Review of our first HAL Cruise/Westerdam

[SeaBlu]

We just returned from a 7 night cruise on HAL Westerdam. This was our first HAL cruise, we have sailed on Celebrity about 10-12 times, Carnival once and RCCL once. We took advantage of a special they were offering as we had always been interested in sailing on HAL and this cruise went to Curacao and Bonaire, two places we REALLY wanted to go.

 

Our likes and dislikes:

In OUR opinion the food was not nearly as good as Celebrity. Celebrity has a MUCH better buffet and dinner. We ended up eating 5 nights in the Pinnacle Grill, one night in our room and one night in the MDR. Now the one night we ate in the MDR was formal night so they had "real" Surf and Turf, the steak was SO small they could not help but it was WELL done and I ordered 'medium rare'. The lobster was good, smallish, but that is what I expected when coming in combo with the steak, but the steak was TOO small. The rest of the meal was fine and the service was very good.

The ship was great and our 'Inside, handicapped accessible, stateroom' was fine. It was on deck 8, slightly forward. It was our first time in an "inside" and it really worked out fine. We took the inside because it was the "Special, last minute, offer" that we received and we went with it! It was offered for the week of our Anniversary, to 2 places we had never been, and wanter to go, so it seemed to be calling for us! We had a lot of fun!

NEVER have we embarked or disembarked so quickly or so easily! We dropped our luggage off to handlers, with NO wait, went and parked in the garage, walked through the metal detector with NO wait and NO line, had only 1 family ahead of us in the registration line and within seconds we walked up to a window, I had our passports and passes ready to hand over. It took us LESS than 4 minutes with her and she had trouble with the camera and then walked on the ship. We kept waiting for something else to stop us or slow us down. It was great.

Disembarking was even better, we have cruised enough that we learned to pack almost everything the night before + as my DH is disabled he can NOT carry stuff and I don't want to! We had breakfast and then just sat in our room with coffee until they called our number category and then just walked off of the ship into the luggage area, the small line moved very quickly, no wait. As we were walking to the area where we were told to get our luggage a Porter walked up to my DH and asked if we would like a Porter! You bet! He followed us, loaded up everything I pointed out and we walked to the Immigration Line. He told us which line to get in "this may not be the shortest line, but I guarantee you he is the fastest!" Well, he was right, we were out of there in minutes! THEN he went all the way into the garage with us, right to our van and loaded all of our luggage for us! What a great cruise! We drove to Orlando and spent a week in Disney World and had a GREAT time. We had no idea that it was their "Flower and Garden" Show - what luck!! The topiaries where fantastic! We had a great time with Mickey and Minnie too!

 

If you have any questions - just ask- (OH! we won about $500 on the slot machines :D

[portofrome]

Thanks for the review.

[MilliesMom]

Happy Anniversary ... what a great way to celebrate!!!!

 

Appreciate your review. We will be cruising on the Westerdam next May to Alaska and it is our first time on HAL. We have cruised on Carnival, RCCL, Princess, and NCL.

 

I've been busy reading reviews etc about HAL and the Westerdam. Can't seem to get enough information (can you tell I'm excited about going next year).

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

 

Glad you had a wonderdul Anniversary Cruise and a great time in Disney World.

[world~citizen]

Food is a pretty subjective thing. While comparable, I think we agree that food is a bit more to our taste on X, but it is a close thing. If we sailed strictly for the food we would sail a different line altogether.

 

It sounds as if you enjoyed your holiday, so HAL delivered on that one, as it usually does.

 

Thanks for the review.

 

Smooth sailing...

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

[Seago2]

I can't believe you won $500 in the slots! That is insane:eek:! Good for you.

 

Glad you had a good time and that it seems to have been stress free.

 

Welcome home.

[jaguarstyper]

Thanks for the review and the little comparison to Celebrity. I would love to read more about this comparison regarding other parts of the ship and amenities. I have to agree on the food. I know its subjective and everyone's tastes varies, but I feel this is somewhere that HAL has a lot of room for improvement. I also tend to dine at the PG a lot and find it to be well worth the extra cost.

 

Glad you had a good time and thanks again for taking the time to write a review.

[rwams]

Thank you for your review...All I ever do is give my money away.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[cruiseapril]

Liked reading your review of your Westerdam cruise.

 

How were the ports for you?

[jaguarstyper]

OH! we won about $500 on the slot machines :D

Nice! Its rare to hear anyone winning anything on a slot machine on a HAL ship. The last cruise I was on, my mother managed to pull about $100 per night out of a poker machine. But she has more luck than a 4 leaf clover and a rabbits foot combined. Back in 2004 I got on a roll playing black jack and walked away with a little over $2000 in my pocket.

 

Glad to hear someone finally won something on a slot machine.

[George C]

thanks for the review, I am not a fan of Celebrity but the one thing I did like was the buffet/lido for breakfast and lunch we always do a resturant for dinner.

[vivavegas]

Thanks for your review. Congrats on your winnings!:)

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time. I always enjoy an objective review.

[kazu]

Thanks very much for your review - and congratulations on winning the slots:D

[madera1]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

[SeaBlu]

Liked reading your review of your Westerdam cruise.

 

How were the ports for you?

 

 

We LOVED the ports and plan to definitely go back! Next time would try to afford the Cabana in Half Moon Cay as DH has a foot problem and cannot go in the water. I think having a cabana would make it better for him.

We LOVED Curacao and Bonaire and would have loved to have had more time in both. It rained a good bit while in Curacao but it did not hold us back too much. We did not do any of the ship excursions, walked around on our own and did some shopping. DH has to walk slower than others so we "do our own thing" as others get upset with his "slow speed".

[SeaBlu]

thanks for the review, I am not a fan of Celebrity but the one thing I did like was the buffet/lido for breakfast and lunch we always do a resturant for dinner.

 

 

Mind if I ask why?

[gelo7]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[George C]

Mind if I ask why?

 

WE did Solictice a few years ago and it is really a beautifull ship, but service in MDR and food in MDR were pretty bad, one night we didn't get entree till after 10pm several people at our table left before it arrived. WE wound up eating most meals in specialty restuants to avoid the MDR , we will try them again and just hope things are better. We were also upgraded to a suite which was great. Also really didn't like the enternament.