Would I enjoy the Oosterdam?

[a.madruga]

We found nothing wrong with the Oosterdam post drydock in April. Nice and clean, a lot of areas new...

Remember my personal statistic: If there are 2000 passengers on a ship, 300 of them will complain about SOMETHING, 100 will complain about EVERYTHING!

So take the Cruise Critic posts with at least a grain of salt.......

TT....so true

[Hlitner]

I think the OP is asking the right questions. But perhaps the answer is pretty simple. The OP can read about the various negative issues on the postings and then consider what is a drydock going to change. While I am not sure what they will do to the Oosterdam you can assume they will clean and repaint the hull and do some overhauls in the mechanical areas. And perhaps they will replace some carpet. But knowing HAL we doubt if much will be changed post drydock.

 

Hank

[Lady Chew]

Hi, OP here. Thanks for all your replies. Just wanted to say I ended up booking a Signature Suite on the Oosterdam for the Tropical Carribbean itinerary for Feb next year.

 

Looking forward to checking out HAL for myself!

 

We spent most of August in a Signature Suite on the Oosterdam, and it was by far the most well-appointed stateroom we have ever had, of any type of cabin, on any cruise ship on any line. And so much space! It was wonderful!

 

We thought the new décor was very nice … some very, very pretty areas, and we did not see a lot of wear & tear on any of the outside areas, although we don't go around inspecting the rails! We didn't use any of the pool lounges this cruise (very port intensive) but I'm pretty sure they were new.

 

The food in the Lido was excellent. We enjoyed the made-to-order sandwiches almost every day that we ate lunch on the ship. The PG was excellent, although service was a little slow each time we were there.

 

We have always seen more negative than positive reviews for almost every ship we've sailed, and a few of them were so bad that I started having second thoughts, but never cancelled based on reviews, and have never regretted it.

[Shep_Proudfoot]

Thank you all for the additional comments, it's great to hear so many positives. Seems like it's forever until we cruise!

[Shep_Proudfoot]

OP here.  Just back from the Oosterdam last week.  I just wanted to close the loop and give a brief report.  The short answer is that I did enjoy the Oosterdam and we had a very nice cruise.  However, HAL did disappoint in a few ways and there's definitely room for improvement.  I do think I am rather picky about certain things, so my comments will definitely not apply to many cruisers.

 

Full review here:  https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=648487&et_cid=3167165&et_rid=17310569&et_referrer=NULL

 

Thanks to all who provided insights, we were happy with our choice and would definitely consider HAL again.

[Hlitner]

6 hours ago, Shep_Proudfoot said:

OP here.  Just back from the Oosterdam last week.  I just wanted to close the loop and give a brief report.  The short answer is that I did enjoy the Oosterdam and we had a very nice cruise.  However, HAL did disappoint in a few ways and there's definitely room for improvement.  I do think I am rather picky about certain things, so my comments will definitely not apply to many cruisers.

 

Full review here:  https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=648487&et_cid=3167165&et_rid=17310569&et_referrer=NULL

 

Thanks to all who provided insights, we were happy with our choice and would definitely consider HAL again.

Thanks for posting the link to your review.  Unfortunately, we agree with much of what you had to say about the buffet.  You summed up our HAL buffet experience on the several different ships we have taken in the past few years.   The serving situation in the buffet seems to be somewhat unique to HAL.  Staff have told us it is an attempt to better avoid Noro (and other bugs) but when you look at the CDC reports for Noro and other outbreaks, HAL seems to have more then its share.  And other lines who have spacious self-service buffets seem to have fewer incidents.    Our experience in the MDR was better then what you described, and we would categorize it as hit and miss.  We also agree with your comment about the beef in the Pinnacle and have posted about this issue a few times in other threads.  HAL used to have better quality meat in the Pinnacle, but a change in suppliers (and quality) has not been a good thing.  

 

Speaking of Lido buffets, we think that Princess (on their Royal Class ships) and Celebrity (on their S-Class) have got it right.  The buffets are in a large area with many self-serve stations.  This avoids lots of crowding and lines found on some other lines and many HAL vessels.  We also hate (strong word) HAL's use of liquid commercial eggs (pasteurized) for both omelets and scrambled eggs.  On our last HAL cruise we actually made a request for the omelet chef to please use real eggs (which were sitting nearby for things like over-easy) and were told, NO!  The cook then quietly told us he could get in trouble or lose his job if he used the real eggs for an omelet.  Sad.

 

Hank

[OlsSalt]

CDC Noro reports - HAL had more than its fair share back in 2017, but you can see this is no longer the case for 2018 or 2019 so far. So it is inaccurate to make this excessive noro claim about HAL ships today.  https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp/surv/gilist.htm#2019

 

Viking seems to be taking hit however, and other incidents are across the board - no matter how much one pays for their cruise fare - noro is an equal opportunity affliction. 

Edited February 16, 2019 by OlsSalt

[feathersandnananose]

On 7/15/2018 at 5:43 PM, OlsSalt said:

 

Oosterdam in the past did get the bilious decor awards however- massive plaster blue boy benches and wavey wave patterned carpet.

OOOH, are those benches gone?  We loved seeing them - they were so silly.  And luckily tucked into elevator bays.  But I have pictures.  They were spectacularly horrible.