okiecruiser71
February 25th, 2011, 09:32 PM
Just returned from a week on the Westerdam with my wife. We are both in our 30s and this was our second trip on the Westerdam and another good to great one. Here's a look at our week from top to bottom for anyone interested.
PRE-CRUISE
Did two nights at the Courtyard in Dania Beach which is an easy drive from FLL and Port Everglades. This is a nice hotel with a friendly staff. Rooms are clean. As I understand it the hotel recently underwent a renovation and is sparkling.
They offer a shuttle to the cruise terminal, but since we had a rental car we just took it back to FLL on the morning of embarkation and took a cab from FLL to the pier.
On Thursday we took a day trip out to the Everglades to the Billie Swamp Safari. It's an easy and interesting drive (for us Okies) out into the Everglades.
Billie Swamp Safari sits on about 2,000 acres and is gorgeous. Packed with wildlife in what approximates their natural setting. This is not really a zoo, which is something I liked.
We did an air boat ride and the swamp buggy tour which were both wonderful. Saw lots of gators, turtles, water buffalo and ostriches and even a friendly raccoon who followed our air boat around.
That night we went to Lips which is a drag show cabaret thing. That was a highlight. Loads of fun. It was Dinner with the Divas night so we had a Cher, Reba McIntyre and other impersonators. If you are not offended by this sort of thing (we're not) I'd recommend it highly even if it is a little pricey.
EMBARKATION
Not as smooth as we would have liked, but considering we arrived at peak time it wasn't bad. We were on the ship within 45 min to an hour from the time we were dropped off. Plus they had yummy cookies and lemonade to snack on while you waited for your group number to be called.
Being returning cruisers on HAL we went to lunch in the dining room which I recommend. It was a good way to avoid the Lido horror show on embarkation day.
THE SHIP
We don't have anything to compare it to since we have sailed on Westerdam both times, but let me just say that HAL gets almost everything right. She is in great shape for a 7-year old ship. I love the layout. Very user friendly and IMO the PERFECT size for a cruise ship. The vessel was completely full with about 90 kids.
Let's face it, HAL has an older crowd particularly this time of year. There were many times during the week where we would be at a bar or somewhere else on board where we were the youngest people in the room by a good margin.
To that I say: So what! I happen to love being around older people so this was not an issue for me. My only wish is that some of the men would leave the Speedos at home! How anyone could think that is a "good look" is beyond me whether you are 20 or 70.
DINING
We ate all but one dinner in the Vista. The one dinner we didn't was at 7West in Aruba. I wouldn't recommend it. The staff is friendly, but we ordered nachos as an appetizer an were given Nacho Cheese Doritos with some sort of "cheese spread" on top. I plan on emailing the restaurant a recipe for proper nachos.
The dining room staff is TREMENDOUS in every way. Attentive without being obtrusive. The food was excellent all week long. Never had a bad meal. HAL gets everything right in this dept. Plenty of choices and the line absolutely NAILS their desserts.
We ate at the Pinnacle for lunch twice. For 10 bucks a head it is a STEAL and another good way to avoid the Lido which is something of a priority for us. The commotion just takes away the enjoyment of the meal for me.
We did eat one breakfast up there (off-peak) and it was good.
We ate most of our breakfasts using room service. HAL has the best in room dining of any of the lines we have been on. It was on time and only slightly wrong just once.
We had tea time twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another of HAL's nice touches.
ENTERTAINMENT
I really liked Drew Murdock the CD. Just a delightful guy who is very funny and though we never talked to him, he seemed very approachable.
The shows were pretty good all week. We went six of the seven nights. Elliott Maxx put on a great comedy show. There was also British born Brett Cave put on another great show one of the nights.
Now, to the REAL fun: Tim Kelly in the piano bar. Tim is simply AWESOME at what he does especially considering he's just in his 4th week on a cruise ship. Tim had an off Broadway show in NYC for years and is now retired from the music business and has decided he's going to spend his winters entertaining cruise ship passengers.
We didn't discover this little slice of heaven until the third night but we went every single night after that. Tim's got an interesting story before he was an entertainer. Dude went to Vietnam and was involved in "Black Ops" while in the Army. He shared this little nugget as he was talking to a kid who is now stationed in Afghanistan and who was there with his fiance while on leave.
At least a couple of nights with Tim is a must do in my opinion. He usually plays 9 p.m. to midnight but sometimes goes a little over if there is a good crowd.
Overall I was satisfied with the entertainment. It wasn't quite as good as our 2009 cruise when we hit the jackpot with both Joel Mason and Julie Barr on the same week, but it was still pretty stinkin good.
