Westerdam - Favorite Expression and some other notes

[Krazy Kruizers]

Please note before you flame - we choose our cruises 99% of the time for itinerary - not by ship.

We were only on the ship a few days when we kept hearing a certain expression several times. Knowing that our first stop was HMC, on embarkation day when we hadn’t received an invitation for a suite cocktail party we asked one of our concierges when the party was going to be. Answer: “Not on this ship”. We commented about that being strange. The concierge said that this ship never has had them. Our comment back - we were on this ship in January 2005 on back-to-back cruises and we had one the first evening of each cruise.

We also asked what night was going to be the Master Chef dinner. Answer: “Not on this ship”. Okay -- some of the vista class ships have them and some don’t.

After a few mornings of not receiving the evenings menus we asked why they aren’t delivered in the morning. Answer: “Not on this ship”. Menus were delivered on some days between noon and 1 PM, some days we never got them and other times they were delivered after we had had dinner.

At dinner we got to talking to a couple of people at a table near ours. About half way through the cruise, we heard the lady ask our waiter why the dining room never opened at 7:30 for breakfast on port days. Answer: “Not on this ship”. At this we burst out laughing. She went on to explain that they had been on other ships and the dining room was always open at 7:30 on port days. We had already discovered this. Of course the Pinnacle didn’t open until 8 either on the first cruise. We did notice that when we began the Alaskan cruise, the dining room was listed as opening at 7:30 everyday - sea days and port days. So the first day of our Alaskan cruise we went to the Pinnacle only to discover that it wasn’t going to open until 8. It wasn’t until about halfway through this cruise that we learned that the Pinnacle changed and opened at 7:30. No mention of this by any of the staff.

As we got closer to San Diego and our fourth formal night, we noticed that there had been no mention of a Black and White Ball. So we asked - by now you know the answer we got: “Not on this ship”.

There were other times when we would ask something and got the same answer: “Not on this ship”. Now we were beginning to wonder if the Westerdam belonged to the HAL fleet.

On other HAL ships, we have always gotten a USA Today newspaper whenever we were in a US port - “Not on this ship”. Even the library didn’t get a newspaper in all the ports in Alaska - began to wonder if Alaska belonged to the US. I can remember even getting the local Ketchikan newspaper delivered to our cabin on previous Alaskan cruises.

As I mentioned, we chose this cruise because of the itinerary - which is an excellent one. However we discovered that on the east coast, most of the TA’s sold this cruise as a 19 day repositioning cruise while on the west coast the TA’s were selling this cruise as a 15 day cruise ending in San Diego. Thus when we got to San Diego nearly 1200 passengers disembarked the ship leaving only 719 passengers on the ship (59 people disembarked in Victoria).

For the remaining 4 days very little happened in the way of activities - I don’t consider skirting a hurricane an activity. On the formal night we had after San Diego, we didn’t even get a new production show - just repeated the same one. Many of us got the impression that we were excess baggage. We didn’t even get a cruise log at the end of the cruise!! The only cruise log that was delivered was for the passengers getting off in San Diego. Even our fruit basket was removed the night before we got to San Diego.

Schedule of some of our events:

April 22 - boarded the ship

April 25 - suite lunch in the Pinnacle - captain, hotel manager, maitre’d and a couple of other officers greeted us as we entered the Pinnacle Grill. No one went around the tables or sat at any of the tables. They left the Pinnacle within five minutes.

April 26 - 7:30 - 8:15 PM - VIP party in the Crows Nest. There were barely 40 people there. We know several people who have over 100 days and they were NOT invited. I have read on the boards that some people believe that once they get to 100 days, they are automatically invited to the VIP party -- “Not on this ship”.

April 27 - as we transited the Panama Canal there was a BBQ between 11:30 and 1:30. We did have the best Panama Buns ever - buns filled with vanilla cream and mandarin oranges - yummy!!

April 30 - Mariner’s Brunch and Suite Indonesian Lunch. This was ridiculous!! Both were scheduled for the same day!! Considering that we still had 11 days left in the cruise with 4 sea days, two of which were before we got to San Diego, there was no reason why both had to be scheduled on the same day. We talked to one of our concierges concerning the planning of these events. It was like talking to a brick wall. The final comment this concierge made was to go to the awards ceremony, eat some munchies and then decide which of the lunches we wanted to attend. So we went to the Explorer’s Lounge for the award ceremony at 10:30 (there were no munchies -- haven’t seen them since these new award ceremonies began) and since DH loves the Indonesian Lunch, we went there instead of the Mariner Brunch.

