Good Westerdam Cruise (Frequent Celebrity Pax)

[ArtM]

We had a very enjoyable 12/3/06 cruise on the Westerdam in the Western Caribbean. The following are my thoughts on this cruise as will as comments on the differences from cruises we have done on Celebrity (mostly on the Infinity). On balance, if one is comfortable on either HAL or X, one will comfortable on the other

 

The itinerary was pretty good – Half Moon Cay was wonderful, Grand Turk much less so. We had no problems in either of the tender ports, HMC and Grand Cayman, even though there were 5 ships in Grand Cayman.

 

Our VE stateroom had plenty of space for us and we thought the beds were excellent (we’ve never had any issues with X on their beds).

 

Bread pudding, hot chocolate, fresh orange juice and general lunch buffet quality were highlights on the Westerdam. However, we really missed the Celebrity AquaSpa Grill for lunch and breakfast – both for the lighter menu and a less congested area for eating. We found dinners somewhat variable on the Westerdam. The variety of entrees was excellent although quality was variable; some were outstanding (pork chops, rack of veal) while at least one was a real loser. The loser was the lamb chops – two bites of meat and four bites of fat. I’m not a baked Alaska fan, but having black cherry topping on it on HAL was nice. Huge HAL minus - NO Bread sticks :( (X cruisers know what I am talking about)

 

Although the Westerdam and Infinity are comparable in size, the public areas seemed to be congested and have clumsy traffic patterns on the Westerdam. Maybe too much space is devoted to the three level Grand Foyer on the Infinity, but it does have an aura of elegance that is missing from the Atrium on the Westerdam. Areas that were nicely done on the Westerdam included the Explorer’s lounge, Erasmus library (much better than the one on the Infinity), and the Piano bar. However, the Cova Café on the Infinity blows away the Windstar Cafe on the Westerdam, both in terms of ambience and the availability of a wide range of pastries in the morning and afternoon.

 

We found the Filipino and Indonesian crew on the Westerdam to be unfailingly friendly with a greeting every time we encountered one of them. The dining room and state room staff were quite efficient. I suspect the following observation is a cultural difference (experienced HAL cruisers with us at dinner didn’t comment on out of the ordinary behavior by our dining room staff), but we have had more one on one interaction with the X dining staff which has a broader, more European composition than does the HAL staff. For better or worse, this interaction has been the driving force for us going above and beyond the recommended tipping amounts on X; on HAL, we were quite content with the automatic charge to our account.

 

Some other random notes. The high tea was served buffet style and was a very short 30 minutes or so; all in all, not very “high.” The thing that was high was the sound level during some of the evening shows; we skipped some because of it, but Bob Kent in the Piano bar was a great substitute for the shows we skipped. The Master, Henk Keijer, did an excellent job with his daily announcements. The bingo announcements were a definite annoyance. A real Captain’s welcome get together was much better than the pre-show welcome toast that is the current norm on Celebrity. Oh, yeah, we aren’t major users, but the hydrotherapy pool was $20/day on the Westerdam while the Thallasotherapy pool is free on the Celebrity ships of that size.

 

Conclusion: We would do gladly do another HAL cruise. However, some of the Celebrity details will keep us on X ships most of the time, but I can see how some of the HAL details could generate a group of loyal cruisers on that line, too.

 

Art

[Grumpy1]

Welcome to HAL and thank you for a good review and interesting comparisons. We've only sailed Celebrity once, compared to five time on HAL, so we don't have the depth of Celebrity experience that you do. I would have to agree though, that most people could be happy on either line.

[jcpc]

Thanks for your comments, Art. I, too, am a "Celebrity-cruiser" (52 sailings with Celebrity) and am now seriously contemplating an April 2007 Noordam sailing from NYC. I've only sailing HAL twice and both sailings were years ago. I've been reading the HAL boards to try to get a feel for their ships. I think that although there are probably things about X that I'll miss if I choose to do the April sailing, I'll still be completely satisfied with the cruise. I think I'm going to go for it!

[sk99]

We were on the same cruse and I totally agree with Art on every comment (except for lamb chops - I liked it). We had very good cruise, on itinerary I can add that we did not like the Costa Maya, worst stop ever, but we did enjoy the Grand Turk - since we were told that Government beach was under construction, we took taxi to Pillory(?) Beach and liked it a lot, it was only 8 people on the beach. We too sailed Celebrity Constellation before and as a ship liked it much more - cabins, public areas, free Thallasotherapy pool and healthy buffet, but most importantly - enough lounges by the pool in the shade, vs. none on Westerdam. On one of the sea days our balcony was on the sunny side and we had nowhere to go. We liked the shows on Westerdam more. Our cabin was spotless, service in the restaurant was good, but it was limited to taking our order and delivering the food, no personal interaction like on RCI or Celebrity ships. Overall we liked HAL, but X is still my favorite.

