First Time HAL - Oosterdam Review

[CocoKai]

Thank you to everyone with their great information on this board. The best suggestion was the rolling ice chest and a stop at the Wine Bank in San Diego prior to embarking. We also did the Coffee Card which was a great value and the wine card which was an even greater value as our wine steward never punched it or charged us corking fees. No names will be mentioned :). HAL does a fantastic job of getting people on and off. Both ways it was 15 minutes from curb to ship. The overall appearance and maintenance of the ship is great. They do seem to take great pride in their multi-million dollar investment. The Carnival Pride in PV looked like the Barnacle Barge in comparison. My dh and I are 49 and 43. We left our 2 children, 12 and 10, at home for this journey. I have NEVER felt younger in my life! I counted 5 children and 4 teens on the ship. I woud say the average was 70+. Living in CA, I sometimes forget that people still smoke. I'm happy to report to Phillip Morris that smoking is alive and well. I don't know if it's the older passenger base that draws out the smokers but it was really nasty. I feel sorry for the crew who will die early from second hand smoke. We took a SY GTY and were upgraded to a SS. Our room was in a great location. The food on HAL was wonderful. We have lived in the Far East for a combined total of about 4 years and I loved the use of ethnic and spicy in their menu. The Lido was awful but I think all Lido's are awful. Pushing a cafeteria tray for quantity, not quality, is not a good dining experience. We ate at the Pinnacle Grill twice. Not sure why HAL uses the European servers in the PG. Compared to the dining room staff, they stunk...aloof, yet always in your face. The PG was only about the meat and the nice ambiance. Was the meat worth $30 a head with so-so service? Absolutely!! Don't even bother with the sides...just use your stomach space for the meat. We were assigned early dining but changed to late. Since early was in high demand, we got a great table for 2 at a window. I thought the Cruise Directors were horrible...boring, said the same 5 jokes over and over, almost unbearable. I love to play Bingo but one session was all I could handle. Hearing the same jokes on B9, B4, O75, etc....I was ready for a sharp stick in the eye. The Cruise Directors on Princess play on an entirely different field than the stooges on the O. We did the thermal suite/hydro pool thing. We weren't sure if it was worth it the first 2 times as it was always crowded. I guess the novelty wore off as we spent every port sail-away on the thermal chairs watching the sunset. I don't know if there was a better place to be in the world at that point! The front desk lady at the spa was crabby. She did not emit the warm, relaxing spa vibe. Towels were in short supply at times and overall towel pick-up needed help. I've logged lots of time in Mexico. I hear so many people say they don't like Cabo. I love Cabo. For me, what is bad about sitting on Playa Medano with a cold beer in your hand, chips and guacemole, people watching and taking a dip in the lovely ocean now and then? Mazatlan...this was it's last chance. I feel you really can't get a sense of a place until you walk the streets...see it, smell it, hear the noises. We did 13 miles on foot from the Golden Zone to the Marina on the other side, back to the GZ, down the malecon, through old town and the cathedral, out to the ship. My opinion still stands...there must be another port cruise ships can stop. PV is great. We had just done 2 weeks in PV so our day consisted of the best massage I've ever had in my life at the Krystal to a wonderful lunch at Daquari Dicks.
Overal Summation: We had a great time. Food and the Culinary Demonstration was the highlight, along with our Room Steward and Server. I would not sail on HAL again though. Many of those old people were mean, rude and complained incesssantly. I'm on vacation to relax and unwind and they were "harshing my mellow." Yes, I know that's a generalization but we're talking 90% of the ship. The smoke was a huge neg as well. I missed seeing kids and a cross of generations. If HAL wants to stay afloat, they need to seriously start attracting a younger client. I inquired about their Alaskan itinerary and they do not even have a ship that can accomodate a quad in a suite or balconey. I got the impression that not having kids on board was fine with them. Looking at their demographics, HAL has about 5-10 more years of loyal mariners left. Hope they have a business plan past that point.

[middle-aged mom]

Hi, Cocokai:

You're review was very funny, and I enjoyed it, although I don't agree with all your conclusions, but that's OK:) I know you can get to Alaska on HAL with a quad balcony cabin, because I'll be in one in June on the Noordam, so that was a piece of erroneous information that was given to you. Find a TA who knows what he/she is doing. The Alaska passengers are a much more mellow mix, I assure you. They're on the cruise to experience the beautiful outdoors, and many of them travel in multi-generational family groups. I've only done two HAL cruises: a 7-day Alaska last August, and a 14-day holiday Caribbean this past Christmas/New Year's, but we had plenty of young faces on both cruises. I don't care for the Spa staff either; they don't work for HAL, they work for Steiner, and it shows.

