advice on taking Westerdam 1st post dry dock cruise Apr 27, 2017

[LA Native]

hi, I have read experiences of people on the Oosterdam 1st post dry dock cruise in 2016. Having some of the entertainment venues limited doesn't bother me, but tales of noise and especially plumbing issues do scare me. love this port intensive Westerdam itinerary including Croatia and like idea of newly refurbished signature suite. Any comments from those on the Oosterdam from April 2016? The posts from last yr were very helpful, but wonder about thoughts looking back. Any reason to believe HAL learned from this? I realize some out of their control, but also they know all construction won't be completed in dry dock. I know it's a risk, just trying to weigh the odds of it really causing problems. no other cruise to ports we want available this spring, so would mean putting it off to 2018 if we don't want the risk. thanks for your input.

[0bnxshs]

hi, I have read experiences of people on the Oosterdam 1st post dry dock cruise in 2016. Having some of the entertainment venues limited doesn't bother me, but tales of noise and especially plumbing issues do scare me. love this port intensive Westerdam itinerary including Croatia and like idea of newly refurbished signature suite. Any comments from those on the Oosterdam from April 2016? The posts from last yr were very helpful, but wonder about thoughts looking back. Any reason to believe HAL learned from this? I realize some out of their control, but also they know all construction won't be completed in dry dock. I know it's a risk, just trying to weigh the odds of it really causing problems. no other cruise to ports we want available this spring, so would mean putting it off to 2018 if we don't want the risk. thanks for your input.

 

We weren't on the Oosterdam cruise you refer to but have done 1 post dry dock cruise. Unless we just have to do the itinerary offered or the dates are the only ones that will work, we'll never do a second.

 

Plumbing, carpeting, tile laying, sawing, hammering continued for nearly the entire length of the 16 day cruise. Service across the board was terrible, from cabin stewards to dining stewards, as they were all recently arrived on the ship and there had been many process changes. The ship didn't get underway until very late from the embarkation port due to loading of material and supplies. We were informed less than 10 days before embarkation not to arrive before 2pm as if we could simply tell the airlines to please delay our arrivals and hotels to please let us sleep 'til noon. For those of us on cranky airlines or at mean hotels, we were promised boxed lunches at the venue we were bused to for check-in but the cruise line didn't seem to know how many passengers were on their ship and didn't order enough lunches. I could go on.... :rolleyes:

 

The cruise itself was nice. Our first Panama Canal crossing and we met our good friends in Santiago, Chile despite the issues. But we won't plan another post dry dock cruise.

 

Do the cruise lines learn from such episodes? Well, there's a reason you keep hearing the stories.... ;)

[WaterSky]

Hello LA Native,

I was on the Zuiderdam two years ago the first week it cam out of dry dock. There are always issues in these circumstances. There were days where we had no hot water or the toilet didn't work. HAL did do their best to accommodate or compensate us for the experience. I will be on the Westerdam a month later than you. My advice; GO ANYWAY! Flexibility and attitude are everything. It will be an adventure.

[LA Native]

appreciate the varied input. but re plumbing, uh......what does one do in these circumstances without a toilet? no hot water would be bad, but no toilet???

[AtlantaCruiser72]

appreciate the varied input. but re plumbing, uh......what does one do in these circumstances without a toilet? no hot water would be bad, but no toilet???

 

You find an operational public convenience for certain usage and use the non functioning cabin loo for things that can "mellow" - LOL At least that's what we did on a cruise with temporary plumbing issues a few years ago. Plumbing issues can happen on any ship, any cruise line, any sailing at any time! Most commonly they are a result of passengers trying to flush things they shouldn't flush (and the stories I've heard from maintenance about this are crazy!)