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MS Oosterdam - what a disapointment (dirty, worn out, noro virus)

Stefan_Cruise

By Stefan_Cruise,
in Holland America Line

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Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
Any updates on this?

 

Are you referring to the condition of the ship? If so, there have been a number of reports on the O's post-renovation condition. We were on her in November, and I thought that she was in excellent condition. Obviously some disagreed, but many others shared my opinion. See #'s 89, 86, 80, 65, 60, 56, 47.

 

Bottom line, if you are this concerned about the ship's condition, perhaps you would be wise to choose another ship or line. There will always be rust, and there will always be singular incidents where an area may not have been cleaned to one's satisfaction. HAL works very hard to maintain their ships in good repair and in a clean condition. Impossible to have 100% perfection, 100% of the time.

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frankc98376

frankc98376

Posted
Posted (edited)

We will be boarding Oosterdam in a few weeks for 12 nights- will post observations from the ship.

We are counting down the days and can't wait to be on board. From what we've heard from several CC friends that have sailed on her recently she is in great shape with a happy crew.

I 100% agree with Tampa Girl- no ship can be 100% just as no hotel will be 100% perfect. I bet you could find some rust on Nieuw Statendam and she's not even finished yet :)

Edited by frankc98376
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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
We will be boarding Oosterdam in a few weeks for 12 nights- will post observations from the ship.

We are counting down the days and can't wait to be on board. From what we've heard from several CC friends that have sailed on her recently she is in great shape with a happy crew.

I 100% agree with Tampa Girl- no ship can be 100% just as no hotel will be 100% perfect. I bet you could find some rust on Nieuw Statendam and she's not even finished yet :)

 

We'll be boarding Oosterdam again end of October for the Full Transit. We sailed her last Sept/October from Venice to Rome. We also found her to be in great shape! The Crew and Staff were wonderful and we also thought the food was very good!

 

We are really looking forward to cruising her again! :D

 

Have a great Cruise and look forward to your observations!

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Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
We'll be boarding Oosterdam again end of October for the Full Transit. We sailed her last Sept/October from Venice to Rome. We also found her to be in great shape! The Crew and Staff were wonderful and we also thought the food was very good!

 

!/quote]

I forgot about the food - I thought that it was the best food that we have ever had on a HAL ship; and we are 4*'s.

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Tampa Girl

Tampa Girl

Posted
Posted
So true !!

Originally posted by Oviedo32765 When sales and profits fall it becomes a problem and only then will the problems be addressed.

 

 

The original post may sound catchy, but it is not really fair or true. HAL sends all its ships to drydock every two years. Not even Cunard does that. And repairs and maintenance are ongoing daily.

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Augie's mom

Augie's mom

Posted
Posted
We'll be boarding Oosterdam again end of October for the Full Transit. We sailed her last Sept/October from Venice to Rome. We also found her to be in great shape! The Crew and Staff were wonderful and we also thought the food was very good!

 

We are really looking forward to cruising her again! :D

 

Have a great Cruise and look forward to your observations!

We were on last September and she was great, food and service great too.

Augie's mom

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Jaeger1121

Jaeger1121

Posted
Posted

We just finished a cruise on the Oosterdam last Sunday and didn't find any of the issues the OP listed.

 

She's had a bunch of people pass through and she shows signs of it here and there. The cleanliness, crew, food and overall service, however, were wonderful. On-board events were enjoyable with 2 minor issues.

 

First, I'm not an Oprah fan and don't really care enough about her to attend her events. They were easy enough to get away from and alternatives were available.

 

Second, they elected to hold an art auction in the Crow's Nest as opposed to the previous location. Half the area was blocked off by art work and the very polite and enthusiastic rep was just a little annoying to me personally. In fairness, I was up there to enjoy the view with minimal (manageable) background noise as opposed to receiving an art seminar so I may have been bothered more by that than was really warranted. We ended up leaving the area until the auction was done.

 

After spending almost 8 years living in "Western Europe", I feel I can reasonably say the Oosterdam was certainly up to standard whether said standard is "WE" or "US".

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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
We just finished a cruise on the Oosterdam last Sunday and didn't find any of the issues the OP listed.

 

She's had a bunch of people pass through and she shows signs of it here and there. The cleanliness, crew, food and overall service, however, were wonderful. On-board events were enjoyable with 2 minor issues.