 

We also pointed out to the concierge that the major events of the cruise are all over in 8 days and that there was still 11 days left of the cruise. This concierge assured us that there would be plenty more suite functions -- there weren’t.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Westerdam - Part 2

As much as we hate Cartagena, we do have to give them credit for taking care as many tours as possible. The Norwegian Sun was also in port with us that day. Between the ships, many people booked quite a few tours. And Cartagena came through. At one point we counted nearly 100 buses for the 2 ships. Even as some were leaving, more were arriving. Buses were brought in from many of the surrounding towns. Having been here numerous times, we never saw Cartagena knock themselves out like they did this time. There were even 3 shuttles operating between the 2 ships and the freight entrance where a couple of shops have reopened since we were last here a couple of years ago. Even the little bar was open. But we do have to laugh at one thing - just as we were getting ready to bring in our gangway, one of the buses came racing back down the pier. A tour guide jumped out and handed over a hiking boot to an official that one of the passengers had left on his bus. Yes - you read correctly - someone got off the bus without his boot!! Didn’t he know that a boot was missing from one foot??

The night before we were scheduled to arrive at Puntarenas we set our clocks back an hour and then that evening we set them forward again. None of us could figure out why we did this - have here before and never did this. As a result the tours started an hour late as the buses arrived late -- they were in a different time zone. We had a 9 AM tour scheduled and when we arrived at the show lounge at 8:45 it was packed and people were standing everywhere as not one tour had left yet. Our tour finally was called at 9:50. Ah - not to worry -- the captain came on the next day and admitted that they goofed. We should never have turned the clocks back an hour.

On May 5th as we were approaching Cabo San Lucas, the winds were very bad - 45 knots. It wasn’t until we were in the bay that the final decision was made as to whether we would stop at this port or not as the captain didn’t know if the winds would die down enough and our anchor would hold. As we arrived late, the tours once again started late.

May 7 - San Diego -- this was when nearly 1200 passengers disembarked the ship. The Self-Disembarkation passengers were told to report to Deck 2 at 7:30. Around 8:45, the CD kept making announcements and naming the 7 people who had not reported to immigration (non US citizens) and keeping the ship from being cleared. At 9:05 the ship was finally cleared. We had asked if we were going to get a port shopping map like we did for all the other ports. None was made. There were several people who had never been to San Diego and were asking about what was near by, what they could do, why no maps, points of interest, etc. One of our concierges got off the ship and obtained a map so that he could point out some things to people. There was never mentioned anywhere that a free shuttle was available for those wanting to go down to Seaport Village. We took advantage of the shuttle.

Shortly after 4 PM the fire alarms began to sound -- and they kept ringing for about 20 minutes. The captain announced that they had no idea why they went off as there wasn’t a fire on board -- they had malfunctioned. The alarms were sounded later in the day as a check and again the next day. That night we skirted a hurricane and we listened to the dishes smash in the Neptune Lounge as the ship rocked and rolled.

Oh yes - when we got to Cabo San Lucas there wasn’t anything mentioned in the daily program about not taking any type of food ashore. Nor where there any announcements concerning this either. There were 2 officials on the pier checking everyone’s purses, back-packs, etc. By the time we got ashore around 9:30, two large barrels were overflowing with apples, bananas, oranges, boxes of cereal, etc.

We had a lot of bad weather on our Alaskan segment. The day after leaving Seattle, the winds really picked up. Shortly after our suite lunch, many people started to feel a little queasy, Green apples and crackers were out everywhere. Nurse George wasn’t able to attend our Roll Call Meet and Greet because of so many calls in the infirmary. Lost a lot more dished in the Neptune Lounge. That night, the dome in the Neptune Lounge broke lose and crashed against the door -- more dishes broken. In the morning as we walked around we noticed that several glass doors leading to the promenade deck were broken and one was actually off it’s hinge. When we got to Glacier Bay later in the day, the sun came out -- beautiful. But the next day in Juneau we got over 2 ½ inches of rain. Only a few helicopters and a few float planes were able to take off. All the rest were cancelled because of poor visibility. It misted a little when we arrived in Sitka but by late afternoon the sun was out. The following day in Ketchikan - sunny and warm. Around midnight after leaving Ketchikan the winds picked up again - they weren’t as bad -- but we did some more rocking and rolling.

