Westerdam Review

[crusing plantlady]

Sailed on the Westerdam with DH 45, me 46, DD14 and DD11 on March 27th. Last year we were on the Grand Princess in a Vista Suite (AFT) so there will be comparisons. We started at the "Rocking" Hard Rock Hotel in Holleywood Fl. $20 cab ride to get there from the airport. Nice and new hotel with a great pool but was a little smokey in the common areas for me but would stay again.

Got on the ship pretty quick and they let everyone go to their rooms at 1:30. We were in room 7075 an S catagory very similar to the Princess suite. I liked the layout of the room better but missed the two TV's (one foe the kids) and the marble in the princess bath (I Know, minor things) What I really missed was being aft. On Hal you can only put 3 in the aft cabins.

Okay to the important stuff. This is a beautiful ship and all will have a great cruise. The crew is fantastic and everyone is smiling and saying Hi and I felt really meant it.

Food in the dining room was okay. Kind of hit or miss. I realize how many people they are serving and such, but for example on lobster and tenderloin night, mine was great, my DH's not. Didn't dine at the Pinnacle. Get the mussels and snails and the DD had great venison(I thought she was adventuresome for ordering).

Went to a few shows and they were okay, Juggler and Juggler and comic combo. Art work and fresh flowers everwhere were beautiful. The Suite extras are always great. Used laundry twice. Laughed really hard second time when we recieved a pair of size 40 Ralph Lauren mens briefs that weren't ours, but the DD had fun putting them on and jumpimg around. We then gave them to the Stewart.

Speaking of the Stewart (GUN), he was wonderful and kept our small ice bucket full and knew to also fill our champagne bucket. Will write more about excursions, Pink Cabana and others soon. Bottom line it was wonderful and a great value for what we got. Let the questions begin but be nice. Remember I said it was a great cruise.

 

Cruising plantlady

[dakrewser]

Good review, and not very different from what other (both experienced and rookie) Westerdam cruisers have said...

 

 

Thanks!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Enjoying so far - can't wait for the rest.

 

We enjoyed the Westerdam when we were on her in January.

[Ziggy7]

Thanks for sharing your cruise review with us, looking forwad to hearing about the pink cabana, are you going to post pictures at webshots ??? I would love to see them :)

Again, thanks for sharing with us!

[crusing plantlady]

Sorry it took a while to get back. Pink cabana was nice, though one mister head was broke off and could actually spray water so kind of funny. The cabana boy, Johnson, was worthless. He came and folded 4 towels and then disappeared. We got our own drinks and when we asked for more chips to finish our salsa he said there would be plenty of chips at lunch. Didn't matter but no way was he at all accomodating. This was reflected in is tip at the end. The second time we say him. Only mention this as this is different from others experiences. We did the horseback riding at 11:00 and had a blast. It was a little spooky as these are very large animals and they were slipping on rocks as we were riding through skinny paths. It lasted about twenty minutes, and then they took pictures of us on the horses with our cameras, and then changed the saddles to a kind of belt and half of us went riding in the water for about five minutes. It was very exciting and scary at the same time. Loved it! I would also highly recommend it. Thought it was a good value for 49 dollars. The Jamacians that care for the horses and guide you are very funny and take great care of you. They're great guys! All and all it was a wonderful day on Half Moon Cay. Would also highly recommend a cabana. I just hope you don't get our cabana boy!

The next day was a sea day. That was fun. On to Jamaica. We were escorted onto a bus with maybe fifteen other people, and the driver dropped everyone else off at Dunn's River Falls. We decided to go tubing on the White River, as my brother and family had just done it and highly recommended it! It was a blast! They took us to a place called Calypso Rafting. Our guide George was incredible! My brother had said there were only rapids in the beginning, but they were clearly on a different part of the river, as this tour was rapids most of the time, but the guide took great care of us. He knew were to fend off as you would approach rocks or the side of the river. Lets just say, he got Johnson's tip! It lasted about an hour, and we stopped midway down, at a shack that sold warm Redstripes for two bucks. As the tubing ended, flowers were cascading down from the trees above us. It was beautiful. I highly recommend this also, it was only twenty bucks apiece.

The following day we went to Grand Cayman. We went to seven mile beach. We got off at the first stop, the Marriott. The beach and hotel had suffered from the hurricane. I would not recommend this, because it was crowded and the beach was in bad shape. Our plan was to go to Smith's Cove, and I feel we should've stuck with that original plan. Oh well, that's for next time.

The next day was our final port, at Cozumel, and it was a beautiful day. The year before on a Princess Cruise, we did the Dolphin Discovery. We felt that it was too commercial, because they were taking pictures instead of letting us enjoy the dolphins. We did however, go back to the same park, Chankanaab, which we enjoyed a lot. A tip to those that want to swim with many fish, being from Wisconsin, the cheese capital of the world, we knew to bring a can of Cheese Whiz. That sends the fish into a sort of feeding frenzy. Let me warn you that this is an intense experience, as the fish are swarming and leaping out of the water. Many people swam up and took part in this experience with us. You can feed the fish many things, but the Cheese Whiz is something you can control and pipe out small amounts. Just a tip! It was a great day at the beach. Buckets of Dos Equis for fifteen dollars! Happy people walking around waiting to serve you! It was crowded and we didn`t get chairs until the end, but there were seven ships there that day. We would recommend coming as soon as you get off the ship. The park also has imitation Mayan Ruins with iguanas hanging from various trees, so fun for all! You can rent snorkel equipment here, for about fifteen dollars a piece, but if you throw a mask and snorkel in your luggage, there`s your beers! Our last day we were sailing back to Fort Lauderdale it rained all day. They retracted the pool roof and a great time was had by all. Lots of kids on this cruise, but we knew that would be the case. We loved our suite. Again the service was wonderful. Can't imagine not having a great time on this ship!