PORTS OF CALL
HALF MOON CAY: Utterly flawless. Again, HAL nails it. I loved the beach, the clamshells, the food, everything. People have complained about the pirate ship bar but I thought it was pretty cool. Plus, if you don't want to drink in a bar they have roving servers who will get you whatever you want. If you bought a pre-paid drink card a word of caution: you cannot use them on HMC. The weather was gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky and about 80 degrees. We did a snorkeling excursion and while cold in the morning, it was still nice.
ARUBA: This is a port we will definitely visit again, but not because we loved it (we did) but because we didn't get to see much of the island. We were late to port because of a Princess ship that couldn't be bothered to leave on time. We booked the De Palm Island trip at $79 pp.
This is where it got a bit dicey. There was an announcement made before we got off the ship that even though we were late, none of the cruise line booked excursions would be affected.
Turns out that was not the case. Because we were late, and because we sat on a bus for 40 minutes waiting for some HAL staffers from photo and entertainment who also couldn't be bothered to show up on time, we were shorted about 1.5 hours of our excursion.
As soon as we returned I went to the front desk and complained about it. HAL really stepped up to the plate and gave us 50 percent off the trip which satisfied me even though I was very very annoyed that we were late in part b/c of HAL staff. They're in Aruba every other week. We get one day. It was simply not fair.
De Palm Island is a cool place and some of the best snorkeling I have ever seen right off the beach.
Despite all of this, we liked Aruba and will go back. There is plenty of shopping near the pier and marijuana if you want it. I was offered some once by a shady looking character while a cop was standing across the street. A total set up. Bottom line, don't buy drugs in a foreign country even pot.
CURACAO: Another bust. We rented a car from Avis and I STRONGLY discourage this. We visited with Julia the travel guide after one of her talks on board. We had originally booked our car out of the Mega Pier but she told us to stop by the Howard Johnson Avis branch to see if we could get a car from that location since it was much closer. She said other guests had good luck doing that.
We arrived at the HoJo to find out the Avis desk was not staffed. We asked the hotel staff (who were very friendly) and they called the Avis rep. We were told to just go ahead and stay there and someone would be there momentarily.
An hour later we were still waiting. We would have happily walked the rest of the way to the MP but they told us to stay. Long story short this little mistake/comedy of errors which is at least partly our fault, ate up an 1.5 hours of our port time and the staffer at the HoJo, a German woman who clearly had no time for Americans, was extremely rude while being as friendly as she could be to the European customers who were also there renting cars.
We finally got our car and proceeded to "tour" the island. When I say tour I mean drive around because all of the street signs were in Dutch and the island is somewhat difficult to navigate for the uninitiated. The signs to the attractions are in English, but we followed the signs to the Maritime Museum that led us down an alley. Many of the buildings are not clearly marked and with heavy traffic, it can be very hectic.
We finally worked our way to the aquarium and Mambo beach. The aquarium was "okay". Nothing special and a little heart breaking. The sea lions and dolphins are kept in tiny pens.
There is a universal truth about wild animals in captivity: They would rather be wild.
We watched the sea lion show during which the sea lion decided he had enough and wouldn't cooperate so they put him back in the pen and ended the show early. I don't know how they got their dolphins and sea lions, but my guess is they were trapped and taken from their pods and colonies which is something I find offensive.
Mambo Beach was also a big disappointment. It's not really a beach. It's a series of seawater pools separated from the ocean by breakers. It caters to an almost exclusively European crowd so if you like 50-70 year old men in thongs and Speedos this is heaven. One woman completely disrobed in front of me in full view of everyone. We ate at Hemingways and found the staff to be not really all that friendly but the food was okay, if not overpriced as is to be expected in a tourist trap.
I really hated Curacao for obvious reasons and will never go back. I just don't understand the appeal, especially with so many other places to choose from in the region.
And oh yeah, the car we got from Avis broke down in the parking lot at the aquarium and we were lucky to get it back to the HoJo. We did not fill it up with gas because I was afraid to turn the POS off. I was worried we wouldn't get it started again. Their customer service was not exactly sterling and I was worried we wouldn't make the ship.
Our German friend at Avis was not happy about this and attempted to quibble with me about it. Let's just say there was an exchange and her opinion of Americans didn't improve that day.
DISEMBARKATION
Smooth as silk. Enough said.
OVERALL
We love HAL. Just a tremendous operation from what we can tell. The staff is SO friendly and they seem to actually enjoy helping passengers enjoy their cruise. A special shout out to Mark one of the bar guys in the piano bar who is just a great kid trying to make a living and clearly enjoys his job bopping his head along with the music and cutting up with guests. I really enjoyed visiting with him each night. I really looked forward to it every day.