While we were in Juneau we had a salmon bake from 5:30 until 8. From 11:30 - 1:30 when we were in Ketchikan, there was the Great Alaskan Cookout by the Lido pool. DH had to try the caribou sausage.

 

The day before we arrived in Seattle on our first cruise, the Erasmus Library was completely emptied of all the travel books. We were told that a new shop will be put in there. As we were looking around the ship near the end of the second segment, all kinds of Russian items were being placed on the shelves.

On the first segment we asked if we were going to get maps of Victoria. We were first told that there weren’t going to be any as the ship doesn’t have any recommended stores for there. Plus in town the only places open in the evening is the Empress Hotel, the pubs and a couple of souvenir shops. But as we were leaving the ship, we noticed that maps were placed out. Having been to Victoria several other times, and I must admit that it has been several years since we were there, I really don’t like where the piers are located. You can’t even see the lights on the Empress Hotel at night. The shuttle into town is $6 per person for an all day pass.

On our first cruise there wasn’t a cellar master but one did arrive on board in Seattle for the Alaskan cruise. The first of the Alaskan cruise we had dinner in the Pinnacle. The second night as we entered the dining room carrying an a bottle of wine that was a gift to us, this cellar master grabbed the wine bottle out of DH’s hands and asked him in a rude manner where he had gotten the bottle. DH explained that it was a gift from Seattle. Guess he didn’t believe us as he disappeared after turning over the bottle to our wine steward and probably went to check. He didn’t impress us very well.

 

During the first cruise, the Pinnacle staff said that they saw on their records that DH would be celebrating his birthday soon. He indicated that it was going to be on the second segment. When we signed up for a couple of nights, we indicated which night was his birthday. Absolutely nothing happened -- not even a cake.

[Lurker1]

As I mentioned, we chose this cruise because of the itinerary - which is an excellent one. However we discovered that on the east coast, most of the TA’s sold this cruise as a 19 day repositioning cruise while on the west coast the TA’s were selling this cruise as a 15 day cruise ending in San Diego. Thus when we got to San Diego nearly 1200 passengers disembarked the ship leaving only 719 passengers on the ship (59 people disembarked in Victoria).

 

For the remaining 4 days very little happened in the way of activities - I don’t consider skirting a hurricane an activity. On the formal night we had after San Diego, we didn’t even get a new production show - just repeated the same one. Many of us got the impression that we were excess baggage. We didn’t even get a cruise log at the end of the cruise!! The only cruise log that was delivered was for the passengers getting off in San Diego. Even our fruit basket was removed the night before we got to San Diego.

 

Hi Yonnie. We felt the same way, and we're glad to hear someone else felt that way. We did hear the explanation about the Jones Act and why they couldn't sell a 4-day cruise from SD to Seattle, but that doesn't excuse the lack of activities. We did OK, but as you know we had a reason to slow down a bit.

On our comment card, I made a mention of the fact that there was nothing said about San Diego as a port! We'd been there before, and directed a couple we knew to the trolley tour (they enjoyed it). I guess our Port and Shopping Ambassador left the ship in San Diego?

In Puerto Chipas, we thought about taking the bus into town, but did not because the bus was starting late, turned out May 1 was a holiday. That was never mentioned on the ship. I later enquired about Cinco de Mayo activies for Cabo, and was told they had checked, and everything would be open (which was correct). But the subject was never broached in any of the talks.

Looking back, I can see that there was often a lack of communication about what was, or was not, going to happen. (We still had a great time.)

[bellebaby]

We were on the Alaskan part of the cruise Yonnie was on. On our previous cruises, the evening's menus were placed on a menu board and placed on a table near the door when the cabin steward serviced the room each morning. While it certainly wasn't a deal breaker, we usually received the menus after 6pm folded up in our mailbox.

 

I asked the concierge in the Neptune for the menu. She said they are "never distributed until at least 6 pm". I asked how that works for the guests that have early dining at 5:45. She just looked at me.

