Laffnvegas LIVE From the Westerdam Return To Alaska [Archive]

LAFFNVEGAS

May 31st, 2009, 08:46 AM

Greetings and Good Morning HAL CCers :)

Well not quite LIVE from the Westerdam yet but in about 5 and a half hours we will be at the new pier 91.

It was an early morning with getting up at 3 AM and not having gone to bed till 11 PM but we have gone thru all the TSA stuff and are now at our SW Airline gate in terminal C at McCarren Airport. Our 6:25 flight should be on time because it is an originator and the plane is at the gate. We arrive at 9 AM in Seattle where we will meet up with Middleaged-Mom aka Karin. This will be the 3rd year in a row meeting up with her. The first year we cruised together and it was the Three Muscateers. Sure wish she coud join us this year.

You would think after cruising so freuqently packing could be done in my sleep and well it can be except Alaska tends to give a bit more challenge of what to pack especially when they have been having above normal temps. I ended up packing a bit of everything including my heavy coat which was a last minute decision to stick it in the suit case but we both had light suit cases mine with all the toiletries was only 42 pounds and Tom's was 43. His Tux weighs a lot. The one thing I did differently is I am going to be a bit more casual for Formal night. No, no jeans :D I will still follow the dress code but I brought short cocktail dresses. One is actually a black suit. That saved me a lot in weight. I have found over the years that Alaska has become more and more casual and in all honesty I would not mind if each night in Alaska was Resort Casual. :o

We are looking forward to returning to the Westerdam, we have not cruised on her since March 2005 and to date that particular cruise was the worst.Yes you heard that right while the cruise itself was good the service in all areas was just not good and it had been the 2nd time we had been in an SA suite. So while nothing major went wrong Tom and I both just considered it at the bottom of all our HAL cruises. It just had bad attitude Concierges, Dining Room Wait staff that took 30 minutes between couses after we had eaten, to a cabin steward that many times did not clean our cabin well or extremely late in the afternoon. To witnessing a Captain chew out the GRM assistants in front of many passengers which I thought was in very poor taste. So we are calling this Westerdam's chance to redeem herself cruise ;)

I will probably make a quick post tonight but plan to definitely conserve on Internet minutes and will be posting many times from the ports when I can find free WiFi so do not be alarmed when I do not post on Monday or Tuesday unless something is really exciting or news worthy and or I have CC withdrawels :o

I also will not be answering any questions till I get home but if other readers can answer someone please do.

Well since I am sitting on the floor at the airport because i wanted to keep my netbook plugged in to use it. I am keeping my fingers crossed i get lucky and our SW flight is one of those new ones that has the free WiFi and if it is I will post again. But needed to make sure I had plenty of battery life and in terminal C none of the outlets are near a chair like they are in terminal D. So since my leg is falling alsleep......

Signing off from McCarren Airport :)

SDHALFAN

May 31st, 2009, 09:00 AM

Bon Voyage once again Lisa and Tom. Have a sensational cruise, and let's all hope that the Westerdam does indeed redeem herself.

I'm looking forward to your always interesting and entertaining posts.

Fair winds and following seas.

Valerie:)

jbhcw

May 31st, 2009, 09:17 AM

Have a great cruise Lisa and Tom:) Looking forward to your reports, and hope your weather is great:)

sail7seas

May 31st, 2009, 09:28 AM

Have a great cruise, Lisa and Tom. Smooth sailing......

Love the beach

May 31st, 2009, 09:28 AM

Have a great cruise Lisa and Tom!:)
Marge

Northshorecruisers

May 31st, 2009, 09:40 AM

Have a wonderful cruise!!! Looking forward to your reports - as always.

Deb

NorthPhoenixGuy

May 31st, 2009, 09:44 AM

Lisa....just checked the Southwest departures and you're flight left right on schedule, as you predicted. I sure hope HAL and Westerdam redeem themselves from your last Westy experience. At least the weather should be perfect for the week. Enjoy, Enjoy, Enjoy and have a happy cruise.

esther e

May 31st, 2009, 09:56 AM

We've been on the Westerdam several times over a period of a couple of years, and again last Nov and this Feb. Never a problem. Everything was perfect. I hope you just had an "off" week and that you find the ship to be perfection, as we did!!! Have a super cruise. Looking forward to hearing your experiences.

Esther

lorekauf

May 31st, 2009, 10:37 AM

Have a great cruise and thanks for another "live from" thread.

benchmarklearning

May 31st, 2009, 10:48 AM

Lisa, as I know you will, take good care of the Westerdam as we will be boarding in 2 weeks. Looking forward to your reports. Thanks!

ugminer

May 31st, 2009, 11:11 AM

Lisa, Tom, this land locked Yummer wishes you smooth sailing and a great time

Atomica

May 31st, 2009, 11:30 AM

Lisa and Tom, have a wonderful time on the Westerdam to Alaska - enjoy every minute!

seaproponent

May 31st, 2009, 11:40 AM

We'll watch you sail by tonight (we live on the Puget Sound and watching the ships go out is a weekend ritual). We've had the best weather of the year this weekend, so hopefully you'll have a perfect night for your departure.

Looking forward to your thoughts on the Westerdam -- we're booked in a catagory SC for next Spring's TA. Our experience to date with the Vista class ships has been less impressive than with the smaller HAL vessels -- service and food having been the issues. Hoping you'll tell us this has changed!

cruisinjudy

May 31st, 2009, 11:46 AM

Bon Voyage, Lisa. We had mixed reviews a few weeks ago. I wondered if our cabin steward was newly on board as things improved as the week went on. We never learned his name and at the beginning of the week we weren't getting turn down and room was cleaned really late.

Our waiter was great.

Loreto

May 31st, 2009, 11:59 AM

Hi Lisa! Have a great cruise....if it is the Alaska Explorer, we enjoyed that itinerary, thought about it for June, but chose the Western Med instead.:)

Best wishes to you and Tom!

Karen

mamaofami

May 31st, 2009, 12:43 PM

Lisa and Tom, seems like I've been wishing you a great cruise many times this year.Looking forward to reading your live from thread and sure hope the Westerdam prpoves to be a wonderful experience. Enjoy Alaska and I will relive it from your thread.

GmaPajama

May 31st, 2009, 01:17 PM

Happy Sailing, Lisa and Tom! I look forward to reading all about it again!

legalslave

May 31st, 2009, 01:23 PM

Lisa, hope you have a great time! Can you please report in your final review on the times for breakfast on disembarkation morning for the following:

Pinnacle
Main Dinning Room
Room service
Lido

There are so many questions about that! Thanks Much--I'm jealous!

Diane

scopewest

May 31st, 2009, 04:04 PM

Have a great time, can't wait to read your reports.

innlady1

May 31st, 2009, 04:55 PM

Bon voyage once again, Lisa...and Tom, too! Hope this cruise is better than your last on the ms Westerdam!

DutchByAssociation

May 31st, 2009, 05:59 PM

Enjoy Alaska Lisa and Tom.

The weather has been gorgeous all throughout this region of late!

Himself

May 31st, 2009, 06:04 PM

Lisa is now a little after three in Seattle and I am sure you have had a nice lunch in the Lido and are now awaiting the mandatory life boat drill with in an hour of so. Bon Voyage

brucory

May 31st, 2009, 06:11 PM

Very much looking forward to hearing of your travels Lisa.

Hopefully the sun will be shining for you in beautiful Alaska.

:D:D:D

DizzyDallasDi

May 31st, 2009, 06:32 PM

The weather has been gorgeous all throughout this region of late!

Oh how I wish that was true. I just got back from my 5/23 - 5/30 cruise on the Zuiderdam and it rained all day in Skagway (5/26) and most of the day in Ketchikan (5/28). Juneau (5/25) was cloudy but the rain stayed in the clouds. On the other hand, during the morning of 5/25 in Tracy Arm, the weather was picture perfect. :D It poured all day Friday (5/29) during our sea day back to Vancouver until sunset when it cleared up enough to get a few pretty pictures.

Diane

ger_77

May 31st, 2009, 10:01 PM

Bon Voyage - I hope you have great weather for your cruise and come back having made some wonderful memories. I'll miss you over on the Facebook pages!

Smooth Sailing! :):):)
Gerry

LAFFNVEGAS

June 1st, 2009, 12:22 AM

Sunday May 31st, 2009

Good Evening from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam on our 7 Day Explorer Alaska Cruise.

I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open and it is only 8:45 but we were up very early this morning and it has been a very full day. I will try to give you a high light/recap of today's events.

Our SW flight out of Vegas left exactly on time flew by quickly, so quickly that we arrived 30 minutes early into SeaTac for an arrival at approx 8:30. Our 3 pieces of luggage were one the first to arrive in the luggage area. I called Karin and her and her husband arrived shortly after that to pick us up. They took us to are delightful out door cafe that overlooked the Marina next to thre new pier 91 called Maggies Bluff. The weather was perfect for sitting out side and the view could not havr been better of the Westerdam. It really was great being able to chat with Karin and her husband. They then took us over to pier 91. I have to say I was impressed after reading many of the problems of the first few weeks. Maybe because we were the right at 11 but it really was easy and a lot simpler than pier 30 for dropping off the luggage. We said our good byes and hugs to Karin and also as we were entering we ran into George and Bill (CCers NurseGeorge and WillK) who were visitors for the day.
The check in process was extremely simple, the health questionaire was filled out at the check in counter. Gone are the large folders that would hold information, maps of the ship and your key card. instead it is a little holder about thr size of your key card with a map folded up and you key card. Also everyone on the ship has a Gold Card and Suites passengers all have a red star that means they are Suite status. Suite passengers were all Embarkation 1 and was taken onboard as a group and up to the Neptune. The lady who took us was the same as last year when we were on the Amsterdam.

We knew the concierges from prior cruises and they remembered us. We headed to the Lido to meet up with George and Bill. We spent quite a bit of time with them and they introduced us to many of the crew they knew including Marion the GRM.

I have to say that todays weather was picture perfect and Sail Away was just beautiful and the area around pier 91 is stunning. I was very impressed and cannot wait to share the pictures with you.

We hosted a Sail Away Party and as usual had far more food than we needed from ordering appetizers from the Neptune the the Wine and Bubbly were great as well as the company and meeting many of the CCers from our Roll Call.

We have early dining table for 2 and different from the Statendam we knew several crew members in the dining room. Many were from the Oosterdam including one of the Wine stewards who is not ours but we have had several time before on the Oosterdam. She was good friends with Lei Lani who is another Wine steward we had not seen in a while and she told us that Lei Lani got married and was expecting a baby.

Service was great and quick but it almost seemed as though our server did not have an assistant and they are definetely spread much thinner. The food was also very good. I decided to start the week out with Salmon and I had the Almond Crusted Salmon that was very tasty of course Tom had the Prime Rib.

After dinner we walked around a bit then headed to the Neptune for the Suite Welcome Aboard Cocktail party which was nice and we met Ron the Hotel Manager and Andrew the CD but still have not met Captain Harris.
I am going to cut this short here because I absolutely cannot keep my eyes open.

But I will say that there is a very good humm as I call it with a very happy crew.

I will write more tomorrow not sure I will post it tomorrow but wanted to let you know all is well here on the Westerdam.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

Copper10-8

June 1st, 2009, 12:50 AM

Have a great cruise!:)

http://media.shipspotting.com/uploads/thumbs/rw/872205_800/Ship+Photo+Westerdam.JPG (http://boards.cruisecritic.com/"http://media.shipspotting.com/uploads/photos/rw/872205/Ship+Photo+Westerdam.JPG")

dvdfreakmc

June 1st, 2009, 05:38 AM

Lisa and Tom, it sounds like a great start to a great cruise. Enjoy and thanks for the Live posts.

Ine

June 1st, 2009, 05:47 AM

We must have missed you announcement of making this cruise.
But still we wish you and Tom happy cruising and we are sure you will have a great time.

NorthPhoenixGuy

June 1st, 2009, 08:34 AM

Lisa....i'm so happy to know your first day was all you wanted it to be. you were up for quite a lot of hours though so i can understand your being sleepy while write your first review. it was deeply appreciated. we all just want to know your first impressions and you didn't let us down! thank you for that. hope you slept late today and just plan on relaxing and enjoying a beautiful sea day.

suse

June 1st, 2009, 08:44 AM

Bon voyage. Hope it goes well for you. She's an elegant ship, that's for sure. We'll be sailing with her again soon.:)

Susie51

June 1st, 2009, 09:34 AM

Thank you for posting, Lisa. I'm glad your flight went well and embarkation and your first day a board was a good experience.

Chivalrygirl

June 1st, 2009, 12:41 PM

Hi Lisa
Hope you and Tom have a great cruise. Have a wine or two for me. I am heading home on Sunday, will give you a wave as I pass by.
Love Val

LAFFNVEGAS

June 1st, 2009, 01:05 PM

Monday June 1st, 2009

Yes I said I might not post again but I was so darn tired last night having had no sleep from Saturday night and getting up at 3 AM and I really wanted to write about these things. I woke up at 5 this morning all of this on my mind but of course quickly went back to sleep ;)

Now PLEASE do not take this as a negative I just find it all very odd. Those that know us for many years we always booked an S Suite and we were last in an S Suite in December on the Eurodam and before that in October on the Oosterdam. Although our last 4 weeks on a DAM Ship were either in a VA and or and A I doubt seriously things have changed that much since December. So let me describe some of the things we find as just being a bit strange.

First off we have yet to meet or even see our cabin Stewards. We got to our cabin at 1:15 yesterday afternoon and other than leaving for Life Boat Drill which during that time our luggage arrived we were in our cabin. First sitting and chatting with George and Bill, then unpacking and then of course hosting the Sail Away Party. I honestly cannot remember if ever a cabin steward did not come in to introduce themselves. They did leave their card on the bed last night saying their names are Bachtiar and Riyadi and our cabin was made up last night so I do know they exist.

The other odd thing is when we have stayed in S Suites before there has always been a letter from the Concieges in your Suite apon arrival saying the hours hours of the Neptune and their names and that they are available for what we may need. There was no such letter. Then there has always been a letter about breakfast in the Pinnacle for Deluxe Verandah and Penthouse Guests stating the the Pinnacle is open for breakfast for the S and PH. There again was no such letter. The only thing in our cabin was of course the Welcome bottle of Champagne, a letter from the Hotel Manager explaining As You Wish Dining and that you can reserve a dinner time as well as Pinnacle Grill in the evening. Then there was of course the daily prgram for Embarkation Day and a letter from the Captain about not throwing things overboard. Then there was an Invitation to the Suite Welcome Cocktail Party that was held in the Neptune last night.

