Westerdam Exceeded All Expecations

Family arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on March 28, 2015 from a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam. We've sailed RC, Carnival, and prefer Princess. We are now HAL loyalists! The ship and service was impeccable. This was a special cruise for my family to celebrate mom's birthday and also my 34 year old sister's successful fight this past year with breast cancer. This cruise had to be wonderful. It was. The ship is beautiful. HAL is "our people". We are now cruise snobs. We are already planning our next HAL cruise. Any thoughts? We are considering the Panama Canal 10 night cruise or a cruise from Rotterdam or Amsterdam to Normay or one of the Canada 7 night cruises. Any other ships we should consider? We really enjoyed the Vista experience. I think HAL has a strong niche in the cruise market. I am so glad we took a chance on them over Princess.

Welcome to CC and so happy to have a new family of converts to HAL:)

Once you are settled back into your normal routine could you write a review? I know there are so many booked on HAL for the first time that would welcome hearing another new person telling them their experience:)

Next cruise how about Alaska? Nieuw Amsterdam is doing the Inside Passage out of Vancouver. Or Westerdam out of Seattle?

Joanie

I have done Princess, RC, Carnival, NCL and also prefer Princess.

I had a RC cruise booked for Dec 26, 2015 booked for the past year.

My sister cruised with HAL this past Christmas and enjoyed so much that I switched my RC cruise to HAL' Westerndam to try them out.

Would enjoy reading about your cruise experience.

I am very happy to read this as I board for 20 days in less than 2 weeks. This will be our 3rd HAL cruise but our first Vista ship. We tried Disney and Princess but HAL is our top choice.

Were you by any chance in an SY port side cabin? (I saw a nice sign on the door celebrating a Mom's Birthday).

We adore the Westerdam, have sailed on her five times out of seven HAL cruises. Wasn't it a spectacular week? Glad you and your family enjoyed. :)

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

....and Welcome to the Hal boards. We love the Westerdam too. So glad you had a great experience on her. Hope this only the beginning of many more cruises on her.

Thanks for your report.

Thank you for sharing. I am so happy to hear your thoughts on the Westerdam as I as sailing to Alaska for the first time on the Westerdam, first time on HAL in 32 days! Hope that you have the the time to write a review.

Nice to hear about your great experience. Can't wait for my first HAL cruise next week on the Westerdam.

Family arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on March 28, 2015 from a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam. We've sailed RC, Carnival, and prefer Princess. We are now HAL loyalists! The ship and service was impeccable. This was a special cruise for my family to celebrate mom's birthday and also my 34 year old sister's successful fight this past year with breast cancer. This cruise had to be wonderful. It was. The ship is beautiful. HAL is "our people". We are now cruise snobs. We are already planning our next HAL cruise. Any thoughts? We are considering the Panama Canal 10 night cruise or a cruise from Rotterdam or Amsterdam to Normay or one of the Canada 7 night cruises. Any other ships we should consider? We really enjoyed the Vista experience. I think HAL has a strong niche in the cruise market. I am so glad we took a chance on them over Princess.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Pleased that you enjoyed your Westerdam cruise.

Family arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on March 28, 2015 from a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam. We've sailed RC, Carnival, and prefer Princess. We are now HAL loyalists! The ship and service was impeccable. This was a special cruise for my family to celebrate mom's birthday and also my 34 year old sister's successful fight this past year with breast cancer. This cruise had to be wonderful. It was. The ship is beautiful. HAL is "our people". We are now cruise snobs. We are already planning our next HAL cruise. Any thoughts? We are considering the Panama Canal 10 night cruise or a cruise from Rotterdam or Amsterdam to Normay or one of the Canada 7 night cruises. Any other ships we should consider? We really enjoyed the Vista experience. I think HAL has a strong niche in the cruise market. I am so glad we took a chance on them over Princess.

Thanks for the review and I am glad you liked the Westerdam.

With that in mind, I think you would really enjoy the Zuiderdam on one of her partial Panama Canal sailings (10 or 11 nights). IMO, the Z is even better than the W, especially the crew and officers. Plus, I really loved the theater on the Z. If you can swing it, get one of the aft wrap cabins (5190 or 5191) on deck 5. The veranda's are HUGE - could have put 40 people on them if we had tried. The views of the Canal were fantastic - one time experience we will never forget.