 

We really enjoyed ourselves, but did notice distinct differences from our previous sailings. The other ships we have been on did not vary in their routines as much as this sailing of the Westerdam did. However, it was much better than our Zaandam sailing last year... that's another story!!

 

Two things were outstanding about this cruise: We love sailing to Alaska and we had a great group of Cruise Critic members onboard.

 

We're going back to the Volendam for our next cruise... it's our favorite!:)

 

B

[takemewithyou]

We were on the Alaska portion of this cruise with Kraizy Kruiser and I have to agree with a lot of what she observed.

 

I was so excited because we had sailed twice before with HAL, but this was to be our first time in a deluxe suite. I had read all the different amenities that came with booking a deluxe suite and couldn't wait.

 

The room, itself, was lovely. Very large with plenty of storage space.

However, many of the suite amenities were lacking.

1. I have to agree with KK about the newspapers. We never got one USA Today or any other US paper and I expected we might get one at one of the ports (was listed as a possibility under suite amenities).

 

2. We never got our daily cruise newspaper until mid-day - we didn't

have it to read during breakfast.

 

3. We got our dinner menu to look at mid-day on the first day at sea, but after that we either never got menus or they were in our room AFTER dinner!

 

4. We did not have the laundry bag or required laundry form to use each day and I had to go to the NL to ask for it each time I wanted laundry done.

 

5. I had read the laundry always comes wrapped in tissue. Ours was just put in a paper laundry bag. Another friend in a different suite showed me how hers came wrapped. Our's wasn't.

 

6. Breakfast in the PG was OK, but nothing very special. I was grateful to be in there because the Lido was such a zoo. Very packed.

 

General thoughts:

7. I thought the activities were really lacking on this ship. There wasn't much to do. We had a couple of lectures from Park Rangers, but when I went to try to go to one - it was in the Culinary Arts Center and all the seats were taken. Many people were left to stand. I left - knowing I could probably catch it on TV later. I have no idea why the show lounge wasn't used. Each day it had a sign on it that said "closed". I have never seen that before. Ususally, the show lounge ahs been used for lots of lectures and BINGO, etc.

 

8. During our Cruise Critic Meet and Greet, which I had arranged, we had to compete with BINGO. It was in the Crow's Nest. Why it wasn't in the show lounge, I don't know. It was closed, again. We had to talk over BINGO and people kept trying to come into our private section (which had a sign indicating it was a private function) looking for a seat for BINGO.

 

9. This cruise didn't convince me that I need to book another deluxe suite. I guess I wasn't spoiled forever (sadly). I would have a hard time recommending to any one else that they need to book an SA.

 

None of this ruined my cruise, but it just wasn't one of my favorites.

[O2B@C]

...Knowing that our first stop was HMC, on embarkation day when we hadn’t received an invitation for a suite cocktail party we asked one of our concierges when the party was going to be. Answer: “Not on this ship”. We commented about that being strange. The concierge said that this ship never has had them. ...

I'm pretty sure there was one on our Nov. 2007 W'dam cruise - but can't say for sure, as we did not attend.

After a few mornings of not receiving the evenings menus we asked why they aren’t delivered in the morning. Answer: “Not on this ship”. Menus were delivered on some days between noon and 1 PM, some days we never got them and other times they were delivered after we had had dinner.

We got them every day on our Nov. 2007 W'dam cruise, pretty much first thing in the morning - certainly before noon.

...

 

"Not on this cruise," maybe, but "not on this ship" is certainly not true. Sounds like you got a bum deal, for sure. My sympathies. And the concierge's attitude is astonishing. Very strange! Something is wrong here, starting from close to the top.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Kathy

Thanks for reminding me about a couple of things.

We also had the same problem with the laundry bag from the time we got on the ship in Ft Laudedrdale. We had to constantly ask our cabin steward for one.

We always ask for DH's shirts and slacks to come back on hangers -- that's all we will send out.

That reminds me -- this is the first time we have ever had problems with the laundry. One of Joe's shirts went missing for a day on the first cruise. Down the hall from us a lady had a pair of slacks missing for a day. Another couple that we got to talking to at the bar in the Crows Nest had a man's suit and a lady's blouse missing for 5 days!! They just got their items back in time to pack to get off in San Diego. On the Alaskan cruise, one of Joe's slacks came back with black marks on them and had to be sent back.

