Lurker1
April 10th, 2006, 05:15 PM
This was our third cruise, and second on a HAL ship. Here is the short summary. We had a great time! The Oosterdam is beautiful, and it is very well-run with a very friendly staff. The weather was great and the seas were usually calm, I think we had a few hours of moderately rough water but that did not affect us. Our excursions went well. Only one thing to grumble about in the entire week (discussed below), but that didn’t affect our overall assessment. Now for some details.
We flew to San Diego on the 29th, and stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the cruise terminal. We’d never been in San Diego before, so we had fun exploring the city for 2 ½ days. Saturday morning we woke up in time to see the ship dock.
Embarkation: A Carnival ship also came into port that morning. We watched the line to embark both ships start to form around 9:30 AM. We rolled our luggage across the street about 11:15. We gave our checked baggage to someone collecting them while we were in line. (Yes, they got to our cabins!). The only glitch was once we were on the pier, we were stuck in a non-moving Carnival line. Another fellow and I left the DW’s with the luggage, and discovered the check-in point for the Oosterdam. Once we got into that line, it was very efficient. Someone checked our documents, then we got our room cards. The cards had name, table setting and life-boat number. They took our pictures which were not put on the cards, but were in the computer and would appear whenever security scanned our cards. The whole process from the time we found check-in point to sitting in the Lido was about 30 minute. The cabins were ready at 1:30.
Cabins: We had a VD level verandah on Deck 4 aft (upper promenade deck). Highlights included those superb mattresses, the floor to ceiling glass doors on the verandah and room enough under the bed to fit our over-sized suitcase. The location was convenient for the Vista Dining Room as we had early seating upper. It was also easy to get to the omelet station in the Lido as well as the Aft pool. The Spa, Vista Lounge and Crow’s Nest were in the fore part of the ship, so that was a bit of a walk. Others have mentioned a tendency for the water from the shower to collect on the tub and spill-over to the floor. Once we learned to cope with this it wasn’t too bad.
Public rooms: Well-laid out. There are pillars in the Vista Lounge as there have been in the theaters on our other cruises, but there was almost always enough room for everybody except for the disembarkation talk. We tended to hang out in the Ocean Bar or Crow’s Nest, and once in the Piano Bar. We never saw much activity in the Explorer’s Lounge. The décor ranges from beautiful to “very interesting”, but art is in the eyes of the beholder. We felt quite comfortable. Although a big ship, we rarely felt crowded.
Dining: We had all our dinners in the Vista. Our dinner mates were quite congenial. Both the food and service were very good. The “new dining” meant that we needed to show-up between 5:30 to 6 for early seating. We noticed that the staff adjusted to the pattern of everyone’s arrival time. We usually were through dining about 7:15, but one night we were having such a good conversation, we got “chimed out” at 7:30! I thought the Lido was the best-laid out of the three ships we’ve been on. We also tried room service for coffee and once for breakfast, and that worked well.
Pools and spa: There were something like 250 children on board, so we used the Aft pool (adults only). We have three grandchildren, so we know what children are like . . . :D Actually, most of the children we saw were very well-behaved for their respective ages. Now the pool depth in the Aft pool is listed as four-foot five on the shallow end, I’m 5 foot 11, yet on my tip-toes the water was to my chin. Oh well. DW opted for the Spa package for the hydro-therapy pool and thermal suite (for both of us). It was wonderful! One day, the temperature was too cool in the hydro-pool. We probably should have complained earlier, but it did get fixed. We used the Spa Sunday through Friday, and on the last day, the Spa manager hugged us both! Now that’s friendly service.
Excursions: We’d never been in Mexico before, so opted for those that would give us an overview and highlight of each port. Those are always a mixed bag no matter where you are, but they worked well. The best part of the Cabo San Lucas trip was seeing “Land’s End”, and then going to another village called, I think Cabo San Jose. In Mazatalan, we saw the Papantla Flyers. This was a wonderful show. It’s an ancient tradition of the Totonac Indians. Five of them ascend a 75 foot tower. One dances while playing a flute on a narrow platform, while the other four using ropes spin their way down the platform holding on with their legs. Then the flute player descends simply climbing down, except when he releases his hands for a photo opt (holding on with his legs.) There was entertainment preceding the Flyers that included several traditional dances. This show was the highlight of our shore excursions. I think I expected a bit more from Puerto Vallarta, but is was quite nice. We did notice that the guides wore shirts advertising one of the authorized jewelry stores, and when we were left off for shopping, it was between two branches of the same store. People wearing shorts were allowed into the church (guide book says you wouldn’t be). BTW, in the Golden Zone of Mazatalan, there are better restroom facilities and a “free bar” in the Diamonds International store.