Now of course we were able to chat with people like Marion the Guest Relations Manager last night and she said we will see you tomorrow at the Suite Lunch and we said yes of course. I said will it be in the Crow's Nest and she said No it was in the Pinnacle. OK that is very different for us but sounds nice. So we figured when we got to our cabin there would be an invitation for that last night. Oddly there was not. The invitation for that did not arrive till this morning along with our menus, the NY Times Digest, solicitation about Diamonds International and letter from the Captain regarding a Health notice about Noro and that they have recently become aware of the presence of it in the British Columbia area and stressed the importance of washing your hands. Then we also had a letters needing us to confirm our Mariner Days and like I mentioned when on the Statendam they are now asking for How Many cruises you have had with HAL. I am still thinking that this could have something to do with the new changes that will be coming for Mariner Perks and the the number of cruises will be tied in along with the number of days. I also have bets that the Key Cards will be changing and they are now getting rid of the excess of Gold cards now that they have depleted the blue. But getting the invitation for lunch today seems very late because if you had already made you plans last night looking at the Daily Program you may now not be able to fit in the lunch. In all honesty that should have been here with the Invitation to the Suite Welcome Aboard Cocktail Party.
Before I started writing this a few minutes before 8 AM I put on my robe and slippers and went over to the Neptune to get a Cafe Latte and a Breakfast Roll, at that time I handed in the Mariner Info sheet and the Disembarkation form that was left on our bed last night. Which speaking of normally when in a Deluxe Vernadah Suite your name and cabin number are normally already printed on them but they were not.

A few minutes ago Tom was dressed and decided he would go to the Lido for breakfast and I said I would just continue to lounge here sitting at the desk typing as I look out at the ocean sipping on my latte. I asked him if he would take my cup over to the Neptune and refill it with a Cafe Latte and he says "What do you think I am your cabin steward?" :D Then he jokes "Oh wait since we have not seen one I guess I am" ;)

Well let's see I will tell you about our plans for today. Last night I had thought about going to the Thermal Suite this morning but 2nd thought I just could not see paying $40 for only being in there for 2 hours today because I would want to get showered and ready for the Suite Lunch, then at 2 PM in the Crow's Nest is our CC Meet and Greet, then tonight is formal night. So I have just decided to relax this morning will do some reading and who knows with keepng my eyes peeled to the ocean may even see some whales. I think I will spend a good portion fo the day on Wednesday at the Thermal Suite while we are in Juneau since we have no plans other than getting off the ship in the morning and getting my Taku Smoked Salmon Supply for the year and maybe some good fudge.

The seas have been remarkably calm for being out in the Pacific and the weather beautiful. Living in Las Vegas we tend to foget that when you go North that this time of year it stays light so much later at night and gets light so much earlier in the morning. I think that is why I woke up at 5 AM.

We were hoping to have lunch tomorrow in the Pinnacle but there as been no notice of any kind saying that the Pinnacle was even open for lunch this week. I am fearing it will not be especially since we know it will not be today with having the Suite Lunch there. I so wanted to have the Crab Cakes and my favorite NW Five Onion Soup. I could easily have a huge bowl of that as a meal. The program says we do not get to Glacier Bay National Park till 11 AM tomorrow and will be there till 8 PM, that will be a bit different since in prior years when we have gone to Glacier Bay it was always an early morning and getting out to the Bow for the best views.

I will also state the the menus are definitely plentiful, tonight's formal night has a choice of 9 different entrees of course 2 are of the Master Chef Rudi Sodamin Goes Wild With Salmon. Last night there were two Salmon Dishes as well as this evening although a plain Salmon Dish IS NOT shown in the Available Daily Part of the Menu.Tom and I will probably have the Land and Sea which is Filet and Shrimp this evening but I am still eyeing the Pan Crisped Salmon with Mango Sauce that has Wasabi Mashed Potatoes. The dessert menu is very boring and does absolutely nothing for me so it may just be another Sorbet evening, tonights will be Strawberry Sorbet last night was Lemon but that was good, light and refreshing. Actually just my opinion but the Dessert Menu needs a whole new revitalization. I find very few nights anymore of a dessert that sounds good many are just too heavy after dinner and or because they have been the same desserts for many years and the description is not quite how it tastes we know not to order it.

Oh did I mention last night how GOOD it feels to be back on a Vista Ship. It just felt so right all day yesterday. I love the Lido, I love the midship glass elevators. I just really love it. Now Tom while he likes it says he likes the small ships too and maybe I would too if there was a brand new one but this ship just feels so new and clean.

Well I have taken my sweet time writing this because I continue to stare out at the ocean in an attempt to see a Orca or a Humback whale. So I guess I will login and report.

Signing off from a very relaxing calm Sea Day on the Elegant and Beautiful MS Westerdam.:)

mamaofami

June 1st, 2009, 01:23 PM

Lisa, if the Pinnacle isn't open for lunch, maybe you can try ordering the crab cakes and soup from room service. Just a thought.

Sage

June 1st, 2009, 01:49 PM

Thanks Lisa for taking the time to post. I hope that you continue to enjoy and perhaps even see a few whales.

GmaPajama

June 1st, 2009, 02:19 PM

Thanks again, Lisa, for sharing your cruise with us. I'm surprised to read that the Suite Luncheon is the same day as a Formal Night Dinner. We can't manage to squeeze down two big meals in one day, so it sounds like poor planning to us. We hate to miss Formal Nights, but would definitely miss this one.

Sailorgirlseattle

June 1st, 2009, 02:25 PM

I just got off the Westerdam on Sunday, and had a great time! Hope your week is just as wonderful! :) Sounds like you're off to a great start!

jhannah

June 1st, 2009, 02:42 PM

Sounds like you will have an amazing week. I hope you can meet your cabin steward soon!

Krazy Kruizers

June 1st, 2009, 02:44 PM

Can't believe the changes in just a couple of weeks.

We had a letter from our concierges -- Fay and Ida.

We also had a letter about the Pinncale for breakfast.

On our cruise there were still the blue ID and gold ID cards. Funny -- when we were on the Noordam in Feb, everyone had the same gold cards -- but npo pink or red stars to distinguish the PS, SA, SB and SC passengers.

I was glad that we had our suite cocktail party in the Crow's Nest -- much more room for people to move around.

Our cabin stewards came to our cabin within a few monutes of our arrival and introduced themselves to us.

I see that you have a different CD.

Is Captain Harris still your captain? I know that he has vacation time coming soon.

Susie51

June 1st, 2009, 02:44 PM

Lisa, thank you for taking the time today to post. Maybe since you are hanging out in your suite today, you will get to meet your cabin steward. Sept. 6 I'll be on Westerdam, so each day this week I'll be anxiously awaiting your next installment.

esther e

June 1st, 2009, 04:29 PM

We found a lot of the missing information you're talking about put in a neat pile with our engraved stationery. Might it be there?

LAFFNVEGAS

June 2nd, 2009, 02:47 AM

June 1st 2009

Good Evening from the MS Westerdam where we are far enough North that at 10:39 at night the sun has just set and it is still light outside.

It has been yet another FULL Day cruising on a DAM ship. I just wish we could stay on and not get off.
Since I last wrote we went to the Suite Lunch that was held in the Pinnacle, like I mentioned this was the first time we have done this with 99% having always been in the Crow's Nest if we even had one and only one time on the Zaandam it was held in the Rotterdam Dining Room. It actually was very nice being held in the Pinnacle but it also gave the Officers a chance to disappear right away without mingling which they tend to do more when Held in the Crow's Nest not one of them stuck around to talk with any of the guests. I did enjoy it and the bar staff kept the drinks flowing.

At 2 PM was the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet and I thought we had a very good turn out of our group although I was a bit disappointed with the Officers that were all invited and have attended previous CC Meet and Greets on this ship. The Hotel Manager appeared for probably 5 minutes at best and when he appeared I was talking with some of the other CCers could see him out of the corner of my eye. It was my understanding a Bar person came up to him as to see if she should take drink orders and he shook his head NO. Which gave me a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I know some ships do give out drinks and others Not but we were not given the chance. He was there for a matter of seconds and when I turned to go talk to him he was gone. No others appears where they have in previous weeks. I will say though it was very nice that Kiana the Stage Manager who is also a CC member or at least she was an active member before becoming a HAL Stage Manager and is a Yummer because she cruised with us in 2007 came to join us. I have to say she looks great and very happy. Being a HAL Stage Manager agrees with her. So Rhonda(who is her Mom) Kiana is doing great!!!! Several of us sat around for a long time talking cruising and Alaska which was fun.
Afterwards Tom and I came back to our cabin where we sat out on the Verandah where the sun was so very warm and read for about an hour before starting to get ready for the first Formal Night. I have to say that our Dining Room Service has been excellent and over all better than on the Statendam which was not terrible but our Dining Room Steward and especially our Wine Steward are a lot more socialable and knowing our names which is nice. Even the Executive Chef Andreas came out and was walking around to all the tables which was nice and we spoke of some people we knew in commen. BTW I ended up ordering none of the two items I mentioned earlier instead I had the Alaskan Crab Legs that were better than I have had in the past and was very tasty along with the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail and Seafood Cakes.

OK I know we discuss show times on CC but I have a NEW time for you. Not 8 and 10 Not 7 and 9 but 7:30 and 9:30 which actually did work out very well. It gave us time to get out of dinner and get down to the show lounge and see the Captain's Toast as well as the Singers and Dancers of the Westerdam doing a show we had not seen before called Grand Tour. Afterwards we headed to the Queens Lounge and watched 2 sets of Jenny and the HAL Cats. I have to say both Tom and I really like this Jenny. She has a great voice and fits in well for the passengers. While watching her we of course had a drink and I finally had a Banana Mojito. I loved it. I have asked for one on both the Statendam and the Oosterdam in recent times and neither times they had the Banana Liquor to make the drink. Of course I also tried one of those after dinner drinks in the Dining Room this evening where you get the little shot glass. I liked that as well it was Tia Maria, Grand Marnier (sp??) Baileys and Banana Liquor.

One thing I have not mentioned when I was telling you some of the bad things earlier this morning that I had thought I would not mention but what the heck. When we got to our cabin yesterday we did have some of the new style light weight robes but one of them was disgustingly yellow in about half of it. It looked dirty and and disgusting. Before we left our cabin today I left it on the bed with a note to please replace it and also the make up mirror in the dressing area was broken and had no light could they also fix that. When we came back he had left two very wrinkled looking almost as bad robes that were the old style with the terry lining and the mirror still had not been fixed. As of this evening the mirror has now been fixed and they again replaced the robes and they are both the newer style that are fresh and clean looking. I am sorry but any good cabin steward would not have hung up and tied the belt and folded the sleeve of a very yellow robe that looked that bad, let along in a Suite. I did take a picture of it in case I needed it for later.

Now you are wondering is the Westerdam redeeming herself, well sadly not by much in the over all scheme of things. The Dining Room staff and Bar Staff are totally 100% better but when it comes to the Hotel staff we again are very disappointed. I know we are only the 2nd day in but these are things that really should not be happening. We have had enough Suites in 22 HAL cruises to know how good it can be and these are things that should not be. Our next door neighbors who are also part of our CC Roll Call said the same thing happened with them with the robe and they also had them remove it. But my point being it should have never been there to begin with.

We did find out that the Pinnacle is actually open every day for lunch (including port days) and also every morning for Suite Passengers for breakfast. We have made reservations for lunch tomorrow since we will not actually be at Marjorie Glacier till about 2 PM. We have decided to play it by ear if we will eat there at night. If we see in the morning that we do not like that evenings meal we will then make reservations. But in the mean time we will certainly enjoy lunch and may even sneak in a second time.

I think I have filled you in on today's events. Again please do not take me wrong about if we are having a great cruise. All our cruises are great and I truly do love the Vista Class but.... we also know how it should be on HAL having experienced the very best and unfortunately the Westerdam is falling a bit short as it did in March 2005. She does have a few days to redeem herself but the inital memory of some things will stay on our minds. BTW we still have not seen cabin stewards although we do know they exist.:rolleyes:

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

hulamoon

June 2nd, 2009, 04:46 AM

Aloha Lisa,

What a great year you are having. I was just thinking what can I do to keep myself entertained while trying to recover, and I logged on to catch up on your last cruise and now you are on another one!

You connect so well in your writing. People want escapism now and how fun you have turned your time between jobs to time on the sea. A book a website, a contributor, I am sure something will develop.

marle7

June 2nd, 2009, 06:45 AM

Sounds like you're having mostly a good time! If you pass by the Casino, could you check to see if Michele is the Casino Host still and if so, please say hello from Don and Marlene!

middle-aged mom

June 2nd, 2009, 11:57 AM

Hola, Lisa and Tom, Karin here to say I'm following you daily. A big "thank you" from Ed and me for taking us out to breakfast on Sunday at Maggie Bluffs. It was wonderful to see you again, and when we dropped you off at pier 91, it would have been so easy for me just to keep on walking through all the way to the ship:p

I was actually pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to get to the pier. I guess getting there around 11 am was the right time. Everything seemed to flow very well and effiiciently. I also noticed they've set up a tent area across from the terminal entrance where it looks like they're offering snacks and fancy coffee drinks, with tables and chairs for folks to sit.

Have a fantastic time in Alaska:). The weather here in Seattle continues to be extraordinarily great. Summer has arrived! We're expecting temps in the 80s this week, although it's supposed to cool down this weekend to the 70s.

I sure hope we can cruise again together some day. Maybe we can even drag my Ed along, kicking and screaming until we can get enough Wang Wangs into him:rolleyes: :DThank you very much also for my "whine" card. I will toast you and Tom with every glass while I'm on the Ryndam in July.

God bless you,

Karin

Susie51

June 2nd, 2009, 02:27 PM

We have only been in a suite once on HAL which was on Oosterdam. We also experienced broken light fixtures which took a while to fix. When we arrived to the room on embarkation day, there were used bottles of shampoo ect. in the bathroom and a dirty washcloth, so I guess things can happen in any room including a suite.

Thank you for posting. My mouth is watering. I hope in Sept. they are still serving crab legs.

LAFFNVEGAS

June 3rd, 2009, 11:51 AM

Tuesday June 2nd, 2009

Good Evening from on board the MS Westerdam In Alaska.

WOW!!! What an absolutely amazingly beautiful Alaskan Day with not one cloud in the sky in Glacier Bay National Park. This was our 4th time to Glacier Bay and probably the most perfect weather we have ever had but along with that perfect weather we also had the least Glacier Calving activity we have ever had which was unfortunate. The tell tale sign that the calving would not be great was that there was not much ice in the water. As a matter of fact it was probably the least amount I have ever seen in this being our 6th cruise to Alaska. But for those that it was there first time they still were amazed and awed of the beauty of both John Hopkins and Marjorie Glacier. While you would think it would be warm because of the full sun shine and it was a bit warm later in the afternoon and I have a burnt nose and looking a bit like Rudolfe, it was still quite cold when the wind whipped past the glacier. On the very last minute I had stuffed my winter coat that has accompanied me to Alaska the previous 5 times and I am glad I did because I did wear it most of the day over my hooded HAL Panama Canal Hoodie.

