Just off Oosterdam, avoid this room

[Augie's mom]

We were on Oosterdam for 12 days room 1060 main deck . It's under the Queens lounge. The wonderful BB KING group played 2 or 3 times nightly. Ridiculously noisy, they couldn't move us, they did give us each obc to compensate. I was disappointed since PCC recommended this room,and we paid extra for the larger room. So though they took money off the final bill, I was still a bit disappointed . I did mention all in survey. But avoid this room, and check deck plans.

Thanks

Augie's mom

[canadianbear]

Oh gosh.....as much as I enjoy the BB King group I find them very loud and sit in the hallway to listen to them-I would hate to have had your room too....and for your PCC to recommend it, ugh. Guess she/he didn't know?

 

I do make a point of checking the deck plans to see what is below/above and around me before I pick a cabin. Thanks for sharing the reminder to always do that and sorry for the noise you experienced during the evening in your cabin.

I hope you managed to still have an enjoyable time most of your cruise.

[xlxo]

To clarify... how late was it noisy? Did it quiet down at 11pm? midnight?

 

This room may be better for night owls.

Edited October 17, 2016 by xlxo

[RuthC]

The cabins along there, especially the inside cabins, on port side are under the bandstand of the Queens Lounge. The cabins on starboard are not impacted by the entertainment there.

 

The band playing in the Queen's Lounge is over about midnight, or a little before. If that's not past your bedtime, those port side cabins will still work.

[Krazy Kruizers]

OP

 

Thank you for warning people about that cabin and all the noise from the Queen's Lounge at night.

[DisneyDatknee]

I think it's because the Jazz Club is relatively new and your PCC may have not realized it (still no excuse)? New to HAL here, but based on reviews on cruise critic for the Eurodam, more noise complaints started on the cabin reviews after drydock.

Edited October 17, 2016 by DisneyDatknee

[HALrunner]

We had similar misfortune a few years ago when BB King first came on board. Maybe winter/spring 2014? I can't remember which ship it was, but it is recurring problem for anyone under the Queen's Lounge. It is shameful that your PCC recommended it! HAL is well aware of the problem and often puts the FCC or other employees in those cabins.

Just curious….did the amount of OBC you received equal the extra money you spent to get that cabin?

[OVgirl]

They should probably downgrade those cabins from J to K.

[RuthC]

Just curious….did the amount of OBC you received equal the extra money you spent to get that cabin?

"Extra money" from what starting point? It's the same price as all the other, much smaller, J-cabins elsewhere on the ship.

 

Not saying it's a good cabin, if only because of the lounge above, but there's only about 3-5 of them that are badly impacted. For people who like to stay out at night, and maybe go to enjoy BB King, they could be considered perfect cabins.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the heads up OP.

[Hlitner]

A few cruise lines would call that a "Night Owl" cabin and sell it at a discount. On the other hand, we are talking about HAL where a Night Owl is probably anyone who stays up past 9pm :). But seriously, I believe that the BB King group does their last set at 10:15 and normally ends around 11. If we had that cabin we would not even realize there was a noise problem since we seldom head to our cabin until 11:30 - 12. But on HAL it is truly an issue.

 

Most frequent cruisers who choose their cabin do pay attention to location. Personally, we look for cabins that have other passenger cabins above, below and around. On some HAL ships we are OK with the Main Deck...knowing that he crew space is below...and that area is pretty quiet 24 hrs a day (unless you are over the crew bar or lounge). Many years ago (probably at least forty) we learned to use Travel/Cruise agents (because it saves us 7-10% and more over booking direct with HAL or any cruise line)...but never to be dependent on the agent. Most of them have spent very little (or any) time on cruise ships and although they project lots of knowledge....it is suspect. Having spent more then 1000 nights on many ships...we figure that we know more about being on a ship then a clerk housed in some cubicle. While we do listen to our cruise agents (and sometimes take their advice) it is with lots of caution. In the end we usually go with our own experience (and instincts). And getting a cabin over or under a late night club venue...would not be our choice.

 

Hank

[Fouremco]

Sorry to hear that, Terri. While we all need to do a bit of research before deciding on a cabin, when booking on a new-to-you ship, you should be able to place some confidence in the recommendation of a PCC.

