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Review: Westerdam 15-Day Panal Canal Jan. 20 - Feb. 4, 2018


crunchii
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We recently went on a 15-day Panama Canal cruise aboard Westerdam, and we absolutely loved it! This was our first cruise on HAL and second cruise overall (last one being on Norwegian Pearl about 10 years ago.)

 

The ship was great. I wouldn't say it looked brand new (except for the recently refurbished areas, which did look brand new,) but in good shape.

 

Since I don't know what Westerdam looked like before the drydock, I had no issues with the changes in Crow's Nest. True, the "library" was more decoration than anything else, and those big display tables in the EXC areas weren't used much, but the rest of the Crow's Nest was well occupied whenever we visited there.

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Stateroom:

We were in 7151, which is one of the aft-corner Neptune Suites. It was WONDERFUL. I know it's smaller than the midship Neptune Suites, but it was big enough for us, and we made use of the huge balcony whenever we can. I did hear some noises like low rumbling and felt slight vibration when the ship was going through rough water, but nothing that bothered me, and there was some rocking and rolling during rough weather, but since I have nothing to compare, I don't know if it was any worse than midship.

 

Some other cons:

- The toilet smelled like sewer the whole time, but it was tolerable.

- The cushions on the balcony furniture looked a bit dirty.

- There were plenty of closet and shelf spaces, but not enough drawers.

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Food:

Lido food (ones that I ate) was meh, but dining room food was pretty good, I thought. We did Pinnacle Grill (lunch and dinner), Canaletto, and Sel de Mer pop-up, and they were all good, but once was enough.

 

We had early fixed dining, and most of the people there were dressed nicely, even on smart casual nights. I did not see anyone in shorts, and I think I saw only one or two jeans in the dining room on the entire cruise. On the other hand, I only saw a couple of men in tux on Gala Nights. Most men were wearing suits or sport coat with tie, and the rest in collared shirts and slacks.

 

Staff:

Yep, it's true. All staff were super friendly. Our room stewards, Bams and Mads, were the best!

 

Entertainment:

My favorite was Lincoln Center Stage. We also liked Billboard Onboard. We didn't go to B. B. Kings, as my husband didn't care for the type of music they were playing.

 

And those main stage shows that we attended were great, the ventriloquist and the magician were particularly funny. We're not into singing and dancing, but we attended a couple of those and thought they were entertaining.

 

I can see people getting bored on At Sea days, but we had no issues with lack of entertainment. We were content to stay in our room and watch TV (Downton Abbey!) or take a nap when there weren't any events that interested us. We prefer peace and quiet. We don't want any pool parties or non-stop loud music.

 

Internet:

Because we had Internet credits and some OBC we needed to use, each of us signed up for the "Enhanced Plan." It's the middle plan that lets you surf most sites, but not streaming. It was $169.99 (-$50 Internet credit) each for 15 days (or $24.99 per day). It was sloooooooow, but it worked, and it was unlimited. The other plans were Social Plan ($14.99 per day or $119.99 for 15 days) and Premiere Plan ($29.99 per day or $234.99 for 15 days).

 

Other passengers:

Most of the other passengers were older than us (we are in late-40's and mid-50's), but there was no "nursing home" atmosphere, as most of these older people were young at heart. They partied harder than we did :) And there were plenty of people in our age as well.

 

Throughout the cruise, I only saw 3 kids. One was a toddler (and I think he was a child of an officer, as I saw him and his mom eating lunch with an officer), and two older kids (probably around 10 to 12).

 

I'm actually glad of the HAL's nursing home reputation, as it keeps the screaming kids and loud party people away. :)

 

One bummer:

They were switching the vendor for the shops after our cruise, so during our cruise, only things they had were leftovers. I wanted to get some kind of souvenir (like a coffee cup) with ship's name or logo on it, but I couldn't find anything... And they closed all the shops early before the end of our cruise.

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Overall, we enjoyed our cruise very much. I think HAL is a good match for us. We purchased future cruise credits, so we'll be booking another HAL cruise soon.

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Thank you so much for posting your review. We will be in room 7149 on the stern on March 24 through the canal. I hope our toilet doesn't smell too bad.....did you tell anyone about it? I appreciated the prices of internet, and your review of MDR food etc. We have never sailed HAL but are experienced cruisers and are really looking forward to our trip. If you have time, tell us if you went on any excursions...I am curious what you did in Cabo? Anything else you remember.....do tell. Thanks.

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I’m glad you two had a great trip. Sorry we couldn’t make it. Plan to rebook in 2019 and hopefully there will be no demonstrations near the port.

Jo

 

Yeah, sorry you had to cancel. I hope your husband is doing better! There was a good turnout at Meet and Greet, and we all missed you.

 

Embarkation wasn't too bad, actually, because we got to the port before the mess started. We were onboard around 11:30 and watched the march from Crow's Nest ;)

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I hope our toilet doesn't smell too bad.....did you tell anyone about it?

 

We mentioned it to our room stewards, but not much they could do other than to spray some room freshener.

 

If you have time, tell us if you went on any excursions...I am curious what you did in Cabo? Anything else you remember.....do tell. Thanks.

 

Because we are newbie cruisers, we did the ship's excursion in most of the ports. I'll post a review of each port later. We didn't stop in Cabo though. Sorry.

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And here are the port reviews!