Thanks for your report. Welcome to CC and welcome to HAL. Consider yourself at home, you are now a part of the family!

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Glad you had a good cruise, we love HAL too.

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

Glad you had a wonderful cruise on the Westerdam.

Thanks for your report. Welcome to CC and welcome to HAL. Consider yourself at home, you are now a part of the family!

... ditto from Kentucky, bhambamacruiser! ... our next cruise in June will be our third aboard the Westerdam, so it's good to hear that she's still providing outstanding service ... thanks for your report ...

Rod

Welcome to Cruise Critic. So glad you enjoyed your Westerdam cruise. I'm looking forward to checking her out very soon. I'm not a fan of the Vista ships and prefer the R Class, the Amsterdam being my all time favourite. Glad you are happy with Hal. It's obvious I am since I am 4 Star and soon to be 5. Happy planning of your next cruise on one of these Dam ships.

Did 2 weeks on the Westerdam last month and loved it...but enjoy all "those size" (We refer to them as the North, South, East, and West ships since that's what their Dutch name indicates.) Thought Mario was the best CD ever...lots of staff rated +++++

Glad you learned the error of your ways and are now willing to cruise with HAL.

We love the AK cruises and the Northern Europe cruises (Norway, Denmark, etc.) but it depends on how much time/money one can spend.

Heading out next on the Voyage of the Vikings (Boston to Boston, 35 days) which we are looking forward to.

I'm looking forward to being on the westerdam soon also. i love the thermal pools on the bigger Vista ships. My 5th cruise my third ship.

Did 2 weeks on the Westerdam last month and loved it...but enjoy all "those size" (We refer to them as the North, South, East, and West ships since that's what their Dutch name indicates.) Thought Mario was the best CD ever...lots of staff rated +++++

Glad you learned the error of your ways and are now willing to cruise with HAL.

 

We love the AK cruises and the Northern Europe cruises (Norway, Denmark, etc.) but it depends on how much time/money one can spend.

 

Heading out next on the Voyage of the Vikings (Boston to Boston, 35 days) which we are looking forward to.

We are really interested in this V of the V.....hope you do a review as I'm sure those of us exploring our options love hearing about all the different voyages!

Family arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on March 28, 2015 from a 7 night cruise on the Westerdam. We've sailed RC, Carnival, and prefer Princess. We are now HAL loyalists! The ship and service was impeccable. This was a special cruise for my family to celebrate mom's birthday and also my 34 year old sister's successful fight this past year with breast cancer. This cruise had to be wonderful. It was. The ship is beautiful. HAL is "our people". We are now cruise snobs. We are already planning our next HAL cruise. Any thoughts? We are considering the Panama Canal 10 night cruise or a cruise from Rotterdam or Amsterdam to Normay or one of the Canada 7 night cruises. Any other ships we should consider? We really enjoyed the Vista experience. I think HAL has a strong niche in the cruise market. I am so glad we took a chance on them over Princess.

So glad you enjoyed your cruise! We've been on the Westerdam twice. After the last one, I said to myself that this was the first and only time I had absolutely nothing to complain about, lol! I found it an extremely well-run ship with a great crew.

Glad you had such a good time with your family. I think you went on this cruise to positively have a great time with them. Attitude is very important. We liked the Noordam but have changed our mind now and like the N Amsterdam which has a NYC theme. We did a great cruise though on the Eurodam which included Iceland and Greenland.

Panama Canal cruise is a great experience. Read up on the canal's history and attend a lecture presented on the ship. I totally was astounded with it's functions. There have been many wonderful reviews of the Canada cruise. Some cruisers have done repeats! Any of the Vista ships will be good for you. We now, though, like the smaller, older ships--less walking.

We love the Westerdam and Alaska. We will be on it June 13. :):):)

Enjoy!

This is actually my first time to post and use a forum. I am not the best at responding properly to individual posts. I am grateful for the great recommendations you all provided. We are already doing our research for our next HAL cruise. I can post my review on the forum. I noticed Cruise Critic just posted it today on the reviews for the Westerdam. I will post it again in the forum for further discussion. Also, IRL_Joanie, you provide some wonderful resources and comments. Your photos posts of the menus was so helpful. Thank you for the details. It makes planning a trip so much easier.