Yikes -- I forgot about our Meet and Greet and competing against Bingo.

The reason the show lounge was closed was due to the fact that the original cast left the ship on May 11 and a new group came on and they had to rehearse as they had not preformed together before. We have had this happen on other ships.

Sorry that your first time in an SA wasn't up to your expectations. Hope your next cruise you will have a better cabin experince.

[Lurker1]

We also had the same problem with the laundry bag from the time we got on the ship in Ft Laudedrdale. We had to constantly ask our cabin steward for one.

 

 

I had forgotten about the Laundry bags. We weren't in a suite, but there should have been a bag. We constantly had to ask for them (well, 3 times). However, we had no problem with missing laundry or quality.

But one good thing that worked very well for us was room service for breakfast.

[takemewithyou]

Sorry that your first time in an SA wasn't up to your expectations. Hope your next cruise you will have a better cabin experince.

Something about this cruise just didn't "feel right" as oppsoed to other HAL cruises. I think I have to agree with your comment that "we were beginning to wonder if the Westerdam belonged to the HAL fleet". That kind of hit the nail on the head for me. And I don't know why it was that way when I had read so many glowing reports from the Westerdam Caribbean cruises?

Does a cruise ship change that much when it changes locations?

We felt the same way - only we couldn't put it into words that well.

 

The next cruise we have is the Maasdam to Canada / New England and I have no doubt we will be well taken care of there! :)

[gphelps99]

Goodness, I hope whatever kinks that were "in the system" have been corrected. :eek: We sail this Sunday, and have had our SC cabin reserved since last October (at full price.) So sorry you had these frustrations..:confused:

[takemewithyou]

Goodness, I hope whatever kinks that were "in the system" have been corrected. :eek: We sail this Sunday, and have had our SC cabin reserved since last October (at full price.) So sorry you had these frustrations..:confused:

 

I know what you mean...I seriously hope that these glitches were from us being the first Alaska cruise of the season, but some of these things are a constant like laundry, newspapers, NL concierges...:o

 

On the other hand, some positives were that the food and service for fixed dining was excellent - better than my previous cruises! :)

[CruiserBruce]

KK:

 

As you know, we were on the FLL-Sea leg of your marathon cruise with you, and we also noted many of the things you did. We put the following in our two comment cards:

 

- Serious disapointment with the lack of many activities from San Diego to Seattle. At times we got the feeling that we were in the way of the cleaning crew. And the fact the production show was a repeat. We feel the singers and dancers had a pretty easy cruise- they only performed 4 days, plus two days they had to do an open house for passengers.

 

- Curiosity about why the Marininers Lunch and the Suite Indonesian Lunch were held on the same day, 90 minutes apart.

 

- We noticed the irregularity of the menus in the room (we were in a SB suite). But that wasn't a big deal.

 

- Why the exact same farewell menu was offered twice, just 4 days apart.

 

- We didn't get a cruise log either, but didn't notice it until you mentioned it.

 

One thing I must correct tho. We didn't "skirt a hurricane". We don't have hurricanes in California, the ocean is far too cold. What we did experience was "hurricane force winds" which are, in a simplistic definition, winds in excess of 75 mph. Experiencing winds in excess of 75 mph here is a several times per year event, in fact we came very close this morning. That is what is pushing the nasty forest fire near San Jose.

 

Bruce

[sail7seas]

I'm so sorry there were so many negatives on these cruises.

 

Were there any high points? I'd love to hear things you enjoyed. :)

 

Welcome Back all of you who were on these Westerdam cruises.

 

[manbehindthecurtain]

KK:

 

And the fact the production show was a repeat. We feel the singers and dancers had a pretty easy cruise- they only performed 4 days, plus two days they had to do an open house for passengers.

 

 

As far as production shows go on board, the cast only knows the shows they are normally doing; usually 3 per cruise. I agree that a repeat show is not what you would expect, but the cast simply do not know extra shows and are not at liberty to 'throw something together'.

 

I do feel sorry for your not up to standard cruise experience..

[jerseyridgearts]

Hello All ~

 

We sailed the Alaska segment with Yonnie, Marybelle and Kathy (plus a great group of CC'ers) - our first HAL experience. We loved our SB aft (Deck 8) and had a very positive experience with our excellent cabin steward (Bayu). The weather was a bit rough but that was part of our 'adventure' (broken glassware two nights and our verandah door broke!)

