Chelly

For me the verandah was worthless in Alaska. Way too cold to use it. And, there are plenty of other areas on board for viewing. Having said that, if luck granted me superb weather, and I'd booked an Outside, I would have been disappointed not to have the verandah. :rolleyes:

Gracias ladies.

hope to partake next fall

bobpell

Bobpell, If you decided on the Noordam, Oct 19 2014 Barcelona to Fort Lauderdale sailing (which I recommend), join us over on the Roll Call.

I agree... Definitely port side on westbound sailing.

To the OP:

Did the Westerdam sail full passenger capacity?

Nice!

Or Cheetos, maybe? At least they wouldn't spoil while the rest of the ship was being put together.

Right! Cheetos. Good call RuthC.:)

Anybody booked on the Westie .:confused:.. can you sneak me aboard in your suitcase?

 

If not .... I wish you all the good times we had.:)

 

PS ... the Christmas decorations are already up and looking beautiful !!!!

I'll sneak you in 3 1/2 weeks. Any friend of The Westy is a friend of mine.;)

I am wondering if she used carrots or oranges for the lifeboats.

I knew it!

Lynn, in NO way, would get through this cruise without building a ship:D

LOVE IT!

Regards to Cruisinetta!

Thanks summersigh. Appreciate your taking the time to write your review. Looking forward to being back on the Westy in four weeks! Yay!

Thankyou!

Thanks for taking the time to write this review, Ruth. It was a pleasure to read.

C.

Summersigh:

Thank you for taking the time to post. Your impressions of your cruise are important to many of us here. (Particularly yours truly....Will be on Westy in four more weeks) Looking forward to reading more.

C.

Crews News and Joanie,

Thank you for taking the time to share your cruise experience. I particularly appreciate your matter-of-fact impartiality.

The Ziuderdam's 10-day Panama Canal cruise in 2012 was one of my favorites.

C.

I'm compelled to say that the OP's posts send mixed messages.

I love HAL and because I DO NOT expect it to be the cruise line it was 30 years ago, I always have a great experience on all HAL ships.

Simply put, in order to keep fares down, staffing suffers.

These days, I don't expect my name to be remembered; it's OK if I'm not wished happy birthday. If my water glass doesn't get filled, my dinner isn't ruined. Little things, and sometimes big things happen on board, but I don't carry a resentment home with me. IMO, attitude is important.

You'll be happy to know that I did jot down a few stray thoughts of what I want to mention. It's a start. :D

Yay ((((((((((((((((((Ruth)))))))))))))))))))

HUGS

Still waiting...........:D

RUTH'S PRIORITY LIST

1) Write review

2) Unpack....maybe

:D

Westerdam - Jan 4, 2014 - 7-day Eastern Caribbean...toot, toot, toooooooooot

Whew! Sorry your cruise was such a disappointment. I'll be on the Westerdam Jan 4. Will let you know if my water glass gets filled.

buying luggage makes me crazy. I spend less time buying a new car.:D

Since I prefer Vista class ships, I'd take that Noordam.

fascinating. I guess I'd take deck 10.

Yes, Chelly. The paint fumes not only prevented us from using the lanai loungers, but they came inside the cabin and we had the front desk down several times to spray our cabin. It was a disaster for us.

 

Personally, I won't book a lanai again. That doesn't mean you might not get paint fumes on your balcony, but it happened to us on Veendam and Maasdam with the Lanai cabins so no more of those. It seems they do a lot of work on the promenade deck to keep it looking good.

Appreciate your honesty and the benefit of your experience. Looks like I'll have to go with an inside.

(p.s.hope you will join us on the Noordy TA next Oct.)

we love the sea view pool on the maasdam and the ryndam. The "retreat" on the veendam doesn't bother me but then, we were in bermuda in early may...busy during all the port days off the ship and it was too cool on the sea days to use it.

i think it would be a problem in a warm weather itinerary.

i have to say, though, it's akin to "the elephant in the room". :rolleyes:

thanks

Retreat from port side aft looking forward(movie screen - never had anything on it during our cruise in Oct/Nov)

 

From starboard side looking toward port side forward

 

Starboard side aft looking forward (there are tables and regular chairs under the covered part

 

Starboard side looking aft (I was standing under the covered part)

 

And, port side looking toward the middle aft portion of the deck

thank you so much SMOO HERE for posting the Retreat photos. It's a big help in understanding what's going on with that "elephant in the room".....LOL