Westerdam Cabanas Destroyed

[LordSpain]

I just booked a cruise on the Westerdam beginning September 1, 2024. My TA informed me that HAL reported that the Retreat cabanas had been destroyed so they were not taking any reservations for them. I searched these boards and found they had been damaged in a wind storm back in May of this year.

 

I'm seeking information from anyone who knows when or if repairs might be made. I can't find any more information about this, and I'm hoping someone who has been on, or rercently booked on the Westerdam might have some insight.

[Reagan0712]

You could try Ship Services 800-541-1576

[Boatdrill]

If Ships Services can't help,  ask your TA to contact his/her HAL rep and ask them to find out. 

 

[mwj]

For whatever reason, HAL only repairs retreat cabanas during drydock. We have encountered this issue on both the Nieuw Amsterdam and Koningsdam.

[Hlitner]

52 minutes ago, mwj said:

For whatever reason, HAL only repairs retreat cabanas during drydock. We have encountered this issue on both the Nieuw Amsterdam and Koningsdam.

I believe HAL calls this (internally) "deferred maintenance."  In lay terms it means why fix anything today that can be put off to tomorrow?

 

Hank

[deliver42]

If they're unavailable for '24, I guess they have no intention of repairing them anytime soon.

[Reagan0712]

The Westerdam did a maintenance dry dock in January 2023. From what I could find, the last major refurbishment was in 2017. It looks like it may be going into dry dock after the 28-day Alaska cruise next summer as there don’t appear to be any cruises scheduled between July 8th and September 1st of 2024.

So if they don’t repair the cabanas unless the ship is in dry dock, I’d guess they won’t be available until next September.

[Blackduck59]

10 hours ago, Reagan0712 said:

The Westerdam did a maintenance dry dock in January 2023. From what I could find, the last major refurbishment was in 2017. It looks like it may be going into dry dock after the 28-day Alaska cruise next summer as there don’t appear to be any cruises scheduled between July 8th and September 1st of 2024.

So if they don’t repair the cabanas unless the ship is in dry dock, I’d guess they won’t be available until next September.

I'm not sure that HAL would be taking a ship (which has recently been doing the Alaska season) out of service for 2 months in the North American summer. Also 2 months is an extraordinarily long refit period. When the company I used to work for was doing a refit everything was ready to go and at dockside when the ship showed up. We had 2 weeks (if we were lucky) to get it done. There was no option to go over that time.

[Hlitner]

10 hours ago, Reagan0712 said:

The Westerdam did a maintenance dry dock in January 2023. From what I could find, the last major refurbishment was in 2017. It looks like it may be going into dry dock after the 28-day Alaska cruise next summer as there don’t appear to be any cruises scheduled between July 8th and September 1st of 2024.

So if they don’t repair the cabanas unless the ship is in dry dock, I’d guess they won’t be available until next September.

Looking at the Westy schedule for July-August 2024 (on a decent cruise agency site) that ship will be doing 7 day Alaskan cruises, from Seattle,  throughout those months.

 

Hank

[Reagan0712]

2 hours ago, Hlitner said:

Looking at the Westy schedule for July-August 2024 (on a decent cruise agency site) that ship will be doing 7 day Alaskan cruises, from Seattle,  throughout those months.

 

Hank

Ok, I was looking at the schedule on my iPad which isn’t always reliable when searching the HAL website.

[rj59]

Nobody uses the cabanas on round-trips out of Seattle to Alaska, since you spend 2 days on the open ocean, often with extremely high winds and chills, and when you're in calmer waters it's mostly port days. The same goes for Pacific coastal ones (I'm doing 3 next month), since the weather can be even worse. The weather can be even worse in September, with significantly more rain and storms than the rest than May-August--I saw that Radiance of the Seas canceled all but one of its ports on its last sailing, because severe storms made it too dangerous to even dock in ports. If there is any justice in the world, the weather gods will find a way to destroy the poolside cabanas on Nieuw Amsterdam, which totally ruin the ship for me, especially on cold days with the roof closed and everyone trying to find scarce space on the Lido. 

[Cruising Is Bliss]

On 9/21/2023 at 8:09 PM, Reagan0712 said:

The Westerdam did a maintenance dry dock in January 2023. From what I could find, the last major refurbishment was in 2017. It looks like it may be going into dry dock after the 28-day Alaska cruise next summer as there don’t appear to be any cruises scheduled between July 8th and September 1st of 2024.

So if they don’t repair the cabanas unless the ship is in dry dock, I’d guess they won’t be available until next September.