PRE-CRUISE
Did two nights at the Courtyard in Dania Beach which is an easy drive from FLL and Port Everglades. This is a nice hotel with a friendly staff. Rooms are clean. As I understand it the hotel recently underwent a renovation and is sparkling.
They offer a shuttle to the cruise terminal, but since we had a rental car we just took it back to FLL on the morning of embarkation and took a cab from FLL to the pier.
On Thursday we took a day trip out to the Everglades to the Billie Swamp Safari. It's an easy and interesting drive (for us Okies) out into the Everglades.
Billie Swamp Safari sits on about 2,000 acres and is gorgeous. Packed with wildlife in what approximates their natural setting. This is not really a zoo, which is something I liked.
We did an air boat ride and the swamp buggy tour which were both wonderful. Saw lots of gators, turtles, water buffalo and ostriches and even a friendly raccoon who followed our air boat around.
That night we went to Lips which is a drag show cabaret thing. That was a highlight. Loads of fun. It was Dinner with the Divas night so we had a Cher, Reba McIntyre and other impersonators. If you are not offended by this sort of thing (we're not) I'd recommend it highly even if it is a little pricey.
EMBARKATION
Not as smooth as we would have liked, but considering we arrived at peak time it wasn't bad. We were on the ship within 45 min to an hour from the time we were dropped off. Plus they had yummy cookies and lemonade to snack on while you waited for your group number to be called.
Being returning cruisers on HAL we went to lunch in the dining room which I recommend. It was a good way to avoid the Lido horror show on embarkation day.
THE SHIP
We don't have anything to compare it to since we have sailed on Westerdam both times, but let me just say that HAL gets almost everything right. She is in great shape for a 7-year old ship. I love the layout. Very user friendly and IMO the PERFECT size for a cruise ship. The vessel was completely full with about 90 kids.
Let's face it, HAL has an older crowd particularly this time of year. There were many times during the week where we would be at a bar or somewhere else on board where we were the youngest people in the room by a good margin.
To that I say: So what! I happen to love being around older people so this was not an issue for me. My only wish is that some of the men would leave the Speedos at home! How anyone could think that is a "good look" is beyond me whether you are 20 or 70.
DINING
We ate all but one dinner in the Vista. The one dinner we didn't was at 7West in Aruba. I wouldn't recommend it. The staff is friendly, but we ordered nachos as an appetizer an were given Nacho Cheese Doritos with some sort of "cheese spread" on top. I plan on emailing the restaurant a recipe for proper nachos.
The dining room staff is TREMENDOUS in every way. Attentive without being obtrusive. The food was excellent all week long. Never had a bad meal. HAL gets everything right in this dept. Plenty of choices and the line absolutely NAILS their desserts.
We ate at the Pinnacle for lunch twice. For 10 bucks a head it is a STEAL and another good way to avoid the Lido which is something of a priority for us. The commotion just takes away the enjoyment of the meal for me.
We did eat one breakfast up there (off-peak) and it was good.
We ate most of our breakfasts using room service. HAL has the best in room dining of any of the lines we have been on. It was on time and only slightly wrong just once.
We had tea time twice and thoroughly enjoyed it. Another of HAL's nice touches.
ENTERTAINMENT
I really liked Drew Murdock the CD. Just a delightful guy who is very funny and though we never talked to him, he seemed very approachable.
The shows were pretty good all week. We went six of the seven nights. Elliott Maxx put on a great comedy show. There was also British born Brett Cave put on another great show one of the nights.
Now, to the REAL fun: Tim Kelly in the piano bar. Tim is simply AWESOME at what he does especially considering he's just in his 4th week on a cruise ship. Tim had an off Broadway show in NYC for years and is now retired from the music business and has decided he's going to spend his winters entertaining cruise ship passengers.
We didn't discover this little slice of heaven until the third night but we went every single night after that. Tim's got an interesting story before he was an entertainer. Dude went to Vietnam and was involved in "Black Ops" while in the Army. He shared this little nugget as he was talking to a kid who is now stationed in Afghanistan and who was there with his fiance while on leave.
At least a couple of nights with Tim is a must do in my opinion. He usually plays 9 p.m. to midnight but sometimes goes a little over if there is a good crowd.
Overall I was satisfied with the entertainment. It wasn't quite as good as our 2009 cruise when we hit the jackpot with both Joel Mason and Julie Barr on the same week, but it was still pretty stinkin good.
