KDvacation

I appreciate everyone's input and point of view.

I will follow up in the future. I am just so disappointed in HAL. I don't expect a free cruise or huge payday out of this. Really there's no compensation for "my time" and my missed opportunity to be on a full activity cruise.

There should be a way for people to know about these charters that are going to disrupt the "norm". I know that's just a pipe dream

As far as the "drinks being cold", I can't comment. I'm not much of a drinker and didn't plan for drinking to be a major on board activity. It really was about the other events. I wonder if the drinkers had a better cruise than me. Lol.

I've given this a few days of consideration and thought I'd ask for cruise critic advice.

I just got off Westerdam for July 4-July 11 2015 cruise.

Before I booked this cruise, I compared itineraries and on board activities of various ships and several cruise lines. I selected Westerdam for Sitka and Glacier Bay plus all of the "On Location" speakers, events and activities. NOTE: This is our 2nd Alaska cruise and we had a pretty good idea of what we wanted to see on this trip.

I even re-checked On Location daily papers for other sailings after I got off the ship to make sure I was remembering the typical events correctly (and not over stating this)...

Unfortunately, during this sailing the ship was filled with about 40% (700+ people) traveling with Inspiration Tours which ran their own private musical entertainment, worship services, break-out meetings and kids activities. Plus everyone in this group had priority embarkation and it took forever to board the ship due to the very large numbers in this group.

Please understand, the actual passengers were fine, friendly and an agreeable crowd. My issue is the fact that this group reserved so many of the venues and thus HAL's regular or typical on board stuff was either cancelled or scaled back to account for lack of venues unless it was casino, spa, liquor or shopping related. Thus many of the informational events that should have been given by the On Location Guide didn't happen. Some of the live talks were replaced with generic short movies about Alaska, rather than the specific live talks usually conducted. Plus the Vista lounge only offered the "late" show option for evening entertainment. The early show was a "closed" event for Inspiration Tours.

I understand some of the blame falls on me or "shame on me" for not figuring this out before I boarded. I should have known to search on the internet for tours and charters on the Westerdam. But this was our 9th cruise (4 RCCL, 2 NCL, 1 Carnival and 1 Disney) and I've never had a bad on-board experience like this or encountered such a large tour group. Had I been given the opportunity to reschedule my cruise, I would have done so and opted to go when the ship would be available for all typical activities.

But, I didn't know and I was stuck on a ship with many of the scheduled events that I wanted to attend not happening. It was bored "on board".

While on board, I did discuss my experiences with Guest Services, the Cruise Director, the On Location Activity Guide and other HAL employees. They all agreed that I correctly understood why venues were booked and events were cancelled but could not offer any course of action to provide me with a more satisfactory cruise experience.

Now that I'm home, I've contacted my travel agent who is going to formally complain to HAL about this on my behalf. The concept that I struggle with posed to me by the travel agent is what exactly do I ask for or expect from HAL. My biggest disappointment is the wasted vacation opportunity with respect to time off of work which cannot be replaced. I realize that I can't get my time back, but it was really unfair for HAL to sell me a cruise and then not deliver on their typical experience. My analogy is this cruise was like "looking forward to reservations at the best steakhouse in town only to find out I was there on vegetarian night".

The cabins were fine (both veranda and inside), the food was good, ports were good, but the overall on board experience was lacking (in my opinion). It's not like the entire cruise was bad, but it definitely was not the premium experience I had expected.

It's really annoying to find the official HAL policy on their website which states

"Q: Is there a maximum number of guests for an incentive group with Holland America Line?

A: Holland America Line's current policy restricts each group to a maximum of 50 percent of the ship's lower berth capacity. This allows all of our valued guests to enjoy the same premium onboard experience that Holland America Line is known for.

The number of tours guests on our ship was less than this; however, the group was too large and it did not allow for the other 60% to have a premium onboard experience.

So if you were in my shoes, what would you do, if anything?

Here you go:

 

https://twocruisingsisters.wordpress.com/2015/05/10/on-location-guides/

This is exactly what I was looking for!

I'm looking for Alaska 2015 On Location Guide Daily Papers that are put in the cabins each day. I remember seeing them on this board but I can't find them.

I'd greatly appreciate it!