[HALrunner]

"Extra money" from what starting point? It's the same price as all the other, much smaller, J-cabins elsewhere on the ship.

 

Not saying it's a good cabin, if only because of the lounge above, but there's only about 3-5 of them that are badly impacted. For people who like to stay out at night, and maybe go to enjoy BB King, they could be considered perfect cabins.

 

I'm not sure what the starting point was for the OP, she just mentioned that she paid extra for the cabin. Perhaps an interior guarantee or lower level interior?

 

I like OVgirl's suggestion to downgrade those specific cabins a bit. Or Hlitner's "Nightowl" designation. We were sailing with little ones and the last set ended around midnight- our preschoolers (at the time) turned into night owl's on that sailing!

[Augie's mom]

The last show of BB King ended about 11:45, followed by DJ and dancing and other band music, poor planning of where the lounge is located.

Augie's mom

[Augie's mom]

I'm not sure what the starting point was for the OP, she just mentioned that she paid extra for the cabin. Perhaps an interior guarantee or lower level interior?

 

I like OVgirl's suggestion to downgrade those specific cabins a bit. Or Hlitner's "Nightowl" designation. We were sailing with little ones and the last set ended around midnight- our preschoolers (at the time) turned into night owl's on that sailing!

 

We got this room when we booked, not a guarantee cabin. When PCC was doing our booking, she suggested this room, though it was a higher priced inside cabin. It was our fault for not checking the floor plans which we will do.

[Augie's mom]

A few cruise lines would call that a "Night Owl" cabin and sell it at a discount. On the other hand, we are talking about HAL where a Night Owl is probably anyone who stays up past 9pm :). But seriously, I believe that the BB King group does their last set at 10:15 and normally ends around 11. If we had that cabin we would not even realize there was a noise problem since we seldom head to our cabin until 11:30 - 12. But on HAL it is truly an issue.

 

Most frequent cruisers who choose their cabin do pay attention to location. Personally, we look for cabins that have other passenger cabins above, below and around. On some HAL ships we are OK with the Main Deck...knowing that he crew space is below...and that area is pretty quiet 24 hrs a day (unless you are over the crew bar or lounge). Many years ago (probably at least forty) we learned to use Travel/Cruise agents (because it saves us 7-10% and more over booking direct with HAL or any cruise line)...but never to be dependent on the agent. Most of them have spent very little (or any) time on cruise ships and although they project lots of knowledge....it is suspect. Having spent more then 1000 nights on many ships...we figure that we know more about being on a ship then a clerk housed in some cubicle. While we do listen to our cruise agents (and sometimes take their advice) it is with lots of caution. In the end we usually go with our own experience (and instincts). And getting a cabin over or under a late night club venue...would not be our choice.

 

Hank

We were not that early to bed, but on a port intensive cruise which this was, and early tours a last BB King set ending at 11:45 with more music, though not rocking like BB King after that is a bit much. I take full responsibility as I didn't do all my room home work, I just posted so other folks would avoid this problem.

Augie's mom

[Augie's mom]

"Extra money" from what starting point? It's the same price as all the other, much smaller, J-cabins elsewhere on the ship.

 

Not saying it's a good cabin, if only because of the lounge above, but there's only about 3-5 of them that are badly impacted. For people who like to stay out at night, and maybe go to enjoy BB King, they could be considered perfect cabins.

Ruth I agree if we weren't looking to get up early, and didn't mind the boom boom boom overhead, fine, but since we when we booked paid the extra to have this cabin over a guarantee or smaller cabin, I was disappointed in the expertise of the PCC, who boasted about her many years working for HAL. It is definitely buyer beware , and I have to say other than that we loved the cruise and the wonderful ports. We will be savvier next time picking a room.

Augie's mom

[Augie's mom]

Yes the credit did cover the extra cost, but it still is something they should think about changing, use that as a storage area, not passenger cabins, I think it was poor planning they could have an area not used for loud music venues over passenger cabins.

 

Augie's mom

[Augie's mom]

Oh gosh.....as much as I enjoy the BB King group I find them very loud and sit in the hallway to listen to them-I would hate to have had your room too....and for your PCC to recommend it, ugh. Guess she/he didn't know?

