Just off Westerdam/First Hal cruise

[alli]

I held high hopes for doing a through review of our cruise, but unfortunately work looms tomorrow and the pile of laundry must be dealt with!!

 

We are experienced cruisers with 16 cruises on a variety of lines ( Cunard to Carnival) and hopped on Hal due to the itinerary and the great rate we received. We were very pleased with the trip and will definately think about booking with HAL again.

 

A couple quick thoughts:

 

The food was fantastic!! We felt it was the best we have encountered on any of our cruises. We considered booking the Pinnacle one evening, but felt it would be just gluttony as we got everything we needed in the MDR.

 

Love the overall maritime theme of the ship and the sometimes eclectic art work. The ship is beginning to show it's age. This didn't bother us, but one can see that it's time for a refit. What amazed us was the ship never felt crowded! Passenger flow was fantastic.

 

The entertainment was so-so. The singers and dancers really were bad and we walked out of thier shows...just painful to watch! The cruise director did an okay job/nothing special. They show the movies in the Queen's Lounge;not the best venue for a movie.

 

Our fellow passengers were for the most part very polite. People were considerate about entering and exiting elevators ( believe me that is a big thing if you spend a week on board a ship when they aren't!) and didn't push and shove in line. We did run into the occasional braggart you told us how many Mariner Stars they had...kind of like Diamond people on RCL or Elites on Celebrity.

 

St. Maarten with six ships!!! Ugh. Oh, well, it is just the cruise industry these days when you pull into port and you realize that the ship next to you has 4-5 thousand people on it! I throughly enjoyed myself onboard that day!

 

HalfMoon Cay...expected much more as people always rave about it on these boards. It's pretty, it's a beach...it's nothing to write home about.

 

Gotta run and continue with laundry!! I do have the daily sheets from the trip, but my scanner is broken, so I can't post.

[sail7seas]

Sounds like you found lots to enjoy on Westerdam and your cruise.

Thanks for posting comments for us and Welcome Back. :)

 

[TracieABD]

Thank you for your mini-review! It sounds as if you had a lovely time!:)

[OlsSalt]

…...

HalfMoon Cay...expected much more as people always rave about it on these boards. It's pretty, it's a beach...it's nothing to write home about.

 

….

 

Sigh, here we go about the good old days but it was not that long ago (5 years) there was very little development on the Half Moon Cay beach, but this slowly changed with the addition of the huge, out of place hokey pirate ship bar with its noisy music and now two-story cabanas.

 

I agree, now it is nothing special. But it was pristine, quiet and glowing with natural beauty at one time.

 

Thanks for your report and good news about your first HAL trip - there is a sense of privacy, art and flow on HAL ships that we too find very engaging and hard to beat. Wishing you many happy HAL cruises in your future.

 

BTW: If you do not know about these yet, there are several online websites that report what other ships will be in port on the same days and now becomes part of trip planning to help avoid those over-crowded ports if one has a choice between competing itineraries. But with the popularity of the Caribbean and the proliferation of the mega ships carrying over 6000 passengers, it is probably harder and harder to ever get that private island feel now in this area.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for shariing your thoughts.

[kazu]

Thanks for the review.

 

Sorry to hear about the entertainment on the Westie as when we were on, they had some innovative stuff.

 

Still sounds like you had a good cruise though!

 

Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts and welcome home.

[1stimecruiser]

Thanks for your review. We board the Westerdam next Saturday, Nov 16th (our 3rd cruise on the Westerdam) great to hear the food is still excellent.

[summersigh]

BTW: If you do not know about these yet, there are several online websites that report what other ships will be in port on the same days and now becomes part of trip planning to help avoid those over-crowded ports if one has a choice between competing itineraries.

 

Those sites are wonderful - We sail the Westie early Dec and I was able to see that while we were the only ship in port 3 of the stops - In Phillipsburg there are to be 4 ships in port so I was sure to book our excursion there very early.

[alli]

Oh, HalfMoon Cay minus that pirate ship would be an improvement. I guess people complained in the past there was no bar down in that middle area and that was the solution. I would suggest HAL replace it with some thatched roofed hut bars with hammocks/ etc for a more topical feel. Too bad I'm not on Hal's payroll, LOL!

 

I've seen those websites with the port information...but these days how is anyone travelling on a mid-market cruiseship going to escape the crowded ports? It just comes with the territory. I imagine Cozumel must be a beast on any given day. Until that time when I can afford a more upmarket experience I'll just have to bite my tongue and enjoy the quiet spaces on the ship while others head ashore.

[mamamzee]

We also are just off the Westerdam 7 day Caribbean cruise. Lucked out into a Neptune Suite which we adored. The perks and amenities were great as was our balcony. As I said, we lucked out and I would never pay full price for one but I'm cheap!

 

We loved the entertainment. I thought the dancers were 100% better than I saw on Celebrity a year or so ago. The magician was very good and kind, eve3n doing an extra show one afternoon. The comedian was very funny. We also took a great liking to Jacob, the culinary host, and his great sense of humor.

 

Food in MDR was good, in Pinnacle it was excellent! I think the Lido was okay for breakfast and lunch but we ate one dinner there and I did not like it. Food tasted "steamed".

 

We went on the Art Tour in St Maarten and it was very informative. The rest of the week, we stayed on board which we like.

 

The captain said in his talk that the whole inside of the ship will get new refurbishing next April. Probably time.