Oosterdam, just returned on May 4, short review

[Oppgaard]

We just returned from the 4 night coastal on the Oosterdam from San Diego to Vancouver. When I have gotten some sleep and a clearer mind I will write a review. In the mean time, it was a good cruise on a good ship but........

[dakrewser]

...4 days just isn't long enough?

[Oppgaard]

As dakrewser said, 4 days just isn't long enough but here is a short review anyway.

 

EMBARKATION: We got to the pier and had to wait while someone in our party returned the rental car. At about 11:30 he returned and we started the process of checking in. We immediately were ushered to someone who checked our online docs we had printed out and made sure we had all the necessary paper work attended to. Next we were directed toward the special line they had for deluxe verandah and penthouse suite guests. In a matter of minutes we were through the line and by the time we walked out to the waiting area, they had commenced boarding and we were able to get on the ship. 5 ***** for embarkation.

 

After getting on the ship, our cabins were not ready so we went to the Neptune Lounge and had a light snack and waited until it was time to go to our cabins. We were in Cabin #7087 which is on the aft curve of the ship. Compared to our neighbor's same category S cabin, I liked ours better because it had more personality. To me it seemed larger although I don't think it really was. I am not a lover of "vinyl" furniture or the look of it and I thought the bathroom could have been better appointed with better toiliteries so rate the cabin ****. The beds were nice as everyone has commented on.

[dakrewser]

Good start... keep it coming.....

[Oppgaard]

The ship itself was easy to navigate and for some reason I could find my way around easier on this ship than any other I have been on. For layout, *****, for decor, ***1/2.

 

FOOD: I was totally unimpressed with the food on this cruise. The first night I had steak and it was OK but nothing that great. Some people who had the pork had to send it back because it was so dry. The second night was the formal night and I ordered lamb chops. I ordered them medium rare and they came medium. I could have sent them back but went ahead with them and then ordered the king crab. The king crab was small and had a somewhat different taste due to the broth that was used to cook it in. The third night we went to the Pinnacle and some of our group raved about how good their food was but a couple of people said it was all presentation and no preparation. I had the filet and it was very good. Someone on cruise critic said that the scalloped potatoes were awesome. Yes, they were awesome all right, very dry and tasteless. The worst potatoes ever. McDonald hash brown wedge would have been better. The chocolate volcano cake was excellent. Although our impressions of the Pinnacle were varied, I would highly recommend going there at least for one meal of your cruise and give it a chance. It was open for lunch on the sea days for $10pp. The last night of the cruise we ate in the dining room and I once again had the steak, which came with BBQ sauce. Memories of the ranch steak on Royal Caribbean came to mind. The people at our table who had the crusted perch filet all swore it was the BEST entree they have ever had, anywhere. When ordereing room service, be prepared for eating anything they may decide to send because it truly is 'pot luck.'

 

Since some people raved about their food but I was disappointed, I give it ***.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: We only went to the one production show which was put on by the HAL singers and dancers. They were all very talented and would have been great if they would have been given better material and a better wardrobe. It is a shame to waste so much talent on only an average production. ***

 

SERVICE: Our cabin steward did an excellent job of keeping our cabin clean, but we only saw him once during the cruise. I prefer to have a little more interaction with the steward but he did do an excellent job. The concierge in the Neptune Lounge, Gary, was very cordial and remembered my name the entire cruise after only one introduction. The other person working there was less cordial and when I heard someone ask him a question about DVD's he was quite rude and very unhelpful. Most of the people working around the ship and in other areas were always polite and said hello anytime you would encounter them. I particularly liked one very quiet person who worked in the casino but was also very kind and polite. Service ranks ***1/2.

 

CASINO: No one seemed to win a great amount and the slots were not very appealing. It was a smaller casino than I had imagined and for this reason alone would rate it only a **1/2.

[Oppgaard]

OVERALL IMPRESSION: Please don't think that I did not enjoy this cruise, because I did. I would definetely go on HAL again if the pricing and itinerary were what I wanted. The next time, I don't think I would pay the extra for a category S cabin because I didn't think the perks were really worth that much. I did check out the SS cabins and thought that they would suit my tastes just fine the next time around. It would all depend upon the pricing.

 

I know this is posted on the HAL boards and most of you are partial to HAL, but I still think Celebrity has the edge on dining and service. With comparable pricing and itinerary, I would definitely go Celebrity and would even consider Royal Caribbean before HAL.