Since we were not arriving into Glacier Bay National Park till 11 and did not arrive to Lamplugh Glacier, then John Hopkins till 2 PM we did not have to make it an early morning and we had actually made reservations in the Pinnacle for lunch. I had told you how I loved the Southwest Five Onion Soup well thankfully the Westerdam Pinnacle did not disappointment for that. I would say it actually was better than the Statendam's. Strange how from ship to ship it can be prepared so different this one was thicker and probably had 5 times the amount of onions in it. But sadly the rest of the meal disappointed both Tom and I. Tom had ordered the Hamburger. On the Statendam and the Oosterdam they had asked how you wanted it prepared and Tom would always say Medium Rare. Well he ordered it and then said Medium Rare and the Steward said we only prepare it Med. Well or Well done. OK I did not think this was Applebees but he said OK when it arrived it was like a saw dust, dryed out hocky puck that had plenty of filler including fake onion flakes. I felt bad for Tom because one he does not eat onions and to get such a lousy burger in all places the Pinnacle. Then I could see that the bun it was in was all dryed out because it crumbled apart. I ordered the Crab and Shrimp cakes that were so bad, they were definitely made of something very dry and stringy that was definitely not crab and the rice served with it is to have Pine Nuts in it, well there was not a Pine Nut to be had. We both had the Raspberry Sorbet which was good but was placed on top of a sugar cookie??? Which is not how we have had it prepared before. Another sign of a not so good Pinnacle is the appearence of the Pinnacle Manager at your table. Now granted this was our first visit to this Pinnacle but he walked by numerous times and did not stop to greet any of the tables. It is as though they know their product is SUB Standard and do not want to be questioned. On the Statendam last month not only did the Pinnacle Manager always stop by several times either a lunch and dinner but the Pinnacle Chef would also come out to each table and ask how everything was prepared. That was a true sign of Pride. This also happened to us like this on the Oosterdam many times and on the Noordam where this did not happened was on the Eurodam's Pinnacle but that Pinnacle was not near as off as this one. I am beginning to think it is bad to cruise as often as we do and go to the Pinnacle that often because you tend to compare each visit to previous ships. I actually have a bit of a theory of why it was a bit sub standard. It all has to do with the bean counters and the bottom line. We all know that these Alaska sailings are being reduced to fill the cabins, HAL must cut back some where and they are attemping to do in in areas that are least noticed. I do not blame them we are all doing that but it is sad that things like this that we become accustom to have to be jeapardized.

After we finished our Sorbet we waited for the bill, we waited and waited and waited finally after about 20 minutes we walked out. They have our cabin number and they know where to find us. Some other CCer's were also in there and we were with them later in the afternoon when they hosted a Marjorie Glacier Viewing Party from the Corner Aft Suite on deck 8. They asked us how our Pinnacle lunch was and we said, it was OK and their reply was theirs was terrible. I asked them if they received a bill and they said they got one as soon as they were done.

The Glacier Viewing was totally different today, we came as close as we could to John Hopkins because it is Pupping Season and we viewed that first or at least after Lamplugh, then we headed over to Marjorie but what was different is instead coming in close on the Port side we circled the other way with the best and closest viewing being Starboard. We stayed out on our verandah for about 20 minutes on the Port side then as he started to turn the ship toward the left swinging in closer we headed back to Adam and Katie's cabin that was Corner Aft Starboard on deck 8. We had a great view and there were 8 of us from the Roll Call that met there and had a lot of fun. Every time we would heard the white thunder we would get excited hoping for a BIG ONE (calving) but there were just a few small ones. I am guessing we stayed Starboard side a good 40 minutes because it was 5:30 and we knew we needed to head back to our cabin to get ready for dinner.

We are so enjoying dinner in the Vista Dining Room our Dining Room Steward is wonderful as well as Wilfredo our Wine Steward. he is so funny and showing many tricks for us. Tonight he taught us this trick of balancing two forks with two tooth picks and it was amazing. I could not believe it worked. Very hard to explain but it was a magic trick in itself. Dinner was also excellent I had the Fairbanks Seafood Platter for an Appetizer with the Chilled Yukon Gold Vichyssoise which was fantastic and the Clams and Scallops over Egg Noodles in a White Wine Sauce. Tom had the Braised Short Ribs and we both topped it off with some more Raspberry Sorbet.

I really like the new and different show times 7:30 works perfect when dinner is at 5:45 which BTW in past years for some reason the dinner times in Alaska were always moved up 15 minutes to 5:30 and 7:45 but this year or at least here on the Westerdam they are the same times as we have always had on winter warm climate sailings. On our way to the Vista Show Lounge after dinner we stood and watched Jenny and the HAL Cats at the Queen's Lounge for about 15 minutes before we headed to the Vista Lounge to see Tyler Linkin who is a Juggler/Comedian. He was not the best we have seen but he was funny and we both laughed. But our biggest laughes came later when we spent the next hour in the Queens Lounge again listening to Jenny and the HAL Cats and watching people dance. We are convinced that there is a dance studio out there teaching men to hold their pinkie in the air and dance like Tinker Bell. There were a couple like this on the Oosterdam, and another guy like this on the Statendam and even more here on the Westerdam. While I give them lots of credit because Tom and I do not get off our chairs we get big grins watching these guys dance. Who knows before the week is over I might actually attempt to get Tom out on the dance floor. I know I would love to go out there and not all the music is ball room style dancing. Before the show in the Vista Lounge they were doing Abba music and songs from Mama Mia. The passengers and the Entertainment here in Alaska on the Westerdam are Night and Day different than when we were on the Statendam. Speaking of the Statendam.... we saw her today. We we were leaving John Hopkin area to head over to Marjorie we passed the Statendam. I was able to get some great pictures of her.

Would you believe we never made it out to the Bow today? This is the first time when viewing Glaciers we have not done that. We did go to the balcony over looking the bow on deck 7 and that was nice but not on the bow itself. I might have to do that when we are in port tomorrow in Juneau so I can get a picture of the Westerdam Bell.

Update on our Cabin Steward or Stewards....Still have not seen one, seriously we have never met them although I will say that after lunch today we saw our cabin door open with their cart outside our cabin so we ducked into the Neptune and watched CNN for a bit and and about 15 minutes when we walked out the cart was gone and the door was shut. What did arrive was yet another set of robes, with one being very new and white and the other yellow all over :eek: I am thinking that someone dumped something into their wash that yellowed or stained a bunch of their robes because we have spoke with others that are having the same problem. Now I did actually order one of these new robes. I had the old style that is great but very heavy and warm which is nice in the winter but tends to be too heavy in the summer. This new style is much lighter and will be great for when I get our of the swimming pool and take off my swim suit and just want to lounge around the house.

Tomorrow we have a fairly long day in Juneau so I know I will be posting again and maybe even reading more of what is going on in CC with using the free WiFi from the Juneau Library. But so far I have been a good girl and not really used very many minutes so I will post this, this evening.

We do not have and big plans for tomorrow so I plan to spend the morning in the Thermal Suite then afternoon Tom and I will spend walking around town and we may just get up enough nerve to take the Mt. Roberts Tram to the top of Mt. Roberts.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam in Alaska.
__________________________________________________ ________
Wednesday June 3rd, 2009

Good Morning From Juneau Alaska where it looks to be an amazingly beautiful day. It also feels warm or at least much warmer than I have ever experienced her at 7 in the morning.

I woke about 6:40 and looked out to see we are docked and the town is busy already. We are docked down near the Mt Roberts Tramway and the Taku Smoked Salmon store. I had really hoped to be able to pick up the WiFi signal from the Juneau Library from our cabin but no such luck. Also you see this is just getting posted. For some reason I just could not get into CC last night so rather than waste internet minutes trying I just signed off and figured I would try again today.

The plan is to go have breakfast I will head to the Spa and Tom will probably head to the Crow's Nest to read. We will meet back up at the cabin probably around 12:30 where I will then shower and make myself a bit more presentable for the day and go check out the town. Tonight Julie Barr is performing so we are looking forward to that although unforntately the HAL Cats are not performing in the Queen's Lounge. I really enjoy the extra entertainment options and are at good times here on the Westerdam. So many times you walk around the ship in the evening and not a darn thing was going on.

OK well let me attempt to post this again and this afternoon I will most likely take my little Net Book and walk down to the Library.

Signing off from charming Juneau Alaska on the MS Westerdam.

NorthPhoenixGuy

June 3rd, 2009, 01:00 PM

Lisa.....you are incredible! Thanks for keeping all of us informed about your cruise. Your descriptions are terrific and your sense of humor is fabulous. I guess every cruise has its ups and downs but you seem to be having a good time overall and that's the important thing. I like your attitude that you don't get so upset about small things that it ruins your vacation. Did you buy fudge in Juneau? I hear the Alaskan Fudge Company has fabulous fudge. Also, I hear the Alaska Fish House is great for lunch in Ketchikan. Have you been to it before? And if you're a chocoholic like me, you definitely have to go to Rodgers Chocolates in Victoria and get yourself some of their Victoria Cremes. They are to die for!!!! They are open until 9PM on Saturday night. Bon Bon Voyage!

arkcruiser4147

June 3rd, 2009, 07:53 PM

esther e

June 3rd, 2009, 08:01 PM

We were on the Westerdam last November and again in February and never experienced any problems. We were in an SY in November and were not thrilled with our steward, but the room was clean. In February we were in an SA and it was perfect. The food was great, both in the restaurant and Pinnacle. I can't speak for the Lido because we rarely go there. The burgers poolside were great.

I hope you don't cancel; please let us know your reaction to the ship. We honestly had no negatives for the ship.

LAFFNVEGAS

June 3rd, 2009, 08:09 PM

Greetings from the Juneau Library where it is well over 80 degrees in Juneau and no one has A/C and they have fans blowing here in the libary because it is so hot. They say they are breaking records with this heat wave.:D Guess we brought a little Las Vegas HEAT with us ;)

Well since I have FREE internet I will write while on line and bring you up to date on today.

After I last posted we decided to go try out the Pinnacle for Breakfast. As we walk out our cabin door We caught him!!!! Our Cabin Steward, he does exist :D He greated us and asked how everything was and if we needed anything. We told him we were fine and that we had left him some laundry. He seems nice, have no idea which Cabin Steward he is because he did not introduce himself.

We went down to breakfast in the Pinnacle where surprisingly service was great and with the menu they handed us a seperate menu of the specials for the morning. There was a sausage and egg crispy burrito special with hashbrowns that I decided to have. Actually the last time we had a S Suite we were on the Eurodam and at breakfast I would ask what the special for the morning were and they would get huffy and tell me they did not do that in the Pinnacle so it was nice that the Westerdam did do that. Service was actually quite good and the Pinnacle Manager actually came over and asked how our breakfast was.

Afterward I headed to the Spa to spend the morning in the Thermal Suite and Hydrotherapy Pool. For those that follow my Live reports you know that was the one thing that was very disappointing on the Statendam last month for how extremely bad that one was this was absolutely the very best experience I have ever had on a HAL ship. Of course it made it extra good being the ONLY one use it from 9 to 12. First I went into the Hydrotherapy Pool. The harsh clorine smell but rather fragrant spa smell along with a nice cart set up with juices, water and fruits. The water temps was perfect not to hot not to cool and the water was as crystal clear as could be not that mirky cloudy water that sometimes occurs in the hydrotherapy pool. It was great in there after spending about 30 minutes there that felt like heaven I went over to the Thermal Suite. They already had one thumb up for the Hydrotherapy Pool http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon14.gif Were they going to make it two? Of course again i was the only one in there with a spectacular view of the water and boats and float planes taking off. I selected a heated lounger and situated the towels the way I like and went over to one of the showers on the left and tested the aroma therapy mist. Ahhhhh a wonderful rose type sent, the next shower was different i could not place the scent but was wonderful. I thin checked the steam room on the left and it too while steamy was not a hot steam but have a wonderful scent that was strong btu not over powering. Then the mid Steam Room was extra hot and steamy and the third had yet another aroma therapy scent but was a dry cooler sauna style. The other two showers also had scents in them. Not that i am being picky but HAL advertises that this is what they offer and The Spa on the Westerdam have it absolutely perfect. In all honesty i do not think I have found one that everything was exactly as it should be So Most definitely the Spa gets Two thumbs up http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon14.gif http://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/icons/icon14.gif

At noon I packed up my items went to the Women's locker room and changed and headed up to the Explorations Cafe for a Blended Iced Carmello Latte hmmm that was tasty and every bit as good as the ones on the Statendam.

Found Tom in our cabin sitting out on the verandah reading so i got cleaned up and we decided we would go up to Mt Roberts on the Mt Roberts Tramway. This being out 6th time to Juneau and we have never done this but with not one single cloud in the sky and the weather being crystal clear amazing we thought we better take advantage of this day. In the past the weather has not always been that great plus Tom is a bit scared of heights so we always managed to have an excuse. Oh My GOSH I have never seen or smelled anything so wonderful in my life. It was actually in the 70's up at the top and you could see for miles. It was just breath taking. I cannot wait to upload the photos.

We ate a late lunch up at the top Tom had halibut Fish and Chips and I had some spicey chicken wings or as they called them Zing Wings. Tom had an Alaskan Amber Ale and I had a glass of white wine. Very relaxing with a great view. We even bought the adorable Alaskan Amber Ale Glass they sold that had a bear catching the Beer Bottles in a stream rather than Salmon. We of course also took pictures of the female Bald Eagle they have there and she really is beautiful. We walked around up there took lots of pictures and I even picked up some snow. It really made for a great afternoon.

That brings us about up to date as I am now sitting here in the Juneau Library with the Veendam docked directly behind me. OK I have to say this, I had reserved any comments till I saw her in person but based solely on the outside of the Veendam that is one UGLY thing they did to the Veendam and thankfully they are not doing anymore. i complained about what they did to the first three Vista Class and in all honesty it is not that bad while I still believe they should have them the aft ends alone they are still OK but OMG the poor Veendam. I may think differently if I could see her on the inside and sure wish I knew someone on board to get us a pass. Thankfully no more S Ships will have this happen to it.

Well it is after 4 PM and we will do a bit more shopping and probably go up to the Fudge Store.

Signing off from the Juneau Alaska Library where it is rather warm.

