Two Kids On A Ship ~ Oosterdam Review

[CupKayke]

Astoria, Oregon

 

On day two of this cruise we were scheduled to be docked in Astoria, Oregon from 1pm to 5pm or 6pm. I don’t quite remember the leave time. It was a slow docking for some reason so we didn’t actually get docked until almost 1:30pm. The sail-in was beautiful and we watched the boat slowly slide-in and dock from our balcony. As soon as they put the gangway down, we grabbed our little daypack and walked down the stairs.

 

Here is the crowd waiting to get off the ship:

Notice the word crowd is a joke. We waited less than two minutes and we were off the ship. I was the 5th person off and my husband was the 6th person off – if my count was correct which I believe it was. Again, this has never happened to us on any other cruise. It was nice.

 

Today HAL had the option of 3 excursions – the same three they had on the boat were the same three they had online pre-cruise (this was not the case in San Francisco as I will discuss later). You could… 1)go on a brewery tour or 2)do an inside culinary event or 3)take a bus ride an hour away to another little Oregon town and see their markets and get your feet wet in their beach. All three options were at least $49.95 per person and didn’t appeal to us. We decided to get off and see what we could see.

 

If you look at this next picture, you will see small white tents. This is what they call the Astoria "market"...

It took about ten minutes to walk through and buy some homemade toffee (wrapped very nicely and made a good gift plus they had free tastings) and take a gander at the other homemade paintings, portraits, purses, and like items for sale. It was probably the second best thing in Astoria, unfortunately.

 

We walked past the market and they were selling all day on and off shuttle tickets for about $8 a person I think. Your other option was to walk 1.3 miles into "town" so we chose to sit in the open-air shuttle/trolley-like-thing and get a ride to town. The trolley stopped first at a small row of downtown shops and everyone got off but us... we continued on to the Maritime Museum which we had read about and thought might be interesting. This was a smart little move on our part because later as we were leaving the museum it was starting to get packed with people.

 

 

This museum was about $12 a person and was interesting. My husband loved the information about the Coast Guard. Did you know the US Coast Guard saves an average of 600 lives per year? They do. Also, this area of Astoria is where the Columbia River meets the Pacific Ocean and is called The Graveyard Of The Pacific. The waters are so dangerous that the Coast Guard actually trains here in Astoria. The Coast Guard ships were actually setup just outside the museum area. The museum had lots of other information about Astoria and its history. Back in the day, Astoria was the home to Bumble Bee Tuna. They also had lots of old items to see like the old "guns" they used to use for shark fishing. My husband enjoyed this museum quite a bit and I was not bored. Also, the gift shop in this museum was a good little find - they were selling silly stuff like "Sea Lion Poop" in cute souvenir bags, wild huckleberry chocolates and even things like Wild Huckleberry Pancake Mix with jam/syrup. My mom and sister both appreciated the unique gifts I purchased at this little gift shop.

 

(He's not crazy, really, he just acts that way sometimes)

Edited October 11, 2015 by CupKayke

[CupKayke]

Astoria, continued...

 

We took the trolley up to the little shops and looked around. We were not impressed. Astoria is a tiny town. There really isn’t anything here and most of the shops were just junk shops. We walked about a block or so down until we found a small shop selling Astoria t-shirts. We decided to get back on the ship probably around 4pm or 4:30pm. Well, so did everyone else. If you were on the “left” side of the road, we could easily tell you were not going to get back on the trolley/shuttle. At this point they also had a bus running the route. We walked across the street and got on the super-crowded super-hot standing-room-only bus. The bus was so full we couldn’t pick-up folks waiting at the museum. They told them they would come back around as soon as they had dropped us off at the pier. We were back at the pier in a couple of hot minutes and we slowly meandered our way back on the boat.

 

 

We sat and watched others come back the rest of the afternoon and I believe we left around 5:30pm or 6:00pm. The ship started blowing the horn about 30 minutes prior to us leaving. I must say it is good to hear a ship’s horn and this captain was always generous with the honking now and then.

