Early Observations Oosterdam 24 day Med Cruise

[Sailnsurf]

These are my observations 6 days into the Cruise. My comparison is to pre- covid and our last cruise on the Nieuw Statendam, a 21 day Norway cruise. Opinions will differ.

1. Food is just as good. The Dining Room quality has been extremely good. We have had one dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. My brother (who was with us on the Norway cruise, is a very good cook and is a tough food critic) but he described his scallop entree as one of the best dishes he has had. We all enjoyed the dinner which I thought was as good as ever. Although not on the menu I asked if I could have the famous coat hanger bacon which was willingly provided.

 

2. It has not been our experience that servings are any smaller.

 

3.Eating gluten free in the Lido is now marked GF. This makes it so much easier. It was a real struggle before.

 

4. The Have it All drinks package has worked very well for us - not on  cost considerations - but because it is just not necessary to think about it.The only difference we have noted is that waiters do not seem to be at your elbow as quickly as before. 

 

5. I did not come with the highest of expectations based on much I had read but have to say I think HAL has done well. It is obvious some crew are less experienced than before and there seem more who struggle a bit to understand English but they have all been 100% friendly and obliging in the manner for which HAl is well known. Our servers in Fixed Dining have been excellent.

 

We are enjoying our time on board very much.

 

[VMax1700]

That is good to hear.  Enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[FlaMariner]

18 minutes ago, Sailnsurf said:

We are enjoying our time on board very much.

 

Good to hear!

 

Keep posting if you can........(we were on the Oosterdam in March/April and had a blast)

[highland cruiser]

Thank you .  We were on the Oosterdam from Santiago back to Fort Lauderdale in March also.

Really enjoyed the ship also.  We will be back on in October after the drydock from Athens to FFL.  It will be our first trans-Atlantic and are looking forward to that.  Thank you for your post.

[FlaMariner]

13 minutes ago, highland cruiser said:

Thank you .  We were on the Oosterdam from Santiago back to Fort Lauderdale in March also.

Really enjoyed the ship also.  We will be back on in October after the drydock from Athens to FFL.  It will be our first trans-Atlantic and are looking forward to that.  Thank you for your post.

 

That was a great cruise!!!!

 

We also enjoyed the Oosterdam so much that we booked her again for the SPRING 2024 TA and the following 11 night Med cruise!  

[dawnvip]

Glad to hear you are enjoying Oosterdam! We are booked for 17 days this fall and its coming up quickly!

[jljcruise]

1 hour ago, Sailnsurf said:

These are my observations 6 days into the Cruise. My comparison is to pre- covid and our last cruise on the Nieuw Statendam, a 21 day Norway cruise. Opinions will differ.

 

Thanks for your comments. I'll be following to see how things are going. We'll be on the Oosterdam in October (Piraeus to FLL).

If you get a chance, could you ask if she's going into drydock or if she's doing a charter in early  October? There seems to be uncertainty on this. I'm hoping for a bit of a freshening up drydock -- I realize it's not long enough for the full drydock experience. 

Have a great cruise!

[highland cruiser]

7 minutes ago, jljcruise said:

Thanks for your comments. I'll be following to see how things are going. We'll be on the Oosterdam in October (Piraeus to FLL).

If you get a chance, could you ask if she's going into drydock or if she's doing a charter in early  October? There seems to be uncertainty on this. I'm hoping for a bit of a freshening up drydock -- I realize it's not long enough for the full drydock experience. 

Have a great cruise!

We are on the same cruise.  The roll call is very active and there is a meet and greet planned. It looks like this will be a wonderful cruise.  I think we are the first cruise after Oosterdam comes out of drydock in October.

[TimeForExploring]

Thanks so much for the information! We are booked for our first HAL cruise - the Nov 2023 TA. Very excited and glad to hear you are finding the ship enjoyable!

 

Could you give me an idea of the types of activities available during sea days? Also, how are the music options for evenings? I was disappointed when I saw that they discontinued BB King's but hoping there are still good options. I love live music of any kind!

[kazu]

thanks so much for sharing 👍 

 

So glad you are enjoying your time on board 🙂 

 

We were on her last November and some of us enjoyed it enough to book it next October, 2024.  Hoping for more of what we experienced last time 🤞 

[Gail & Marty sailing away]

Thanks for sharing. 

[ski ww]

We did the 14 day Med cruise on her in July and really enjoyed her, glad to hear you're enjoying your cruise.

[FLCruiser97]

Looking forward to following this post. 

[CarolRoy]

Glad to see someone doing observations on this cruise.  We will be joining you 9/26/23 in Trieste to do the second leg of this cruise.  How has the weather been?  Any idea how the weather will be for the second leg. 

[mexico8]

5 hours ago, dawnvip said:

Glad to hear you are enjoying Oosterdam! We are booked for 17 days this fall and its coming up quickly!

Me too.   See you there.

[rodndonna]

Thanks for your update.

 

If you are 6 days in on a 24 day Oosterdam cruise we must be joining you part way on the 26th in Trieste. 😄

[Despegue]

Also rest assured that you are in very Safe Belgian hands 😉

[Sailnsurf]

A brief update.

 

Total experience remains good. We have now also had a dinner in the Canelleto. While the menu has changed and lost a true Italian Restaurant flavour those of us who had Italian dishes all enjoyed thei meals.My food critic brother was very complimentary about the chianti-braised beef short rib.

 

Unfortunately I went down to Covid caught on a hop on hop off bus in Barcelona. I felt a bit off the 2nd day of the cruise,tested negative but a day or so later my wife was not feeling at all well and we then both tested positive. She was given Paxlovid. I was by then not feeling bad but we both went into isolation and hope to be released tomorrow.

 

HAL could not have treated us better and have done everything they could to ease our isolation. The room service operstor Boji has been exceptional and I have given him glowing feedback via the Navigator app which I hope will give him well deserved recognition. That said we have made the best of it enjoying star- lit nights, breakfast and coffees on our stern verandah. 

 

We look forward now to breaking loose and the rest of the cruise. I am sorry I am not able to respond to some specific enquiries. We have either been off the ship or having lengthy dinners so have had no time for any entertainment or other activities.

[NorbertsNiece]

Will be boarding in December for Christmas and New Year. A heads up on any seasonal activities planned would be wonderful!

 

Feel better soon!

Linda

[jsn55]

On 9/23/2023 at 9:11 AM, Sailnsurf said:

A brief update.

 

Total experience remains good. We have now also had a dinner in the Canelleto. While the menu has changed and lost a true Italian Restaurant flavour those of us who had Italian dishes all enjoyed thei meals.My food critic brother was very complimentary about the chianti-braised beef short rib.

 

Unfortunately I went down to Covid caught on a hop on hop off bus in Barcelona. I felt a bit off the 2nd day of the cruise,tested negative but a day or so later my wife was not feeling at all well and we then both tested positive. She was given Paxlovid. I was by then not feeling bad but we both went into isolation and hope to be released tomorrow.

 

HAL could not have treated us better and have done everything they could to ease our isolation. The room service operstor Boji has been exceptional and I have given him glowing feedback via the Navigator app which I hope will give him well deserved recognition. That said we have made the best of it enjoying star- lit nights, breakfast and coffees on our stern verandah. 

 

We look forward now to breaking loose and the rest of the cruise. I am sorry I am not able to respond to some specific enquiries. We have either been off the ship or having lengthy dinners so have had no time for any entertainment or other activities.

Awwwww, so sorry you're missing even ten minutes of the cruise.  Sounds like it's a quick 'sickness' ... your attitude no doubt helps immensely!  Look forward to more info when you're back at it.  We appreciate you!