Welcome Home!

[newmexicoNita]

Thanks for your review. Yes, the demographics is a little different than many lines, but as much as some think they need to attract a younger group to keep sailing (pardon the pun) remember those under 40 or 50 today will be 60 plus in another decade and may want just what HAL offers. I happen to be a senior that prefers a little more excitement, not all do. as for the smoke, this does surprise me. On the Amsterdam there were few areas where smoking was allowed. I don't think I heard anyone complain about it except for a few in the casino. NMnita

[Bellalu]

Thanks for the review. We are sailing on the O this Saturday 3/10, and you mentioned a couple of things that I was concerned about. The first is smoking. I don't know if it is just that we live and work in smoke free environments here, but it is VERY unusual for us to encounter a smoking person. We really dislike cigarette smoke! We know and accept that there will be areas of this, but I was dismayed to hear that it was pervasive. Also, just this weekend my husband and I were commenting on how often recently we have encountered older people complaining and complaining, ad nauseum about every small inconvenience. My mom is a malcontent also and I gotta tell ya, it really is a downer listening to that "dripping faucet!" It’s so much more pleasant meeting people with a positive outlook.
That being said I have decided to wear a game face and sport a positive attitude that your experiences in these areas were the exception and not the norm. Guess we'll see!

[crystal808]

I've been on 4 HAL/Vista cruises, and have never heard anyone complaining. Ever. No doubt, it will depend upon your cruisemates...hope you're as lucky as I've been! :D

Paul

[Lifinfastlane]

I'm in my twenties and my boyfriend is in his forties so I hope we aren't with a lot of people in their seventies. I love old people as long as they aren't crabby but if they're like my grandparents most of the ship will be in bed by 9pm:(

[noblepa]

With all due respect to the OP, please use the <RETURN> key once in a while to start a new paragraph. :) Its much easier to read.

HAL's demographics do skew a little older than some lines, but when school is in session, there will be far fewer kids on any ship, compared to the summer or spring break. This also tends to keep parents of young kids at home as well, which leaves the retiree set, who have the time and money to cruise at that time of year.

We were on the Oosterdam last April. The only place I *ever* noticed any smoke at all was in the casino, and that wasn't as bad as it could have been. My DW and I mostly stick to the slots (yeah, I know; we're suckers) and whenever there was any smoke, we could usually move to another machine and get away from it. I've heard that they're experimenting with no smoking in the casino, at least on Noordam.

No where else on the ship did I ever notice any smoke, even in the bars, many of which do allow smoking.

Just as an aside, we did the Carnival Paradise during its non-smoking period. It was great! I was sorry to see them discontinue that.

We were not overly impressed with the PG. You're right, the food is better than the service. One night in the dining room, I had a filet mignon that I would have thought was the best I ever had, except that two nights before, I had had one even better in the PG. It was enormous! For a filet, that is. It must have been over two inches thick and very large. Even as large as it was, it was unbelieveable. That said, I just reserved a dinner in the PG on our upcoming Zuiderdam cruise (33 days, yippee!).

I agree that the Lido can be a bit of a zoo at times. I also agree that all Lido's are like that, at least in my experience.

[INSIDERS CABIN]

We just returned from Oosterdam--wow--hope my review gets posted because we had a wonderful time. Didn't encounter smoke. Mean old rude people can be found everywhere,....we even happened upon some in their teens who are only in training to be MORPs! Last morning on board in Lido a MORP went nuts SCREAMing at 3 stewards to get her coffee ... The stewards had to stand there smiling and helping her. I was aghast and shaken. How do these people function in the real world i.e. in hometown.

[middle-aged mom]

We just returned from Oosterdam--wow--hope my review gets posted because we had a wonderful time. Didn't encounter smoke. Mean old rude people can be found everywhere,....we even happened upon some in their teens who are only in training to be MORPs! Last morning on board in Lido a MORP went nuts SCREAMing at 3 stewards to get her coffee ... The stewards had to stand there smiling and helping her. I was aghast and shaken. How do these people function in the real world i.e. in hometown.


MORP, I love it!:p I have just added a marvelous word to my vocabulary, thank you! My daughters already consider me a MOM (mean old mom), so I now have something new to strive for......;)

Karin

[hammybee]

How funny is this. Here was a cruise full of MORPS, smoking MORPS no less, while the Noordam returned to NYC with 400 kids, of which 6% or their parents may have needed a swat on the ole fanny. And some on that cruise never ever want to sail with kids again.

The dynamics change cruise to cruise,intinerary to intinerary. If you reconsider and choose to sail with HAL in ALaska in July, you will see a completely different side of HAL with an average age of 35, given the number of kids onboard.