PORTS OF CALL
HALF MOON CAY: Utterly flawless. Again, HAL nails it. I loved the beach, the clamshells, the food, everything. People have complained about the pirate ship bar but I thought it was pretty cool. Plus, if you don't want to drink in a bar they have roving servers who will get you whatever you want. If you bought a pre-paid drink card a word of caution: you cannot use them on HMC. The weather was gorgeous. Not a cloud in the sky and about 80 degrees. We did a snorkeling excursion and while cold in the morning, it was still nice.
ARUBA: This is a port we will definitely visit again, but not because we loved it (we did) but because we didn't get to see much of the island. We were late to port because of a Princess ship that couldn't be bothered to leave on time. We booked the De Palm Island trip at $79 pp.
This is where it got a bit dicey. There was an announcement made before we got off the ship that even though we were late, none of the cruise line booked excursions would be affected.
Turns out that was not the case. Because we were late, and because we sat on a bus for 40 minutes waiting for some HAL staffers from photo and entertainment who also couldn't be bothered to show up on time, we were shorted about 1.5 hours of our excursion.
As soon as we returned I went to the front desk and complained about it. HAL really stepped up to the plate and gave us 50 percent off the trip which satisfied me even though I was very very annoyed that we were late in part b/c of HAL staff. They're in Aruba every other week. We get one day. It was simply not fair.
De Palm Island is a cool place and some of the best snorkeling I have ever seen right off the beach.
Despite all of this, we liked Aruba and will go back. There is plenty of shopping near the pier and marijuana if you want it. I was offered some once by a shady looking character while a cop was standing across the street. A total set up. Bottom line, don't buy drugs in a foreign country even pot.
CURACAO: Another bust. We rented a car from Avis and I STRONGLY discourage this. We visited with Julia the travel guide after one of her talks on board. We had originally booked our car out of the Mega Pier but she told us to stop by the Howard Johnson Avis branch to see if we could get a car from that location since it was much closer. She said other guests had good luck doing that.
We arrived at the HoJo to find out the Avis desk was not staffed. We asked the hotel staff (who were very friendly) and they called the Avis rep. We were told to just go ahead and stay there and someone would be there momentarily.
An hour later we were still waiting. We would have happily walked the rest of the way to the MP but they told us to stay. Long story short this little mistake/comedy of errors which is at least partly our fault, ate up an 1.5 hours of our port time and the staffer at the HoJo, a German woman who clearly had no time for Americans, was extremely rude while being as friendly as she could be to the European customers who were also there renting cars.
We finally got our car and proceeded to "tour" the island. When I say tour I mean drive around because all of the street signs were in Dutch and the island is somewhat difficult to navigate for the uninitiated. The signs to the attractions are in English, but we followed the signs to the Maritime Museum that led us down an alley. Many of the buildings are not clearly marked and with heavy traffic, it can be very hectic.
We finally worked our way to the aquarium and Mambo beach. The aquarium was "okay". Nothing special and a little heart breaking. The sea lions and dolphins are kept in tiny pens.
There is a universal truth about wild animals in captivity: They would rather be wild.
We watched the sea lion show during which the sea lion decided he had enough and wouldn't cooperate so they put him back in the pen and ended the show early. I don't know how they got their dolphins and sea lions, but my guess is they were trapped and taken from their pods and colonies which is something I find offensive.
Mambo Beach was also a big disappointment. It's not really a beach. It's a series of seawater pools separated from the ocean by breakers. It caters to an almost exclusively European crowd so if you like 50-70 year old men in thongs and Speedos this is heaven. One woman completely disrobed in front of me in full view of everyone. We ate at Hemingways and found the staff to be not really all that friendly but the food was okay, if not overpriced as is to be expected in a tourist trap.
I really hated Curacao for obvious reasons and will never go back. I just don't understand the appeal, especially with so many other places to choose from in the region.
And oh yeah, the car we got from Avis broke down in the parking lot at the aquarium and we were lucky to get it back to the HoJo. We did not fill it up with gas because I was afraid to turn the POS off. I was worried we wouldn't get it started again. Their customer service was not exactly sterling and I was worried we wouldn't make the ship.
Our German friend at Avis was not happy about this and attempted to quibble with me about it. Let's just say there was an exchange and her opinion of Americans didn't improve that day.
DISEMBARKATION
Smooth as silk. Enough said.
OVERALL
We love HAL. Just a tremendous operation from what we can tell. The staff is SO friendly and they seem to actually enjoy helping passengers enjoy their cruise. A special shout out to Mark one of the bar guys in the piano bar who is just a great kid trying to make a living and clearly enjoys his job bopping his head along with the music and cutting up with guests. I really enjoyed visiting with him each night. I really looked forward to it every day.