 

Our previous cruise experience was on Carnival 10 years ago and frankly, I swore off cruising after that. Our HAL experience was worlds different. I was amazed, however, at the unprofessional attitude of one of the Neptune Lounge concierge's and had our SB aft not been so wonderful we would never pay the premium for suite cruising. The laundry perk and Pinnacle Grill breakfast perk for suite passengers was nice.

 

I suspect because we focused on the scenery (from our wraparound verandah) and the enjoyable interaction with our CC roll call members, our cruise was very positive. We didn't know we were supposed to get newspapers and we didn't attend any on board activities since they conflicted with our late seating and/or our own activities.

 

I did notice that our embarkation process was devoid of suite amenities (we were herded along with the rest of the pax) and the staff was brusque but after flying through O'Hare and the TSA, it was anticlimactic.

We had the Fairmont package which was *ok* although next time we'll stay at a different hotel with modern amenities.

 

Our cabin and our steward along with the gorgeous itinerary and active

CC roll call group made this a trip to remember - we're already contemplating a second trip to Alaska - maybe a cruisetour?

 

Catherine (whose DH had the tissue wrapped undies from the laundry:p )

[bellebaby]

I'm so sorry there were so many negatives on these cruises.

 

Were there any high points? I'd love to hear things you enjoyed. :)

 

Welcome Back all of you who were on these Westerdam cruises.

 

 

We actually had a very good embarkation experience in Seattle. We arrived via taxi from the Fairmont at Terminal 30 between 9:30 and 10:00 and were in the Neptune Lounge by 11:00. There was a separate check-in line and waiting area for Suite passengers. Suite passengers were also given priority boading and were escorted to the Neptune Lounge by a Seattle HAL rep. It's unfortunate the same treatment was not provided to other Suite passengers who arrived at the terminal later in the morning.

 

Our room steward, Abdu, was excellent and readily took care of everything we needed and wanted.

 

I also liked the Captain, Peter Harris. He was very approachable, witty and easy on the eyes.:) Has a nice British accent, too.

 

The gorgeous Alaska scenery and our CC roll call group made the cruise one to remember. We'll quickly forget the small stuff..forgotten menus, Lido crowds and irritations, very rough seas, etc., but I don't think we'll ever forget the friends we made or the beauty we experienced.

 

B - known by others as Marybelle

 

Catherine - We've already booked the Volendam Inside Passage sailing out of Vancouver for next year. Tom and I would love it if you and Richard would join us!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Having the Mariner's Brunch and Indonesian Lunch on the same day was not very good planning. From what I was told by someone who did go to the Mariner's Brunch, by the time the awards ceremony ended in the Explorer's Lounge, and were served their brunch in the dining room, they never left there until nearly 12:30. And 12:30 was the time the Indonesian Lunch began. So there really wasn't much time between the 2 big meals.

[Lurker1]

I'm so sorry there were so many negatives on these cruises.

 

Were there any high points? I'd love to hear things you enjoyed. :)

 

Welcome Back all of you who were on these Westerdam cruises.

 

 

Hi Sail; I see I'm about 19,825 posts behind you. :D

High points:

The intinerary. Not just the Panama Canal and the excellent speaker explaining it all (although the total Canal experience is number 1 highlight). DW and I agreed the whole experience was an amazing adventure, even the glitches and low points (not all of those were the fault of the Westerdam).

We had an amazing excursion in Costa Rica, Half-moon Cay was beautiful, we saw the cliff-divers in Acapulco and we enjoyed a pub-crawl in Victoria.

Our dining room staff (steward, assistant steward and wine steward) -- we mentioned them by name on our comment card.

DW's "observation post" at the Ocean Bar, and the waiter (mentioned by name again) who handled the hors d'oeuvres just before dinner.

The weather, maybe 2 days in 19 had rough seas.

The Spa :)

The food was generally excellent.

Room-service for Breakfast, always on-time, even early (after San Diego).

Justin Miller (entertainment).

Cooking Classes.

Logging on to email and seeing mail from our 10 year old Grand-daughter while we're at sea.

Seattle, DW and I stayed on for a few days. We try and use a pre-cruise or post-cruise stay to explore a new city.

Using air-lines miles to fly first class from Seattle to JFK.