 

My husband and I can now say we've been to the state of Oregon. I believe I have 10 US states left before I've visited them all. Regardless, I sure would have enjoyed a full, long day here so we could have taken an excursion into Portland. Astoria is like a hollow chocolate - it looks good but on the inside, it's empty. Having said that... the people in Astoria are outstanding. From the minute we stepped off the boat, through the market, at the shuttle, at the museum, downtown, and every place we visited there were folks everywhere dressed in blue vests that said something like "Astoria Welcoming Committee" and these people were soooo nice. Always offering advice, showing us the way to here or there or simply welcoming us to their town. The lady in the gift shop at the Maritime Museum was especially nice. You can't say enough nice things about the people here.

 

I'm not for sure what we did the rest of the this day. Again, I did not plan on writing a review .

 

The next day, day 3 on the ship, was a sea day. Our ship booked it all night long down the west coast and there was a slight bit of rocking and rolling. We passed into California coastal waters just before noon according to the captain. It was windy, cold, and dark skies. The captain said there had been a storm north of us and we were feeling the effects of this but both stabilizers were out so he was trying to keep the ship as steady as possible. I thought it was nothing. I've been on a ship you could barely walk on so this seemed fine to me. Anyway, all this cool weather brought a treat for us today... for everyone... not once... but twice.... WHALES!

 

I actually got a picture of a whale spout...

 

That might not win picture of the year but I was surprised to find it on my camera when we returned home. In the morning, around 7am, we saw a couple of spouts off the balcony. Later, we were walking down some stairs and overheard a lady telling her husband she was on the treadmill when she saw them, too. That afternoon, however, we saw at least 5 or 6. We were on the balcony and my husband yelled "whales" and several others came to their balcony railings and we all enjoyed a good little show for a few minutes. That was a first for us. What a treat!

 

We tried Dive-In today. It's a tiny little burger & fry joint on the Forward Lido deck open 11am to 5pm (I believe). There are about 5 different burgers you can order and 3 different types of fries - naked, smothered or something else. You get the idea. There was no wait and we were the only people there at the time we wanted food which I think was around 4pm. The fries were seasoned and sorta breaded and excellent. The burgers were so-so. Neither of us were really impressed because they weren't hot, oddly enough. It's free and we both like a burger now and then so that's good ~ I think it's a neat idea. I wanted a Dr Pepper to go with my burger and was told the ship only sold Coke products. Are you kidding me? Nope. They were not kidding me. I noticed one lady had her own bottled Barq's Root Beer she had brought onboard. We brought some Sprite. I think you probably should just bring what you like if you don't like Coke products. There is a large group of ladies at my work that believe they can't get through an hour of work without a Dr. Pepper. Glad I'm not one of them ladies...

 

Since this is our last day on the ship, I want to share one of my favorite little things about this ship... see-through or glass elevators. There are two of them on each side of the ship in the middle. They are fun to ride in and I got in them as often as possible. Almost scary, definitely cool.

It's hard to get a decent picture of them so here is a bad one...

 

I also remembered that I took a couple more room pictures when we boarded, out of habit I suppose so here they are...

and

[oliver1821]

Thank you for the great review! Will be on the Oosterdam on 10/16 and your review just made it more anticipated!!

[Vict0riann]

Definitely enjoying your report! It's fun to see it all through the eyes of a "kid"! :D

 

I have been finding that Tapatalk is much easier than Photobucket for adding photos to a thread - and my big problem with the 'bucket is that if you delete a photo from that site, it disappears from the thread, too! It's only a loaner.:( All that will be left is a little blue box with a question mark in it. Whereas, (and I experimented with it...) the photo stays on after you leave Tapatalk. I did find that you have to start your thread the usual way, on line, and then you are subscribed to it, and can access it on Tapatalk on your device. It's just an app on your device. I don't have it on my computer, don't even know if I can have it on the computer. Anyway, just a suggestion from an old luddite!:)

[CowPrincess]

What a great review! Thanks for doing it :D

[scopewest]

Love your review, thanks for taking the time to post!

[jerseyridgearts]

very nice review - loved your photos!