[happy cruzer]

thanks for the review.

 

You mentioned the high tea. and you are quite correct that it is buffet style and fairly brief, 45 minutes on the ship I was on. There is also the daily afternoon tea that full table service and quite a few choices. I don't remember tea on Celebrity at all, do they have it daily?

 

I do know that when you consider the wine policy HAL is much friendlier, they allow as many bottles to be brought on board as you like. The corkage fee in the dining rooms is $15 (if you get charged one). Celebrity publishs no wine to be brought on board and I guess if you do anyway they will charge $25, this policy may be changing but that's what Celebrity announced about 6 months ago. So that is one area that is not common. I would not be happy on Celebrity because of the wine policy. I agree in all other areas they are pretty close.

 

Thanks for the thoughful review.:)

[Dougie Cruise]

We, like ArtM, have sailed multiple times on both X and HAL. We see both lines as wonderful venues, with the differences discussed above. One observation, we feel that the passengers on X are, on average, younger and more energetic than those on HAL. We will sail our next cruise on X, maybe on the Constellation, a ship that we have heard good things about, but have never sailed on. We will very happily sail on either line in the future!

 

As a side note, sailing on X and HAL "raises the bar" for the other mass market lines. We read reviews of passengers' experiences on other lines, and are quite happy with these two experiences.

[BumperII]

I do know that when you consider the wine policy HAL is much friendlier, they allow as many bottles to be brought on board as you like. ... Celebrity publishs no wine to be brought on board and I guess if you do anyway they will charge $25, this policy may be changing but that's what Celebrity announced about 6 months ago.

 

We have only sailed on X once, on the Galaxy, and the enforcement of this policy was my main complaint. The security staff calibrates the magnotometers higher than necessary for weapons in order to detect foil wine caps. The only things I ever saw them confiscate from a passenger were adult beverages!

What irritated me was standing in lines two blocks long in 90 degree heat waiting to reboard while they went through the procedure, making men take off belts and suspenders and everything metal. They were long past the point of detecting weapons. (They will confiscate a pen knife, then hand you a steak knife in the dining room) It was the alcohol they were after. And they were more than willing to allow the lines stretch out so they could confiscate adult beverages under the guise of ship security.:mad:

But other than that, I would agree, if you enjoy one line, you will enjoy both. But our favorite is still HAL, followed closely by Princess. I don't think there is any such thing as a bad cruise, but some really are a little nicer than others.

[sk99]

I don't remember tea on Celebrity at all, do they have it daily?

Yes, Celebrity has what they call Afternoon Tea. If I remember correctly it is served at 4pm in the buffet. They had very good choice of tiny sandwiches and deserts. It is informal and with plenty of seats available. When we once showed-up for the Tea in the Explorer lounge on Westerdam – we had nowhere to seat. People reserve seats like 30 minutes in advance ( BTW same goes for the theater).

[Willsot]

Sk99:

Curious as to what was wrong with Costa Maya?

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

[GeriatricNurse]

We had a very enjoyable 12/3/06 cruise on the Westerdam in the Western Caribbean. The following are my thoughts on this cruise as will as comments on the differences from cruises we have done on Celebrity (mostly on the Infinity). On balance, if one is comfortable on either HAL or X, one will comfortable on the other

 

The itinerary was pretty good – Half Moon Cay was wonderful, Grand Turk much less so. We had no problems in either of the tender ports, HMC and Grand Cayman, even though there were 5 ships in Grand Cayman.

 

Our VE stateroom had plenty of space for us and we thought the beds were excellent (we’ve never had any issues with X on their beds).

 

Bread pudding, hot chocolate, fresh orange juice and general lunch buffet quality were highlights on the Westerdam. However, we really missed the Celebrity AquaSpa Grill for lunch and breakfast – both for the lighter menu and a less congested area for eating. We found dinners somewhat variable on the Westerdam. The variety of entrees was excellent although quality was variable; some were outstanding (pork chops, rack of veal) while at least one was a real loser. The loser was the lamb chops – two bites of meat and four bites of fat. I’m not a baked Alaska fan, but having black cherry topping on it on HAL was nice. Huge HAL minus - NO Bread sticks :( (X cruisers know what I am talking about)

 

Although the Westerdam and Infinity are comparable in size, the public areas seemed to be congested and have clumsy traffic patterns on the Westerdam. Maybe too much space is devoted to the three level Grand Foyer on the Infinity, but it does have an aura of elegance that is missing from the Atrium on the Westerdam. Areas that were nicely done on the Westerdam included the Explorer’s lounge, Erasmus library (much better than the one on the Infinity), and the Piano bar. However, the Cova Café on the Infinity blows away the Windstar Cafe on the Westerdam, both in terms of ambience and the availability of a wide range of pastries in the morning and afternoon.