SDHALFAN

June 3rd, 2009, 08:41 PM

Hi,

I am new to the cruise critic and fairly new to cruising. I am going to be on the Westerdam but after reading all the negative things live from the ship, I am thinking of cancelling and going with another company. The writer says she is enjoying her cruise but writes everything negative. Why harp on a yellow robe, just call and get it changed. If the hamburger wasn't good and my husband ordered it, I guarantee you it would be sent back and that would be the end of it instead of telling us all how awful the food was. Stay positive and enjoy your cruise rather than throwing out your money.

First of all: welcome to Cruise Critic and the HAL boards. You will find a wealth of information here and, I'm sure, on all the other cruiseship boards.

Okay, that said: Lisa has at least 22 HAL cruises under her belt and still keeps coming back for more, despite what you may think of her posts. She is one really neat Lady and only reports truthfully her thoughts. She is a "HAL Cheerleader" but let's us know (warns us?:D) about what we can expect aboard the ships she travels on. She also recognizes that not everyone's experiences will be the same.

I don't know about "harping on the yellow robe" but I can tell you that I would be royally ticked off also, and would make my feelings known.

I have to agree with you about the hamburger situation in the Pinnacle Grill, but you have to know Tom. I think he would rather die than make a scene and probably just choked it down - God bless him.

If you do decide to cancel and go with another company - it's your money, your vacation and above all your choice. However, don't be too surprised if the ship/company you choose has similar problems.

All of us here on the CC boards have a love of cruising. Not all of our experiences are the very best but some are actually stupendous and totally unforgettable. However, not all of us take the time to report on our experiences. I am probably the worst offender here - I have the time, and the money to take much longer cruises (a month or two at a time) and I know that several of my friends here on the HAL board would like to hear about my travels but I am much too lazy to do that (mea culpa:D).

Enjoy your cruise, whichever ship/company you decide to sail with. Should you decide to go ahead with the Westerdam cruise please remember that your experiences may be totally different from Lisa's - for example I would never be able to report anything about the Spa because I never go there.

I wish you fair winds and following seas on your cruise, whichever line and ship you choose.

Valerie:)

mamaofami

June 3rd, 2009, 08:45 PM

Lisa, you can see below when I was in Alaska, but it was 90 degrees every single day we were there. We did a b2b and the second time we were in Juneau it rained a light misty rain, but was still 90. There were no shorts in Walmart for the locals and I was glad I had some shorts along for exercising. HOT, very HOT. I had friends who had come to Alaska to escape their Florida heat in June, and it was hotter and more humid in Alaska. It was a fluke. When we were up on the glacier in Juneau and did the dogsledding, I did wear and need a fleece, hat and gloves.But in town, 90 degrees.

Kiwi Kruzer

June 3rd, 2009, 08:46 PM

http://i43.tinypic.com/ncghlh.jpg

ger_77

June 3rd, 2009, 09:36 PM

Well it is after 4 PM and we will do a bit more shopping and probably go up to the Fudge Store.

I'm so glad to hear you're having a good time in the spa - not like your last experience at all. Shopping and going to the Fudge Store; it's a harsh life, but you seem to be doing such a great job!!!!! :) Enjoy the rest of your time onboard.

Smooth Sailing! :):)

kjw869

June 3rd, 2009, 09:48 PM

Himself

June 3rd, 2009, 10:18 PM

Lisa:
Thanks for the good reporting. Glad you enjoyed Mt. Roberts. Sorry to hear it is warm in Alaska. Please keep up the good reporting and thanks for your opinion on the VEENDAM

Copper10-8

June 3rd, 2009, 10:38 PM

The 'aroma therapy smelly things' work!! :)
No pine nuts in the rice, Bummer, dude:(

pipedreams62

June 3rd, 2009, 11:03 PM

The 'aroma therapy smelly things' work!! :)
No pine nuts in the rice, Bummer, dude:(

http://blog.lib.umn.edu/wilsper/informationcentral/planets.jpg

jer_l

June 3rd, 2009, 11:09 PM

Lisa,

We fly to Vancouver two weeks from tomorrow (Thursday) for a modified B2B. :):):) (We're sailing north on the Ryndam, staying two nights in Seward and then sailing south on the Statendam.) I'm hoping to use the free wireless in ports as much as possible. Does the Juneau library have free wi-fi or do you use their computers? I'm debating whether to bring my own lap top. If I can get free wi-fi in enough places that's what I'll do.

Sailorgirlseattle

June 3rd, 2009, 11:42 PM

ArkCruiser, I have to echo what others are saying ... don't let this stuff get you down about cruising on HAL. I may be easy to please, but I got off the Westerdam the day Lisa got on and we had a fabulous trip -- probably our best cruise to date. Yeah, one of our bathrobes was yellowed, but that was easy ... I let hubby use the "good" one and I just didn't bother with a robe ... it was no big deal for me. Even people on the exact same sailing can have wildly different "cruises" from each other ... so, I say, be informed but go and expect to have fun, and you probably will. :rolleyes:

legalslave

June 4th, 2009, 01:11 AM

ARKcruiser, I was on the Westerdam 5/17-5/24. On any cruiseline and on any ship, things can be different day to day or week to week. I don't know why but it happens. We stayed in an SA just 5 cabins away from where Lisa is. We had the same cabin stewards she has. We saw them at least 3 times a day and spoke with them. The location of our cabin may have possibly made the difference. Maybe we were closer to where their supplies are stored. We had no problems with our cabin and the robes were white. Maybe something happened in the laundry in the week after we disembarked. As KJW mentioned in his post, there were 3 officers who attended or Meet & Greet. I know they were there at least 45 minutes. Our Meet & Greet was at 11:00 am and may be what made the difference. If they have have something going on work related, they are not able to attend the Meet & Greets. They were friendly and spoke to all of us. We only went to the Pinnacle once and that was for dinner. The food was just fine. We did not eat lunch or breakfast there as we really enjoy the variety at the Lido. All of our dinners, with the exception of the night in the Pinnacle, were in the Dinning room. We were very pleased with the service, presentation of the meals and the taste, just as Lisa is.

Lisa has been on many HAL cruises and always takes her time to let everyone know all she can about the ship and adds to the anticipation of all who have future cruises booked on that ship. She has many experiences to compare with. As I said before, there are things that can happen that can make a difference from one day to the next. I wouldn't switch cruiselines or ships as things may be fine tomorrow or next week! FYI on my 2nd HAL cruise, we had a horrible encounter with our cabin steward. Did have a little meeting with the hotel manager about the situation and he was in shock! I realized this steward was just one out of many and did not let that stop me from cruising HAL again and again and again and again. It would have been my loss if I hadn't cruised HAL again!

Go on the Westerdam, relax, have a great time, enjoy the food, enjoy the service, enjoy the entertainment, enjoy the ports, enjoy the beautiful scenery and let us all know your thoughts when you return.

Diane

Krazy Kruizers

June 4th, 2009, 06:56 AM

san diego sue

June 4th, 2009, 12:06 PM

We have been to many meet and greets. Except for our four on the Oosterdam, no ship employees attended. On The O, all four times had the Hotel Manager and that was special since Marcella is the best hotel manager ever. For us the Meet and Greet is to finally meet our cruise critic friends who we got to know so well on line.I could care less to meet any officers, and it would only be an interruption to our party. Also, unless we had a problem, don't care about seeing our room stewards. They work so hard, and don't really have the time for chit chat. We are caudial to them and always tip extra.
However, I agree with Lisa about yellow robes. On one trip we had yellowed robe in a crutial area, pretty ugly. I agree that should have been something room steward should notice. Now yellow all over sounds like laundry made a boo boo.
Lisa, thank you for your postings. I feel like I am with you right now. Fellow readers, there are always things that go wrong on a cruise and Lisa is giving us every detail of the days, really not complaining, just really giving us full details. We all experience little anoyances but since we don't post as it happens, usually forget about it.
Thank you again Lisa for taking us along.
San Diego Sue

Copper10-8

June 4th, 2009, 12:21 PM

FYI - Ships officers at at CC 'Meet & Greets' are never a guarantee and HAL will tell you that. If they are in the middle of something/have a meeting scheduled/get called out, etc. etc., all that takes precedent over making an appearance at the C&C, Just because they've been there at past meets does not mean that they will be there at the next

Kiwi Kruzer

June 4th, 2009, 05:02 PM

http://i42.tinypic.com/2i10l4.jpg

pipedreams62

June 4th, 2009, 06:28 PM

LAFFNVEGAS

June 5th, 2009, 04:05 AM

Thursday June 4th, 2009

Good Evening from and extremely FOGGY Night on the MS Westerdam. With the Fog horn blowing every few minutes and we are appear to be barely creeping along.

It has been well over 24 hours since I last wrote so I guess I need to catch you up to date.

After I posted yesterday we did head down to the Alaska Fudge Compoany in Juneau and got our little box of half milk chocolate with walnuts for Tom and Peanut Butter Fudge for me. (I am actually nibbling on it now) Then back to the ship. It was quite a full day in Juneau by the time we got back on board it was time for early dinner. We are having so much fun with our Wine Steward Wilfredo. Last night he made us this little frog that jumps with our names on it and his name signed on it.

After the dinner we went to Julie Barr, very funny lady but the showroom was not that packed partly because I think that we were just leaving Juneau. After the show since it had been such an amazing day of weather we decided to go out on the deck and it was nice and warm and the Humpback Whales decided to give us a show as well. We spent at least 20 minutes outside what several whales playing and doing numerous full reaches. Then since the HAL Cats were not performing we headed up to the Crow's Nest to watch and listen to Ian Cooney who sings and plays the guitar. He too is pretty good especially when he sings Beatles and Simon and Garfunkle music. Speaking of going to lounges, this cruise is sort of a Banana Drinks week for me. I have been alternating between Banana Mojitos and Banana Margaritas both are equally tasty. With it staying light so late being up in the Crow's Nest late is very different but gave us more opportunity to watch for even more whales.

I think that catches us up to today which is Thursday In Sitka, Alaska. This morning we got up and this time went to the Lido for breakfast and I decided on an omelet. I have to say that the best ship so far for omelets has been the Eurodam. After breakfast we headed down to A deck to catch a tender. This is our 5th time to Sitka and we were amazed this is by far the closest I have ever see a ship anchor to shore. Last year when on the Amsterdam we were anchored so far out I had to use my zoom for any good pictures, this year the Westerdam is so close it appears she is docked but instead of tendering in near the marina we tendered in to the dock at the far end. That seemed strange for us because we had not used that area since the first time we were here on the Oosterdam in 2004. Today we grabbed a taxi and headed up to the Raptor Center which is another thing we have never done before. It was another great day weather wise but not near as warm as Juneau but still very nice. Tom and I walked the trails behind the Raptor Center and just enjoyed the fresh smell and seeing and hearing of the animals. We shared a taxi back to town with two other couples walked around town a bit then came back on the ship for a late lunch.

We knew tonight would be a full night because with having dinner at 5:45, then the VIP party that was held in the Crow's Nest was between 7:00 and 7:45, then Joel Mason's first show as at 7:30 and we wanted good seats down front. We mentioned to Tua our server that we wanted to be done before 7 and WOW was service quick for us tonight. He actually had us done and not feeling rushed by 6:45. Several of the items on tonights menu are items that are normally served on the night of the Master Chef's Dinner so thankfully we did not have that but there was also a much larger selection of items. Even the top of the Menu said "Master Chef's Dinner" I had the Taglistelle with Roasted Chicken. I have had this Pasta dish before but this evening it was the best it has evern been with the Roasted Chicken being so moist and juicy and the noddle not mushy but tender. Our Wonderful Wine Steward surprised us again this evening with another of his creations. This he had to have worked on for us this afternoon. It is a Eagle that is folded out of cardboard that is so amazing in detail right down to the beak. It is sitting on top of a cork that has been glued into a larger bottle cap. On the cork it has our names. I was so touched it is amazing. Since we finished eating early enough we went back to the cabin to drop off our little eagle and head up to the Crow's Nest for the Party. Not a huge turn out or there might not have been that many invited as well as the Captain was not there but I did not expect him to because as we sailed out of Sitka the Fog was rolling in. We actually had fog on and off all day but by this evening it was extremely thick and the fog horn had been blowing while we were at dinner. I did talk with Marion the Guest Relations Manager and we have 2076 passengers on board and of that approx 400 are Mariners. The Alaska sailings have a very low number of sailings with far more first time cruisers.

We did not stay very long for the Party because we wanted to make sure that we had good seats for Joel's Show. When we walked down front we saw our next door neighbors who are also part of our CC Roll Call Eric and Jill so we went over and sat next to them right in the front row. Joel put on a great show that was actually a bit longer than the last time we had seen him but then that was on the Oosterdam in October when we had show times at 7 and 9. His show tonight actually went over an hour. Of course he did his traditional saying Hi to us during his show. Tonight he was telling the audience about how frequently we see his show and cruise and asked us how many cruises we had been on. Afterwards of course we went out and talked with him after he finished greeting and selling his DVD's and we also got to meet his wife this evening. We look forward to seeing his Saturday afternoon show and hopefully will get a chance to have a couple of drinks with he and his wife before Sunday.

After Joel's show we headed up to the Crow's Nest to listen to Ian Cooney again and have another Banana Margarita and Tom has been drinking those Blue Coco Mojitos. Of course the Fog Horn was good and loud up in the Crow's Nest. A little after 10 we head back to our cabin and I got comfy in my PJ's and started writing this when our phone rang. I could not figure out the room number it was coming from and when I answered it I had a wonderful surprise. It was my good friend Julie Jack who works for the shops on board the ships as a Manager. In the summer especially for Alaska they use her for training and supervising and she often goes from ship to ship. Well, when we first found out we were coming here I spoke with her and asked if there was a way she could arrange to come over to the Westerdam while we were here. She had told me no, but little did I know she then started making plans to be able to surprise us. She was able to pull it off and today came on board while we were in Sitka. She had been trying to call our cabin from probably about 2 minutes after we left for dinner. We would have gotten together this evening but it was already late but we plan to meet at the Gangway in the morning. I am so excited while we often talk on the phone I have not seen her since December 2007. Although we have been making plans because she hopes to come to Las Vegas again this August.

So as you can tell we have been very very busy the last few days and still have plenty of things happening. We are going to hate to leave the ship come Sunday. I do want very badly to come work on the ship. I so feel like I really belong here.

