Hello from the Westerdam at the Arctic Circle

[ilovhywd]

Just wanted to use a few of my "minutes" to say hi to everyone on the board. I miss checking the board each day!

 

The Westerdam is fabulous! All those booked are in for a real treat! No complaints at all! Approx. 50% of passengers are non-US. We are enjoying meeting people from all over the world!

 

Look for us on the Flam webcam on Monday. Go to webcamsinnorway.com and find Flam on the left-hand side.

 

Ilene

[jasl]

Thanks for posting. Enjoy the rest of your itinerary, the scenery is awesome. Hope the weather is great.

 

jasl

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Ilene, I am so glad you are enjoying your cruise. I pulled up the web cam. What a beautiful area. You are so fortuate to be on this cruise.

I will look for you on Monday morning.

 

Lisa L

 

Monarch of the Seas-March 2002 West. Carib.

MS Zuiderdam-April 2003 East.Carib.

Monarch of the Seas-December 2003 Baja Mexico

MS Oosterdam-May 2004 Alaska

 

Till we set sail on the MS Ryndam-Sea of Cortez-November 2004

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Till We set sail on the MS Westerdam-Western Caribbean March 2005

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[luv2cruise450]

Have a great cruise! And please post a review when you return...this is on my cruising destination list so would love to read more about it!

 

Victoria III 4/99 (Yangtze River)

Maasdam 5/00 (W.Med) & 11/01

Veendam 10/00

Zaandam 5/01 (Alaska cruisetour)

Millenium 12/01 & 10/03 (transatlantic)

Amsterdam 5/02 (transcanal)

NCL Star 12/02 (Hawaii)

CCL Paradise 3/03

Noordam 4/03 (transatlantic)

NCL Dawn 8/03

Regal Princess Elaine 3/04 (Yangtze River)

 

[Sage]

Thanks so much for posting. I will also be looking on Monday. I will also be looking for your review when you return.

[lb0103]

Thanx so much for posting! We are on the 7/6 Westerdam and you are making me even more excited.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise, PLEASE, post when you get back, I hope to read it before we leave.

 

Thanx again

[Jacqueline]

Thanks for the update. Its wonderful to read such an upbeat post.

 

Jacqueline

Constellation 3/20/04

HAL Westerdam 7/30/04

Tahitian Princess August 2003

Grand Princess Western Caribbean 2003

Brilliance of the Seas Baltic 2002

Ocean Princess- Alaska 2001

Celebrity Zenith- Bermuda 2001

Grand Princess Med 2000

 

[ilovhywd]

Left beautiful Trondheim today at 2:30. We are now on our way to Flam. This was our 3rd formal night. The lobsters were fabulous.

 

Here's info on Internet Cafe Pricing:

 

$3.95 activation fee - one time fee

Plan 1 - 250 minutes for $100 - .40 per min

Plan 2 - 100 minutes for $55 - .55 per min

Plan 3- pay as you go - .75 per min

 

If you sign up the FIRST day, you get bonus minutes.

 

You can also rent laptops.

 

We were out of satellite range for 3 days when we were north of the Arctic Circle, so the computers were down. I had withdrawal symptoms! It was also weird having three straight days with NO nights. Hard to fall asleep when you know the sun is out!

 

I'll post a trip report next weekend.

 

Ilene

[777steve]

Ilene!

 

Thanks for staying in touch ... we missed you on the Oosterdam cruise you had to cancel in January - glad to see you are on this one - sounds great! Also, glad to hear your positive view of the Westerdam - we'll be sailing in December!

 

Take care and continue to enjoy!

 

Steve in Houston

steve777@houston.rr.com

 

"Life is a banquet and most poor suckers are starving to death!"

 

HAL Westerdam 12/12/2004

[Wini18]

Am looking at your ship right now! Makes me wish I had a cruise booked in the real near future - none till April, 2005. Have a great one!!!!

 

Wini Sell

 

 

Serenade of the Seas

So. Caribbean

4/16/2005

 

Carnival Pride

Mexican Riviera

8/28/2005

[AZGal]

Ilene, Thanks for taking the time to post. I just looked at the webcam site - really a beautiful view of your ship. Wish I were there. I believe the maitre'd in the Odyssey, Imre, was the maitre'd on the Zuiderdam when we sailed in Jan. He said he was being transferred to open the restaurant on the Westerdam. He was a fine gentleman. If you dine there, please say hello to him for us. He knew us as "Mom and 3 daughters"! Enjoy the rest of your cruise. Mary

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Ilene, I hope you are having fun. I like keeping track of the Westerdam but unfortately we will not be boarding her till March 13th of 2005. The web cab really has a nice view of the Westerdam.

Thanks again for letting us know.

 

Lisa L

 

Monarch of the Seas-March 2002 West. Carib.

MS Zuiderdam-April 2003 East.Carib.

Monarch of the Seas-December 2003 Baja Mexico

MS Oosterdam-May 2004 Alaska

 

Till we set sail on the MS Ryndam-Sea of Cortez-November 2004

<center>

 

Till We set sail on the MS Westerdam-Western Caribbean March 2005

<center>

 

</center>

[gillianrose]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>50% of passengers are non-US. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

 

From which countries? Are there many kids on board? What is the smoking policy and are there more smokers onboard than on a normal HAL cruise, which has very few smokers.

[Gitte]

We are just back from the Westerdam.

We got a great time, beautiful ship, we got sun, rain, snow and storm.

 

 

Ilene, our roll call Westerdam 12 June is gone.

I just check the temp. for Honningsvag today, it was 22 Celcius, better weather for the North Cape.

 

Gitte

[staufj22]

Hi,

 

Happy to hear all the good things about the Westerdam! We will be on there in October, and was wondering if you can shed some light on the laundry situation? Since there's no self service laundromat, how much does it cost for the service?

[Gitte]

We didn't use the laundry service.

For a flat fee of $ 12,00 you can launder as many items as will fit inside 1 HAL laundry bag. (no dry-cleaning) allow 72 hours for processing and return.

 

Gitte

[fb0075]

Would you find out how the internet access in rooms seems to work--realize it is dialup but the convience would be GREAT!!

Also, is there any package minute plans for rooms---appears to be a straight .50 a minute-

 

THANKS FRANK

[ilovhywd]

Just returned home from Westerdam with wonderful memories and beautiful pictures!

 

Thanks to all who commented on this thread. I will attempt to answer your questions here, but I will write a cruise report soon.

 

To Steve777: I can't believe you remembered me from the Oosterdam roll call! Thanks for your good wishes!

 

To Gitte: Sorry we never ran into each other after the Meet and Greet on Day 1. Hope you and your group had a great time! We must have been on totally different schedules.

 

Yes, Imre was the Maitre'D in the Pinnacle. He was charming. Unfortunately, I did not read your post in time to say hello to him for you.

 

There were only about 20 children on our ship. I don't think most schools were finished before our departure date.

 

I did not see many smokers on the ship. It is not allowed in most of the public areas.

 

I cannot comment on the laundry service or the internet access in the cabins, as I did not use either service.

 

There is a lot to discover about these new message boards!

 

Ilene