I booked 7 night July 2015 Westerdam in November 2014. You can book earlier or later. This is our 2nd Alaska cruise. Went on NCL July 2012. Originally we were going to book land/sea tour for 2nd trip. Decided not to based upon how much time is spent on land travel vs activities at land destination. Alaska land requires significant travel time. So we decided at this time, to defer land portion. In selecting the cruise, we opted for Seattle round trip (convenient) plus wanted a cruise including glacier bay vs Tracey arm (saw on prior trip). Tracey arm was lovely but we saw it up close with excursion from ship (transfer while at sea to smaller vessel that can get up close to everything). Tracey bay is also often not accessible due to weather or water conditions. I also spent a lot of time looking at excursions in each port to decide which cruise line and ship. IMO it's a wasted port of you don't book an excursion. Yes you can walk around town but you're in Alaska. It's a shame to miss out on what you can do in each port. Enjoy your trip!

I forgot the cupcakes. GF Cupcakes are available by order only. I purchased one. It was good. Honestly there was so much food I had to make choices. No way to enjoy it all! Just like non-GF cruisers.

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I had good GF experience on Oasis Dec 2013. As far as trusting kitchen to not contaminate your food, it's just like risk in land-based restaurant (which does happen and I do not appreciate getting "glutened"). IMO the Sorrento's pizza was very good. I also was taken care of in Chops and Portifino's. In the windjammer, I stuck with "whole" foods that are GF such as fruit, yogurt, hard boiled eggs. In the MDR, I was ordered my dinner meal the night before. The GF bread and rolls were good, but just too much to eat. I had to specify a much smaller portion after the first couple days. For food in ports, I brought my own GF snack or granola bars in their sealed wrappers. Most ports are very strict about open food both getting off ship and re-boarding ship. We opted to have lunch before boarding the ship and I really enjoyed not fighting the crowds for lunch. We boarded the ship later in the day and our bags were in our room no waiting. Another perk IMO. We had one breakfast and lunch in MDR. Way too time consuming. So I did not go back purely to have more time to enjoy the amazing ship and activities. Finally I want to convey. Cruising GF is do-able and delicious. No worries. You will find many GF options.

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I think a sound machine would make a big difference and is a really good idea. Has RCCL confirmed that a portable crib will fit in room? We had one room set with one bed for 2 people; the other room was set up with individual beds for our 3 kids (2 beds and convertible couch). The room steward had to put one of the chairs on the balcony because it didn't fit with the 3 bed configuration. Balcony divider can be opened to make one large balcony. Non Oasis specific advice (we cruised on RCCL with our now 11 year old, when he was 1. Bring/pack a small umbrella stroller, small baby toys for the room, baby food, diapers, baby wipes, babywash, sunscreen. If using formula, get the baby used to powdered formula (easy to travel with). Oasis has a baby/toddler toy room that parents can go to with their child(ren). It was near kids club. Bring cleaning wipes with bleach for your cabins. Our ship had noro outbreak. We did not get sick. But I did learn that the cleaning wipes I packed were bleach-free and therefore not effective on noro. For cruises, I pack wipes and air freshner because I like to be able to clean up any mishaps without waiting until the cabin steward is available. On DCL Magic, one of our kids got sea sick the first night. There was no one from housekeeping "on duty" to help clean up and I didn't have anything with me. It was an unpleasant night, but not an emergency. I'd just prefer to bring my own supplies. You will have a great trip. I have no regrets about travelling with a 1 year old in 2003.

We cruised Oasis of the Seas 12/28/13-1/4/14 in Boardwalk Balcony Cabins 8723 and 8725 for 5 people.

Here’s my thoughts on our awesome trip!

Arrived Thursday, 12/26 at FLL. We stayed 2 nights at Crowne Plaza Fort Lauderdale Airport/Cruise Port. The hotel has a free shuttle from FLL to hotel. Shuttle service was prompt. Hotel is nice, but there is nothing within walking distance. There is a Hertz office on site and we rented a mini-van. Over our 2 night stay, we had several meals at Kiki’s which was overpriced, but good. We tried to go to many other restaurants, but the crowds were overwhelming due to holiday crowds. On Friday, we went to Everglades Holiday Park. It was fun and we did see “stars” from Gator Boys series. We also took the Fort Lauderdale Riverwalk Boat tour of the Intracostal Waterways. We wanted a tour versus DIY water taxi ride. But many people were happy with water taxi.

On Friday, we received emails and texts from RCCL about delayed embarkation for Saturday due to enhanced cleaning procedures triggered by guest GI illnesses. So we requested late check-out at our hotel and were the only people on the shuttle service to Port at 1:30 p.m. No traffic. No crowds at port. It was really fast. It was also really nice to have lunch at our hotel and not fight the Saturday embarkation lunch crowds on the ship.