 

We found the Filipino and Indonesian crew on the Westerdam to be unfailingly friendly with a greeting every time we encountered one of them. The dining room and state room staff were quite efficient. I suspect the following observation is a cultural difference (experienced HAL cruisers with us at dinner didn’t comment on out of the ordinary behavior by our dining room staff), but we have had more one on one interaction with the X dining staff which has a broader, more European composition than does the HAL staff. For better or worse, this interaction has been the driving force for us going above and beyond the recommended tipping amounts on X; on HAL, we were quite content with the automatic charge to our account.

 

Some other random notes. The high tea was served buffet style and was a very short 30 minutes or so; all in all, not very “high.” The thing that was high was the sound level during some of the evening shows; we skipped some because of it, but Bob Kent in the Piano bar was a great substitute for the shows we skipped. The Master, Henk Keijer, did an excellent job with his daily announcements. The bingo announcements were a definite annoyance. A real Captain’s welcome get together was much better than the pre-show welcome toast that is the current norm on Celebrity. Oh, yeah, we aren’t major users, but the hydrotherapy pool was $20/day on the Westerdam while the Thallasotherapy pool is free on the Celebrity ships of that size.

 

Conclusion: We would do gladly do another HAL cruise. However, some of the Celebrity details will keep us on X ships most of the time, but I can see how some of the HAL details could generate a group of loyal cruisers on that line, too.

 

Art

 

 

Hi Art:

I read your post with much interest as my wife & I have sailed recently with both HAL Zuiderdam & X Millenium.

I agree with your observations with X. We too, enjoyed the ambience of the AquaSpa on Millenium, especially since there were no children present!

We found that the menu selection, quality (and quantity), as well as the service of the dining room staff (with a Europeon flavour) was far superior to that offered with HAL on Zuiderdam!

In short, from our experiences with both cruise lines, we found Celebrity to be of far better value than HAL!

Take care & happy cruising!

[GeriatricNurse]

Thanks for your comments, Art. I, too, am a "Celebrity-cruiser" (52 sailings with Celebrity) and am now seriously contemplating an April 2007 Noordam sailing from NYC. I've only sailing HAL twice and both sailings were years ago. I've been reading the HAL boards to try to get a feel for their ships. I think that although there are probably things about X that I'll miss if I choose to do the April sailing, I'll still be completely satisfied with the cruise. I think I'm going to go for it!

 

 

Hi jcpc:

My wife & I have sailked with both HAL & Celebrity.

My advice to you would be to stay with Celebrity! It is several steps up the ladder from HAL! Besides, HAL has instituted "Leisure Style Dining" on the Noordam! We attempted to book that same cruise next April, however we were informed that it was sold out!

What next with HAL; lengthly linups for dinner and come as you are on formal nights?

[sk99]

Sk99:

Curious as to what was wrong with Costa Maya?

Please do not take my comments personally, it was just my impression of Costa Maya.There is no beach by the dock, and it was very crowded with 2 ships in port. Westerdam came later then Carnival ship, so people who wanted to stay by the pool could not find lounge chairs. Beach next to port - I read that you need water shoes to go into the water, so I decided not to go there. Many people on this board liked Pez Quadro beach, describing it as a nice, quiet white sand beach. I guess they see the glass half full. We did not like it. At first I thought that maybe the taxi driver did not drop us off at the right beach. Pez Quadro was crowded (the Carnival ship came before us), loud music was playing by the bar, so we went as far from the bar as we could. I need shade and it was all taken. There is a very thin layer of sand which covers hard ground, water is very shallow. You have to walk carefully between the rocks to get to a deeper part where it’s up to your chest, but there are people riding boats in that narrow corridor all the time, so again be careful. We had two more couple with us (they could not find spots by the pool), none of us liked it. One couple left right away and another stayed for a little and also left. The only reason we stayed for 2 hours is because my DH got a 1 hour massage and I had to wait for him. Maybe my expectations were very high, it was our last stop after Half Moon Cay, Grand Turk and Grand Cayman - all have great beaches. BTW – ship comedian made fun of this stop at the late night show, he said that “it was first time in his life he took ship to a garage sale” as well as some other jokes about the dirty beaches.

[hammybee]

Art,

Thank you for a refreshing review. I too sail X and HAL and just about all the other mass marketed lines. I always come home to HAL. I like the crew on HAL better but I do agree that time does not usually permit the dining room staff to frequently interact with passengers on a one on one basis.

 

I like the salads on X better and I also think they do a better presentation with the food. Nothing beats the HAL Lido in my book for casual breakfast and lunch time dining. The thermal pools on X are heaven as are the HAL beds.

 

As for high tea, you nailed it. I agree that the passengers of either cruise line will tend to enjoy the other, but will have a preference at the end of the day.

This is why I always let the intinerary dictate my cruise. If only X would eliminate Caso de Campo.....