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Just Returned from the Beautiful Westerdam

cruiseapril

By cruiseapril,
in Holland America Line

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cruiseapril

cruiseapril

Posted
Posted

We returned home yesterday from our fantastic cruise on the beautiful Westerdam. Am writing a brief review now and will be posting a full review soon.

 

Four of us just completed our first HAL cruise- April 6 to 13th- to Half Moon Cay, Aruba, and Curacao. The Westerdam exceeded our expectations in almost every way and we had high expectations before we sailed.

 

Between the four of us, we have experienced seven other cruise lines, and the Westerdam cruise surely received an A, comparatively. (One other line also gets an A from us, and all of the others get B's) There are teachers among us!

 

We found the ship beautifully designed and decorated, well planned in the fine details, and easy to get around.

 

Our cabins were comfortable (2 Oceanviews), very clean, with a pleasant decor. The bathrooms are roomy with many amenities, including the Elemis products. Our room steward was the best. We commented (on our card) that he should receive an award- he was that good.

 

The food was consistently very good to excellent. The food service was ***** 5 star quality. We tended to have the seafood dishes, the poultry, and the beef as entrees; with some experimentation with new or spicy appetizers.

 

We did the open seating dining- enjoyed it, but found that it needs to be "smoothed out." It is still new and seems to be in its growing phase. Do others concur?

 

We all went to the Wine Tasting event, then had good wine with every dinner. Enjoyed the wine choices.

Went to the Pinnacle Grill for one lunch- kind of a B for that.

 

Went swimming for a long time at Half Moon Cay- our second time there. My daughter did the horseback excursion.

 

Took the HAL Town & Country Tour in Aruba, my daughter again went horseback riding! In the evening, my sister and I went up to the Radisson to walk the lovely gardens, have a drink at Gilligan's, and enjoy the evening beach. I had been to the Palm Beach area twice before, for vacations, and relived the pleasure of yesteryear in that area.

 

My sister & I went to the Blue Bay resort, in Curacao, for ocean and pool swimming. Very nice. My daughter & friend went on an island tour. Later, we all took a taxi up to Fort Nassau for the view. As we had lived in Curacao for 2 years, I enjoyed revisiting the Ft. Nassau Restaurant where we had spent many a Friday evening with friends. Before boarding the ship, we walked around Willemstad for some photo ops.

 

There is so much more to say about this exceptional cruise- I'll write more in my review. Meanwhile, I am happy to answer any questions you might have about our experience on the Westerdam and the ports we visited.

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takemewithyou

takemewithyou

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Glad you had a wonderful cruise. Looking forward to reading your full review. We leave on the Westerdam 5/11.

 

I don't know if you can answer the questions I have...but here goes...

Did you visit the spa - specifically the thermal spa? If so, how was it?

 

Don't know if you were in a suite or happen to know this, but...do you know where the suite guests had their private spot for breakfast - usually it is either the Pinnacle Grill or sometimes it is in the King's Room? I am just not sure where they do this on the Vista Class ships.

 

Did you attend any of the mixology classes for drink-making...i.e. martini class, etc?

 

Did you have a cruise critic meet & greet? If so, how did it go?

 

Thanks.

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Crusing Bob

Crusing Bob

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Thoroughly enjoyed your review and it certainly concides with our experience on the Westerdam last October and we are looking forward to our cruise on her again this October.

I have been wanting to find out what the 50 minute massage rate is now since I understand they have increased prices-do you have info?

Thanks,

Bob

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ybarber

ybarber

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Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise - I can hardly wait for my first HAL cruise on the Westerdam in just about 6 months, 2 days, 9 hours and 2 minutes - not that I am "counting down" or anything;)

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cruiseapril

cruiseapril

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takeme...

Didn't sign up for the spa- it looked inviting. We had 2 Oceanviews, so don't know about the suites. Didn't do the Mixology, just the Wine Tasting.