(I've mentioned the low points in a few other posts, 'nuff said.)

[May4]

At the risk of piling on, I'll report on a baffling omission on the Westerdam on the 3-day cruise just prior to the repositioning one of which KK has written.

 

There wasn't any sort of disembarkation talk. Not so surprising since there were no sea days. However, the inexperienced cruisers didn't know to put luggage out the night before. So some had to carry it off themselves. Not a big deal for such a short cruise I suppose, but I was glad to know the drill. I brought my BIG suitcase.:p

[takemewithyou]

High points for me were the Captain (all of what Marybelle said about him) :D

The thermal spa and hydrotherapy pool

Glacier Bay

The weather in Ketchikan and the Misty Fjords boat trip

My CC roll call friends

The deluxe suite room and balcony

Our exceptional waiter, Putu and his assistant, Stenly

THE FOOD!!!

 

Thanks to cruise critic for all the valuable things I have learned from it and the people who post all the grat information!!

[CruiserBruce]

I'm so sorry there were so many negatives on these cruises.

 

Were there any high points? I'd love to hear things you enjoyed. :)

 

Welcome Back all of you who were on these Westerdam cruises.

 

 

I had mentioned our positives (which we feel outweighted the negatives comfortably) in another post, but they go something like this...

 

- Great entertainment. Joel Mason (Elton John) and Jonathon Miller were awesome. I am forgetting names, but we felt every night's was pretty good or better. We didn't see the female singer, and we thought the first production show (the one, that unfortunately was repeated) was so-so.

 

Some of the other "special entertainment"- gallery tour, "nuts and bolts questions with Capt, Chief Engineer and Hotel Manager", backstage tour with cast, also were very good and much enjoyed.

 

- We mentioned our Waiter, Ass't Waiter and Cabin Stewart by name, and tipped additional to them. "nough said, I think. We also mentioned our dining room bar attendent by name, as well as the Neptune Concierges, with positive comments. We didn't use the Neptune a lot, but all experiences were positive.

 

- We thought the food very good to great, in taste, quantity (I only gained 4 lbs! DW, no comment), quality and selection. Exception, Farewell Dinner (food was good) repeated twice in 4 days.

 

- We adore HMC! We were spoiled by a cabana with Butler(s). As mentioned elsewhere, we had the near continous attention of not one but two Butlers, who wouldn't say no to anything, and did everything including serving champagne in the water, while one Buther took pics. The food was wonderful- the biggest shrimp I have ever seen.

 

DW wants me to figure out how to get our next cruise (a Med cruise) to stop at HMC. Or, we will definitely be doing B2B Caribbean 7 days, as long as they stop at HMC twice.

 

The only negative was the set up for the cabana the day before was a little rough. But I chalk that up to it being deaprture day from FLL. We didn't mention it on our comment card.

 

- We are not big on shore excursions, so little to be said here. We took only three, and none were overly remarkable. However, as mentioned by others, the disembarckation at Puntarenas was disorganized.

 

- We also mentioned the approachabilty of Capt Harris, and found him to be very entertaining and funny. Some of the other officers are attempting to be as approachable, and learning quickly.

 

- We also mentioned the hard work of the HalCats. While I found the female lead (I am already forgetting her name) to be a little too overdone in her sweetness, she is a pretty good singer, and the group as a whole works extremely hard and is very talented. I have a lot of rock music in my background, and I talked a couple of times to various members about their challenging job playing such a huge variety of music, which includes backing up so many of the entertainers on board.

 

- We did have a missing laundry issue, and we used the suite laundry service extensively. However it was resolved very quickly, and as it involved female underwear, I am not sure who was more embarassed, DW, or our Cabin Steward. It was more funny than anything else, and we didn't feel the need to comment on it.

 

Bruce

[hornbill7]

I thought it might be worthwhile recording the impressions of a first-timer. We were on the Alaska segment, in a VB verandah stateroom. So many of the items above did not apply to us (suite amenities, Mariners', etc.), and we did not know what to expect, although our fellow roll-callers did their best to educate us.

 

The scenery was just stunning. Glacier Bay was magnificent, and the seaports visited reminiscent of the towns in the Shetland Islands (which was a good thing!), although the Shetland towns did not have the brittle veneer of souvenir shops. DW voted Ketchikan as the place with the best value.

