Cabin Selection Help Westerdam Verandah

[janetjulie]

We are very close to booking a May Alaska cruise on the Westerdam. We usually book an outside cabin but would like a verandah cabin for this trip. We like any advise about cabin location or cabins to avoid especially in categories VE, VC, VD, VF.

Thanks. Janet

[doone]

We enjoyed the aft cabins, the balconies are larger. One drawback, its a long walk from the Crowe's Nest to your cabin, but other than that, we loved the aft cabins, especially the larger balconies.

[K&RCurt]

We enjoyed the aft cabins, the balconies are larger. One drawback, its a long walk from the Crowe's Nest to your cabin, but other than that, we loved the aft cabins, especially the larger balconies.

 

I believe the aft veranda cabins are Cat VA, so will be a bit more expensive than the catagories the OP mentioned.

 

We had a cabin on the Veranda Deck (deck 5) very near the mid-ship evevators. The cabin and veranda were very nice, but the cabins on the "indent" either side of the glass elevators have slightly smaller verandas. IMO you'll be happy with any "V" cabin as long as you avoid the few cabins at the front of the ship with the steel vs. glass wall.

 

If you're willing to pay the extra money, Doone's suggestion is right on target, as the aft cabins have by far, the largest verandas without stepping up to SS or S suites.

[dsawyer]

We just booked The Noordam. We are in a VH guarantee. While it is very possible that we are going to get one of those undesirable cabins that have the steel rail, it was almost 400pp cheaper than Category VE which is not in that location.

 

Question: How bad are those cabins? Will we be miserable? Do we really want to pay $800.00 more just to make sure we don't get one of those cabins? Thanks

[shuttle-c]

We had paid for a VF last year on the Westerdam, but the deck plans were changed and it ended up being a VH. We complained to our TA, which was so gracious to send our cabin back to inventory. She faxed them everyday for a week and ultimately HAL upgraded us to a VA on deck 7 forward.

IT was a great cabin and we were exceptionally happy.

 

We have since booked a cruise to the med. and have booked a VC.

If money is not a problem, I would at least book a VC or a VA. I would not have been happy with a veranda with the steel lower sections. It's really nice to sit on your balcony and look at the sunset.

[janetjulie]

Thank you all for your helpful responses. One more question, is it only category VH cabins that have the steel lower sections on the balcony?

 

Janet

[janetjulie]

We ended up booking a VD guarantee. I did notice that there is a symbol (solid diamond) on the deck plan for the cabins with solid steel verandah railings. It is easier to read on the HAL website than in the brochure. It looks like cat VH and VF on the Upper promenade deck have the solid railings but the VF on the Verandah deck do not.

[ore-ee-gun]

I haven't seen it yet, but we're booked into a VE category cabin (5120) for our upcoming Oosterdam cruise. The verandas of these cabins are directly above the lifeboats, but from what I can tell, are in a fairly good location to avoid motion and noise from public rooms. I've been told that the lifeboats do not interfere with one's view, except when looking straight down over the railing. Early-morning noise from lowering the tenders, if you happen to book a cabin over a tender (as we did without thinking :o), could be an issue. We'll be getting up early for our shore excursions anyway, so no big deal for us. :p