Oosterdam HAL Vancouver to Auckland

[Flyingdutchmen]

We've booked this cruise departing September 28, 2014, but reading some posts on CC that are not flattering to the ship or its apparently overworked, understaffed crew.

We've sailed several times on HAL and we've been quite pleased. One so so cruise on the Veendam to Bermuda. Again, service level was strained to the breaking point and service suffered, especially in the dining room, despite best efforts of the crew.

Seems that Carnival Corp has decided to focus on the newer ships, I.e Eurodam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Noordam, while allowing the older ships to fade.

Any comments?

[aussiedisneyfan]

My experience is over 12 month old but I had no problems.

 

Somebody onboard has just posted that it is great.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2013269

[Forest Grump]

Hi there,

We too have booked on Oosterdam from Vancouver to Auckland on Sept. 28th 2014.We are also previous cruisers with HAL ( Alaska, Fiords of Norway, and the Mediterranean) and have really enjoyed the experiences, although the Med trip did not measure up to HAL's standards of excellence, in our particular case. However we have decided to go with them again, on this repositioning cruise. WE too have seen the many unflattering revues of the Oosterdam and HAL and the perceived staffing problems.

From our experiences last year on Noordam,it seems that fewer crew are asked to do more in less time. I found this to be true in some bar areas particularly during advertised functions when large numbers of passengers attended. This happened on at least 5 occasions. Personally we had no poor experiences in the main dining room which we used on most days because we enjoyed the meals even though the menus were repeated(it really was a back to back cruise though There were two minor problems with in-house dining orders but nothing to spoil the whole experience for us. There were some wide spread problems with plumbing on deck 8 in particular, but these were fixed eventually. We have learned that if all is not well, most problems can be dealt with by the front desk crew as they are at the coalface so to say, but sometimes they need several (almost daily!!) reminders until the problem is fixed! We look forward to hearing from you and meeting you perhaps early in the cruise. We fly to Vancouver from Adelaide to board the ship, and then fly Auckland to Adelaide at the end of what will be our longest cruise yet, hoping our experiences with HAL are as many and as pleasant as they have been in the past.

Forestgrump

aka John

[drumcorpsmom]

We have booked on the Oosterdam from Vancouver to Aukland and are really looking forward to it. We have been on the Westerdam, Nieuw Amsterdam, Eurodam and Noordam. My sister and her husband went on a cruise our of San Diego a couple of years ago and really enjoyed the ship, although they had a few issues with meals at the Pinnacle. We have booked our 40th Anniversary dinner at the Pinnacle as we cross the International Dateline, so are hopeful that any problems have been rectified.

 

We are interested in hearing from other cruisers about shore excursions, either through HAL or independent, that will help make this a cruise to remember. We have never been to Hawaii, or anywhere in the South Pacific. What are the "must see" things to see and do?

 

Cathy

[Forest Grump]

Hi Cathy,

keep me informed of any feedback about Hawaii excursions in particular if you would. Our first time there and this part of the world.

John