MS Oosterdam Review April 17-24/2010

[Wendy-Europe]

Hi

 

back from our cruise - and we enjoyed the cruise a lot.

 

Because of the volcany ash my flights were unsure due to the last moment, we had delay at Newark, immigration officer forgot to stamp my passport, so I had to go to second inspection (DELAY DELAY DELAY) and hurried to get my connecting flight - got it, but flight was extremly fully booked, so they do not allow carry ons and I had to leave it at the door. URG.... my scarf was in the carry on, aircraft was icecold.... and now I have a cold...

Reached Los Angeles in time, a friend was waiting with drink, keycard for the hotel and a vitamin C pill... what a service!

 

We left Los Angeles early in the morning and drove to San Diego.

 

Embarcation was smooth, we drop off our luggage around 11 am and then went to the Alamo rental car return. When everything was cleared, we grabbed a taxi - 7 $ later we arrived at the Oosterdam.

 

No lines for the paper stuff, picture made and we got number 14 for boarding. It took just a few minutes and our number was called.

 

Sure - the staterooms were not ready at this moment, so we strolled around the ship, enjoyed the sun and a drink and had fun people watching.

 

At 12:40 the staterooms were ready, so we were happy to refresh, drop of some items and get an first impression of our stateroom.

We had staterooms 8021 + 8023.

I missed the bathrobes in my room and we like to have the balcony dividers opened - so I left a message for the housekeeping until we left the room for more exploration of the ship.

 

Had a nice lunch at the Lido (with service).

 

We choosed Open Dining and were happy with that. It fits our needs perfect - I was so tired this time (jet lag), so we can choose our dining time whenever we want.

 

We enjoyed the food - think it is much better than on MSC, nearly the same quality as we had on the Norwegian Dawn.

 

We did not participate at any of the ships programs and excursions, but we visited several shows and found them nice and entertaining.

 

The ports were not the reason why we selected this cruise - and - to tell the truth - I found them not very impressive....

 

Mazatlan is nice and picturesque at some points.

Puerto Vallarta - ok - lets say - I felt, I have never left the US, when we saw Puerto Vallarta..... (but - I have to say - this day I was terrible ill and we did not a big tour)

Cabo San Luca - mh - by any means - it is not the place where no tourist has gone before....

 

Maybe you have to book an excursion and go out of the cities. Or you should not travel with 2000 other guest, if you want to see untouched nature.... I know that and I was not surprised. Got what we expected.

 

But we had fun, loved the ship, the food, the pool and the stateroom.

 

I will definitely book HAL again.

 

Two things I didn´t like:

 

I agree with many other travellers, that the balcony doors were really dangerous , heavy, with sharp edges and you cannot avoid them all the time to thunk shut. That annoyes every neighbour.....

We clamped a book in the door hinge. But I know - thats very bad for the hinge.... Sliding doors would be a perfect solution.

 

And I hate it, when they use insulated pots for both - teawater and coffee. The newer silver ones are OK - but the white older ones smell obnoxious, when you order tea....

 

On our way back to San Diego one of the 5 engines had problems, so arrival was a little bit delayed. So they do not silent disembarcation, you ´ve got a colour and number, and this numbers were called.

 

I made a lot of picture - at this time I just put the stateroom-pictures online - but if you want to hava a look - follow the link to my webshots album.

 

I also photographed the in-room-directory with room service menue...

 

Wendy

 

PS: I tried to eliminate most misspellings....but I am sure, you will find many more.... sorry for that

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on the Oosterdam.

 

You aren't suppose to prop your balcony door open -- it affects the air-conditioning in the cabins around you.

 

PS -- I didn't look for any mis-spelled words.

[Wendy-Europe]

Hi

 

thats another thing: look at the pictures.... I know - you shouldn t do that - but I covered the AC because my cold and cough were so hard, that I had no voice for 2 days.... not used to sleep with AC....

 

I found it not very comfortable, that you are not able to swith off the AC....

I am not used to live in a fully AC room .... much to dry air, cough cough....

 

Wendy :-)

[iamaqt2]

Thanks Wendy for the review! Our family is very excited to be sailing on the O in less than 3 weeks. Your review just makes it that much more exciting!

 

And thanks also for the pictures! Very helpful and informative.