Well not that this has taken quite a while to write and is already Friday morning beings it is well after midnight I think I will quickly post this and call it a night.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

Sea King

June 5th, 2009, 08:14 AM

One thing I have not mentioned when I was telling you some of the bad things earlier this morning that I had thought I would not mention but what the heck. When we got to our cabin yesterday we did have some of the new style light weight robes but one of them was disgustingly yellow in about half of it. It looked dirty and and disgusting. Before we left our cabin today I left it on the bed with a note to please replace it and also the make up mirror in the dressing area was broken and had no light could they also fix that. When we came back he had left two very wrinkled looking almost as bad robes that were the old style with the terry lining and the mirror still had not been fixed. As of this evening the mirror has now been fixed and they again replaced the robes and they are both the newer style that are fresh and clean looking. I am sorry but any good cabin steward would not have hung up and tied the belt and folded the sleeve of a very yellow robe that looked that bad, let along in a Suite. I did take a picture of it in case I needed it for later.

yep .. IMHO, you should have stayed with option 1 .. not mention anything publicly

just wondering: is there any reason to "go public" with a complaint that is ultimately resolved ..

even more curious about the picture .. don't understand the purpose of taking that let alone mentioning it on the board

if I remember, the OP was very recently posting from another ship and seemed to be trying to get Seattle to perhaps consider her for employment as a future cruise consultant

think the odds of that just went down :rolleyes:

overall, the post IMO is very in depth

however, feel badly that the OP appears not be enjoying herself .. a cruise should be fun, enjoyable and totally relaxing .. apparently, this one isn't

mszula

June 5th, 2009, 09:53 AM

lorekauf

June 5th, 2009, 10:09 AM

I strongly disagree with the last poster. There appears to be a stigma here regarding mentioning anything negative about a HAL cruise. Why? Yes, we all love cruising and we all know that a bad day at sea is better than a good day on land. That doesn't mean that negative experiences cannot be mentioned.

Lisa seems to be having a wonderful time; but personally I want to hear the good AND the not so good. I don't want other posters to be intimidated about bringing all of their experiences to this board.
I totally agree with you. Nothing drives me more crazy then people that feel they have a sugar coat everything. You say one negative thing and out come the HAL cheerleaders. The people I admire most on this board are the ones that tell it like it is. People spend good money to do a live from thread and I appreciate it. No wonder less and less people do live from threads when some people feel so compelled to make snide remarks.

jbhcw

June 5th, 2009, 11:34 AM

I have always enjoyed reading Lisa's posts. She is the reason I decided to sail on the Oosterdam:) I especially like the way she posts as if she was talking to you, and you get her thoughts and feelings, good and bad.

There is not doubt she and Tom love Hal. I also like Hal but cruise other lines as well. We've had good and bad experiences on all our cruises, getting close to 30 here and really cannot say we've had a bad cruise, although we've had bad things happen to us on cruises:eek:

I'm sure Lisa will say this has been a good cruise!! I for one am glad she posts the bad along with the good. Makes for a good read, and is a learning experience for me.

We had a cabin steward on NCL that we never saw, not once in 7 days. I hated it. I like to meet who is going into my room twice a day, so I'm with Lisa on that. I know things are a little different now, they don't have as much time to chit chat with you, but I still like to be able to say hello and introduce myself.

Newer posters, go with an open mind ready to roll with some little glitches here and there and just embrace the experience:D I pretty much promise you, you'll love it:)

pipedreams62

June 5th, 2009, 11:48 AM

Pick on the cheerleaders?

http://sports.popcrunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/patriots-cheerleaders1111.jpg

suse

June 5th, 2009, 12:47 PM

I never heard of a wine steward making jumping frogs and eagles.:confused:
But, then, I never heard of anyone taking photos of yellow sleeves either.

"Wandering Wino's"

June 5th, 2009, 01:03 PM

I never heard of a wine steward making jumping frogs and eagles.:confused:
But, then, I never heard of anyone taking photos of yellow sleeves either.

As the saying goes "A picture is worth a 1,000 words".

"Those who tell us only what we want to hear, tell us nothing at all".
"Those who only listen to what they want to hear, hear nothing at all".
Keep up the good work Lisa. Your daily journal has added enjoyment to many of our lives.
Long live HAL!
Shirley

suse

June 5th, 2009, 01:10 PM

Please don't misunderstand me. I just never saw jumping frogs created by wine stewards. We were on the Westerdam in December 2008 and, although I find her comments interesting, we had a vastly different experience. I thought it was a lovely ship. Loved the Pinnacle and so forth. But, carry on.

Krazy Kruizers

June 5th, 2009, 01:17 PM

We were on the Westerdam for 21 days recently and our BAR SERVER in the dining room did not make anything for us.

Read their tags carefully -- for months now on the various ships none of the ones we have had and others we saw did not have Wine Steward on them.

Ine

June 5th, 2009, 02:45 PM

Lisa, say Hi to Julie. I am surprised to read she is back on the HAL ships again.

wingit

June 5th, 2009, 02:53 PM

On our Hawaiian cruise last November we had a bartender (Michael) who made us a jumping frog which he personalized for us with calligraphy. He also made us a couple of eagles and one butterfly perched on wine corks. Oragami and calligraphy were his hobbies and when he felt moved to do something special for a guest he made a little gift. It was a very nice gesture I thought.

"Wandering Wino's"

June 5th, 2009, 03:01 PM

Copper10-8

June 5th, 2009, 03:58 PM

HAL bar staff making birds, frogs, small farm animals, etc., etc., out of paper (oragami) is nothing new. They've been doing it for years. Some bar staff have become wine stewards and of those, some are apparently still making them. Ain't nothing wrong with that, more power to them! Is every passenger getting one of those masterpieces? Nope, not enough time and paper. It's a nice gesture and probably only done with pax, like Lisa, with whom they've struck up a relationship onboard. Life is good!

magictam

June 5th, 2009, 05:02 PM

Please don't misunderstand me. I just never saw jumping frogs created by wine stewards.

I didn't get jumping frogs, this is my favorite souvenir from our very first cruise (Noordam 2007, Alaska).
http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/43476/2436290480102765571S425x425Q85.jpg

From my favorite bartenders
http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/33884/2273463060102765571S425x425Q85.jpg

The staff on HAL really know how to make a cruise special.

mudscraper

June 5th, 2009, 05:26 PM

I didn't get jumping frogs, this is my favorite souvenir from our very first cruise (Noordam 2007, Alaska).
http://inlinethumb21.webshots.com/43476/2436290480102765571S425x425Q85.jpg

From my favorite bartenders
http://inlinethumb29.webshots.com/33884/2273463060102765571S425x425Q85.jpg

The staff on HAL really know how to make a cruise special.

I was the real thirsty guy at the end of the bar,waiting for the artwork to be completed.:)

Rich

Krazy Kruizers

June 5th, 2009, 06:39 PM

LAFFNVEGAS

June 5th, 2009, 08:33 PM

Friday June 5th, 2009

OK this will be the 2nd half of my rant back.:D

Interesting how those of you that are are complaining about what I am writing a few of you are those that are critical of me in the past about always being a HAL Cheerleader and finding them so perfect and not ever reporting anything but good things and yet another one is one that who themselves has done plenty of complaining in the past and being quite critical and negative frequently. Rather funny to see those posters not realize they have been far more critical and nasty themselves.:rolleyes:

OK since October we have had the good fortune and pleasure of sailing on 4 different HAL ships, 6 different sailings that totaled 49 days. Now the average poster on this board is lucky to see that in 3 to 4 years and many even more years than that. Tom and I are very thankful for this and know we are fortunate. I tend to be a person that likes to know and memorize everything. If you ask me about a type of ship/category/cabin or area of any HAL ships I know about it. I can quote many of HAL's passenger ammedities. In cruising so much frequently in recent times I am finding a huge inconsistantly between the ships in the fleet. I often talk of wondering how there can be such drastic inconsistantacy between the fleet. One would think that you would go from one Pinnacle to the next and they should be all the same but unfortunately they are not. If you only cruise on HAL once every two years you may not notice or even realize these subtle differences. Most of the time I am not complaining I am just commenting on the differences. Chances are what I am experiencing may not happen to you or it might. This is simply a blog of sorts giving my daily happenings and feelings of what is going on.

I know that not all Management is the same which is most of the reason for the inconsistantacy which has a trickle down effect of what the passengers experience. We have been on ships that everything was so absolutely perfect and others where areas just need a little improvement such as the Westerdam and others where unfortunately a situation and a passenger falls thru the cracks. This happens every where and I have found most companies and management want to know where they can improve. Because many times the simplest of things are not a cost cutting measure but in doing something small actually increases profits.
On our last cruise my only big complaint was the Spa and the Steiner Spa Management on board. I am one that believes that if all your advertising you product and brochures state you will offer certain ammenaties then they should be there for the paying guests. I am absolutely amazed at the Westerdam's Spa and Thermal Suite it is picture perfect and I plan to talk with the Manager and let him know that I am very impressed. I had no other complaints on the Statendam other than the inital shock of the ship being so small and crowded and that she unfortunately is showing her age especailly in most of the furniture in the lounges but that is absolutely nothing different that anyone else is reporting. Otherwise everything was running perfectly on the Statendam.

The Westerdam is really in very good shape inside and out and I really think the Bar Staff and Dining Staff are great. The food has been truly amazing in the Main Dining Room. I have to say that we have not experienced the food being this good since the Eurodam which those 2 weeks in December were perfect. Again with there always being a difference some of the food entrees what I have ordered this week was great and a few of the items I ordered that were the same entree on the Oosterdam where it was just fair and here on the Westerdam it was fantastic. Now about the little things our Bar Steward/Wine Steward or what ever title YOU may want to give him or her. We did hit if off with Wilfredo from the first night, he has worked on several of the ships we were on and we had some mutual friends. Him making the little items for us is because he wanted to and he enjoyed doing it. This is not a requirement nor did we ask him to do this. We just happened to hit it off with him which brings pleasure to the cruise. Nothing more nothing less. I am only reporting this because we thought it was so sweet of him to do this.

Now about me discussing the yellowed and stained robes. I would almost tend to believe that Upper Management has no idea this is even happening and that if anyone of them went to a nice resort such as the Fairmont they too would be a bit turned off at having this hanging in their room. To me this just came as such a shock. Especially the first one because these were more stains in big round circles rather than the whole robe being stained. I really just want HAL to know as a learning tool and something that could be improved on. I noticed others also posted that this occured to them on the Westerdam and it has also happened to our next door neighbor so obviously this is not a one time occurance. Out of 22 HAL cruises this has just never happened before. Does this ruin my cruise, would I stop cruising HAL??? OMG No WAY!!! HAL is a wonderful company and offers a wonderful product. This is just a small minor thing that has come up that if not fixed could hurt them.

Now about the Pinnacle Lunch experience, this is bad. No it is not about me not having the Pine Nuts in my rice, it really was more about the over all product they served as in what was to be Sirlion hamburger that Tom had and the Crab and Shrimp Cakes that I had. Tom and I have both had these items on numberous other HAL ships and they are to the most part always the same but these were not at all normal Pinnacle quality. My guess is that while I am sure it is not normal HAL practice they are looking for ways to save money and it may be possible that the Chef or Managers of the Pinnacle may be using lower quality provisions in order for the profit margin to look better. Especially in Alaska where the average passenger is brand new to cruising and HAL. Because we have experienced it so many times and very recently we do know how GOOD it can be. What someone else experienced 4 weeks ago and even 2 weeks ago mostly likely would be totally different because provisions are brought on weekly. It could also be different in a couple of weeks when they realize going cheaper did not work. Like I said we knew the minutes that they told Tom that his burger could only be Medium Well or Well done it was not the normal burger prepared in the Pinnacle. (enough said about all this)
OK I am done with my rant. If you are considering the Westerdam for your upcoming Alaska cruise please do not let any of my comments discourage you. The Westerdam is an absolutely wonder ship and you are going to have a wonderful time. I tend to go a bit over board in my comparisons. But those that know my writing style and have cruised frequently can maybe understand it a bit more.

This cruise will definitely go down as one of the best Alaska Cruises. The weather could not have been any better. Who could even imagine weather this picture perfect in Alaska, along with the calmest seas. We have enjoyed more entertainment and venues to see the entertainment in than we have ever seen on a HAL ships. This week is the first week they are trying the show times of 7:30 and 9:30 (at least here on the Westerdam) and I have to say they worked perfect for us and so far it sounds like others think this as well.
Tonight is Formal Night with the usual menu and the Cast Production Show. At 11 PM this evening Julie Barr is having an Adult Comedy show so we may go to that depending on how tired we are although we have been staying up much later.

I have not mentioned about the upcoming Mariner Brunch. I did mention that there were only about 400 on board so not huge numbers like you find on most sailings. I was told about 50% of those had less than 50 days. The Invite said for us to go directly to the Vista Dining Room at 11 AM on Saturday so like the Statendam there is to be No Pre cocktail Party for Medallion Holders. I am wondering if they are doing away with the Pre Cocktail party for medallion holders????? On the invite it states open seating. So I will be sure to report in.

I hope for next weeks sailings that you have as wonderful of weather as we have had. This week is what HAL Alaska advertising and promos are made of.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

SDHALFAN

June 5th, 2009, 09:03 PM

I totally agree with you. Nothing drives me more crazy then people that feel they have a sugar coat everything. You say one negative thing and out come the HAL cheerleaders. The people I admire most on this board are the ones that tell it like it is. People spend good money to do a live from thread and I appreciate it. No wonder less and less people do live from threads when some people feel so compelled to make snide remarks.

AMEN - I really do have to agree with you, especially about the snide remarks. I love HAL but have also had some not so great experiences myself (especially one Dining Room Steward whom I was ready to stab with my steak knife;):D) but I don't take the time or the money to report "Live" from the ship and I do appreciate and admire the people who do.

Every cruise has been a memorable experience and the best times aboard ship far outweigh the bad times.

Valerie:)

operafan

June 5th, 2009, 09:33 PM

Lisa, We'll be on the June 7th sailing & I just wanted to say a great big THANK YOU for the terrific posts. We can't wait to see it all for ourselves. (Yellow robes aside.) ;)

Back to packing.............

sail7seas

June 5th, 2009, 09:36 PM

Lisa,

I have to commend your acute attention to detail. It's awesome.
We cruise a great deal every year and have for years and I have never been so focused on each facet of our cruise. I am more apt to view the day/the cruise as a whole rather than every tiny feature.

When we go to Maasdam next week, I'm going to make an effort to notice each detail and see how I do. :) I expect to fail miserably. :D But I am very sure we'll have our always fabulous time on the very beautiful Maasdam.

Good for you. Enjoy the last bit of your cruise. It ends so fast. I'll be interested to read your report re: Mariners Luncheon. Hope it's fun!

Safe Home.

NorthPhoenixGuy

June 5th, 2009, 10:05 PM

BRAVA LISA! I've enjoyed this week reading your posts...the good the bad and the ugly. It's all part of every cruise and I applaud you for writing exactly what you thought. One thing I don't understand is why Tom didn't send back the hamburger? I would not eat something that I felt was not what I was expecting. Can't wait for your big finish.