 

The wildlife equally so. We did a whale-watch with Capt Larry in Juneau, along with fellow roll-callers Tayl and crew. Absolutely amazing views of orcas literally alongside the boat - just a pity that it was sluicing down with rain but couldn't be helped. I reckon Capt Larry had these orcas on the payroll!! On the run out from Sitka, as the sea started to heave up and down, I went down to the prom deck and leant over the rail, there to catch good views of another orca pod. And the smooth run passing Prince Rupert with the amazing display of flip-flopping tails was outstanding. Birds were brilliant, especially the albatrosses early on the Monday (sea day).

 

Fellow roll-callers - good to meet you all, and nice to bump into most in lifts, in towns, and on gangways!

 

The dining experience - h'm. Kathy's mention of the Lido being a zoo was too kind by half. We ate there thrice in the evenings - both formals and the Victoria port evening. Food was very good - ambience was not. Breakfast there was a cattle-market - we had in-room breakfast twice - that was very good.

 

Lower Vista, AYWD. Dreadful - no other word for it. Despite turning up at 0800 on several mornings to book a table, we only got what we asked for once. I dislike been placed on a table for six with people not of our choice, and that happened twice. We did not have every course on the menu, but I found it a pain to have to wait while fellow diners did have every course, and two entrees. We seemed to be served as a group of six, rather than as a couple - which I would have perfectly understood if we were in fixed dining, but we were not. Service overall seemed to be variable.

 

Twice meat was tough - I sent back chicken that was overcooked and had been waiting for some time in the servery. And a steak was partly tough, and I had to trim all four sides even before arriving at the tough part. Couldn't be bothered to complain for that one.

 

Did anyone else feel that the Vista menu was off-key, jagged? We struggled to find a main course every time we went, eventually settling for the least offensive. On the chicken sendback, I kept the steward waiting for several minutes (not deliberately) while I attempted to decide on a replacement item.

Not a question of the basic meat or fish (although I dislike salmon - but managed to get through the complete holiday with having to choose it!!) more how it was cooked, or the ingredients or marinades or sauces that it was cooked with. The routine for us seemed to be - "wouldn't want that, won't have that (salmon!!), wouldn't want that, or that, or that, which leaves

that choice, don't really want that but at least I will eat it". To be fair, DW comments that her choice was usually fish, which was excellent every time. And DW appreciated that the portions veered towards nouvelle cuisine-size, which meant that she didn't have too much food on her plate.

 

So for sure we did not Dine As We Wished. Just to clarify, I would not take fixed dining for all the tea in China, prefer the flexibility of dining when and how I wished - just didn't happen. And for a cruise line that seems to be rated as four and a half or five star, that's frankly not good enough.

 

But these problems did not outweigh what we came for - the Alaska trip gave us everything we wanted on the experience side (except DW saw neither a bear nor a moose - obviously my fault ;) ).

 

$64,000 question is "would we cruise again?" It is a difficult one, as we are usually very independent on holidays, and only go where and when we want to. But the answer is probably. It would have to be a specific itinerary, I'm interested in the Panama Canal, with Costa Rica but without too much in the Caribbean. Or Antarctica.

[RedmondCruiser]

"Not on this ship" is right. Much has changed on the Westerdam. No black and while ball. No VIP party. etc etc. With 269 days we did'nt get invited to any VIP cocktail party as in all our previous cruises, after we had reached the Bronze level. Most of these actions, or lack of action, eminate from the hotel manager. More than likely he is operating under instructions from Seattle. After San Diego it did feel as if the remaining passengers were excess baggage. We had done two previous Panama Canal sailings on the Westerdam and we felt that this cruise was different.

The hurricane force winds off Northern California was interesting. We went into it in the AM and we did hit one wave at 1:08AM that almost knocked me out of bed. In heavy weather I like to be in the Crows Nest with a bloody mary and a ring side seat, but not at 3 in the morning.

Cruiser Bruce -- We missed you at the CC party. Many thought you had missed the boat. Where were you ??

[sail7seas]

Thanks all.

 

Who is the current Hotel Manager on Westerdam?

 

[bellebaby]

Thanks all.

 

Who is the current Hotel Manager on Westerdam?

 

 

I was on this sailing and have the same question. I can't remember.

 

Anyone?

 

Marybelle