OOSTERDAM SCORES A PERFECT 100....

[sail7seas]

Just heard from a friend that Oosterdam was inspected by USPH and scored a perfect 100. That is not easy to do, as we all know.

 

Huge Congratulations to the Officers and Crew of Oosterdam.

 

(Hope there's a big party being planned for those hard-working men and women).

 

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[bryanwal]

That's quite a coup. Even the best ships don't usually get more than a 98. Quite an accomplishment.

 

- Bryan W

Oct 2000 Disney Magic - Eastern Caribbean

Jun 2002 Disney Magic - Western Caribbean

Jul 2004 HAL Oosterdam - Alaska

Feb 2005 Celebrity Mercury - Mexican Riviera

 

Protect your PC!

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[Krazy Kruizers]

Oosterdam

 

Good for her. We loved the ship when we were on her.

 

[LAFFNVEGAS]

I think it is great she got that score. I have to admit I thought everything was great when we were on her a few weeks ago. I think a lot of credit goes to her great Captain. Captain Jonathan Mercer, you can certainly tell his crew loves and respects him.

 

Lisa L

 

Monarch of the Seas-March 2002 West. Carib.

MS Zuiderdam-April 2003 East.Carib.

Monarch of the Seas-December 2003 Baja Mexico

MS Oosterdam-May 2004 Alaska

 

Till we set sail on the MS Ryndam-Sea of Cortez-November 2004

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Till We set sail on the MS Westerdam-Western Caribbean March 2005

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[luv2cruise450]

That's a great accomplishment...kudos to the staff & crew! And we will be sailing with her in November! I know that a lot of the HAL 'purists' don't seem to want to sail on the new Vista class ships...but I am excited about the cruise and 'checking' out the ship! It's HAL...and I think that any HAL cruise is good!

Happy sailing!

 

Victoria III 4/99 (Yangtze River)

Maasdam 5/00 (W.Med) & 11/01

Veendam 10/00

Zaandam 5/01 (Alaska cruisetour)

Millenium 12/01 & 10/03 (transatlantic)

Amsterdam 5/02 (transcanal)

NCL Star 12/02 (Hawaii)

CCL Paradise 3/03

Noordam 4/03 (transatlantic)

NCL Dawn 8/03

Regal Princess Elaine 3/04 (Yangtze River)

 

[sail7seas]

Lisa....You are right. I agree Captain Mercer is a fabulous Master and Gentleman.

 

But, let's not forget the Hotel Managers. It falls more to them in terms of these Inspections to see that all is "ship shape".

 

Yes, the buck does stop at the Captain but it bounces right onto the Hotel Manager.

 

<img src=http://domania.us/DaveEdwards/HALlogo.gif>

 

 

 

 

[pattigay]

We sailed on the O'dam on 5/29 and I have never seen so much constant cleaning on any ship. Every where you looked someone was polishing, washing, dusting, vacuuming or inspecting but none of this was intrusive. The ship was immaculate!!!

[bepsf]

How wonderful for them!

Can't wait to get back on the O-Dam again!

 

Brian

 

Oosterdam Feb '04 RSVP Caribbean

Oosterdam Sept '05 RSVP Alaska

[Venture]

My wife and I boarded Oosterdam in Venice on Nov 7/04 for a 26 day Med.- Trans Atlantic to Ft. Lauderdale cruise. At 1:30pm a knock on our cabin door- it was our steward with luggage who then introduced himself. I asked him who was the Captain for our voyage? "our Captain on holiday, we have relief Captain. Captain Jonathan Mercer on holiday"!! It was very obvious with what he said that the crew missed Captain Mercer. On Nov 18, the day before we docked in Lisbon, a knock on the cabin door- our very wonderful steward stood with a large smile- "Our Captain Jonathan Mercer will be back tomorrow with Hotel Manager Willem Cruijsberg, everyone in crew happy now".

 

Good leadership from the top makes for respect and a happy crew,which is then passed on to the ships passengers.

 

Congratulation to the Officers and Crew of Oosterdam for a job well done.

[jhannah]

This is wonderful news for the entire crew. It does seem from PattiG's and Venture's comments that the staff is reasonably happy to be where they are. It sort of negates some of the negative comments some crew have allegedly made regarding working/tipping conditions on HAL ships. No, I'm not trying to go off-topic here, just making an observation that the leaders of any organization make or break the enterprise. Even when things are not ideal, good leaders will still manage and treat people in such a way that they will work hard to bat a thousand. Kudos to the captain and all the hard workers aboard the Oosterdam. They have set the bar for the rest of the HAL fleet!