RevNeal

June 5th, 2009, 10:12 PM

Dear Lisa,

Thank you so very much for your full, clear, and honest reports! Very well done, indeed!

We had low numbers of Mariners on both the Ryndam and Amsterdam last month: about 350 on the Ryndam and just barely 300 on the Amsterdam, and MOST had fewer than 100 days.

On the Ryndam's Mariner reception I was seated at the Hotel Manager's Table, and would have been at the Captain's Table had it not been for them having to make room for a couple of spouses (who didn't, otherwise, qualify). I have never been that close to the top before. Indeed, I was told that I was the 6th senior-most passenger aboard, which shocked me seeing as I only had 204 days at the time. 3 people were awarded bronze medallions, and one lady got promoted from Silver to Gold (she was the senior-most aboard).

At the Amsterdam's Mariner Reception I sat at the Cruise Director's Table, meaning that I wasn't as close to the top as I had been on the Ryndam ... but, still, I'd never been at the third table before, either, so I'm not complaining. When I asked I was told that I ranked 14th aboard. What was most surprising was that there were NO medals awarded aboard the Amsterdam ... none. There were a few Platinum, a couple of Gold, and a bunch of Silver holders, but nobody was promoted on our cruise either to the hardware or to the upper-levels.

Such is RARE for me ... I usually cruise on itineraries where my 200+ days make me only a baby. :)

RevNeal

June 5th, 2009, 10:15 PM

Dear Lisa,

Regarding those who have not had kind remarks, or who have felt compelled to pontificate about how you report ... tell 'em to go jump in a frozen lake. Those of us, like you and I and Ruth and others, who report "Live" from the ships are spending good money to file those reports ... none of us should be subjected to the self-inflated opinions of those who think we're not posting as we should. The attitudes of some are among the reasons why I have debated not posting Live again ... but, it's dear people like Ruth and you and a few others, and your encouragements, that have kept me posting Live from the ships. :)

So ... please know you have my appreciation and thanks for taking us along on the Westerdam. It's amazing that we've never cruised together, and we MUST change that soon.

sail7seas

June 5th, 2009, 10:23 PM

<snip>

On the Ryndam's Mariner reception I was seated at the Hotel Manager's Table, and would have been at the Captain's Table had it not been for them having to make room for a couple of spouses (who didn't, otherwise, qualify). I have never been that close to the top before. Indeed, I was told that I was the 6th senior-most passenger aboard, which shocked me seeing as I only had 204 days at the time. 3 people were awarded bronze medallions, and one lady got promoted from Silver to Gold (she was the senior-most aboard).

At the Amsterdam's Mariner Reception I sat at the Cruise Director's Table, meaning that I wasn't as close to the top as I had been on the Ryndam ... but, still, I'd never been at the third table before, either, so I'm not complaining. When I asked I was told that I ranked 14th aboard. What was most surprising was that there were NO medals awarded aboard the Amsterdam ... none. There were a few Platinum, a couple of Gold, and a bunch of Silver holders, but nobody was promoted on our cruise either to the hardware or to the upper-levels.

Such is RARE for me ... I usually cruise on itineraries where my 200+ days make me only a baby. :)

HAL must love to read this post, Greg. They are achieving what they have been striving for. While I have no doubt they honor and appreciate us high number of days Mariners, the company has to have new cruisers. If you are saying 200 days is among the highest number aboard, HAL is succeeding at what they must do.

As very high number of days Mariner, that makes me happy. I want the company to thrive so we can continue to enjoy our wonderful HAL cruises.

We are often/most always among those with the most days so love seeing new cruisers at their first or second Mariners' function. They are HAL's future.

sail7seas

June 5th, 2009, 10:35 PM

At the Amsterdam's Mariner Reception I sat at the Cruise Director's Table, meaning that I wasn't as close to the top as I had been on the Ryndam ... but, still, I'd never been at the third table before, either, so I'm not complaining. When I asked I was told that I ranked 14th aboard. What was most surprising was that there were NO medals awarded aboard the Amsterdam ... none. There were a few Platinum, a couple of Gold, and a bunch of Silver holders, but nobody was promoted on our cruise either to the hardware or to the upper-levels.

. :)

Interesting how every ship, every Captain and Hotel Manager, do Mariners Reception just a little different.

A few of our recent cruisers, Captain and Hotel Manager greeted everyone as we came into the dining room but they did not stay for lunch.

On Eurodam in March, both weeks we were aboard, Captain and Hotel Manager were at the same table for luncheon. It must be the style for that ship as we had two different Captains. One went home for vacation after our first week and another arrived for a 'short tour'.

In December, Maasdam had a great evening cocktail party for all Mariners who had a medallion or were being awarded one. It was a great party in addition to the nice luncheon. Maybe it depends upon how many Medallion Holders are aboard for a given cruise.

But, this, of course, is not what Lisa's thread is all about. Sorry for the divergence.

Copper10-8

June 5th, 2009, 10:39 PM

....................
The Invite said for us to go directly to the Vista Dining Room at 11 AM on Saturday so like the Statendam there is to be No Pre cocktail Party for Medallion Holders. I am wondering if they are doing away with the Pre Cocktail party for medallion holders????? On the invite it states open seating. So I will be sure to report in.....................

They still have the pre-coctail party for the Mariners but on the last couple, it has been the '300-day and over crowd' who have been invited plus those getting medals at that event. You've got a couple of months to go!;)

IrishColleen53

June 5th, 2009, 10:41 PM

I love your posts! I look forward to them. The detailed way you describe everything is what makes it feel like we are there with you (almost). Thanks for doing this.

sail7seas

June 5th, 2009, 11:15 PM

They still have the pre-coctail party for the Mariners but on the last couple, it has been the '300-day and over crowd' who have been invited plus those getting medals at that event. You've got a couple of months to go!;)

That might be the case on Westerdam or other ships, but that was not the case on Maasdam or Eurodam. For our last cruises on those ships, all Medallion Holders were invited to the cocktail party.

RevNeal

June 5th, 2009, 11:53 PM

That might be the case on Westerdam or other ships, but that was not the case on Maasdam or Eurodam. For our last cruises on those ships, all Medallion Holders were invited to the cocktail party.

Ditto.
On both the Ryndam and the Amsterdam, prior to the brunch, they had a champaign reception for all medal holders. They then called us up by name and escorted us to our assigned tables.

Copper10-8

June 6th, 2009, 12:09 AM

That might be the case on Westerdam or other ships, but that was not the case on Maasdam or Eurodam. For our last cruises on those ships, all Medallion Holders were invited to the cocktail party.

That's funny! That's the way it was last year on Maasdam, then on Veendam and Ryndam

Bonnie Voyager

June 6th, 2009, 07:19 AM

Just wanted to chime in a big THANK YOU for your "LIVE" report! I will be boarding The Westerdam, next month to take my dear Mother-in-law on her Alaskan DREAM vacation! She and I both have significant cruise experience, but this will be both of our first HAL cruises and both of our first Alaskan visits! I totally understand your style of reporting. I get that you are basically just thinking out loud. ;) and are NOT bashing and/or promoting The Westerdam. I appreciate having had the opportunity to take this virtual cruise with you! Now I am that much more excited to board the Westerdam myself! I've been on enough cruises to understand that "Sh!t Happens" but in the end there are no bad cruises! Some are just BETTER than others! :D

Krazy Kruizers

June 6th, 2009, 07:42 AM

Last year on our 19 day repositioning cruise and 7 day Alaskan cruise, there was a cocktail party for the medal holders in the Explorer's Lounge.

This year on our 21 day cruise there were a lot more medal holders but no cocktail party.

The captain and hotel manager did not stay for lunch at the 2008 brunch.

For the 2009 -- all new awardees were given their medals while we ate lunch.

mamaofami

June 6th, 2009, 08:02 AM

Lisa, I've enjoyed reading your live thread. No cruise is ever perfect, and in spite of the few negatives yhou report, you are having a great time. Thanks for your honesty in telling all the details of what you experience.

innlady1

June 6th, 2009, 09:05 AM

On previous cruises we have gotten some lovely items made by the Bar Servers.

Last year on the Westerdam we got the entire bistro set -- table, 2 chairs and umbrella.

A few years ago we got the Eagle.

We have a shelf of items made by various bar staff.

On one Noordam cruise, we got the bistro chair, personalized with our names. The wine steward must have split up the set! LOL!

On our most recent Noordam cruise, we (2nd part of b2b) the wine steward overlooked us....gave a bistro set to the tables on either side of us. Guess I didn't order enough wine! ;)

Krazy Kruizers

June 6th, 2009, 10:09 AM

On one Noordam cruise, we got the bistro chair, personalized with our names. The wine steward must have split up the set! LOL!

On our most recent Noordam cruise, we (2nd part of b2b) the wine steward overlooked us....gave a bistro set to the tables on either side of us. Guess I didn't order enough wine! ;)

I'm thinking the same thing -- guess we didn't order enough drinks to warrant anything either on our recent cruises.

Sea King

June 6th, 2009, 10:10 AM

OK since October we have had the good fortune and pleasure of sailing on 4 different HAL ships, 6 different sailings that totaled 49 days. Now the average poster on this board is lucky to see that in 3 to 4 years and many even more years than that. Tom and I are very thankful for this and know we are fortunate. I tend to be a person that likes to know and memorize everything. If you ask me about a type of ship/category/cabin or area of any HAL ships I know about it. I can quote many of HAL's passenger ammedities. In cruising so much frequently in recent times I am finding a huge inconsistantly between the ships in the fleet. I often talk of wondering how there can be such drastic inconsistantacy between the fleet. One would think that you would go from one Pinnacle to the next and they should be all the same but unfortunately they are not. If you only cruise on HAL once every two years you may not notice or even realize these subtle differences. Most of the time I am not complaining I am just commenting on the differences. Chances are what I am experiencing may not happen to you or it might. This is simply a blog of sorts giving my daily happenings and feelings of what is going on.

couldn't agree more with your feelings

too many people criticize just for the sake of criticizing

your posts are always in depth and point out the good as well as the not so good

really don't know of very many people who would spend substantial time on their vacation writing reviews on a daily basis to keep the board updated on what's happening on a particular ship

keep up the good work

sure Seattle is reading every word

ger_77

June 6th, 2009, 11:55 AM

Lisa, you go girl ! ! ! ! ! I'm loving your posts - the details you provide make me feel like I'm onboard with you. Thanks for the investment of time and money to do so for those of us unable to be there in person.

Smooth Sailing! :):):)
Gerry

WTXCRUISER

June 6th, 2009, 02:00 PM

Lisa, I always enjoy your "Live from" threads. I enjoy your 'tell it like it is' style.

k8russ8

June 6th, 2009, 03:46 PM

Your posts are fun and written as I think I might also write them. I "think out loud" too. One should be appreciative of the timely info you supply. It makes fixing the little faux pas much easier. You have given the new cruisers and those who have difficulty asking for what they want an avenue of approach. Keep up the good work.

midgecruiser

June 6th, 2009, 04:37 PM

I always read the live posts and enjoy them very much. Thank you for taking the time and money to take us along for the ride.:)

Wendy

LAFFNVEGAS

June 6th, 2009, 07:39 PM

Saturday June 6th, 2009

Good Afternoon from the Pacific side of Vancouver Island as we get closer to Victoria British Columbia.
Well first of I must say I hate this sad feeling one gets on the last afternoon. This week has flown by far too fast and i so wish we would have made it a B2B.
I will go back to last night, It was the last Formal night and oddly everyone was in the nice dress up clothes. I had not mentioned that the first Formal night several were in Sweat Shirts and Jeans in the Dining Room. But last night everyone must have save their dress up clothes to the end. Dinner was excellent and the food quality was fantasic. The Lobsters were fair large and not at all mushy. Actually it was the first time I had steak or beef of any kind in the Vista Dining Room all week. Plus the dessert was good as well. Since we had already made plans with Julie that when we were in Victoria we would get off the ship and go to a Pub she knows of we knew we needed to say our Good Byes to Tua our server and Wilfredo our Wine Steward so we brought with us the additional they definitely earned in the wake of additional tips.

We actually ended up staying in the Dining Room much later with talking with the Stewards and several of them were coming over because we new several from other cruises. I know it had been mentioned that the Westerdam was not doing Baked Alaska Parade or the Good Bye Song but to our amazement when most of the Upper Level from the Early Dining had left they started the introduction to the Good Bye Song. It was Great. I had thought we would not getto hear it and it made for a nice way to end the evening there with such a great crew and wonderful food.

We then headed back to the cabin for a while to read, we ended up skipping the Final Crew Show since we did not get out of the Dining Room till after 7:30. At 9 we had planned to go back to the shops to kidnap Julie and go have a drink in the Ocean Bar.

We had planned to make it to Julie Barr's late show but it was at 11:00 in by that time my eyes were burning so we headed back to the cabin.

This morning was a sleep in morning but I did go down to the Future Cruise Consultant's Desk to purchase another Future Deposit because we used the last one we purchased for this cruise so to have a little extra ship board credit. I met Vladka Bontenbal who is the Hotel Manager's Wife. We talked a bit about what I want to do and she too has incouraged me to still do up my video and send it it. I was recently told they definitely would not be hiring till 2011 and they had some that had completed training and still not assigned a ship so that doing my video now was not good timing. But since so many on the ships keep telling me to do it, that is what I plan to do.

At 11 AM was the Marinor Brunch and their definitely was no Pre Cocktail Party for Medallion holders. As we walked in they directed those with medallions on and those carrying their invitations that said they were to show their invite (ours did but we did not bring it figured that copper thing around our neck already told them;)) We were directed toward the back in the raised area on deck 3. There was a table there with 2 medallions laying out and the display of the other medallions. We were seated at a table for 4. The couple with us had 191 days and we have 161 days. Andrew the CD introduced Captain Harris and he spoke a little bit about the fleet and and about some of the ships being remodeled. He then turned the microphone back over to Andrew who then said that we had 2 couples with 100 days each receiving their medallions today and he introduced them and the Captain gave them the medallions and they took pictures with each couple with the Captain and the Hotel Manager. The they wanted to recognize Mariners with the most numbers of days. Andrew had said in this introduction that we had Mariners doing their 2nd cruise and Mariners that had as many as 22 cruises. Tom and I looked at each other because this made 22 cruises for us. Well it ends up that the people sitting with us had the most number of days which was 191 and had 19 cruises (most of their cruises were 10 days or more) then we were introduced with having the next highest number of days with 161. There were about 2 other couples introduced that the days were in the 130's I have to admit I thought I would not ever be on a cruise where we had the second most number of days and actually the highest number of cruises. We were then asked to come up for a group picture of the Medallion holders. We were actually quite surprised because this was the first time this has happened since we have had our medallions. We then sat back down and the Captain and H/M and CD left. No officers stayed to have lunch. This same thing happened when we were on the Statendam last month. There was no Pre Cocktail Party for any Mariner and the Officers did not stay for lunch. I will say that while the menu was similiar to what we have had in the past I thought it was much better. I had the Salmon and it was prepared with the interesting sauce that was almost like a creamy white gravy and herb mashed potatoes and the desserts was different it was a brownie cake with a creme sauce and a thin layer of pumpkin mousse on the top with another thin layer of whipped creme. They did refill the wine glass for us which was nice. We ended up being the last people left in the dining room with several people from our Roll Call that I had not had a chance to see yet coming up and introducing themselves as well as really enjoying the couple we sat with that had the most number of days.

