A very late Westerdam Caribbean Trip report

Finally, I have a couple of free hours so I decided to write a quick report on my recent Westerdam sailing...

Ms. Westerdam

31/10/2015. 7 Day Eastern Caribbean

Embarkation:

We arrived at Port Everglades Terminal 26 around 10.30am. To a very small line.

Check in was a breeze and done in the usual, friendly and Professional way we got accustomed to sailing from Florida.

At 11.20, there was an announcement that cabins would only be ready from noon, and that suite guests could proceed to board now.

Ten minutes later, it was our turn!

We stepped on the escalator, only to be shouted at by some granny one floor up to " one hand on the rail!!" As I am a rebel ( I guess my mother had a terrible time with me) I did not comply, so grandma shouted at me " you are a very naughty boy!" 😱 thanks God she did not arrest, tackle or refuse me boarding for being so disobedient youngster...

Anyhow, we managed to board and were guided to the Lido as usual...

The Buffet was already a madhouse, but although not advertised, the MDR opened up for ALL guests ( so it is not only Mariners Lunch anymore people) at 12.30 pm.

Food:

Let me start with the fact that my wife and I are Belgian and love good food, but are usually not paying for the extra charge restaurants when cruising.

Our previous Cruising experience is mainly with Celebrity ( Elite plus) and Aida.

That being said, we are always happy with the food served to us on HAL.

In the mornings, the breakfast buffet has several selections not available on X, like free fresh orange juice, several kinds of Eggs benedict and gorgeous sticky buns and egg sandwiches.

The breakfast selection is truly Premium compared with the other mainstream lines. Also, there is barely a wait, and actually, the food is NOT Cafetaria style, it is presented Island style, just like on Celebrity. People tend to wait at the beginning of the buffet for no reason at all, while they should just go to a section and grab what they need, or wait in line to order hot "per order" items.

Lunch at the buffet was also good, especially the Asian section and desserts were standouts.

On embarkation day, there was no sushi available, which was a disappointment, as on our recent Zuiderdam cruise, there was plenty on embarkation.

The following lunches, sushi did appear and was served on individual little cute Asian style trays. Is this a new development?

For our Dinner, we stuck mostly to the MDR.

We had As you Wish Dining and went to eat at various times between 18.30 and 20.30 .

We always had to wait for a 2-top, which was fine, but we did remark how crowded the AYW dining area was, compared to Zuiderdam last June.

The Hosts seemed overwhelmed, people where waiting outside the MDR, inside the MDR, greeters were stressed and the general atmosphere was that of chaos and undercapacity.

The same could be said about the service once being seated.

Although waiters and assistants were without exeption friendly, they were obviously stressed, streched and overworked. As a result, service was somewhat lacking compared to Zuiderdam.

Note to HAL: please increase the crewing for your MDR...

Now for the food: it was exellent.

Presentation wise, HAL can not reach Celebrity standards, but tastewise, the food was always as expected and more.

One thing that we also noticed on Zuiderdam, is that "Gala Night" menus are not only more limited in choice, they are also the weakest in our opinion.

On Gala nights, we were supposed to order our desserts at the start of Dinner, a big no-no in fine dining, on "normal nights" we were presented a separate dessert menu.

talking about menus, we were often presented menus that were dirty, another proof of a waiting team that is overworked and lacks supervision. That Supervision by the way was never seen, very rarely did we notice head waiters, assistant Maitre'd or Maitre d' , and the executive chef remained a great unknown, something that seems typical for HAL, whereas on Celebrity, the Executive chef would walk the restaurants on a regular basis, as would Maitre'd's.

To end things with a positive note, we did enjoy our dinners and are happy with the food in general.

Service:

As said above, the MDR staff was overworked in the AYW section ( lowest deck of the MDR).

Bar and lounge staff were fine, but there seemed to be a slight lack of "team spirit". On Zuiderdam,the crew just seemed more motivated, although we sailed her during Rammadam.

One particular mention to " The Dancer", sorry we don't know his name, but he is quite the entertainer and serves in the Vista show lounge. Great guy!

Happy hours were more limited than on Zuiderdam.

Entertainement:

Overall, we find the entertainment better than on X, with particular mention to the BB King band and Piano man.

Shows are the usual standard cruise affairs.

We do like Dancing with the Stars and will be sad to see this show disappear in the near future.

Cabin:

Our cabin was a stern balcony VB. as a result, our balcony was about twice the size of a normal one, and had a ( old but working, just like me) lounger and normal chair.

The cabin looked more updated and fresh compared to ours on Zuiderdam, with new black upholstery on the sofa and new curtains.

We did have a problem with a very strong and loud Airconditioning, which is situated right above the bed😠. This is of course the worst place to put an airco unit, but alas, Fincantieri is continuing this with newbuilds...

