071 and 7073 on either side of the glass elevators. Comments from anyone who has had either of these? My youngest daughter said who cares where we are if we can have a Neptune Suite. This cruise was already a fantastic bargain and now it is unbelievable. Too bad-the airfare is equally unbelievable but not in a good way. That is what happens when you book late.

Take care and Happy New Year to all,

St. Louis Sal

My daughters and I did tea in our deluxe verandah suite (now Neptune Suite) on one cruise and it was quite nice and had a good selection of sweets and savories. However, even though your grandmother is mobility challenged, the Indonesian tea in the dining room is so wonderful it would be worth the effort. I'm sure they would accommodate her needs and make her feel very special.

Happy birthday to your gram!

St. Louis Sal

I have so many favorites it would be hard to pick one but I was just looking at another thread and someone posted the MDR breakfast menu. That reminded me how much I like the Dutch breakfast sandwich (thick white bread, ham, gouda cheese and egg). I'm sure it isn't good for my health but I have to have it at least once on a cruise.

Otherwise I echo many others: cold soups, raisin buns for breakfast, chocolate purse, cinnamon ice cream, Indonesian tea. Dang, all this lovely food and I won't be cruising until November.

St. Louis Sal

Those of you who have used your cpap machine on board know that the extension cord has to run across the room and tends to be a tripping hazard at night. This is a heads up for HAL if they read this board. On our recent first time Celebrity cruise my husband put out his cpap machine and extension cord next to the bed. When we came back in the evening our room steward had provided a ships extension cord plugged in at the desk, ran it behind the TV and duct taped it to the floor across to the bed so there was less chance of tripping. That's never happened on all of our previous cruises and I was impressed.

St. Louis Sal

This is what I got from Agapey on September 26, so I'm crossing my fingers we actually get to do it.

"Hi Sally,

Thank you for your pre-registration.

Once our tour dates are scheduled, you will be notified. Please be advised

that tours will be running only on selected days.

*Most likely yes, it will be offered on your desired date but please wait

for our confirmation before scheduling it in just in case.

Check out our website for updates. We have also added some great photos of

Barbados.

http://www.agapey.com/barbadosphotos.html "

I'm looking forward to someones review before then.

St. Louis Sal