[Bailey & Sophie]

Thank you so much for the Oosterdam review. We'll be on her next February, and am anxiously awaiting.

[CupKayke]

San Francisco

 

 

Well, today is the day we get off the ship and I do have two complaints about HAL regarding this entire cruise and today is the day I unfortunately am going to write about them. It seems strange that they do so very well in almost every area – superior customer service – and then they really jack-up in another area. :confused: I thought a lot about this post before writing it but the truth is the truth and HAL screwed-up and one of the employees on HAL should be fired or at least watched by a superior member of the crew so she doesn't redo her actions this day.

 

So, when we booked this cruise in AUGUST for a SEPTEMBER cruise… there were NO excursions available online in San Francisco. I called twice before we booked our flights to make SURE there were NO excursions available in San Francisco. Frankly, I was having a hard time deciding what to do because we wanted to spend some time in San Francisco but we didn’t want to pay at least $400 a night for a decent hotel (I’m a cheapskate – that’s why we are retiring early). So, we needed a way to take an excursion and leave our luggage on the bus before getting a taxi to the airport OR we needed a HAL Luggage Express (I think that’s what they called it) transfer of our luggage from the ship to the airport OR we needed a HAL excursion that included a transfer to the airport at the end. I called twice before booking our flights. I checked online. NOTHING was available. I finally found one place on Fisherman’s Wharf that will store a limited amount of luggage for the day for $5 per piece on a first-come first-serve basis. I made a San Francisco itinerary we could do on our own and eventually booked us a late flight out of SFO. Having said that… I was always worried we would not be able to get our luggage to the storage facility before the other cruisers wishing to do the same and then we would be stuck in San Francisco all day with our luggage. This is where HAL screwed-up, big time…. I actually called HAL the WEEK before we left, a month after our flights were booked and NO… still NO excursions offered in San Francisco, no luggage transfer offered to SFO, nothing available. Nothing was available online, still, either. THAT WAS COMPLETELY WRONG. We got onboard the first day and there were MANY options in San Francisco. Not only did they offer 3 or 4 excursions for those staying onboard for the next 16 days (the ship was moving down the west coast, through the Panama Canal, and onto Fort Lauderdale) but they offered a direct transfer from the ship to SFO with your luggage for $49.95. They also offered a day excursion to Twin Peaks and a scenic view/picture stop to Golden Gate Bridge and then a final transfer to the airport for $104.95 per person. I immediately called down and booked us the excursion with the transfer to the airport. We would be getting to the airport around 1pm so we would be wasting a lot of time but at least we didn’t have to worry about our luggage for the day. At the time I booked I asked how full the excursion was and she said “It’s actually in danger of being cancelled because not enough people have signed-up.” I told her that this excursion was not offered online and I had called HAL the week before and they said there would be no excursions of any kind offered in San Francisco. She said the boat may have not been able to communicate with corporate and since this was cruise day one, they might have more people sign-up. Later that evening or the next day, all the people getting off in San Francisco had flyers in their rooms about a “new” excursion offered for $104.95 per person. Well guess what? Everyone had already made plans and my husband, myself, and one other person signed-up and that was not enough people so they had to cancel the excursion. This was irritating to say the least. HAL needs to fix this type of miscommunication especially in a port like San Francisco. Is this how they do all of their ports or all of their cruises? I'm a planner so this bothers me.

 

Now… let’s go back to disembarkation day. The Captain mentioned the evening prior that we would be coming into San Francisco around 6am to pick-up our local water guide and then we would be passing under the Golden Gate Bridge around 6:30am. I set our alarm for 5:45am and had us 90% packed before going to bed. We were awake, showered, and on our balcony watching as we sailed into San Francisco. I have been to San Francisco before. My husband had not so he was fairly excited to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

 

We sailed past the famous Ghirardelli hotel and Fisherman's Wharf area extremely slowly. We slowly moved into the port. The view from our balcony before docking..

 

It took a long time to actually get to the dock even though it was a short distance.