[Robinsilver]

I am not sure if we were on the same cruise, but some of our opinions are similar. We just returned on 3/3. We did have a great time, and enjoyed our first HAL experience. Being from NY, we also live in a non-smoking environment, but as far as I recall all 13 other cruises that we were on had more people smoking than this ship had. I know that the middle of the country has a lot more smokers in it.
I agree with many of the things you said; the average age of passengers was probably only in their 60's, but as you get closer to that age, you can assess it more accurately. We are in our 50's (ouch). I did not find people complaining any more than on other ships, although we normally cruise President's Week in the Carribean, when there are lots of New Yorkers who love to complain. I agree with you about a number of things. I also was disappointed in the Lido, especially because others raved about it. The woman who covered the desk at the Spa was awful, although I took advantage of numerous services there and was very pleased. I enjoyed the thalasotherapy pool, although it is free on Celebrity, and the heated loungers. The last 2 days the sauna was cold, but the steam room was fine. We never had a problem with overcrowding when we were there. I also agree with you on the servers in the PG. We didn't love them either. We took an SC guarantee. It is not an upgrade to get an SA, which is what we had, but that is what you may get when you book the guarantee (a great bargain I might add). We were able to have breakfast in the PG as well. The first time we went the service was terrible. I went on the last day though and it was great.
I better start a new paragraph before a CC poster complains. The thing with ports is that everyone has a different opinion of them because we all like different things. This was our first time in these ports. We had private drivers arranged through Mazatlan Frank, and enjoyed seeing the surrounding areas of both Mazatlan and PV, learning about the lives of the people, and seeing much of the countryside. I assume that you have either seen this or have no desire to, but we enjoyed our days.
I will admit that the night life was not great. The shows were not the best I have seen, but some of the performers in the various lounges were enjoyable. It might not have been the type of thing that you were looking for if you wanted more of a party ship, but that is precisely the reason for different lines. As a previous poster mentioned, the population keeps aging, although I am sure that the OP feels that she will not get any older. I now enjoy something that I probably would not have liked on my first cruise 14 years ago. To each his own.

[cruznon]

Hi Bill and Meryl!
MORP, huh??? Funny... Sorry I missed seeing you guys before we left the ship. Wasn't it a great week???
I didn't see things mentioned in this review when we sailed two weeks ago. Smoke only in casino--spent little time there. I really didn't notice any MORPS. We were surrounded by so many terrific folks.
Of course it's a big ship....

[Sale Away]

LOL! Gotta love it. Well, that's it then. I'll have to do a MORP and KRAM (Kids Running Amok Mindlessly) count on my sailing! :p

[Bill S]

We were on the same cruise with RobinSilver (2/24-3/3) and have a few comments and observations.

We thought this was one our best cruise experiences on HAL for a bunch of reasons, but to be responsive to OP's comments, we are non-smokers and the only place we noticed smoke was in the casino-it was thick with smoke there. As we only passed through and did not play, the smoke was not a big deal for us.

Although we did not use the spa, we heard the HM tell another cruiser that the "spa lady" was being replaced due to repeated complaints. That told us that legitimate complaints do get attention, and at least in this instance, some corrective action.

I guess we ran with a different crowd, as we heard very few complaints from others. Most people we met had generally a lot of positives to say about their Oosterdam experience on this cruise. Our only "complaint" was the lack of a decent sized dance venue but that did not really impact our overall experience.

We had a great time, especially with other CC members and our Cruise Critics trivia team took home a lot of "cheap ship stuff"!

I can only report our cruise experience --- every passenger has their own experience, which can vary widely from all the others.

[Schplinky]

I'm surprised by the smoking comment. We tried HAL on Westerdam in January and while we decided HAL was a little too low-key for us, one thing we liked was the relative lack of smoke outside of the casino.

We had our own run-ins with a spa lady on Westerdam so maybe they're trained to be this brutish.

[INSIDERS CABIN]

Hello my friends Cruznon!!

I really thought it was one of the best cruises, beginning with Peggy's beautifull CC banner! We also met lovely people, so many kind, thoughtful, friendly, cheerful people, (especially CC people). I forgot to mention-re the final morning lido incident-the stewards are so very well trained, that even when I shook my head and said I am so sorry (about the Morp-ish behavior), that the stewards didn't even flicker or acknowledge the out of control behavior of the woman passenger. They merely kept their expressions, smiled and asked what I would like. What discipline and attention to customer service.
Do you think my husband is right-that I was long overdue for a cruise?

[herb]

We've also sailed the Oosterdam and we didn't find the smoking to be as big a problem as on some other cruises we've been on.