[Tatka]

If you were unimpressed with HAL food how can you sail RCCL again? :confused:

 

80% of RCCL steaks were enadible....!!! HAL's buffets were better than both X 's and RCCL. (X had great waffle and omelet stations though!)

 

I'd rate X and HAL very close with RCCL several steps lower!

 

Service was whole another story:

 

1)X

2)RCCL

3)HAL

[wblynch]

We've always sailed RCCL and loved the great ships, wonderful service and the food was always very good (10%) or terrific (90%). In fact we never considered any RCCL food we were served to be less than very good.

 

We feel we're taking a huge risk by sailing HAL's Oosterdam this coming Thanksgiving but the price was so low we couldn't pass it up. (I fear I may know why the price is low)

 

After all, what's better than going on vacation for Thanksgiving where we can do all the eating and none of the cooking or cleanup ? !!

 

We've also decided if we hate the HAL cruise, we'll have to book another RCCL cruise immediately as therapy. :D

 

Either way, we have decided that, no matter what, we're going to have a great time on the O-Boat and enjoy it for everything we can.

[DaveOKC]

Jerry - or Judy -

Just got back last night. Had a great time and enjoyed meeting both of you. We were a bit disappointed in the cruise, I guess we have been spoiled already!

I also thought the relief guy for Gary in the Neptune Lounge was a loser. He gave us wrong advice a couple of times and was a bit rude in my opinion. We did not get priority disembarkation (we had black and white tags for some reason) but I left anyway with the first group! Never had this happen before when in a suite.

We did not get our Oosterdam ship tile (forgot all about it until we got back). Did either of you get yours?

All in all I thought the ship was very nice and very attractive, but I prefer the smaller HAL ships, especially if you are in a suite. The personal service is sooo much better on them than what we experienced. I think the problem is that the larger ships have almost twice as many suites and no more help in the Neptune Lounge.

Another comment - we have sailed on HAL five times now and I have to say the dining experience keeps going downhill. I agree with Jerry's comments on the food quality and selection but need to add that our server was quite a dud. No personality (except for the final night) at all. It seems to me that the new tipping policy is causing some problems.

DaveOKC

[Oppgaard]

Dave,

 

It was also a pleasure meeting you. We received the white with black striped tags as did all the others in our group who were in a category S. We also did not receive a tile or even know anything about it.

 

I was approached today by some people wanting to go on the Westerdam on a round trip Copenhagen cruise in July and asked my opinion. I wasn't sure what I wanted to say because I didn't want to discourage her. As we all know, each cruise is very subjective and everyone has a different take on it. Some love it and some hate it.

 

I am looking forward to our next Celebrity cruise in September.

[Sprocket]

Dave,

When I did not receive a tile I checked with Gary and was told none were being given as it was only a 4 day cruise:mad:

 

 

We also only received only one Hal bag, I thought it was supposed to be one

for each person in the cabin, I could be wrong here though.

 

We also were disappointed in the food, found some of the same things served in the evening in the dining room as in the Lido for lunch.

 

Don't think we would book another cruise like this with Hal, if we do book

another short one it will probably be on another line.

 

Bev

[DaveOKC]

Thanks for the feedback on the tiles and the tags. I did note that a few people in suites had light green tags.

You wonder if the cutbacks were related to the cheap fares we got? Next time a get a deal like this I might just go to the Pinnacle for dinner more than once (that meal was great).

Still had a good time though.

DaveOKC

[stormyc]

Hmmm... I was on the Oosterdam April 23 - 30 for the Mexican Riviera itinerary. My experiences were different from yours.

 

I wonder if your negative experiences were due to it being a shorter cruise (do they relax their standards on a shorter cruise?), or perhaps because I was on my first cruise and didn't have the basis for comparison to other cruises as you did? Maybe it's a result of which staff on the ship are assigned to look after you?

 

Just curious why it can vary so much from one week to the next...

 

So sorry your cruise did not live up to your expectations.

