Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Westerdam Review - 8/30/14 - Alaska

curtdesilets

By curtdesilets,
in Holland America Line

 Share

Recommended Posts

curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
Posted (edited)

We decided to return to Holland America after an absence of a few years. We booked early and got a good deal on an outside cabin, and then got it upgraded to a Veranda by special invitation. We flew Jet Blue out of Long Beach, arriving at 1pm and were on the boat by a little after 2pm. Embarkation was a breeze.

 

The ship and this design is one of my favorites. It is aesthetically pleasing, has a great deal of public space, and feels warm and inviting. We were on her sister ship the Oosterdam a couple of times. Love both of them. Get a day pass to the Thermal Suite and check out the Hydropool. That is a blast!

 

Food was just okay. Dining Room fare on most cruise lines used to be 5 star luxury. Now, it's pretty bland and not that exciting. All cruise lines these days seem to be cutting back on that department. The only exceptions are the luxury lines like Oceania and Crystal, where the food is INSANELY good in all areas. Maybe we were spoiled in the past and on our recent trips with those two lines. The Pinnacle LUNCH was great. I really enjoyed the Nathans hot dogs by the pool area. Poppy seed roll, sauerkraut and bacon. Hold the special sauce and put on some deli mustard instead. Note: Coffee in the buffet area is better on HAL than Celebrity, but the specialty coffees are better on Celebrity.

 

The Ship is immaculately clean. I mean SUPER CLEAN. I'm up early every morning and there is an army of vacuums and scrubbers going all over before most people wake up. One bummer however is that they were hosing off the outside decks practically every morning, which made walking out there a bit treacherous, to say the least. They really need to SQUEEGEE those puddles as a lot of us like to do laps around the Promenade Deck! But otherwise, the ship was clean, clean, clean.

 

Service was excellent, although I could tell some cost cutting was in place, so it would take a little longer to get served etc. Our room stewards could not have been lovelier, and did a fine job. I gave them a little extra for the outstanding work.

 

The new production shows were quite good and a little more innovative than the standard fare. They invested millions in a new light and visual display which you must check out. we did the backstage tour, just because I was interested in the technology behind the structure. Recycled Percussion, IMO, was the highlight of the entertainment. It is not for everybody, but if you like drums, this is your show. We also liked the Dancing with the Stars production and the House Band (HAL Cats) was EXCELLENT. They played some jazzy renditions of Steely Dan and other 70's groups, that was far better than almost any other house band we have seen on a ship. They also had a Ukrainian pair (Piano and Violin) that played beautiful Classical music. Not quite a Quartet, but nice touch anyways. The entertainment was very good to excellent overall.

 

Overall I would rank this cruise a 4.5 star. Not Quite 5 but better than a 4. Again, we have been spoiled in the past. Great value however.

Edited by curtdesilets
spelling and expanding
Link to comment
Share on other sites
curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Thanks for your review. I'm about to board the Westerdam for the first time so your review was very timely. Sorry to hear that the food was just okay but that your overall experience was still great.

 

I think on the menu, there is always something that is excellent. Ask the server what people prefer. We did the Pinnacle Lunch for a $10 surcharge, and it was OUTSTANDING. My wife was very happy with the fruits and salads at the buffet. We also did a Salmon Bake on board that was excellent. There was good food, but I think our view may be a bit slanted as Oceania and Crystal was like eating at the Ritz Carlton every single meal for a week!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
Nicely done review. You make good points about cost cutting across the board on all cruise lines. Happy to know you enjoyed your cruise. :)

 

We've seen it industry wide. Celebrity especially is going through almost Draconian measures in cutting their basic services, while at the same time, increasing the costs of the specialty restaurants. I hope there is a SEA CHANGE in the opposite direction soon. We all do. :mad:

Edited by curtdesilets
Link to comment
Share on other sites
drgrinch

drgrinch

Posted
Posted

Your experience is very much in line with ours from earlier this summer with the exception of the food. We found our meals to be very enjoyable, if not 5-star. If you were comparing HAL's food to Crystal's, I would expect a big difference - but that would not really be a fair comparison given the price difference between the lines.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
NoobCruise

NoobCruise

Posted
Posted

Great review! We loved the Westerdam and I love reading about her now :)

 

I don't think there is a good time for them to clean the decks. There will always be someone who has an issue with the timing. I've seen complaints about them doing it in the middle of the night and the passengers sleeping a deck below are awakened by the deck chairs scraping the deck. We were in an aft facing cabin right under the Seaview pool area. We were photographing an amazing sunset when suddenly water started pouring down on us and our cameras as they scrubbed the deck above us. There were quite a few people on surrounding balconies that got wet too. My husband was a little upset that there was no warning and his brand new fancy camera got wet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
Great review! We loved the Westerdam and I love reading about her now :)

 

I don't think there is a good time for them to clean the decks. There will always be someone who has an issue with the timing. I've seen complaints about them doing it in the middle of the night and the passengers sleeping a deck below are awakened by the deck chairs scraping the deck. We were in an aft facing cabin right under the Seaview pool area. We were photographing an amazing sunset when suddenly water started pouring down on us and our cameras as they scrubbed the deck above us. There were quite a few people on surrounding balconies that got wet too. My husband was a little upset that there was no warning and his brand new fancy camera got wet.

 

On our first trip on the Oosterdam, we got upgraded to an Aft Neptune Suite with a HUGE balcony. On our last morning before departure, we ordered room service and ate outside on the deck. Went inside the cabin for a bit and tried to return to our outdoor breakfast, only to find that it had been almost water-blasted from the deck above as the crew were cleaning the decks. My wife and I looked at each other and said...Well, I guess that's the end of our breakfast (and of our cruise). They apparently wanted us off the ship at that time. :eek:

Edited by curtdesilets
clarification
Link to comment
Share on other sites
curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
  • Author
Posted
Your experience is very much in line with ours from earlier this summer with the exception of the food. We found our meals to be very enjoyable, if not 5-star. If you were comparing HAL's food to Crystal's, I would expect a big difference - but that would not really be a fair comparison given the price difference between the lines.

 

You are right...we got spoiled on both Crystal and Oceania. But in reality, both HAL and Celebrity did have much better food and service about 8-10 years ago. It is still good, but not as great as it had been.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
curtdesilets

curtdesilets

Posted
  • Author
Posted
No mention of the wonderful places you had the opportunity to see, the great people of Alaska, the scenery, the wildlife ???????

 

But you ate well :confused:

 

We have done a number of Alaska Cruises and I had reviewed the ports on those earlier cruises. I was focused solely on the ship experience.

 

ALASKA is wonderful. That's why it is our often repeated vacation destination.

 

We saw numerous Humpbacks this time, easily 200 if not more, from the ship.

 

The people we met in SITKA were quite odd. Sitka, IMO, is a very strange town. Beautiful, but strange residents. Went to the City Museum. Interesting, but it was no Smithsonian! Check it out. you'll see.:rolleyes:

 

Juneau and Ketchikan were a bit crowded as we had 4 ships in town for each. In SITKA, we had only our ship, so a lot more room.

 

Weather was fabulous for the entire 7 days!! Cool however, with highs maybe in the upper 50's.

 

One new experience this time. Westerdam was the first ship into Ketchikan. As soon as the ship cleared, I headed due East to Creek Street. Followed a nature trail along the Creek into some real Alaskan Wilderness. I literally had the place to myself. Upon my return, the hordes of tourists had already inundated the town, but I did get a very peaceful Alaskan experience prior to the shopping frenzy. :D

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • Hurricane Zone 2024
      • Cruise Insurance Q&A w/ Steve Dasseos of Tripinsurancestore.com June 2024
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...