 

As soon as the boat came into the port and we saw we were docking, we went ahead and got our backpacks on, our luggage in hand, and took the elevator down to disembark. Please note that not many people were leaving the ship today as most people had embarked in Vancouver for the 19-day trip from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale (through Panama Canal) and some had even been on since the previous Alaskan itinerary and others would be embarking today for the 16-day Panama Canal cruise. Having said that, not a lot of people were rushing to get off the boat today. I wrote that because I'm now going to write something ugly. I reported this when we got our HAL review questions after the cruise. This is not a HAL corporation screw-up but it does reflect very badly on HAL and the person who did this should be reprimanded at the very least. If HAL didn't pay attention to our review on email, maybe they'll pay attention to this review. (do ships even read these reviews? I have my doubts). Regardless, we got downstairs and there was NOONE and I mean NOONE waiting to get off the ship. Another first. We waited about a total of 10 minutes before the security came on and off and said housekeeping could leave the ship and setup for disembarkation. About 5 minutes later, we were allowed off the ship. So, in the 10 minutes we were waiting, we waited at least 20 to 25 feet away from the ropes/disembarkation podium on the left side. We were basically around a hump in the hallway where there are small round seats and a large open hallway. There were maybe 2 or 3 people waiting behind us for the entire 10 minutes besides a young couple (they were employees) who walked down in front of us and they stood directly in front of the ropes. No biggie to us. What did bother us was an older blonde/white-haired lady (whom we later learned worked for housekeeping) who started YELLING and RUDELY (I wish I had a video to post here on HAL - she would be fired) telling us we could NOT wait in the hallway and we must go to some lounge. She went on and on and on at us. I finally said to her "There is no one else waiting, we are not in the way of any walkers or anyone else who would like to pass us." She was soooo rude I can't even believe it. When we got home I asked my husband his best part of the trip and his worst part. He said this lady was the worst part of his trip. She was THAT bad. Her voice was so grating. Clearly, this lady has never worked on a Carnival or Royal Caribbean ship. They would be having a party if there were only 4 people waiting to get off a ship. Now, slowly other people did filter in and by the time we disembarked there was a small, single file line behind us. No luggage anywhere, no problems, everyone was being very polite. This lady was being so rude she actually got in my face and said "DID YOU HEAR ME?" I couldn't believe it. I don't know what made her think she could talk to me that way?? I thought my husband was going to come unglued but he didn't say a word and I just looked at her and held my tongue. She gave me a look that would make children cry. I am NOT exaggerating. This lady was soooo out of line. There was a male employee at the podium on his walkie talking back and forth with security and he was trying to ignore her and I wondered why he didn't say something to her but then I realized he was angry at the two employees standing by the ropes. He made them step back about 10 feet. Finally, they said "HOUSEKEEPING CAN LEAVE THE BOAT" and this ruder-than-ever lady and a couple of others took what looked like a luggage rack and left the boat. When she was gone I look around and the 6 or 7 of us that were waiting by that time sorta relaxed. Noone could believe how rude she was talking to us. I really, really wish I would have taken a video because I would be sending it directly to HAL. For the record, I know people are supposed to wait in this lounge or that lounge and normally we don't care what time we get off the boat and we obey all the "rules" but this cruise HAL had put us in a precarious position by not offering excursions online or on the phone precruise and we needed to get to the luggage storage place and there was another HAL ship docking the same time we were so again, we were in a hurry to get off the boat and there was not a crowd. The hallways were clear. We were all being polite and quiet. So, five minutes later they open the ropes and the male employee at the podium told the two employees waiting at the front they had to wait and let passengers off first. I was the very first person off the boat. My husband was second. THAT is a first. There was no celebrating however due to the way the rude lady had treated us. A crowd never showed-up btw... there were about 12 people total waiting to disembark at that time in the morning (around 8:30am) and 2 of them were employees. It is my opinion the lady yelling at us does not represent anyone we encountered on HAL nor should she be allowed around guests - her nasty voice alone is enough to make passengers start running.