Entertainment: The music in the lounges was all very good, with a nice variety of styles. The shows in the Vista Lounge were for the most part very good. There was one comic on the first night that was OK (don’t remember his name). He was also on the night of the crew show. We didn’t see it, as we went to bed early that night. The crew part of the show was rerun on TV the next two days, so we saw a lot of it that way. It was wonderful. All the other entertainment was very good, including Tyler Lincoln and the crew cast. We saw the White Brothers Beatles Tribute. Understand that DW and I knew ALL the lyrics they sang, and we loved it. Now while some “ancient mariners” did leave during the show, everyone else enjoyed it. I actually saw some people dancing in the aisles.:eek: Yes, on a HAL ship . . . but there were only three of them.:D The White Brothers and Tyler Lincoln did the last night’s show, with the Whites’ ending with a medley of Buddy Holly tunes.
The crew and service: Can’t give enough superlatives. The essence of good service is not absolute perfection in everything as that is humanly impossible. Good service means getting it right most of the time, and efficiently correcting the rest with a warm smile. Our room steward was outstanding. One day I asked him where the hair-dryer was located. He explained it was under the cabinet with the TV. When we later returned to our cabin, the door where the hair-dryer was had been left open (in calm seas). I believe this attitude starts at the top, and filters its way down. For example, in the Dining room there was always a head steward (well, someone in a white uniform, I don’t know all the ranks and titles), hovering around. He always asked us how are meals were, and one night I found him refilling my water glass.
We met HM James Deering on a few occasions. Several others have described him in various posts. We would simply say intelligent, congenial, dedicated and with some great stories. DW’s observation is that he is on top of things. We also met Captain Mercer at a cocktail party and heard him speak at the Mariner’s reception. Very down to earth with a good sense of humor. We’ve only been on 3 cruises, but Jimmy Lynett is our favorite CD of the 3. He gave a talk on “life at sea” one day in the Crow’s Nest that was informative and honest.
I think all cruisers have to pause and reflect on how hard the crews on these ships work. We were reminded of this the morning that one of the crew helping us on to the tender was our waiter from the Dining Room.
Now for the “grumble”. :( On the last Sea Day, DW noticed there was a Veterans’ get-together in the Piano Bar (about a half-hour before Jimmy’s talk). So we agreed I stop in, and then later meet her in the Crow’s Nest to listen to the CD. About 15 pax showed up, mostly vets and a few spouses. We causally sub-divided into about 3 groups. I was checking my watch, but wanting to hear the story being told by a retired career navy man whose Grandson was flying a navy jet over Iraq, when we got chased out! Seems there was a beer tasting at the other end of the room, and our chatter was interfering! We’d been scheduled for 1:30, and the beer tasting for 2 PM. I told the young woman who asked us politely to leave (3 times before we listened) that a Veteran’s get together was a great idea, but we needed more than 30 minutes. The fellow finished his story outside the piano bar with slot machines from the casino as background.
And that was the worst thing to happen in a week of cruising . . . Our conclusion is that the O-dam is an outstanding ship with a great crew and we had a great cruise.:D
Lurker1
We flew to San Diego on the 29th, and stayed at the Holiday Inn across from the cruise terminal. We’d never been in San Diego before, so we had fun exploring the city for 2 ½ days. Saturday morning we woke up in time to see the ship dock.
Embarkation: A Carnival ship also came into port that morning. We watched the line to embark both ships start to form around 9:30 AM. We rolled our luggage across the street about 11:15. We gave our checked baggage to someone collecting them while we were in line. (Yes, they got to our cabins!). The only glitch was once we were on the pier, we were stuck in a non-moving Carnival line. Another fellow and I left the DW’s with the luggage, and discovered the check-in point for the Oosterdam. Once we got into that line, it was very efficient. Someone checked our documents, then we got our room cards. The cards had name, table setting and life-boat number. They took our pictures which were not put on the cards, but were in the computer and would appear whenever security scanned our cards. The whole process from the time we found check-in point to sitting in the Lido was about 30 minute. The cabins were ready at 1:30.
Cabins: We had a VD level verandah on Deck 4 aft (upper promenade deck). Highlights included those superb mattresses, the floor to ceiling glass doors on the verandah and room enough under the bed to fit our over-sized suitcase. The location was convenient for the Vista Dining Room as we had early seating upper. It was also easy to get to the omelet station in the Lido as well as the Aft pool. The Spa, Vista Lounge and Crow’s Nest were in the fore part of the ship, so that was a bit of a walk. Others have mentioned a tendency for the water from the shower to collect on the tub and spill-over to the floor. Once we learned to cope with this it wasn’t too bad.
Public rooms: Well-laid out. There are pillars in the Vista Lounge as there have been in the theaters on our other cruises, but there was almost always enough room for everybody except for the disembarkation talk. We tended to hang out in the Ocean Bar or Crow’s Nest, and once in the Piano Bar. We never saw much activity in the Explorer’s Lounge. The décor ranges from beautiful to “very interesting”, but art is in the eyes of the beholder. We felt quite comfortable. Although a big ship, we rarely felt crowded.
Dining: We had all our dinners in the Vista. Our dinner mates were quite congenial. Both the food and service were very good. The “new dining” meant that we needed to show-up between 5:30 to 6 for early seating. We noticed that the staff adjusted to the pattern of everyone’s arrival time. We usually were through dining about 7:15, but one night we were having such a good conversation, we got “chimed out” at 7:30! I thought the Lido was the best-laid out of the three ships we’ve been on. We also tried room service for coffee and once for breakfast, and that worked well.