 

First, I'm not an Oprah fan and don't really care enough about her to attend her events. They were easy enough to get away from and alternatives were available.

 

Second, they elected to hold an art auction in the Crow's Nest as opposed to the previous location. Half the area was blocked off by art work and the very polite and enthusiastic rep was just a little annoying to me personally. In fairness, I was up there to enjoy the view with minimal (manageable) background noise as opposed to receiving an art seminar so I may have been bothered more by that than was really warranted. We ended up leaving the area until the auction was done.

 

After spending almost 8 years living in "Western Europe", I feel I can reasonably say the Oosterdam was certainly up to standard whether said standard is "WE" or "US".

 

Thanks for posting and giving an update and glad you enjoyed your Cruise! We sailed her last October and didn't find any of the issues that the OP complained about!

 

Question: Is Happy Hour at 4 pm still in Crow's Nest and Ocean Bar? Or did they change the 4 pm HH to Billboard! Last Fall it was still in Ocean Bar but it was in Billboard on Koningsdam!

 

Thanks!

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Jaeger1121

Jaeger1121

Posted
Posted

4:00 Happy Hour Crow's Nest and Ocean Bar

6:00 Martini Sampling Gallery Bar

10:00 Happy Hour Gallery Bar

 

 

They also did a couple of Scotch tastings, wine tastings and a Pub Crawl but I don't recall places and times for those.

 

Also, the Tatoosh Rye is really pretty good if you're a rye fan. It's a small distillery though so, while it's sold in the Crow's Nest, it's not available for purchase in the shop.

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xofave

xofave

Posted
Posted
4:00 Happy Hour Crow's Nest and Ocean Bar

6:00 Martini Sampling Gallery Bar

10:00 Happy Hour Gallery Bar

 

 

They also did a couple of Scotch tastings, wine tastings and a Pub Crawl but I don't recall places and times for those.

 

Also, the Tatoosh Rye is really pretty good if you're a rye fan. It's a small distillery though so, while it's sold in the Crow's Nest, it's not available for purchase in the shop.

Can't wait thanks for the schedule my husband would love the martini sampling

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Forums mobile app

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idiebabe

idiebabe

Posted
Posted
4:00 Happy Hour Crow's Nest and Ocean Bar

6:00 Martini Sampling Gallery Bar

10:00 Happy Hour Gallery Bar

 

 

They also did a couple of Scotch tastings, wine tastings and a Pub Crawl but I don't recall places and times for those.

 

Also, the Tatoosh Rye is really pretty good if you're a rye fan. It's a small distillery though so, while it's sold in the Crow's Nest, it's not available for purchase in the shop.

 

Awesome! Thanks so much for the info! :D

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olya1972

olya1972

Posted
Posted

We were on Oosterdam in May (3 months ago) and find ship in excellent shape. We were in Neptune Suite and it was spotless. The only picture I recognize is that from back elevators. This was our first time on HAL, but we were very impressed with the ship and company and are looking forward to more cruises on HAL.

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ldlewis45

ldlewis45

Posted
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I just got off the Oosterdam on Sunday (my first HAL cruise) and was very impressed, overall. The ship is a tad small for my taste, but it was very clean and organized. I was particularly impressed with the food and service. The pizza was mediocre, but everything else was surprisingly good for cruise food, even the buffet fare. The Rudi's pop-up restaurant was fantastic, and that's saying something coming from me, since I don't care for fish. I would have been there every night if they had it available, even with the up-charge.

 

We were in a Neptune aft-wrap, and the room was very nice. The bathroom was a tad dated, with a bisque-toned bathtub and shower, but the balcony more than made up for it, even though we could only use it comfortably when the ship was in port (it was Alaska, after all, so it was a bit cold). We had to rebook the cruise from another date and ship just a few months ago, so we got really lucky with the deck 5 aft-wrap balcony. From dock, it appears to be the biggest balcony on the ship. It's completely covered, too, which I prefer, as I like to sit out on deck but still be protected from the sun.

 

I bought a spa pass (a must-have for me, if a ship has a mineral pool and heated loungers), and was pretty impressed with it. The pool was a bit hot for me to use for an extended period, but I loved the tile loungers. The only thing I wish was that there were more of them, and that there was a bit more privacy available in the changing room. For me, it does nothing to have divided-off changing cubicles if the doors are transparent!

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