 

Puerto Vallarta: This is the only port we didn't book any excursion. We took a taxi to Malecon and walked around. Malecon was fun to walk around, but we got frustrated with the taxis. They sure try to rip off tourists.

 

Huatulco: We booked "Huatulco by Land and Sea," but they canceled it due to high wind, so we booked "La Crucesita & Scenic Drive" instead at the last minute. It was basically "Huatulco by Land and Sea" without Sea. It was OK. Got some great photos of the ship from one of the viewpoints.

 

Puerto Quetzal: We did "Antigua on Your Own." It was a long drive to Antigua and we were a bit late coming back to the ship (but we weren't the last one.) Antigua was beautiful and the ruins were interesting.

 

Corinto: We did "Colonial Leon." I had a very low expectation for this tour, as the description made it sound like you just ride the bus to Leon, climb to the roof of the cathedral, back into the bus, and back to the ship. Well, that's pretty much what we did, but before climbing up to the roof, we got a nice tour of the "inside" of the cathedral. And the roof of the cathedral was magnificent. And afterwards, we had some free time to look around the town square and the little market before going back on the bus. So we were pretty satisfied with this tour. (Going with low expectation might be the key. LOL)

 

Puntarenas (we docked in Puntarenas rather than Puerto Caldera): We booked "Eco Tropical Mangrove River Cruise." The cruise was pleasant and saw a lot of wildlife, like crocodiles, iguanas, anteater, and lots of birds. There was one bummer though. There are two jungle river cruise tours offered in Puntarenas/Puerto Caldera, and one costs $5 more than the other. We chose the more expensive one, because from the name of the tour and photo, I thought it would be with "Eco Jungle Cruises" company, which seemed to have better facility and boats (with padded seats.) But the actual boat company we went with was "Crocodile Man Tour" (no paddings on the seats :eek:) and other groups were going with "Jungle Crocodile Safari". Not a big deal really, but if it didn't matter which one you booked, why do you offer two different tours with different prices? (Though it's possible that the change was made, due to us docking in Puntarenas rather than Puerto Caldera.) Oh well. We did enjoy the tour though, even without the padding ;)

And Puntarenas was a nice port. They had a beach (where locals visit) right off the port with a nice market place.

 

Panama Canal: There was some confusion on exactly when the access to the bow would open. They said at sunrise, so we took our time heading there, but by the time we got there (long before sunrise), there was a long line. I feared I'd see nothing but tall people's backs (I'm short...) but I managed to find a spot to squeeze in for a great view. (It opened before sunrise.) Other good viewing places were the forward deck on Deck 7 and of course our aft-wrap balcony :) HAL photographers captured the time lapse video of our canal transit and offered it for $19.99. I highly recommend picking up a copy, if they offer it on your cruise. You get to re-live the entire canal transit in 5 minutes. :)

 

Cartagena: We booked "Cartagena City Highlights" because with this one, you actually climb to the top of the Fort of San Felipe, rather than just a photo stop like other tours. The fort was great and worth the effort to climb up. It was hot though, so be sure to bring water and wear sunscreen and/or hat. The next stop was Las Bovedas. They drop you off at an emerald shop. Be sure to use their bathroom, as it's MUCH cleaner than the one at the next bathroom stop. Then we walked along the old town area (with the tour guide), and after looking through Church of San Pedro Claver, we had some free time.

 

Georgetown: We did "Dolphin Swim & Stingray City". Dolphin part was at "Dolphin Cove." It was a closed off lagoon with real sea water, rather than an artificial pool. They broke us into small groups, and two of the groups did "dolphin swim" and the other did "dolphin encounter". With dolphin encounter, you remain on the waist-deep platform the whole time. With dolphin swim, you stay on the platform most of the time, but swim out into the deep water twice to do the belly ride and boogie push. I was a bit nervous about this, but they gave us life jackets, so there was no problem.

The boat for the Stingray City leaves right from Dolphin Cove, so we could just climb into the boat in our wet bathing suits. Stingray City looks like a middle of ocean, but the water is shallow (and clear!) No cameras are allowed in Dolphin Cove, but they are allowed in Stingray City, so bring your waterproof camera! (Dolphin Cove has free lockers, so you can keep your camera there during the dolphin part.)

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I enjoyed reading this review, and your blog even more! We are doing a Panama Canal cruise in April and will be visiting some of the same ports and also are planning some of the same tours although we are sailing in the opposite direction.

 

I am sorry you had such a hard time with sea sickness. Did you take any medication? Usually it works pretty well if you can take it before the symptoms start (which is he trick!) We might try the motion sickness bands next time…some people swear by them.

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I am sorry you had such a hard time with sea sickness. Did you take any medication? Usually it works pretty well if you can take it before the symptoms start (which is he trick!) We might try the motion sickness bands next time…some people swear by them.

 

I did use medications (I had both ginger pills and Meclizine) as well as the motion sickness bands. Unfortunately, I used them too late (after I was actually sick, rather than before the rocking started), so they weren't very effective. My husband kept telling me I should take my pills NOW, but I kept saying "Oh I'll be fine." Wrong! I guess I should listen to my husband next time. LOL!

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Thank you for your nice review. We were on your cruise and also had a terrific time and enjoyed the Westerdam very much, in spite of the removal of the library. Oh well! I thought this was one of the nicest cruises we've been on. We found the food delicious and the service wonderful. The staff is out of this world and can't do enough for you. It is so enjoyable being treated like royalty!

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