 

'Vegas Jim

 

[wilsonzoo]

Originally posted by sail7seas:

Just heard from a friend that Oosterdam was inspected by USPH and scored a perfect 100. That is not easy to do, as we all know.

 

 

For us newbies, can you please advise who the USPH is and what aspects of the ship they are rating? Thanks--

 

Days remaining to Alaska via Oosterdam:

 

Amsterdam, Sept. 2002

Oosterdam, Sept. 2004

[sail7seas]

USPH is United States Public Health. All ships that call at U.S. ports "Voluntarily" submit to unannounced inspections. Each time they pull into a U.S. port (including St. Thomas and San Juan etc), the officials can board for a Health Inspection.

 

There is no hotel on land that could pass this rigid review. Check your own sharp carving knives...any "gunk" at the base of the blade (I bet there is), you just lost at least a point.

 

Check the seal around your refrigerator door....any sign of mold? A point gone.

 

Can opener....is it free of any sign of debris?

 

Dishwasher temperature running at prescribed heat level suggested as safe by manufacturer? I have no clue what mine runs at.

 

A speck of dust on the glass shelves in any of the bars gets these inspectors unhappy. Unhappy means lost points?

 

How about Lido. Is the sneeze guard over the platters of food the prescribed dimensions? Is refrigeration at exactly the temperatures they demand? Are hand wash sinks where they should be and are there proper signs posted?

 

I could go on and on but I think you get the picture.

 

One hundred equal perfect score. Anything below 86 and they can hold the ship in port and refuse to allow it to take passengers and sail until infractions are corrected.

 

These inspections are hugely important for our safety and alot rides on them for the crews.

 

I repeat...Huge Congratulations to the fine crew of Oosterdam. Job very well done.

 

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[razman]

That's great news for the Oosterdam. We too were on her 3 weeks ago and we saw the crew cleaning everywhere on the ship.

 

We did get the opportunity to get a behind the scene tour of the laundry facilities from the chief of housekeeping "Aswar". He was so kind to give us a tour. My DH happen to mention to him that he does the laundry at home for the 7 of us that he couldn't fathom doing laundry for 3000. So Aswar took us on a tour. What an amazing operation they have in the laundry facility. They even make all the uniforms on the ship by a staff of tailors!

 

Needless to say, we greatly enjoyed our cruise and look forward to everyone's help to plan the next one!

 

ms Oosterdam

[Tatka]

Is Zuiderdam as nice ship as Oosterdam?

 

I hope so.

 

------------------------------

<UL TYPE=SQUARE>

<LI>Zuiderdam 8/21/04 FLL - Key West - Cozumel - Grand Caymans - Half Moon Cay - FLL

<LI>Splendour of the Seas 05/15/04 Barcelona - Marseilles - Villefranche - Livorno - Chivitavecchia - Naples - Barcelona

<LI>Century 07/12/03 Eastern Caribbean FFL-San Juan - St. Thomas - St.Maarten- Nassau -FFL

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/91 Moscow - Astrahan' - Moscow (honeymoon)

<LI>Komarno(Volga)07/90 Moscow - Astrahan'- Moscow

<LI>Admiral Nachimov(or Nakhimov) (Black Sea)04/1986 Odessa - Batum

 

GO BRUINS!!!!

[sail7seas]

Nice to my eyes? Nice to your eyes? Nice to his eyes?

 

 

Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder.

 

IMO...Zuiderdam is a fabulous ship. We have enjoyed four fabulous cruises on her.

 

<img src=http://domania.us/DaveEdwards/HALlogo.gif>

 

 

 

 

[streetlife]

Our family sailed on the Oosterdam 5/29 to Alaska. The ship is wonderful. It was our first cruise to Alaska and the Hubbard Glacier was fantastic.

We enjoyed the cabin service, despite some beefs about Hollands food we thought it was A-1. And we liked the disco which was located right off the Casino.

Great ship and crew. We look forward to doing a Mexico cruise on the big O in 05 from California.

Robert

[RevNeal]

Latest HAL fleet CDC Inspection Scores as posted on the CDC website:

 

AMSTERDAM --9/4/2003-- 97

MAASDAM --5/5/2004-- 89

NOORDAM --3/28/2004-- 93

OOSTERDAM --12/11/2003-- 97

PRINSENDAM --1/20/2004-- 90

ROTTERDAM --5/16/2004-- 95

RYNDAM --3/13/2004-- 94

STATENDAM --10/16/2003-- 99

VEENDAM --1/17/2004-- 99

VOLENDAM --10/18/2003-- 97

ZAANDAM --4/3/2004-- 98

ZUIDERDAM --5/1/2004-- 98

 

Apparently the latest inspection of the Oosterdam hasn't made it to the CDC.gov website yet.

 

Greg+

Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures

Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video

Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video

Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures

 

 

Until Departure on the MS Zaandam, Panama Canal

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[RevNeal]

For any who are interested as to why the Maasdam scored so low (89), here's the reasons points were taken off.

 

3 Points were deducted for:

 

Whirlpools:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> A REVIEW OF THE LOGS NOTED NUMEROUS DAYS WHERE THE BROMINE RESIDUALS WERE LESS THEN 4 PPM AT THE WHIRLPOOLS. THERE WAS NO INDICATION ON THE CHARTS THAT THE WHIRLPOOLS WERE CLOSED. AS PER THE ENGINEER THE CHART READINGS WERE DIRECT READINGS OF THE FREE BROMINE RESIDUALS. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

2 points were deducted for all of the following (taken as a whole):

 

In the Lido Galley:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> THE ICE MACHINES WERE DIFFICULT TO CLEAN. THE DESIGN OF THESE UNITS REQUIRED THE REMOVAL OF MULTIPLE PANELS TO ACCESS THE BACK OF THE FIRST ICE PLATE AND THE FRONT AND BACK OF THE SECOND ICE PLATE. ONE ICE MACHINE WAS LOCATED IN AN AREA WHERE THE BULKHEAD PARTIALLY BLOCKED ACCESS TO THE PANELS. IN ADDITION, SOFT SEALANT WAS USED ALONG THE OUTER EDGES OF THE PANELS THAT REQUIRE REMOVAL FOR CLEANING OF THE ICE MACHINES. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Crew Galley:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> ALL THE UNDER COUNTER REFRIGERATION UNITS IN THE CREW GALLEY WERE OUT OF ORDER SINCE 8 AM. THE UNITS WERE REPAIRED DURING THE INSPECTION. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Java Bar:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> THE BULK MILK CONTAINER DISPENSING TUBE WAS LONGER THAN ONE INCH. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Cold Galley:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> THE ROBO BLADES WERE CORRODED MAKING THEM DIFFICULT TO CLEAN. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Main Galley Deck 7:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> THE CUTTING BOARD AT THE VEGETABLE PREPARATION AREA IN THE MAIN GALLEY HAD GOUGES AND CREVICES MAKING IT DIFFICULT TO CLEAN. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

2 points were deducted for the following items:

 

Lido Buffet:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> PLATES AND BOWLS WERE NOT STORED INVERTED. THIS WAS NOTED FOR THE BACK-UP PLATES AS WELL AS PLATES FOR THE PORT BUFFET WHICH WAS CLOSED AT THE TIME OF THE INSPECTION. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Potwash/Diswash:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> CONDENSATE WAS NOTED DRIPPING ON TO CLEAN DISHES AS THEY EXITED THE DISHWASH MACHINES IN THE MAIN GALLEY AND CREW GALLEY. CONDENSATE WAS DRIPPING ON TO CLEAN PANS AS THE PANS EXITED THE POTWASH MACHINE. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

1 Point was deducted for the following:

 

Potwash/Dishwash:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> VENTILATION WAS NOT SUFFICIENT TO REMOVE CONDENSATE ABOVE THE DISHWASH AND POT WASH MACHINES IN THE CREW AND MAIN GALLEYS. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

3 Points were deducted for the following:

 

Coffee Station:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> THE FLOOR DRAIN BENEATH THE COFFEE STATION WAS SOILED WITH MOLD AND NUMEROUS WHITE INSECTS WERE CRAWLING IN AND AROUND THE FLOOR DRAIN. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Breakfast Pantry:

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> FIVE FLIES WERE NOTED ON THE COUNTER AND EQUIPMENT IN THE PANTRY. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

Greg+

Maasdam: Western Caribbean Cruise Pictures

Volendam: Wayfarer Cruise Pictures and Video

Statendam: Hawaii Cruise Pictures and Video

Volendam: Alaska Inside Passage Cruise Pictures

 

 

Until Departure on the MS Zaandam, Panama Canal

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[sail7seas]

It is not the least unusual for it to take up to two weeks for the report to appear at the CDC site.

 

I would not expect to see it there for minimum of a week.

 

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