Pools and spa: There were something like 250 children on board, so we used the Aft pool (adults only). We have three grandchildren, so we know what children are like . . . :D Actually, most of the children we saw were very well-behaved for their respective ages. Now the pool depth in the Aft pool is listed as four-foot five on the shallow end, I’m 5 foot 11, yet on my tip-toes the water was to my chin. Oh well. DW opted for the Spa package for the hydro-therapy pool and thermal suite (for both of us). It was wonderful! One day, the temperature was too cool in the hydro-pool. We probably should have complained earlier, but it did get fixed. We used the Spa Sunday through Friday, and on the last day, the Spa manager hugged us both! Now that’s friendly service.
Excursions: We’d never been in Mexico before, so opted for those that would give us an overview and highlight of each port. Those are always a mixed bag no matter where you are, but they worked well. The best part of the Cabo San Lucas trip was seeing “Land’s End”, and then going to another village called, I think Cabo San Jose. In Mazatalan, we saw the Papantla Flyers. This was a wonderful show. It’s an ancient tradition of the Totonac Indians. Five of them ascend a 75 foot tower. One dances while playing a flute on a narrow platform, while the other four using ropes spin their way down the platform holding on with their legs. Then the flute player descends simply climbing down, except when he releases his hands for a photo opt (holding on with his legs.) There was entertainment preceding the Flyers that included several traditional dances. This show was the highlight of our shore excursions. I think I expected a bit more from Puerto Vallarta, but is was quite nice. We did notice that the guides wore shirts advertising one of the authorized jewelry stores, and when we were left off for shopping, it was between two branches of the same store. People wearing shorts were allowed into the church (guide book says you wouldn’t be). BTW, in the Golden Zone of Mazatalan, there are better restroom facilities and a “free bar” in the Diamonds International store.
Entertainment: The music in the lounges was all very good, with a nice variety of styles. The shows in the Vista Lounge were for the most part very good. There was one comic on the first night that was OK (don’t remember his name). He was also on the night of the crew show. We didn’t see it, as we went to bed early that night. The crew part of the show was rerun on TV the next two days, so we saw a lot of it that way. It was wonderful. All the other entertainment was very good, including Tyler Lincoln and the crew cast. We saw the White Brothers Beatles Tribute. Understand that DW and I knew ALL the lyrics they sang, and we loved it. Now while some “ancient mariners” did leave during the show, everyone else enjoyed it. I actually saw some people dancing in the aisles.:eek: Yes, on a HAL ship . . . but there were only three of them.:D The White Brothers and Tyler Lincoln did the last night’s show, with the Whites’ ending with a medley of Buddy Holly tunes.
The crew and service: Can’t give enough superlatives. The essence of good service is not absolute perfection in everything as that is humanly impossible. Good service means getting it right most of the time, and efficiently correcting the rest with a warm smile. Our room steward was outstanding. One day I asked him where the hair-dryer was located. He explained it was under the cabinet with the TV. When we later returned to our cabin, the door where the hair-dryer was had been left open (in calm seas). I believe this attitude starts at the top, and filters its way down. For example, in the Dining room there was always a head steward (well, someone in a white uniform, I don’t know all the ranks and titles), hovering around. He always asked us how are meals were, and one night I found him refilling my water glass.
We met HM James Deering on a few occasions. Several others have described him in various posts. We would simply say intelligent, congenial, dedicated and with some great stories. DW’s observation is that he is on top of things. We also met Captain Mercer at a cocktail party and heard him speak at the Mariner’s reception. Very down to earth with a good sense of humor. We’ve only been on 3 cruises, but Jimmy Lynett is our favorite CD of the 3. He gave a talk on “life at sea” one day in the Crow’s Nest that was informative and honest.
I think all cruisers have to pause and reflect on how hard the crews on these ships work. We were reminded of this the morning that one of the crew helping us on to the tender was our waiter from the Dining Room.
Now for the “grumble”. :( On the last Sea Day, DW noticed there was a Veterans’ get-together in the Piano Bar (about a half-hour before Jimmy’s talk). So we agreed I stop in, and then later meet her in the Crow’s Nest to listen to the CD. About 15 pax showed up, mostly vets and a few spouses. We causally sub-divided into about 3 groups. I was checking my watch, but wanting to hear the story being told by a retired career navy man whose Grandson was flying a navy jet over Iraq, when we got chased out! Seems there was a beer tasting at the other end of the room, and our chatter was interfering! We’d been scheduled for 1:30, and the beer tasting for 2 PM. I told the young woman who asked us politely to leave (3 times before we listened) that a Veteran’s get together was a great idea, but we needed more than 30 minutes. The fellow finished his story outside the piano bar with slot machines from the casino as background.
And that was the worst thing to happen in a week of cruising . . . Our conclusion is that the O-dam is an outstanding ship with a great crew and we had a great cruise.:D
Lurker1