Oasis of the Seas is stunning and beautiful. Pictures do not do it justice! Our cabins were ready by 2:30 p.m. and we were among the first people to have all our luggage. Maybe last luggage loaded is the first onboard. BTW the ship was so clean and spotless. All week long there was a big cleaning presence on the ship due to threat of Norovirus.

Our cabins 8723 and 8725 had great views of the aqua deck, jumbo-tron screens and pretty good view of the ocean. However, the boardwalk is very loud. Noise was a constant even with balcony doors shut. We had a great time, but did not anticipate so much noise from the boardwalk.

The ship was decorated for Christmas with trees, garland and special lighting. There were New Year’s Eve celebrations on board, but the main venue was Promenade. MDR had a special New Year’s Eve menu with lobster so we had 2 nights with lobster in MDR at no extra charge.

We had dinner at Giovanni’s and Chops. Both were excellent. The other nights were in the MDR. Overall MDR food was o.k. to good. We had to re-order to replace a couple of bad choices that we ordered (salad, shrimp, tomato, etc.). Lots of Lamb, Mushrooms and Seafood which we were not interested in at all. MDR service was good, but tended to be slow. We learned to ask or server specifically for faster service and it happened. I ate GF and had special diet GF noted on my reservation. At some dining venues, GF was no big deal. Others needed to check that I had reserved GF. I didn’t understand why the policy varied, but it all worked out for me. MDR needed me to pre-order my meals to expedite GF service.

We enjoyed the ports and booked all our excursions through RCCL: Nassau- Blue Lagoon Dolphin Encounter, St Thomas-St. John Beach and Snorkel Tour, St. Maarten-Rhino Riders. All of our excursions rate late. The port on St. Thomas for Oasis is very disappointing. If you want to see St. Thomas and shop, make transportation arrangements. Also, most of St. Maarten was closed due to New Year’s Eve was our port day. A few shops near the St. Maarten port were open.

Approximately ½ of the passengers were not from the US. Lots of passengers from Mexico, Brazil and Europe. Announcements were lengthy and repeated in at least 6 languages. The non-US passengers tended to prefer late night dining and entertainment. So it significantly shifted crowds to later times. We benefitted from this because it really dispersed crowds. Another observation was a lot of people complained about ill behaved kids. IMO the kids were fine, but there really were lots of kids cruising over the holiday.

On board entertainment was good. We had reservations for shows.

We did so much on board. Johnny Rockets, Ice Cream, Cupcakes, Bingo, Shopping, Rising Tide Bar. My 11 YO enjoyed the kids club for a couple events. He would have been happy to spend more time there, but we were busy. We had a few cocktails over the course of the cruise, but no drink package. It was a better value for us to pay as we went. Cocktails were all very strong. Our theory was the RCCL liquor supplier must be cheaper than the mixers.

Disembarkation was slow. The entire boat was held up for some reason. I think the delay was about an hour. My recollection was the earliest walk-off should have been 6:15, but the ship announced 1st off at 7:30. We got off at 9:00 and it took us about an hour to wait in line, collect our luggage and exit thru customs.

We took the free shuttle to Pier 66 Avis car rental. Our flight was not until 6:45 p.m. It was cool and overcast so we went to Sawgrass Mills (instead of beach) and had lunch and saw a movie. Our return flight was cancelled at 5:30 p.m. due to polar vortex storm. We were delayed until Wednesday getting back to Chicago area. It was a tough way to end such a nice trip.

Let me know if you have questions, I’ll try to share what our experience was.

Just letting you know how great your review was. I'm looking forward to our cruise in December. BTW, we just got back from IOA Harry Potter 1/19-1/22. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks for responding. I've had a few days without internet access.

We are cruising over New Year's week. We plan to arrive a day or 2 before our cruise so I assume the prices are high due to Christmas holiday.

It sounds like the area doesn't offer much and any hotel savings would be spent on car rental or taxi. I'll probably book near 17th something refundable and try my luck at priceline, etc. when it's closer to departure.

Holiday Inn is accepting reservations for a new hotel at this address.

205 N. Federal Hwy,

Dania Beach, Florida

I'd love to stay at Hollywood Beach or 17th Street before our Oasis of the Seas cruise, but it's very pricey for the dates that we need. The above Holiday Inn is not yet open and rates are very reasonable.

Can anyone advise me about what will be within walking distance of this hotel? Restaurants, drug stores, trolley or bus, etc.

Thanks!:)