 

So here are some last day photos we took on the boat...the elevators had the day-of-the-week rugs

 

We snapped this picture before leaving the boat.. the boat was beautiful

 

(I have about 2 more posts left before I am finished with this review, FYI)

[CupKayke]

We walked off the boat and a very short ten minutes later we were at Pier 39 and we found the California Welcome Center. We had to wait about 10 or 15 minutes until they opened. We were able to store our backpacks and our two suitcases for $20 for the day. We were the first people there and there was a long line of people waiting to store luggage after us by the time we left but the luggage storage there is limited. They also offered to arrange a shared hotel-type shuttle to the airport for us at only $17 per person (for later in the day). This was a relief and a time saver for us.

 

We immediately went to see the Sea Lions..

 

It started raining when we landed in San Francisco and it rained off and on most of the day ~ more on than off. The pier area was neat to see..

 

Pier 39 is Carnival-like to us... would be a great place for kids. My husband is a big kid so we tried the 7D Theater. I thought it would be so-so. It was a blast!! We loved it!!

 

We walked all over and had lunch at Boudin Bakery

 

We shared the clam chowder in the sourdough bowl and we couldn't finish it and we didn't even touch the sandwich. :o

 

It was a great day in this small area of San Francisco. There were open-air hop-on/hop-off buses at Fisherman's Wharf but it was raining too much. We finally took our shuttle ride to the airport and the driver had to stop at three hotels first so we did get to experience some of the straight up and down streets and see a few interesting homes from the window of the van. I think I would like to return to San Francisco and spend a few days downtown.

 

Up Next ~ Final Thoughts on HAL

[CupKayke]

Just a couple of HAL tid-bits…

• They had Vegemite and my husband thought this was wonderful. I thought it was funny.

• There were too many fish dishes on this cruise and not enough chicken or meat dishes. I was not impressed with the main course offerings at dinner. I like Salmon but I hate pesto and I don’t want my Salmon covered in salsa which always seemed to be the offerings – Salmon with pesto or with salsa.

• The Internet prices were the highest prices I’ve seen on a ship. It was 75 cents a minute or the cheapest package was $55. The next package was $100. They had $250 Internet packages – for INTERNET. I have a blog I update for family so I prewrote the blog and then uploaded it in < 10 minutes or for about $8. It was a fast connection.

• I have several friends in their 40s and 50s who cruise once a year. They like to party and attend shows and mingle and drink more than we do. They would not be happy on HAL. I know their personalities and I know they would come home complaining. My husband and I tend to keep to ourselves and we like the quiet hallways and bars. We spend most of our time on our balcony. We live in a quiet area of town where all of our neighbors are retired so maybe we are used to the quiet…

Final notes

I think it’s important to note that I didn’t read anything about this ship or HAL before this cruise. We knew HAL still allowed smoking on balconies and that is why we booked with them. We just wanted a small getaway. This cruise fit the bill perfectly. I believe HAL is superior with their service and several other items but I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again – most cruise lines are more alike than different. Still, HAL’s differences were very good and I greatly appreciate the attention to detail, the little things, the politeness, etc. Clearly HAL isn’t focused toward the 40some crowd but we loved it and we are seriously considering booking Alaska next year on HAL or at least doing the San Diego back up to Vancouver move on one of their ships in April next year. We don’t know. What we do know is HAL did a great job. It is my plan for us to take one of those extended-length 30 to 40 day Asian cruises but I think we are about 10 years away from having that much time away from work. Regardless, happy sailing. Glad this entertained a few people…

 

 

Edited October 11, 2015 by CupKayke

[CowPrincess]

CupKayke, thanks for the rest of the review. I don't doubt your experience with that woman, but I've only ever seen passengers behave like that, never crew. (And to be honest, only a couple of passengers). Sorry that happened!

[Bailey & Sophie]

• There were too many fish dishes on this cruise and not enough chicken or meat dishes. I was not impressed with the main course offerings at dinner. I like Salmon but I hate pesto and I don’t want my Salmon covered in salsa which always seemed to be the offerings – Salmon with pesto or with salsa.

 

Thoroughly enjoyed your review. Sorry about the disembarkment. I hope we don't come across that woman!!

 

Hint for future dinners....just ask for the salmon to be served without pesto or salsa. Or ask for it on the side. I do it all the time and have never had any problems.