Well I need to quit writing because you are not going to believe this but Tom and I were invited to the Question and Answers session with the Hotel Manager. They are holding it in the Piano Bar. This should be very interesting........:D

Once docked we are heading into town with Julie for dinner then when we return we are meeting up with Joel Mason and his wife for drinks. Somewhere in that time I need to think about packing.:eek:

So this looks to be my final report from the ship, I will of course come back in either tomorrow night and or Monday and fill you in on the Q and A.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

Chivalrygirl

June 6th, 2009, 09:26 PM

Dear Lisa,

Looks like we are in the same boat, but in my case its a grotty long haul flight. All good things come to an end.......till my next time in the US, it breaks my heart to leave :mad: But the dear one is all excited cause I am about to return ;) Safe journey home. I have enjoyed reading your reports.
Love Val
xox

Copper10-8

June 6th, 2009, 10:10 PM

Safe journeys home Lisa and Val!

duck tune

June 6th, 2009, 11:50 PM

Well I need to quit writing because you are not going to believe this but Tom and I were invited to the Question and Answers session with the Hotel Manager. They are holding it in the Piano Bar. This should be very interesting........:D

So this looks to be my final report from the ship, I will of course come back in either tomorrow night and or Monday and fill you in on the Q and A.

Signing off from the Beautiful and Elegant MS Westerdam.

I look forward to reading about your experience at the Q and A. My husband and I just got off the Zaandam yesterday and we were surprised to be invited to the Q and A in the Piano Bar on Thursday afternoon before docking in Victoria. There were three couples (including us) two men with 500 days with HAL, a solo traveler with a red mariner pin, a travel agent with over 47 cruises and a family of 5 that left before providing input. The Hotel Manager did not attend due to a "conference call" so the Cruise Director took his place in addition to representatives from Shore Excursions and Guest Relations. We were never asked our names and it was indeed an interesting experience. I look forward to your comments. I just wonder if HAL will take the feedback to heart?

dvdfreakmc

June 7th, 2009, 07:21 AM

Lisa,

Thanks so much for going to the extra time and expense for your "LIVE" posts. I really appreciate the good and the "improvable" comments in your posts and I hope that HAL does as well, esp. in the Q&A you will be going to. The experience of passengers and the variation between ships would be of great interest to a customer focused organization like HAL. While economic times are hard and the realities of those may affect individual decisions on service - the experience and how it all comes together is of supreme importance.

We each have our own view of what makes an EXCELLENT experience for customers, so hearing the good and bad is so helpful to all of us that want the HAL experience to improve. That's why I enjoy your posts. You do have a rare perspective in taking in so many cruises in a short amount of time. We aren't able to go as often, so I appreciate the perspective. For example, Susan and I really enjoyed our smaller ship experience on Maasdam last year, mainly because the passenger group started feeling like a small family by the end of the cruise. We kept running into people throughout shore excusions and saw others at dinner in a way we hadn't on the Vista class. Some view the smaller ships as older and want the larger ships. But the beauty in the different experiences we present is that they give different views in our reviews for those out there in cyberland that may pick up on different pieces.

Thanks for your reviews and I would really miss them if you became discouraged and decided not to invest the time, energy and expense in doing them live. You can tell in your live posts that when you have an issue, you want it to be better because you are one of HAL's greatest cheerleaders. If we can't recognize that service can be improved and don't take the time to comment about it - then sadly as more and more people pull away from the experience due to lowering customer service, we can find the thing we love, as unthinkable as this could be - the HAL cruise - gone forever. Don't let that happen and keep posting -- we all love reading them.

Himself

June 7th, 2009, 10:15 AM

Have a safe journey home and see you soon on another DAM ship

sail7seas

June 7th, 2009, 10:17 AM

Sounds like you enjoyed the Mariners Party, Lisa. Happy they had you up to get the photo taken. I love getting those photos of us with the Captains and Hotel Managers and have saved them all.

Your post about 191 days and your 161 days being the highest aboard really interests me. You may have seen Greg's post about 200 something being highest on his cruise. (Used to be there was almost always at least one couple/cruiser with 500+ days.) This shows HAL is succeeding at what they need to do to secure the company's future. The ships are going out mostly full and if there are not huge numbers of very high number mariners aboard, that means there are lots of newer (and presumably younger) cruisers. That makes me very happy as we high number Mariners (300 - 500 - 700 + days) are HAL's present, they are HAL's future. I want HAL to thrive so we can continue to sail their wonderful ships.

While some of us have criticized some of the changes made in recent years by HAL, maybe we are being proved wrong if lots of younger folks are now being attracted to HAL.

I'm invited all cruises to the Q & A but haven't attended. I keep meaning to and something always comes up. Hopefully, I'll again be asked on Maasdam and I will attend.
I enjoyed this report from you and thank you for it.

Safe Home.

CDRMark

June 7th, 2009, 12:05 PM

Lisa:
I know how hard it is to shoehorn "live from" posts into a cruise, so
many thanks for taking us along. Yours were superb as usual.
Cheers and safe travels home to the only city that gets brighter when the sun goes down.
Mark

booboo29

June 7th, 2009, 04:19 PM

Lisa

I too am interested to hear about the Q&A session. DH and I were invited on our cruise this past New Years on the Statendam, and I found it to be very interesting. It was a small group and the discussion was good and I did feel that they were genuinley interested in what we had to say.

Safe travels home!

Jennifer

Copper10-8

June 7th, 2009, 04:32 PM

HAL has been doing these Q&A sessions since at least mid-2007, maybe even longer. They usually involve heads of different departments and, at least on the one we were invited to on Rotterdam, the session was coordinated/mc'ed by the cruise director, in our case Susan Wood. Present besides her, were the captain, hotel manager, guest relations manager and shore excursion manager and it took place in the Hudson Room. There were only about eleven passengers present but I understand they (onboard management) wants to keep it that way, small.

There was a large plate of cookies on one side of the room and a Filipino bar steward was hovering around asking us for drink orders. The way this program would run is that the CD would allow each person seated in the room time to speak their mind/give their feedback/ask questions to the five “board members” about anything on their mind pertaining to this cruise.

The majority of these were directed to and answered by the hotel manager, Shorex manager and GRM. One interesting exchange between a male passenger and Capt. Smit went as follows: Passenger: “Captain, would it be possible to see more officers in places like the Crow’s Nest at night, I haven’t seen much of them except for the three formal nights?” Captain: “You don’t see many of them there because I don’t want them there”……….. Both the GRM and CD were busy taking notes. The whole thing took abut 50 minutes.

Krazy Kruizers

June 7th, 2009, 05:44 PM

I have often wondered how some people are invited to these private Q & A sessions. We have been invited to a few of them and did attend. Found them very informative.

I was once told by someone on this board that you had to have at least a certain number of days. This we have discovered not to be true.

On a couple of cruises we had the highest number of days and were not invited.

So it does make one think about how certain people are always chosen to attend them while others that I know who have more days than us were not chosen.

Strange that on our Alaskan cruise last year on the Westerdam there were several people who had over 700 days. Very impressive.

Copper10-8

June 7th, 2009, 06:10 PM

I have often wondered how some people are invited to these private Q & A sessions...........

Shhhhhh, maybe you have to be a "HAL Champion":eek: which, as I understand it, is an upgraded version of a "HAL cheerleader":eek: but that's a whole other topic and this is Lisa's thread who's probably on finals to McCarren airport - btw, I have often wondered why Kamikaze pilots wore helmets?

Krazy Kruizers

June 7th, 2009, 06:50 PM

Shhhhhh, maybe you have to be a "HAL Champion":eek: which, as I understand it, is an upgraded version of a "HAL cheerleader":eek: but that's a whole other topic and this is Lisa's thread who's probably on finals to McCarren airport - btw, I have often wondered why Kamikaze pilots wore helmets?

Just mentioned what I thought just as others did here.

LadyFurn

June 7th, 2009, 07:03 PM

Lisa... Just want to add my thanks for letting us "go along" on your cruise.:) We sure would love to go to Alaska yet this summer... the price is certainly right but do we have the time?:confused: We will see what happens! To quote my mother, "I can be packed in 15 minutes..." Thanks again. Cindy

dandro

June 8th, 2009, 01:31 AM

Hey Lisa! Thanks for posting from "our" cruise! Pleasure to meet you and the other CC'ers.

My DH and I found everything to be absolutely perfect, and truly enjoyed our first cruise. The only bad thing was the disembarkation procedure, they really should monitor the groupings, and make sure that only the groups that are supposed to disembark at a particular time do so, and not let the others "butt in". I did look at the tags of the "buttinskys" and it was NOT their turn. But, as I said, everything else was perfect.

And, thanks to CC and it's members. The information that I gathered here was very helpful!

LAFFNVEGAS

June 8th, 2009, 01:36 AM

Sunday June 7th, 2009

Greetings From Las Vegas:)

We are home and unpacked and extremely tired from our very FULL Day.

I will write more tomorrow but just a bit of infor, the Q and A went great it lasted a full hour and there were only 5 of us there. Tom and I, a couple that I think had 136 days with HAL and another guy that had about 140 and Tom and I. The couple were also in a Suite and interestingly enough had the same problems we had with their Cabin Steward but also spent a good portion of their talking time complaining about No Trays in the Lido. Of course most of you know my opinion so I will not get into that here. ;) I thought the Q and A went well and my thoughts were all constructive as well as lots of praise for the new Show Times and Entertainment offered and times in the venues. We spent some time talking with the Hotel Manager as we walked down the hall together and stopped and talked and I think we both had a better understanding of each other.

Afterwards we returned to our room to finish packing before we went out for the evening in Victoria with Julie and on our bed was the picture that had been taken at the Mariner Lunch of the Medallion Holders. I was quite surprised and pleased, we had never had this before so that was extremely nice.

In town we went to Steamers British Pub which was fairly good. But long gone was the wonderful warm Alaska weather, it was down right cold and windy and we froze despite the fact we were wearing our very warm coats.

We returned to the ship about 9 and just a few minutes after we got to the cabin Joel called and we met he and his wife down in the Ocean Bar. It was good to catch up with him and talk about crew we knew, the time flew by quickly because we were there almost 2 hours.

This morning was early wake up call at 6:30 but we got right up got ready and headed down to the Pinnacle fro breakfast. That is one of the things I really love about haveing a Deluxe Verandah Suite because we really are not Room Service people and the Pinnacle is just so relaxing for you last morning on the ship before disembarkation.

Since our flight our of Seattle did not leave till 3:25 we had a special excursion. I have friends that live in the Seattle area and also work for Holland America that had offered to pick us up and before going to lunch wanted to take us on a tour of the HAL HDQTRS. WOW!!!! explains it for both Tom and I. We were so very impressed with everything. Oh how I wish I lived in Seattle and could work there. I can tell you that HAL definitely treats their Seattle employees wonderfully. Definitely a great work place.:) We then had a great lunch and got to the airport about 2.

We landed in Las Vegas a little after 6 and were home unpacking by 7. Now I am exhausted and ready for bed.

Signing off from Home :o

our turn

June 8th, 2009, 09:40 AM

Thanks so much fo taking the time to post these live reports. I always enjoy your threads and appreciate the expense you incur.

Himself

June 8th, 2009, 10:30 AM

Welcome home. I fly to Seattle tomorrow and then take the "Quick Shuttle to Vancouver for my time on the Volendam. You come home and I go. First time since October when I was on the Zaandam.

RuthC

June 8th, 2009, 11:46 AM

Welcome home, Lisa. Although I didn't post while you were sailing, I was reading every entry with interest (and a wee but of envy ;)). I'm glad the weather was so cooperative. And I could tell, even though you posted some less than perfect thoughts about the cruise, that you were having a good time.

Thank you so much for going to the trouble and expense of doing a "Live from ..." thread. As someone who has done them herself, I know what goes into it.
Much appreciated.

mamaofami

June 8th, 2009, 11:53 AM

Glad you and Tom are home safe and that you had a good cruise. Thank you again for taking the time to post your cruise experience live.

kryos

June 8th, 2009, 04:00 PM

At 2 PM was the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet and I thought we had a very good turn out of our group although I was a bit disappointed with the Officers that were all invited and have attended previous CC Meet and Greets on this ship. The Hotel Manager appeared for probably 5 minutes at best and when he appeared I was talking with some of the other CCers could see him out of the corner of my eye. It was my understanding a Bar person came up to him as to see if she should take drink orders and he shook his head NO. Which gave me a bit of a sour taste in my mouth. I know some ships do give out drinks and others Not but we were not given the chance.

Unfortunately, this is the flip side of the great prices we are all getting on our cruises today. To keep the ships full, HAL is offering some great deals, but the downside of that is the budget still has to be met. So, if the cruise line knows that they need to make, say ... a 7% profit on each sailing, they will make that 7% profit by cutting costs. Free drinks at a CC Meet and Greet, higher quality meats in the dining room, enough cabin staff so that the stewards have time to come around and meet each of the passengers they are servicing ... those things all go by the wayside in the interest of maintaining the profit margin.

It's a sad fact of life, but a very logical one. You probably didn't meet your cabin stewards because they are so busy cleaning those 30 or more suites that they have to do everyday that they honestly don't have time to "make nice" with each and every passenger whose cabin they are cleaning. Maybe in past times that team of two cabin stewards only had 20 suites to take care of ... but because of budget cuts, now they have 30 or more.

Yes, we will continue to get nice deals on our cruises in this rough economy, but then we will also have to understand that a lot of the really nice touches that we previously associated with a HAL cruise will likely be gone.

It's just the way it is.

Blue skies ...

