Oosterdam Review 4/15 - 4/22 with Pictures

[illeniumsd]

Just got back from the 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise on the ms Oosterdam and had the greatest time. This was my first cruise and I was overly impressed with the experience. The ship's crew was friendly for the most part, had a few negative experiences with the lido barstaff, and the food was top notch. Our cabin steward was one of the nicest people I have ever met. His name is Deden and he is on deck 6 bow cabins. His personality was very warm and charming and he always knew how to make us smile with his funny little towel creatures. We also met one of the A/V tech's in the Vista Lounge and he was so cool. He sat with my fiancee and I chewed the fat for a good hour. He gave us some cool insight on how the ship works and what goes down behind the scenes. It was really cool to talk shop with someone who was working in the field I studied in college.
Cabo was amazing and we loved everything about it. It would have been nice to spend more time there. I wasn't overly impressed with Mazatlan but we did enjoy the Cathedral in oldtown and eating at the Shrimp Bucket. PV was beautiful. We took the Town, Country and Tequila tour and had a blast!! Afterwards we went to the Blue Shrimp on Linda the port ambassador's recommendation and were apalled at the prices. They wanted $40usd for a swordfish club and $12.50 for a margarita!! We went around the corner and found a beautiful little restraunt called Viejo Vallarta and had a wonderful lunch.
The cruise was absoloutely amazing and cruise director Que Hundermark really did his best to put on a great show and keep us entertained. I can't wait for my next cruise with HAL. I'm already looking into Alaska in Sept.

Here are the pictures from the cruise. Keep checking back as I will be adding to the galleries all week.

Cabo San Lucas Gallery
http://jerodharris.smugmug.com/gallery/1391334

[kakalina]

Thanks for the review,your pictures are great. Hope you tell us more

Trisha

[Boatdrill]

HAL heard from various sources that it was a difficult cruise for the crew. Did you find the passengers to be generally unhappy ? ALL departments took a hit on the comment cards.

[illeniumsd]

To be honest with you, most of the people I talked to on the cruise were pretty unhappy and from what I could gather the majority of the complaints that I heard had to do with extremely poor service from the bar staff and lido staff. I also talked to a few people who had said the food wasn't up to par with past cruises. All in all it seemed like the complaints were more widespread, rather than isolated incidents. Personally my only complaint was the service I received at the bar. Other than that I really enjoyed my time on the cruise.

[shipcafe]

Just got back from the 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise on the ms Oosterdam and had the greatest time. This was my first cruise and I was overly impressed with the experience. The ship's crew was friendly for the most part, had a few negative experiences with the lido barstaff, and the food was top notch. Our cabin steward was one of the nicest people I have ever met. His name is Deden and he is on deck 6 bow cabins. His personality was very warm and charming and he always knew how to make us smile with his funny little towel creatures. We also met one of the A/V tech's in the Vista Lounge and he was so cool. He sat with my fiancee and I chewed the fat for a good hour. He gave us some cool insight on how the ship works and what goes down behind the scenes. It was really cool to talk shop with someone who was working in the field I studied in college.
Cabo was amazing and we loved everything about it. It would have been nice to spend more time there. I wasn't overly impressed with Mazatlan but we did enjoy the Cathedral in oldtown and eating at the Shrimp Bucket. PV was beautiful. We took the Town, Country and Tequila tour and had a blast!! Afterwards we went to the Blue Shrimp on Linda the port ambassador's recommendation and were apalled at the prices. They wanted $40usd for a swordfish club and $12.50 for a margarita!! We went around the corner and found a beautiful little restraunt called Viejo Vallarta and had a wonderful lunch.
The cruise was absoloutely amazing and cruise director Que Hundermark really did his best to put on a great show and keep us entertained. I can't wait for my next cruise with HAL. I'm already looking into Alaska in Sept.

Here are the pictures from the cruise. Keep checking back as I will be adding to the galleries all week.

Cabo San Lucas Gallery
http://jerodharris.smugmug.com/gallery/1391334

What that Jurgen whom you met as the a.v. tech? He's a great guy!

[illeniumsd]

What that Jurgen whom you met as the a.v. tech? He's a great guy!

Unfortunately it wasn't Jurgen. His name is Stuart and he is new to the Oosterdam. He previously worked for Disney Cruise Lines. I had such a good time talking with him about the lighting and automation for the shows. He's from Adelaide and has a thick Aussie accent.

[FlorenceItaly]

HAL heard from various sources that it was a difficult cruise for the crew. Did you find the passengers to be generally unhappy ? ALL departments took a hit on the comment cards.

Was it new crew, what happened? Can you elaborate? I was on the Oosterdam last month, and had absolutely no complaints. The crew was top notch. In fact, this is the first time I have read anything like this on the Oosterdam. I am not doubting it at all, just wondering what the deal is.


Marie

[FlorenceItaly]

Please share more. Your pictures are awesome :). Thanks so much for taking the time to share your cruise with us.



Marie

[Krazy Kruizers]

So glad you enjoyed your first cruise.

Pictures are great.

[Jules1]

We were on this cruise and had a great time - our 14th cruise, first on HAL. I'm surprised to read about unhappy passengers. We didn't talk with anyone who was unhappy. A couple of unusual happenings - when we boarded the ship there was some problem with the generators. Therefore, the elevators weren't working and they didn't open the Lido for lunch until about 1:30 pm. This left many passengers wandering the ship and waiting for lunch. We talked with several passengers who didn't want to take the stairs, so they remained on deck 2. Boarding had started at 11:30 am.

Also, on this sailing there were about 375 passengers under the age of 21 on board. I'm not sure that this sailing was the typical HAL demographic. The dress was much more casual than any cruise we've experienced (yes, there were adults wearing jeans and t-shirts in the dining room)- and they cancelled informal night (we had 2 formal nights and 5 casuals).

Having never sailed HAL before we have nothing to compare the food other than our experiences on other cruiselines. I would say that the dining room food was typical mass market cruise food, perhaps not as good as what we have experienced on Princess. However, we really enjoyed the Lido buffet. We loved the stations and thought that the food in the Lido was better than any buffet we've experienced at sea. The Pinnacle was great.

Regarding service: the dining room staff was good, but not memorable. Our room steward (Handi) was probably the best we've ever had. The Lido staff were attentive and the bar staff we experienced did their jobs. The crew we interacted with were pleasant and willing to serve. As I reflect on our 14 previous cruises, I can only think of 3 dining room teams that I can clearly remember providing us with excellent (memorable) service. Handi is probably the first cabin steward that I would consider memorable (certainly better even than the butler we had on Celebrity).

The shows were hit and miss for us. We didn't enjoy the odd blend of country and rock in the first production show. We did enjoy the second show - "Escape." The Whyte brothers and the comedy juggler were excellent, and the comedian was bad.

The activities were great - Superstar, Trivia, Bingo, various talks (environmental, life on a ship) and the 70s Disco. We remembered Que from a previous Disney cruise and thought that he is doing a nice job on the Oosterdam.

It was obvious that thought and planning had gone into the organization/timing of the activities. For example, having the disembarkation talk (with champagne/mimosas) following Bingo in the Vista Lounge on the last sea day. Great way to get people to attend the disembarkation talk!

We enjoyed meeting and chatting with James Deering several times and also the Captain. We were amazed at how visible they were. All in all it was one of the best cruises we've experienced and we'll definitely be sailing HAL again.

[scopewest]

Beautiful shots of Cabo, looking forward to seeing more of your trip.

[Hollyhawk]

Exceptional photos, thank you so much!