Rather have the vegetables served with the beef instead of what comes with your chicken? Switch it out.

Don't be afraid to ask for substitutions of any kind.

[dancourt]

Brilliant review thank you for taking the time to write it, it was very entertaining.

 

Susan

[jbhcw]

Very well done review...and pictures were great...I will never forget our first Hal cruise when we went to the aft pool and there was no one there except the entertainment staff:D I was so happy!!

 

Have sailed out of Vancouver twice and it is a fantastic city...love it and love the Pacific Coastals that Hal does...

[Cinder Again]

Thanks for posting, I am sailing the Ooesterdam to the Caribbean in a few months, so I'm glad to hear for the most part, the ship is in great condition. I will agree with you that Seattle and ships tours seem to have some sort of disconnect, I experienced the same thing last year, when I tried to book an excursion from home, only to be told that it was full and waitlisted. I took a chance, and filled out the form as soon as I got on board, and my tickets were delivered to my stateroom that night. My cruise mates who were also "waitlisted" never heard a word, so I think they skipped even looking at that list, Maybe they even deliberately leave some open spots, just so everyone getting on board isn't furious that nothing is left? I often get different answers from corporate in Seattle vs. the Front office or travel staff. AND the info my cruise travel agent gets vs. what they tell me often differs as well. I've learned to get things in writing and take the info with me.

Be advised that if you do cruise to Alaska, it will be a far different group of cruisers, lots of grandparents treat 3 generation groups to that cruise, since Alaska trips are when school is out. There are tons of kids on that cruise, and they pretty much monopolized the pools and hot tubs, which is ok, their family paid to use the facilities too, but it was less quiet and sedate than "normal".

Glad you enjoyed your trip, I know they are sticklers for not having people waiting in hallways to disembark, but it sounds like the lady could use some people skills classes. There are nice ways to get what you want accomplished. It can negatively "color" your trip, as it's your last on board experience. Thanks for posting!

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for taking the time to share.

[CupKayke]

Thanks for all the replies. [emoji106]

[CupKayke]

Definitely enjoying your report! It's fun to see it all through the eyes of a "kid"! :D

 

 

 

I have been finding that Tapatalk is much easier than Photobucket for adding photos to a thread - and my big problem with the 'bucket is that if you delete a photo from that site, it disappears from the thread, too! It's only a loaner.:( All that will be left is a little blue box with a question mark in it. Whereas, (and I experimented with it...) the photo stays on after you leave Tapatalk. I did find that you have to start your thread the usual way, on line, and then you are subscribed to it, and can access it on Tapatalk on your device. It's just an app on your device. I don't have it on my computer, don't even know if I can have it on the computer. Anyway, just a suggestion from an old luddite!:)

 

 

Thank you very much for this information!! I will definitely look into this!

[SeaMystique]

Thank you for taking the time to write your excellent review and post all those great pictures. I haven't cruised HAL, although I am attracted by their ships and their itineraries. We are in our mid-60s, but very active. DH is very social and would want to meet people ...

The food sounds delicious. Hard ice cream? For no extra fee? Yes! We sail on Sunday to Mexico on Princess and they charge extra for it everywhere except the dining room. Even that is better than RCL, which served ice milk-! I still shudder when I think about it.

You guys sound like terrific people. Hope we'll see you on a cruise sometime.

 

Sylvia

Edited October 17, 2015 by SeaMystique

[themerle]

Thanks for your review and pictures of your Oosterdam cruise. I will be on the Oosterdam Nov. 6. I really appreciate your information on room service dining. We have cruised a few times on HAL and knew that you could order hot meal from the dining room menu. We were never sure exactly how it worked. We'll be ordering several times on this next cruise. Some nights we just don't want to get ready to go to the dining room and this would be a great alternative.

I think you would really enjoy a cruise with HAL to Alaska. They offer very good excursions but it's also easy to book excursions independently. HAL gets good berths over some of the other cruise lines. I like that the HAL ships can get closer to the glaciers than some of the larger ships. Book with them, you'll enjoy it!