Basically, the airco was blowing full force, and although we were able to regulate the temperature, the associated wind noise and feel made it impossible to sleep. This was partly resolved however within 24 hours.

Mariners advantages:

As I mentioned before, the Mariner Welcome Lunch is indeed a thing of the past and now everybody can have a civilised meal after boarding.

As a replacement, HAL has introduced a Mariner Reception... Now that was absolute war!

Utter chaos in the Crows Nest! People were pushing for their free glass of mediocre sparkling wine, seats, tables, floors were dirty etc etc...

There was absolutely no entry-check so basically anybody could enter, Mariner or not.

The Brunch was nice, good food, service and atmosphere.

But again, nobody checked if you had an invitation.

We did not get a tile by the way.

Ship condition:

Compared to Zuiderdam, which just came out of Drydock a couple of weeks before, Westerdam looked fresher, more modern and in better shape.

There were no tired areas, except for some outdoor teak decking that needed some care.

So that's basically, it...if you managed to get to this sentence in the report, I am impressed by your patience and resilience to my Pigeon English,

Safe Sailings,

D.

Loved your review.

We had the same thing on the Eurodam in October -- Sushi already on small plates.

The first week we went to the Embarkation Mariner Welcome party in the Crow's Nest -- as you said -- total chaos. We didn't bother to go the second week.

Excellent review! We were on the 11/14 sailing on the Westerdam. I would venture to guess that the server you call "The Dancer" is in the photo below. His name is Peter Pan...at least that is what is on his name tag. He is quite the entertainer.

Thank you for the review. We are going on the Westerdam on 1-2-16 and have been looking for reviews. We are excited to be back on her. We usually cruise RC and Celebrity but did enjoy the Westerdam in 2012. Branching out and great rate for our cruise. Glad she is in good shape and any cruise is a great one if you don't expect perfection!

Thanks for your review. We do not attend the mariners lunch anymore but we go to guest relations and ask for our tiles, they have them there. We do not like to miss out on a single one of the lunch buffets. We love the Asian selection for lunch and also, not to miss, bread pudding!

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review Meneer/Kaptein Despegue! The Beverage "Dancer" (by the pic supplied by 510picker) appears to be Beverage Attd Peter Balarbar, a happy individual who has chosen to follow the footsteps of another stand out Bev Attd who went by the stage name "Boozie Boozie". Hope to see you on a future HAL cruise

Thanks for taking the time and effort to write a review Meneer/Kaptein Despegue! The Beverage "Dancer" (by the pic supplied by 510picker) appears to be Beverage Attd Peter Balarbar, a happy individual who has chosen to follow the footsteps of another stand out Bev Attd who went by the stage name "Boozie Boozie". Hope to see you on a future HAL cruise

Are you saying Boozie might still be on the Oosterdam? He's a kick!

Thank you for your review.

Thanks for your review. I enjoyed reading it.

Welcome Back. :)

Glad to hear that the Westie is in good shape, as we are sailing her 21 days very soon.

We sailed her in Feb. 2004, and then Jan. 2015.

Delightful ship (as are all Vista class)

Very good review, and very positive.

BTW: Your writing is very good, and hardly "pidgeon"

Are you saying Boozie might still be on the Oosterdam? He's a kick!

I'm not sure if Boozie is still working for HAL or, if he is, what ship he's assigned to, sorry! :o

Thanks for your review. We do not attend the mariners lunch anymore but we go to guest relations and ask for our tiles, they have them there. We do not like to miss out on a single one of the lunch buffets. We love the Asian selection for lunch and also, not to miss, bread pudding!

I've only been on one HAL cruise and am doing an Eastern Caribbean in March. What are the tiles for that you mentioned?

I've only been on one HAL cruise and am doing an Eastern Caribbean in March. What are the tiles for that you mentioned?

These;

Thank you, Copper! I'll have to look into it.

Thank you, Copper! I'll have to look into it.

Here's the entire collection - click on 'onboard gifts':

http://www.hollandamerica.com/marinerSociety/Main.action?WT.ac=blubar_UNO_Mariner#

Thank you for reviewing your Westerdam cruise.

We share your views about Gala night menus.

Enjoyed your well written review.

Keith

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Thanks for taking the time to report on your cruise and observations about the ship. We really enjoyed our cruise on the Westerdam, and found her to be in good shape overall. The crew and officers were all friendly and helpful.

Thanks for the review!

Fun reading your review. I'm sailing on her next spring.

Question for you - how was the casino? Crowded and busy or ???

Sorry Scluvsrain,

We don't donate to the Casino...😉 but from what I saw when walking through towards the Vista lounge, it was always busy, never crowded, except when there was "free " food to be had...

Thank you for a very thorough review. I have to agree - of all the lines we have sailed HAL has the best breakfast choices in the Lido buffet of any of them.