 

No idea what happened to HAL's website but cruises do exist in that period. I'm booked on Westerdam for the 28 day cruise and the two 7 day cruises following it. I'm disembarking 7/21/2024.

[Reagan0712]

14 hours ago, Cruising Is Bliss said:

 

No idea what happened to HAL's website but cruises do exist in that period. I'm booked on Westerdam for the 28 day cruise and the two 7 day cruises following it. I'm disembarking 7/21/2024.

Thanks. I was already quickly informed early yesterday that the information I had accessed on the HAL website was incorrect.

[TableGirl]

I have a cabana reserved for the 28-day Alaska Summer Solstice cruise.  Almost half the cruise is ‘scenic’ cruising and the cabana will help one of our traveling party who can’t stand for long periods.  Nor do I want to fight for bow space.  HAL hasn’t refunded my money so I hope they aren’t holding it only to tell me 2 weeks before the trip that the cabanas aren’t useable.  I will be calling about it soon to double check.

[LordSpain]

OP here.  I asked my TA to check with HAL periodically in case the cabanas became available.  About three weeks ago she informed me that they were now taking reservations for the cabanas, so I booked one for the entirety of the cruise. This particular trip starts as a regular Alaska cruise then continues west to Japan and Hawaii.

 

Unfortunately HAL just raised the prices of their cabanas.  If anyone is interested in the 2023/2014 fleetwide cabana pricing, let me know and I can post them here.

[OlsSalt]

They apparently are also changing the ground rules for cabanas - both children and adults are now allowed. Large numbers for each cabana.  Don't assume this will be a quiet retreat space any longer. 

[Jacqueet]

26 minutes ago, LordSpain said:

OP here.  I asked my TA to check with HAL periodically in case the cabanas became available.  About three weeks ago she informed me that they were now taking reservations for the cabanas, so I booked one for the entirety of the cruise. This particular trip starts as a regular Alaska cruise then continues west to Japan and Hawaii.

 

Unfortunately HAL just raised the prices of their cabanas.  If anyone is interested in the 2023/2014 fleetwide cabana pricing, let me know and I can post them here.

I would be interested in the pricing, as we are sailing on the Westerdam in April.

[Crew News]

7 minutes ago, Jacqueet said:

I would be interested in the pricing, as we are sailing on the Westerdam in April.

This should help:  Cabana Prices

[Astromaid]

I see the pricing does not include Noordam, I am getting mixed information as to whether the Noordam has cabanas. I see deck plans where they are listed and then on the Holland site they are not. Does anyone know if they have removed them?

 

[LordSpain]

Here you are.

2023-24-Cabana-Prices.pdf

[Dutchie20]

Considerable increase in pricing!

[TableGirl]

1 hour ago, LordSpain said:

Here you are.

2023-24-Cabana-Prices.pdf 174.75 kB · 9 downloads

I've never seen that chart - can I ask where you found it or was it sent to you?  I have used the cabanas on the Rotterdam and the Nieuw Statendam a number of times and there are 22 of them so I'm not sure of the accuracy of the maps - unless maybe things have changed in the last year.  The last time I was on the Rotterdam (or maybe the Nieuw Statendam)  there were designers/engineers on board looking around the ship and I asked what they were looking at.  They said they were looking at how they could make improvements and upgrades around the ship - the cabanas included.

[Crew News]

38 minutes ago, TableGirl said:

I've never seen that chart - can I ask where you found it or was it sent to you?  I have used the cabanas on the Rotterdam and the Nieuw Statendam a number of times and there are 22 of them so I'm not sure of the accuracy of the maps - unless maybe things have changed in the last year.  The last time I was on the Rotterdam (or maybe the Nieuw Statendam)  there were designers/engineers on board looking around the ship and I asked what they were looking at.  They said they were looking at how they could make improvements and upgrades around the ship - the cabanas included.

I am the creator of the chart with images and pricing from HAL.  There is an upgraded version with the correct image of the Pinnacle-class retreat cabanas: Cabana Prices

 

[TableGirl]

1 minute ago, Crew News said:

I am the creator of the chart with images and pricing from HAL.  There is an upgraded version with the correct image of the Pinnacle-class retreat cabanas: Cabana Prices

 

That looks more like it.  Wow - you must be an architect.  Nice map.  Thanks so much!

[Crew News]

1 minute ago, TableGirl said:

That looks more like it.  Wow - you must be an architect.  Nice map.  Thanks so much!

Good portable scanner and MS Word.