Just returned from Westerdam

[trvldog]

Just returned this last Saturday..

Check in- looked to be runnning smoothly for others we got a dingy women who took over 20 minutes to try and take our photos. Mine ended up to be of the top of my head since I was filling out form and my mom didn't even get hers added and we both had to go to front desk to get them done again once on the ship. (we waited about 25 minutes from arrival till were we on board, which I thought was not bad at all)

 

Had lunch in dinning room first day - Lido was a crowed mess (seemed never to change through out the cruise. Only went there when dinning room was not an option. Ran into a few rude work staff also people saving tables and not even using the whole table (saw this several times 2 people taking table of 8 and not allowing anyone to sit pathetic people!!!)

Dinning room great service but food was just average to me. Had better on RCCL and Celebrity.. MCD is horrible not one item any of us wanted (all ordered from daily options)

P-Grill excellent!! both in food and service. They gave me Filet and lobster instead of shrimp and also gave us 1/2 order to Lobster Mac to try (was not a fan of that) but everything else was so good, wish I could have eaten there everynight but not in the budget for all of us.

We did notice nasty smells (sewage) when we were walking to Vista Lounge the next morning (after Hubbard) to wait for tender tickets for Sitka not sure if it was from hitting glacier or some other problem, but noticed it again at night time walking down our hall (we were in room 4119 so that hallway) Also I noticed ALOT of the public restrooms had out of order on one or more bathroom stalls, again could be totally different reason this happened so do not want to start rumers they are related- just what we noticed (smelled)

 

Room we had AC was never working right (called to try and have it fixed but never worked right and room was always to warm) I do not think we ever slept under covers so stuffy at night. Showerhead broke off which was fixed a few hours later.

 

We went to all the shows & night time games shows, they all were OK.. Did like the singer which did the Elton John songs cant remember name but that is a must see out of any of them.

Lairs club and Marriage game were fun to watch also. Went to karaoke both times, some great singers.. Even stopped by the Queens lounge one night at 10p to watch the movie was nice to do since we did not want to go back to stuffy room, just needed my pillow and I could have slept in one of the booths :)

 

Ports were great - Juneau we went up tram, went to Mendalhall Glacier, back to town did Red Dog and got in some shopping.

Sitka did ATV wilderness tour which was AWESOME! Did not see bears since to early but still had a blast!!

Ketchican - Did a little shopping and went on Duck Tour which was great!. We have it in Seattle and have never done one before. They took us ALL over saw more of Ketchican than the other 5 times I have been there well worth the money and guide was awesome.

 

I just wish they had more activities on board. I understand it caters to older crowd and I took my mom on this so I knew in advance. I was overall happy with cruise but this was last cruise with mom so I will probably not be on HAL again for several years.. I will be cruising with husband & more to Carribean so we will be back on RCCL since we both like the other activites they offer that HAL doesnt. (again not slamming HAL just different strokes for different folks that's all)

 

Oh and for you nonsmokers, smoke smell was very limited. The sports bar was only place I noticed it, even outside not many smokers and the ones that did smoke were very considerate of others ( I quit 4 years ago so it really bothers me but had not problems) :)

 

Hope everyone on the Westerdam this summer enjoys!!

[jkrislc]

Thanks for your review.

 

I'm headed out on Sunday aboard the Oosterdam and wanting to do the Mt. Roberts tram. Did you happen to notice if all the trails were open? Was there any snow at the top?

 

Thanks.

[trvldog]

Thanks for your review.

 

I'm headed out on Sunday aboard the Oosterdam and wanting to do the Mt. Roberts tram. Did you happen to notice if all the trails were open? Was there any snow at the top?

 

Thanks.

 

- Some trails open but not sure how far since snow is still up on top. We walked around a little but did not wear boots or we would have went on trails. They have an eagle up there (lost an eye so unable to be released). They should be able to tell you how much of the trail is open at the counter before you purchase tickets. Also that day in Juneau there was a momma bear and 2 babies right above town you could see.. (not to mention porcupine cruising the parking lot by Red Dog :) )

[erewhon]

Thank you for the review of your cruise.

 

Which glacier did the ship hit?

Was the ship damaged?

That must have been an amazing experience.

Sorry to hear about the lack of air-conditioning in your cabin.

[trvldog]

Thank you for the review of your cruise.

 

Which glacier did the ship hit?

Was the ship damaged?

That must have been an amazing experience.

Sorry to hear about the lack of air-conditioning in your cabin.

 

From news I heard it was a huge chunk ice (some of those are VERY BIG under the water) by Hubbard Glacier. Nothing was ever annouced that I heard that we hit anything by crew but it got around that we did and some of our friends we met looked it up on MSN to get inforrmation. Coast guard was checking out ship in Sitka and Ketichan to make sure all was safe. Depending on where you were at when it hit some did not even know anything happened, we hardly felt anything (we were at spa :) when it happened and someone told us later we hit ice..

[erewhon]

From news I heard it was a huge chunk ice (some of those are VERY BIG under the water) by Hubbard Glacier. Nothing was ever annouced that I heard that we hit anything by crew but it got around that we did and some of our friends we met looked it up on MSN to get inforrmation. Coast guard was checking out ship in Sitka and Ketichan to make sure all was safe. Depending on where you were at when it hit some did not even know anything happened, we hardly felt anything (we were at spa :) when it happened and someone told us later we hit ice..

 

Thank you for your reply.

Am relieved that the ship did not hit the actual glacier.

[Krazy Kruizers]

thank you for your review

 

sorry your air was not working -- we also are not fans of the mac and cheese

 

glad you did enjoy your cruise

[kazu]

Thanks very much for your review. A shame about your AC problems. and thanks for filling us in on the ice collission.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the review. Lido is usually zoo like, sorry the MDR was not more to your liking!

 

Kirk

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[510picker]

We went to all the shows & night time games shows, they all were OK.. Did like the singer which did the Elton John songs cant remember name but that is a must see out of any of them.

 

Sounds like Joel Mason is onboard. He is awesome and puts on a do-not-miss show!

[trvldog]

Sounds like Joel Mason is onboard. He is awesome and puts on a do-not-miss show!

 

YES!!!! That is his name!! Great show!! He played twice and he also participated in the Lair's club game - Very talented and funny guy!!

[GeriatricNurse]

Sounds like Joel Mason is onboard. He is awesome and puts on a do-not-miss show!

 

 

As well as doing a great Elton John show, he also does a great tribute show to the Eagles! :)