 

I do make a point of checking the deck plans to see what is below/above and around me before I pick a cabin. Thanks for sharing the reminder to always do that and sorry for the noise you experienced during the evening in your cabin.

I hope you managed to still have an enjoyable time most of your cruise.

The ports and the rest of the cruise was outstanding. We took this one because of the ports, and they didn't disappoint us in the least. It was The Adriatic Dream Rome to Venice (12 days visiting Italy, Greece, Croatia and Montenegro) If you get a chance to visit Montenegro go for it, absolutely lovely port.

Augie's mom

[Chelly]

For next time, to avoid noise:

 

I have learned from experience to book a cabin between passenger decks.

[NCTribeFan]

When I called my PCC to book Zuiderdam, he certainly was aware of the cabin locations and had already selected a cabin on the starboard side to avoid putting me under the lounge.

 

I always use cruisedeckplans dot com to do my research prior to booking. They have a function called "drag decks" where you can line up decks to see what's above or below the cabin you're thinking of booking. I always have their website open as well as the cruiseline's (doing a mock booking to see which cabins are available) when I call and usually tell the booking agent which cabin I want rather than rely on their recommendation. They're human after all, and some are better than others!

[3rdGenCunarder]

Yes the credit did cover the extra cost' date=' but it still is something they should think about changing, use that as a storage area, not passenger cabins, I think it was poor planning they could have an area not used for loud music venues over passenger cabins.

 

Augie's mom[/quote']

 

I don't think the excessively loud music was an issue before BB King, so when they planned it, that wasn't a big consideration. It would be good if the PCCs had annotated deck plans. As someone mentioned earlier, for a night owl, the noise would not be an issue. For us, early birds, it definitely would be. But I suppose warning people away from cabins is not good for business...

 

And music venues do change over time. I remember on Veendam about 5 years ago, they had a late night (11 or midnight) dessert extravaganza by the pool. The Hellcats played and they were LOUD. Out of curiosity, I walked through the deck below,and a long stretch of the corridor was thumping and reverberating with the music. I thought, wow, terrible location for the expensive Neptune Suites. That (and the price) made me leery of Neptune suites on the "S" ships. But I don't think I've seen latenight events by the pool since then, so I guess the NS pax aren't being tortured any more.

[iancal]

I would not use that PCC again. Sounds like a dud.

 

When we started cruising the very first thing our TA told us was to get a cabin in an area with cabins above and below, and a cabin that did not have an adjoining door. Pretty basic stuff.

[ScriptOhio]

A few years ago I had a bad cabin on the Oosterdam too:

 

 

Just a "word to the wise": you do not want to book cabin #4154 on the Oosterdam. I booked an inside guarantee and was assigned it. During moderately rough seas some of the the ship's structural components might "flex" and you will can hear a thump sound. It is no big deal in most of the cabins; however, in #4154 it sounds like someone is actually throwing a basketball against the back wall. The wall (and picture) even vibrate. Apparently whatever is flexing (i.e. beam, support, brace, shaft, and/or steel panel, etc.) is attached to and/or is striking the room's back wall; which is only about 2 feet from the bed. It happens every time the ship pitches and/or rolls, etc. There is noway an average person could sleep through it.

[Sequim88]

We had a nice quiet location picked out on Amsterdam then when HAL switched the ship to Oosterdam and the nearest equivalent location accessible cabin was J1074 - about three cabins away from 1060. Not sure if it was our PCC who picked it or if it was some sort of automatic process - especially given we need the accessible cabin for wife's wheelchair. I had wondered about possible noise and unfortunately now it is confirmed. Well, better than being blindsided - at least I can get free foam earplugs at work. Maybe ours will be far enough outside the theater zone to not be too bad.

 

A few cruise lines would call that a "Night Owl" cabin

They advise on cabins with obstructed views - perhaps similar is needed for noisy locations. Our first cruise was on Veendam and we were directly under the casino - worse yet directly under the Wheel of Fortune machine so every few minutes (whether anyone was playing for not) it very loudly proclaimed, "Wheeeeeel offfffff Fooooortuuuuune!" until the casino closed at 2am or so. :mad: