Oosterdam ex Sydney - questions for HAL newbie

[qak]

We are going on the Oosterdam in the Summer holidays. Last year we went on the Carnival Spirit, so I am expecting it to be a bit different ... I am not sure if the information on the HAL boards on this forum apply when the cruise is out of Australia.

 

1. Does Oosterdam use the card system so it is cashless cruising? And for port disembarkation/embarkation (and roll calls)?

2. Would there be a place to get forex on board (we are going to New Caledonia, Fiji & Vanuatu)?

3. Are we allowed to take power boards ... do they have Aust or US power points? We have some medical equipment which needs power overnight.

 

I am sure I will think of more questions :)

[CruiserBruce]

Oosterdam doesn't change much if anything for it's Australia sailings as it as not permanently assigned to Australia, like say the Dawn or Sea Princess. So the HAL board will have all the current and correct info.

 

The ship will have European US powerpoints (plugs, we call them). Those can't be changed very easily, and then changed back when the ship returns to the US in April. HAL wants you to use their power "stripes" as we call them, power boards in your case.

 

It is a cashless society.

 

The Front Desk will provide local cash in many cases, but can't promise in every small port.

[Wastegirl]

Been on the Oosterdam 3 times, they have both European and US Powerpoints but not many of them. I used a converter from US to AU that had a double plug on it and that worked well for my trip. They do not encourage power strips and any you bring may be confiscated, however if you ask at the front desk soon after boarding, they will lend you one, which I would imagine would be a US strip so defeats the purpose.

 

It is cashless, you get a Ships Card which you use for everything. I also got a drinks card which I prepurchased online off their web site. The advantage of this is you got an extra card with the amount of money you had put on it ($50, $100 or $250) and you present this every time you order a drink. This is like a gift card, the amount of the drink is simply taken off the total leaving you with a balance so you can keep an eye on what you are drinking. Its seperate to your ships card and doesn't go onto your ships account which means at the end of the cruise you are not trying to reconcile a large account wondering if that Cocktail you had in the Ocean Bar on Wednesday night was really yours :)

 

As for cash, I found on most of the Islands they accepted AUD without any problem, I did not convert any cash. The only island that seems to prefer their currency is Noumea and even then because I prepurchased my tour I dnd't need to use cash that day, except to buy a drink at a resort and they accepted AUD. The ship will convert small amounts and in Noumea there is a money changer when you get off the ship.

[GUT2407]

We are going on the Oosterdam in the Summer holidays. Last year we went on the Carnival Spirit, so I am expecting it to be a bit different ... I am not sure if the information on the HAL boards on this forum apply when the cruise is out of Australia.

 

1. Does Oosterdam use the card system so it is cashless cruising? And for port disembarkation/embarkation (and roll calls)?

2. Would there be a place to get forex on board (we are going to New Caledonia, Fiji & Vanuatu)?

3. Are we allowed to take power boards ... do they have Aust or US power points? We have some medical equipment which needs power overnight.

 

I am sure I will think of more questions :)

 

 

Have you checked out your roll call.

[qak]

OK a couple more questions:

- are there up to date drinks prices anywhere? I found one site which had photos of HAL drink menus, but they seemed to be about 5 years old - only really interested in white wines & cocktails; also soft drinks aka "soda" ... and would Lemon Lime & Bitters be counted as a soda?

- just how big/small are the laundry bags - it sounds like there is no self serve laundry either?

[Wastegirl]

The wine list is not that good but you can get a reasonable white wine about $6.50 to $10 depending on what you want. Cocktails are much better priced at around $6.50 to $8.50 each. Keep an eye out for Happy Hour which gave you two cocktails of the same type for $1 for the extra cocktail, this applied to spirits and wine as well. My DH and I would sit in the Ocean Bar having two glasses of my favourite cocktail and my DH would have a double shot of Jack Daniels for just $1 extra on the single shot price.

 

Basic Soda prices were around the $1.90 to $2.50 mark with Mocktails which includes things such as Lemon Lime & Bitters around the $4.50 mark.

 

In the tropics my DH especially liked the bucket of beer which was around $22 for 5 Coronas on ice, which if you didn't finish you could take back to your stateroom.

 

Of particular interest if you like your white wine, you could bring 2 bottles per stateroom on board to consume within your stateroom for no extra charge. Your stewards happily provide an ice bucket on request. However if you like a particular wine, you can bring as much as you like on board and just pay $18 per bottle corkage and you can drink it anywhere on the ship. When you go through the scanners, just past them is a table where you take your wine and they record it for charging the $18 and put a sticker on it. There are two types of stickers, one for your in room consumption only (no charge) and one for your corkage.

 

You might think paying $18 is a bit steep, but think about it, a bottle of Villa Maria Sauvignon Blanc is about $14 in the bottle shop + $18 corkage = $32, it is dearer than that on the ship, can't remember exactly the price but mark ups are ridiculous. What is more they stock mainly Californian wines which we were not keen on.

 

As for Laundry - the best option is the Unlimited Laundry Package, we paid $99 for a 14 day cruise. This meant I could send out as much laundry as often as I wanted and it came back the next day clean, immaculately pressed and on coathangers (or in the case of socks folded in a basket).

 

A hint I got here on CC was if you don't want your unmentionables paraded in front of the laundry staff, put them in a mesh bag (take with you) and your knickers etc are washed in this and returned in the bag. I also put in large letters on the form you fill in "Cold Wash" because I prefer this than hot. I never had anything back damaged but I would not put in expensive, extremely delicate articles. You are correct no Laundry on board but the Unlimited Package was brilliant, no cooking, no cleaning and best of all no Laundry :D

[qak]

:D

 

Big thumbs up from me for a very informative post! Thanks so much :)

[qak]

And another Q (which I thought I had asked before, but can't see now!): when the cruise departs is there only one boarding time as I wasn't given a choice?

[CruiserBruce]

No. You can board between 11:30 and typically 90 minutes prior to sailing.

 

All of this info, including a very detailed thread with all the drink prices, can be found on the HAL board, here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=171