 

gizmo

The Blue Bay Resort was the destination of the HAL Excursion Beach Express. It is West of Willemstad-and is a low-rise villa resort with a small cove beach which is good for snorkeling. It has restrooms, a bar, nice beach chairs, and palapas or sunshades. It was quiet the day we were there. Pleasantly quiet. We sunned under a coconut tree--fun. The only odd thing about the resort was the cobblestone pathways which were kind of bumpy. I'd never seen any path of this kind in Curacao.

 

Bob

Don't know about the spa massages.

 

 

Just a note about other activities we enjoyed-

 

The Explorations Internet Cafe is the best I have yet seen on a ship. We spent much time up there and at the Crow's Nest next door. Also enjoyed the Erasmus Library.

 

Spent much time at the Aft Pool- Sea View Adult Pool.

 

Attended a Tea one afternoon.

 

We enjoyed piano music 2 evenings, and the dance band another evening.

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haligonian37

haligonian37

Posted
Posted

Sounds like you had a wonderful time aboard the Westerdam. I had the pleasure of taking my first ever cruise aboard that lovely ship and will never forget it. From start to finish it was great: the service, the ports (especially HMC, I would book a cruise just to go there again), the people and the ship itself. I'm looking forward to reading your detailed review....I'm sure it will bring back lots of great memories :) .

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eddiesgal

eddiesgal

Posted
Posted
Thoroughly enjoyed your review and it certainly concides with our experience on the Westerdam last October and we are looking forward to our cruise on her again this October.

I have been wanting to find out what the 50 minute massage rate is now since I understand they have increased prices-do you have info?

Thanks,

Bob

 

Bob.....this is the 2008 price list for HAL spa services:) Kim

BEAUTY & RELAXATION & FITNESS



Beautiful Hands and Toes (45 minute spa manicure and



55 minute spa pedicure) $110

 

Elemis Deep Tissue Muscle Massage (50 minute full

body massage) $120

 

Elemis Frangipani Conditioning Hair and Scalp Ritual

(25 minutes) $29

 

Couples Massage $269

 

Nurturing Relaxation Ceremony (50 minute facial and 75

minute hot stone full body massage) $321

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Roz Great Review Rare

Roz

Posted
Posted

April,

 

I booked on the Westerdam in December of 2009. Based on your review, it looks like I've made a good choice. Glad you had such as great cruise.

 

Roz

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jerseygirl3

jerseygirl3

Posted
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Glad you had a wonderful cruise. Looking forward to reading your full review. We leave on the Westerdam 5/11.

 

I don't know if you can answer the questions I have...but here goes...

Did you visit the spa - specifically the thermal spa? If so, how was it?

 

Don't know if you were in a suite or happen to know this, but...do you know where the suite guests had their private spot for breakfast - usually it is either the Pinnacle Grill or sometimes it is in the King's Room? I am just not sure where they do this on the Vista Class ships.

 

Did you attend any of the mixology classes for drink-making...i.e. martini class, etc?

 

Did you have a cruise critic meet & greet? If so, how did it go?

 

Thanks.

 

My sister was in a Deluxe Verandah Suite and they had breakfast in Pinnacle Grill each morning.

 

She said service was fair. We did a dinner at PG and cancelled our next second reservation, the service was that bad.

 

Don't know what's going on with PG...it was a huge disappointment this time around.

 

But everything else about Westerdam more than made up for it. It's the best!

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takemewithyou

takemewithyou

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Jerseygirl: Thanks for checking with your sister who had the suite about her PG breakfasts. We will give it a try and see how we like it. Don't plan on having dinner there, but since the suite comes with the opportunity to have breakfast there, we can't pass it up!

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NHCruisr

NHCruisr

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Alonzo, I was also on this sailing last week. The Westerdam is a beautiful ship and I'm sure you would have a great time. As I noted in my posting, we enjoyed so much about this cruise. True, we did have a few disappointments, but in the scheme of things, the good outweighed the bad and we had a wonderful time in our second sailing aboard the Westerdam. I especially enjoyed the three sea days. What a treat!

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alonzo14

alonzo14

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NHcruiser: Yes the Westerdam is a beautiful ship! Enjoyed our cruise on her in December of last year. I always thought Curaco would be a very pretty port to cuise into. I LOVED Half Moon Cay so wouldn't mind going back there.

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