The only place it was very noticeable, other than the casino, was in the indoor pool area when the roof was closed. There is a bar in that area where they allow smoking, so the pool area really did stink like chlorine and smoke.

On our cruise we didn't encounter too many MORPS. Occasionally at the Lido Buffet a MORP would complain about the line, or having to wait for a table to be cleared, but for the most part the crowd on the Oosterdam was pleasant.

[kbert92069]

I just got back from the Oosterdam and will throw out my observations too.

Honestly I was surprised that the crowd appeared to me to be younger than reported elsewhere. Perhaps the early dinner seating has the older folks and I wasn't there or perhaps older people are slower so you see them comming and going and count them twice. There were plenty of 30 and 40 somethings however most seemed in the + or - 60 to me.

I had great service in the dining room which was half deserted for the late seating. Didn't go to the PG. I Was never disappointed in the Lido but then that's because I didn't expect it to be fine dining. Room service food was good, warm and on time which is all I hoped for.

I thought the entertainment was the best I'd seen on a cruise so far.

I met lot's of great people and had lot's of good conversation.

The HAL tour to Copala out of Mazatlan was great.

For a large ship I was delighted at how I never hit a crowd of people. I always had room to sit and lines where short. The winding corridors and nooks and crannies seemed to keep people spread out and I liked that. Having more square footage per passenger than other lines was very obvious and I appreciated that.

Don't get me wrong....the cruise wasn't perfect but then nothing involving lot's of people is.

My complaints:

I, too, am sensitive to smoking and there was more than I liked. Not so much quantity as undisciplined locations. I would like there to be more explicitly defined places designated so that I can specifically avoid them.
Smokers tended to be rude and forgetful that they're polluting a whole area and not just their own lungs.

Shorter port times combined with tendering (in PV and Cabo) made for too short stays. I don't think the $25 credit really made up for that.

The thermal suite was nice but too expensive for what it was imho.

I would've liked a good beer on tap as they had on the Alaskan cruise.

The toilet paper was like sandpaper <g>

[CocoKai]

Since I made the statement about smoking, I will address my experience.

(Note paragraph) First of all we had a verandah, we had smokers on both sides and below. We kind of figured out their routine and mitigated the inferno the best we could.

I'm not a gambler but went to the Casino once to throw in a few quarters during non-smoking hours. The woman behind me lit up, her friend told her not to and she said "no one will tell me when or where I can smoke!"

Lido pool with designated smoking area...joke. Crow's Nest with designated area...joke. Smoke does NOT stay in it's little designated area. Everytime we sat on the Aft a smoker would come next to us and to have a smoke and watch the view.

Walk on promenade and you'd always pass through a group of people behind a smoke screen. Avoid after dinner walk on Promenade...smokers like to have a cigarette after eating. I get asthma when I'm around cig smoke....so I'm very aware of it...don't like hacking up a lung.

[SakeDad]

Question for the OP and Robinsilver....when did you find out about your cabin upgrade?? Was it before the trip or when you arrived at the dock?

Thanks for sharing your reviews.

[CocoKai]

Sake: I got my upgrade about 2 weeks out. It magically appeared on our immigration paperwork. The upgrade was a fabulous room location, not class/type of room.

As far as the MORP's go....love that term.....it was the rudeness to the crew, not me, that did me in. As I stated in my review, the highlights were the dining service and stewards. It was impeccable!!!! A+++++ After spending several years in the Far East, if any culture knows service, they do and it was apparent on the O. These people make huge sacrafices to better their life, send money home to their family. leave their children, wifes, etc. in order to serve you.

[wizard-of-roz]

We'll be on the "O", in April and if anyone is "cranky" and smells like smoke...they're overboard!!!!!

Or, by the time they've encountered my big mouth....they'll want to quit smoking or be thrown over.......:eek:

Just kidding!!!!!!!!!

[Robinsilver]

Sakedad, like I said, it was not an upgrade if you booked a guarantee. Whether we had an SA, SB, or SC, it was all the same level of cabin, just different locations on the ship. We knew that we were going to have a Deluxe Verandah Suite, which is the only category besides the owner's suites that had suite ammenities. About 3 weeks or so before sailing our cabin number was posted on the immigration form. We ended up with an excellent cabin, great location, great cabin steward.

Sorry you had that experience with the balcony smokers, that would have annoyed me too. I can never understand when people think that just because they are outside, no one notices their smoking. I hate when people smoke around me when at an outdoor sports stadium.

Hi Bill, hope you got home OK. We had a long flight, but arrived home on schedule. This year our CC friends were a wonderful part of our trip, especially at the trivia games. I agree with the 60 + or - as the age range. This was one of our best cruises, and a line that we will most definitely choose to go on again.