[AmyinVail]

few thoughts: I was also on the 4/23 Oosterdam. Gary in the Neptune is incredible. Danny is a waste and should NOT have that nice of a position on the ship. He was rude, not helpful and aloof. Gary is a gem. I got tiles, and I'm not a Mariner...Is it a suite thing? I actually felt bad as I really thought they were for Mariners....they were so great, I just kept them, we got two. As for the HAL totes, we had 3 people in our suite and only got 2 bags. I also got black and white striped tags for our luggage - not having sailed HAL before, I didn't know any better. I have to disagree with the food assessment. I thought the food compared or topped most fine Vail restaurants. I really enjoyed each and every meal on the Oosterdam. I don't normally revisit ships or land destination resorts....but, I might make the exception w. the Oosterdam. Either that, or sail their next new Vista ship.

[stormyc]

few thoughts: I was also on the 4/23 Oosterdam. Gary in the Neptune is incredible. Danny is a waste and should NOT have that nice of a position on the ship. He was rude, not helpful and aloof. Gary is a gem. I got tiles, and I'm not a Mariner...Is it a suite thing? I actually felt bad as I really thought they were for Mariners....they were so great, I just kept them, we got two. As for the HAL totes, we had 3 people in our suite and only got 2 bags. I also got black and white striped tags for our luggage - not having sailed HAL before, I didn't know any better. I have to disagree with the food assessment. I thought the food compared or topped most fine Vail restaurants. I really enjoyed each and every meal on the Oosterdam. I don't normally revisit ships or land destination resorts....but, I might make the exception w. the Oosterdam. Either that, or sail their next new Vista ship.

 

Our (DH & I) experience compared very closely with yours...

 

Gary was absolutely great ...Danny was very kind and helpful to us.

 

We did get a tile, and treasure it. I was surprised to receive it, although I didn't feel bad about it. :rolleyes:

 

We got one HAL tote bag the night before arriving at the first port, which is what I expected from reading the HAL board. This was sufficient for us, and we really loved it. They didn't have to give us anything at all, so we thought it was a really nice touch.

 

We received the black and white striped luggage tags and the assignment letter "S" for debarkation. The documentation provided with the luggage tags was very clear about suite priority debarking. When they called the first set of numbers for debarkation on Saturday morning, they included the letter "S", so we knew we could leave at any time. We finished our room service breakfast, tucked a few last items in our carry-on bags, and trudged off the ship. :(

 

We, too, thought the food was wonderful. Some of the appetizers were more sophisticated than my palate :p, but I tried some new things and our dining room steward (Lenta) and his assistant (Barkah) were great at suggesting entrees and desserts we really enjoyed.

 

We would definitely sail on the Oosterdam again ...It sounds, however, like the next week did not prove to be as great for the passengers that have reported in so far, and I am just curious what is behind this difference. :confused:

[shipcafe]

We feel we're taking a huge risk by sailing HAL's Oosterdam this coming Thanksgiving but the price was so low we couldn't pass it up. (I fear I may know why the price is low)

 

How is that? Do cruise lines vary and fluctuate service levels and product offerings by the average rate paid per guest?

I am a diamond level cruiser with RCI and feel that HAL is a much better investment versus the risk taken by sailing any one of RCI's ships.

[wblynch]

How is that? Do cruise lines vary and fluctuate service levels and product offerings by the average rate paid per guest?

 

From what I've read and heard from people on Cruise Critic, I think cruise lines do vary quite a bit between each other in service levels and product offerings.

 

We have only sailed RCCL till this and have always been extremely happy with our experience.

[shipcafe]

From what I've read and heard from people on Cruise Critic, I think cruise lines do vary quite a bit between each other in service levels and product offerings.

 

We have only sailed RCCL till this and have always been extremely happy with our experience.

 

I'm not referring to the product or service differences between lines but, rather, what you mentioned :

 

We feel we're taking a huge risk by sailing HAL's Oosterdam this coming Thanksgiving but the price was so low we couldn't pass it up. (I fear I may know why the price is low)

 

You suggest that a lower price point on a particular sailing will elicit lower-than-satisfactory service levels?

I do not believe cruise lines care to invest the time in fluctuating what you're receiving on board based on the average price paid per guest . . . .

[wblynch]

I'm not referring to the product or service differences between lines but, rather, what you mentioned :

 

Not between sailings, between lines.

 

We chose our next cruise based on a very low price and that we are joining a large group of friends and family that had selected this ship and sailing.

 

From what I've read on Cruise Critic, it seems like we are taking a risk on HAL because it probably won't be as satisfying as our experience on RCCL.

 

This has been too many words already from me on the subject.