--rita

dandro

June 8th, 2009, 05:30 PM

I wasn't expecting anything to eat or drink, nor meet any of the staff/crew at the meet & greet, I was there to meet my fellow CC roll call participants, which made me very happy. :)

Since I had no complaints other than the disembarkation and a few rude passengers, maybe I am just easy......
to please.:D

traveler111

June 8th, 2009, 05:59 PM

Lisa, I enjoyed reading your postings. Thank you.

This March I returned to HAL after sailing on other cruise lines, and I plan to book HAL for my next cruise. I do have a comment re HAL's Q&A I think it is commendable that HAL has a Q&A re passengers' opinion of the cruise they have just taken. However, since there are more non-suite cabins than suites, I think it would be appropriate for HAL to expand the Q&A panel to include those who booked balcony, ocean view, & inside cabins. These occupants are by far the majority and would offer a broader viewpoint. I am sure many of these cruisers have as many if not more days than some suite passenger. :)

pms4104

June 8th, 2009, 06:22 PM

Unfortunately, this is the flip side of the great prices we are all getting on our cruises today. To keep the ships full, HAL is offering some great deals, but the downside of that is the budget still has to be met. So, if the cruise line knows that they need to make, say ... a 7% profit on each sailing, they will make that 7% profit by cutting costs. Free drinks at a CC Meet and Greet, higher quality meats in the dining room, enough cabin staff so that the stewards have time to come around and meet each of the passengers they are servicing ... those things all go by the wayside in the interest of maintaining the profit margin.

It's a sad fact of life, but a very logical one. You probably didn't meet your cabin stewards because they are so busy cleaning those 30 or more suites that they have to do everyday that they honestly don't have time to "make nice" with each and every passenger whose cabin they are cleaning. Maybe in past times that team of two cabin stewards only had 20 suites to take care of ... but because of budget cuts, now they have 30 or more.

Yes, we will continue to get nice deals on our cruises in this rough economy, but then we will also have to understand that a lot of the really nice touches that we previously associated with a HAL cruise will likely be gone.

It's just the way it is.

Blue skies ...

--rita
I agree with your assessment. Sadly, I fear that once some of the elements have been downgraded/adjusted, like quality and/or variety of food or the number of cabins assigned to steward teams, HAL may not up-adjust when the economy improves to the point that HAL can offer more sustainable fares to fill the ships. My concern is that gone is gone, and niceties we've come to enjoy and appreciate in the past won't be back.

san diego sue

June 8th, 2009, 06:26 PM

to Traveler 111,
The question and answer sessions are not just for suite people. We had a balcony and have been asked twice to participate, invited by Hotel Manager in her office with the Captain present (on the Oosterdam). We had about a dozen people present and we were selected for various reasons not cabin selection. People who cruised HAL a lot, Cruise critic rep (which I was the one that arranged the meet and greet), some travel agents etc. Also wide variety of age. so we did represent a varied group.
Lisa with 22 HAL cruises was probably one of the best to ask to attend on her cruise as she has seen many of the HAL ships and very recently. Best position to see the good and bad.

RuthC

June 8th, 2009, 08:35 PM

I think it is commendable that HAL has a Q&A re passengers' opinion of the cruise they have just taken. However, since there are more non-suite cabins than suites, I think it would be appropriate for HAL to expand the Q&A panel to include those who booked balcony, ocean view, & inside cabins.

to Traveler 111,
The question and answer sessions are not just for suite people.
I agree with san diego sue---the sessions are for people in all categories of cabins. I (a cave dweller) have been invited, and attended, several times. I suspect one of the criteria for the invitation is number of days sailed on HAL, but that is only one.
I remember being invited to a Q & A on the old Rotterdam back in the '90s. I can't remember if it was the '92 or the '95 cruise, but I didn't have many HAL days at the time.

LAFFNVEGAS

June 8th, 2009, 11:01 PM

I agree with san diego sue---the sessions are for people in all categories of cabins. I (a cave dweller) have been invited, and attended, several times. I suspect one of the criteria for the invitation is number of days sailed on HAL, but that is only one.
I remember being invited to a Q & A on the old Rotterdam back in the '90s. I can't remember if it was the '92 or the '95 cruise, but I didn't have many HAL days at the time.

Right you are Ruth :D For our cruise those that attended were the same people that were in our Photo received of the medallion holders. The the one men that were in attendence was asking how he got invited since he never and they calimed for they invite the Mariner with high number of days then the invite Leaders of large groups or TA's bringing on a group. They admitted that they get some of their best feed back from Mariners.

This was our 6th time to be invited to one. I always find them interesting:)

jer_l

June 8th, 2009, 11:29 PM

Right you are Ruth :D For our cruise those that attended were the same people that were in our Photo received of the medallion holders. The the one men that were in attendence was asking how he got invited since he never and they calimed for they invite the Mariner with high number of days then the invite Leaders of large groups or TA's bringing on a group. They admitted that they get some of their best feed back from Mariners.

This was our 6th time to be invited to one. I always find them interesting:)
For some reason I was invited to participate in a Q & A on my very first HAL cruise which was on the Oosterdam. One couple and another man were also invited, but only the couple showed up. They were "concierges" for a group that was on board. (Our TA booked us as part of that group although we didn't know it until we were aboard the ship. All of our table mates were also put in that same group by their TA's.) We also had a fairly large CC group on that cruise and I arranged for our CC reception so perhaps that is why I was invited.

LAFFNVEGAS

June 8th, 2009, 11:44 PM

Jerry having set up the CC Meet and Greet would definitely be the reason you were invited.

YES I have pictures and lots of them but I have not even uploaded them yet let alone make up a album but that will be my project for tomorrow.:)

jer_l

June 9th, 2009, 03:05 PM

vgorcar

June 9th, 2009, 03:56 PM

Hi,

Thanks for the great report! I was wondering if crab legs were served as an entree on any of the nights?

Eric

LAFFNVEGAS

June 9th, 2009, 06:41 PM

Hi Lisa,

I just read this on another thread. Did you hear anything about this? (It was on a thread about the Swine Flu, although the poster didn't say whether this outbreak was swine flu or some other other flu.)

"Just wait....we just got off the Westerdam 5/31 sailing, huge outbreak. Guess what we came home with, the flu. Our 7yr DD was the most hit. More of an inconvience than anything. Club HAL mysteriously closed our 3rd day. I knew why, one of the crew told me. However, it was not until we got off the ship, we were notified, not good. "

By the way, I was glad to read that you decided to proceed with your FCC Video. Good Luck!

Yes I read this and on any given sailing on any given ship people are getting sick with the flu, You could stay home and run to your local McDonalds or fill you car up with gas at Chevron and be exposed. I personally think the poster is over reacting and that HAL does do the best they can.

Thanks yes I do plan to do the video soon and get it in although not sure how soon it will even be looked at if even in this year :o

Hi,

Thanks for the great report! I was wondering if crab legs were served as an entree on any of the nights?

Eric

Yes, they did offer Crab Legs on Monday night the first Formal Night. I had them and they were actually better than they have been in the past. :)

jer_l

June 9th, 2009, 06:57 PM

Lisa,
I had a feeling that the "flu" poster might be over-reacting since you didn't mention anything in your posts. (Perhaps because her little girl was the sickest in the family.) It's true that there will be people sick on any sailing whether it be colds, flu or noro. I, too, believe that HAL does an excellent job in maintaining the health of both passengers and crew. I've only been sick twice on cruises. I got a mild cold on one cruise--caught it from my wife. :) On another I got a slight case of food poisoning on an excursion where they served lunch. After a day I felt fine. Overall, I think people are more diligent on a cruise when it comes to sanitation because of the constant reminders when aboard a ship.

Hey, if HALhas the video it could become one of those "right time and right place" moments for you. Just think of all the CC'ers who would book their future cruises with you. :)

Idsardi

June 9th, 2009, 07:45 PM

I enjoyed reading LAFFNVEGAS' daily reports from the Westerdam after we got home from sailing on the same cruise, our first with HAL. I feel lucky that we must have had a once in a lifetime opportunity with the weather the way it was. Several people yesterday remarked on my tan and it was hard to tell them I got it in Alaska.

Our experiences with HAL were almost 100% positive. Our cabin steward went out of his way to greet us each day ( we were on an inside on the Navigation Deck), all crew were friendly, and we found the food something to look forward to each day. Maybe a little too much.

Our only disappointment, contrary to LAFFNVEGAS was the showtimes.
Out 8:00 seating made it quite difficult to make the 9:30 show. Most tables were still occupied at 9:30 and we never wanted to really rush through dessert or leave our wonderful tablemates. We did catch the last 20 - 40 minutes of the shows.

However, what a small price to pay for such a wonderful week.

PS A great shore excursion in Ketchikan is the Bering Sea Fishermen's Experience. Whether you are a fan of Discovery Channels "DEADLIEST CATCH" or not Im sure you will enjoy this 3.5 hour trip. You see several different types of fishing, King Crabs, Snow Crabs and Octopi close up and live, hear the fisherman's experiences as well as a front row seat watching Bald Eagles catch fish. A great excursion on a great cruise.

Idaho1584

June 9th, 2009, 08:23 PM

I will be watching carefully, as we are booked on the Westerdam in July. I am a tough sell for quality and service, so I pray they do not disappoint!!!!!! It's our first HAL cruise, so there are many years of future sailings at stake!

Happy sailing!

dandro

June 9th, 2009, 08:29 PM

Idaho, I was 100% satisfied with our cruise, hope you will be, too. But then again, I am not a tough sell, I go in with a positive attitude and an open mind and that's what's always worked for me in any situation.

Not to change the subject, but does anyone know if we really did leave without someone in Juneau and a couple in Ketchikan? I kept hearing their names being paged over the loudspeakers, just curious if those people were actually left behind?

jmk22574

June 9th, 2009, 09:22 PM

Lisa - thanks again for hosting the sail away get together in your cabin and setting up the meet and greet. It was really nice having you and Tom as our neighbors! :)

Dandro - it was very nice meeting you also. I'm glad you enjoyed your first cruise so much....we were equally as pleased after our first cruise (with HAL) two years ago. I have no idea about the person in Juneau, but the couple in Ketchikan did make the ship. They were about 10 minutes late, so I guess they got lucky.

It was great meeting everyone from the roll call - we enjoyed our time with a lot of great people. I do know that a few people realized we were somewhat disappointed with different aspects of this particular cruise, but we REALLY did appreciate all the people we met. I will say that on behalf of Eric's request, I did keep some pretty major events/situations to myself (ourselves), and until at least one still outstanding situation is resolved, I will refrain from posting a review just to avoid coming across in a completely negative manner.

NorthPhoenixGuy

June 9th, 2009, 09:47 PM

JMK22574

You've already come across in a mysterious and negative manner. Wasn't there anything you enjoyed about the cruise? If there was, you could have mentioned them in your posting so you could balance your negativty with some positive things.

jmk22574

June 9th, 2009, 11:19 PM

David - thanks so much for your comments. They are exactly why I'm choosing to NOT post a review at this time. Not sure how exactly I'm coming across as mysterious and negative. My post was aimed at those whom I met on the cruise - not you.

NorthPhoenixGuy

June 10th, 2009, 08:53 AM

JMK22574...I think I understand your motivation now but it would be good to hear what you liked about the cruise. I'm going on the same cruise in September. It was fascinating reading Lisa's daily postings because as I said way back here, she lieft nothing out and gave us all of her impressions....the good, the bad and the ugly. Lisa is such a descriptive writer and really takes care to let the reader know what's affecting her in a positive and negative way. I wish all posters were as balanced as Lisa. I'll look forward to reading your Westerdam posting when you get everything sorted out. Will you posting it here or on the Westerdam review section?

LAFFNVEGAS

June 10th, 2009, 12:21 PM

Thanks David :) Yeah I do tend to "Say it Like It IS" :D
Unfortunately the bad things in the beginning will often come out or at least the things I find unfavorable but then as more of the really good things happen it out weighs the bad. But of course it could go the other way. At any rate I think that informing HAL right away of things that are not as they should be but at the same time complimenting them on what they are doing right is the best way to approach it. I did this in the Q and A, I started off mentioning the things I thought were great then went into the things I thought that needed improvement.

Overall HAL did so many good things right on this cruise. At least for us the Dining Room experience was excellent including the food quality and selection in the Main Dining Room as well as our service. Sadly it was the Pinnacle lunch that fell short, had that not happened we would have had one night in there as well as another lunch so that was their loss.

Also like I mentioned I thought this spa was one of the best run spas I have seen in a while (not since the Amsterdam last summer have I seen the Thermal Suite to be exactly as it should be.Oh Yes and the Eurodam was doing it pretty good too ;)) I did go talk to the Spa Manager to compliment her and she said that that does not happen often and I think I took her by surprise. She also said to please mention it on the Comment Cards which I did :)

kryos

June 10th, 2009, 04:34 PM

I agree with your assessment. Sadly, I fear that once some of the elements have been downgraded/adjusted, like quality and/or variety of food or the number of cabins assigned to steward teams, HAL may not up-adjust when the economy improves to the point that HAL can offer more sustainable fares to fill the ships. My concern is that gone is gone, and niceties we've come to enjoy and appreciate in the past won't be back.I don't know if I necessarily agree with that. It's just like when you take a long/more exotic/more expensive cruise and when you take a "standard" 7 or 10-day cruise. You'll find more "amenities" on the longer cruise. You might get a glass of wine at the Meet 'n Greet, or you may get invited to a special luncheon or whatever. You might even find yourself being treated to a drink the in the Ocean Bar by one of the officers you've been chatting with. But on the shorter cruises, with tighter budgets, this just doesn't happen unless you are staying in a suite, escorting a large group, etc. That's because the budget is tight enough that by the time those folks are taken care of (and probably there isn't even enough to take care of all of them), there is no money for others. I went to a Meet 'N Greet on a 13-day sailing from New York through the Panama Canal and then back to Fort Lauderdale. The cruise wasn't selling well and HAL had to make a lot of great deals with people on another Transit sailing to get them to switch over to this one. Clearly the profit margins were really tight by the time they gave out all that OBC and free upgrades to those people. Well, at the Meet 'N Greet we got nothing ... nada ... zip ... zilch in the way of refreshments. Not even water or tea or coffee. Nothing. The cruise director graced us with her presence and spoke for a half hour and took questions, but clearly she didn't want to be there. In fact, this Meet 'N Greet was being held on the LAST DAY of the cruise. She was trying to shake me off and not have it at all. When I was persistent, she figured she'd fix me good and scheduled it on the last day with no refreshments whatsoever. Guess she did fix me, didn't she?

But it's the same with the economy. Things are tight, so right now, HAL has to make some "cuts" ... that's obvious. By I honestly believe that once the economy swings back up and prices get readjusted to their normal levels, you'll see more of those HAL touches coming back. At least I hope so.

Blue skies ...

--rita