Observations: Westerdam Jan. 21-28 2011

[Alcarondas]

Ha! We were next door to you! ;)

The room with the balloons.

 

That's hilarious. What a small world.

 

Oh, and Happy Birthday Mom/Nana/Oceanw®ench!

 

That sign was the best landmark on the ship. I knew whenever I saw it that I was close to "home". Came in handy on those looonnng walks back from the gym. I think I got more exercise trudging to and from that place than I did while I was in it!

[djhsolara]

Thank you for the wonderful review and information on your recent Westerdam sailing. We'll be on her in two months and can't wait!! :) :)

[Himself]

Thank you for a very good and complete scouting report on the Westerdam

[hpf]

Alcarondas; Thanks for such a detailed and interesting report of your cruise. I hope our cruise on the Eurodam is as good as yours was on the w-dam. I find that haveing a good attitude helps make our cruising time so much more enjoyable. My mother always told me i was too joyful, then again she was always rather negative and i never wanted to be like that. Thanks again. Helen

[CentralCoastGal]

Alcarondas: we are taking our first HAL cruise on the Westerdam to Alaska in mid-September. I really appreciated your in-depth review, especially remembering to enjoy "our" cruise our way. :) Can hardly wait to board the ship now!

[Cruizer Bill]

Alcarondas; +1 on many thanks for the good review!

Bill

[alpal1993]

Thanks for your input.We are eagerly awaiting our Spring Break cruise Only 35 days to go Whoopie.My only concern is the room we chose.8056 has many unnamed rooms around it.Just hope it wont be too noisy.We don't plan on spending much time in there.

[Alcarondas]

Thanks for your input.We are eagerly awaiting our Spring Break cruise Only 35 days to go Whoopie.My only concern is the room we chose.8056 has many unnamed rooms around it.Just hope it wont be too noisy.We don't plan on spending much time in there.

 

It probably won't be noisy. The rooms are very well insulated against sound. You likely won't hear anything beyond the occasional closing of a nearby door, which sounds like nothing more than a dull thud in the distance. The "white noise" of the A/C will cancel out a lot of other sounds as well.

 

My room was very quiet despite being over the stern wake. I couldn't even hear the stewards when they were cleaning and vacuuming neighboring rooms or the outer hallway. Unless someone is talking very loudly or blasting the TV, you'll never know anyone else is there. And yes, my hearing's still pretty good. ;)

[Tucker in Texas]

I just booked this cruise for February 2012. I have an adjoining room. Does anyone have any experience with noises coming under the door. Do they take away the sofa and replace it with a chair for access to the door?

 

Thanks

 

tucker in texas

[Alcarondas]

I had an adjoining room once (not this trip). In that room, the sofa was cut down from full size to loveseat, and the door was where the rest of the sofa should have been. The adjoining door was of the same very heavy construction as the main door, and it blocked sound just as well. I don't remember having any problems with it.

 

No first-hand experience, but my understanding is that if your adjoining room is also a triple or quad, then you'll still have a full size sofa/pull-out bed, and it's the desk that gets the chop-job instead.

[RuthC]

I just booked this cruise for February 2012. I have an adjoining room. Does anyone have any experience with noises coming under the door.

No noise in my connecting cabin on the Westerdam, Noordam, or E-dam.

Do they take away the sofa and replace it with a chair for access to the door?

The arrangement will vary based on cabin category. In my cabins, it was simply turning the bed so that the connecting door was at the aisle near the foot of the bed.

[Tucker in Texas]

Thanks for the replies. Our cabin is not a triple or quad, just access to the next cabin which is a triple. I'd just as soon have a love seat rather than a sofa before the desk chop but you play with the cards you are dealt with and with a cruise it is hard to get a bad hand.

 

Hopefully, someone will come in at the last minute, demand a connecting cabin so they can put their three kids in the next room. If they can't get it, they will walk and I get an upgrade to the suites because they have lots of empty cabins they need filled.

 

Tucker in Texas

[HamburgAvonLady]

We did. We purchased it for the week. We dropped it after the 1st day. Chair and lounge hogs were abundate. People had placed towels etc on the lounges by the hydro-spa while they were using the heated loungers. Talked to the spa personnel, and they stated that patrons were only to use lounges or spa etc, for 20 minutes at a time and then move to somewhere else, within the spa. This was not stated at the time of booking. Spa personnel said that a letter would be sent to all individuals about the time limit that night. However, we did not feel the cost was worth it and they refunded our costs less 1 day of use.

 

Keith

 

:) Thanks Keith -- I think I will probably do the area on a "DAY-to-Day" basis.

We are doing Hawaii and the South Pacific in October --- so there should be lots of sun and warm weather, hopefully. ;)

[Oceanwench]

That's hilarious. What a small world.

 

Oh, and Happy Birthday Mom/Nana/Oceanw®ench!

 

That sign was the best landmark on the ship. I knew whenever I saw it that I was close to "home". Came in handy on those looonnng walks back from the gym. I think I got more exercise trudging to and from that place than I did while I was in it!

 

Thanks for the birthday wishes!

My older daughter was able to sneak the sign on right under my nose, and I never noticed! She has it wrapped in a towel and stuck in a carry-on bag.

The sign fell down one night and one of the stewards put it away for safekeeping and hung it up the next day.

 

It was a great landmark, wasn't it?!! :)