Is Westerdam Worth It?

[JES4845]

Greetings … and thanks in advance for any help folks here can offer.  We are looking at the Westerdam for a long trip around Japan to Alaska, ending in Vancouver or Seattle (April 2024, about 30 days).  Would be our first time on a bigger ship (usually small ships less than 500).  Put down deposit on Westerdam, but then read very critical things on recent online reviews, repeaters saying this ship and HAL in general not what they used to be.  Do folks here agree or disagree?  Specific criticisms were around food and service quality, wines, entertainment, etc. not being as good as pre-Covid.  Critics attributed to cost cutting.  We have always been apprehensive about a bigger ship and these criticisms give us second thoughts.  Appreciate any and all helpful information to make an informed decision.

[cruisemom42]

8 minutes ago, JES4845 said:

Greetings … and thanks in advance for any help folks here can offer.  We are looking at the Westerdam for a long trip around Japan to Alaska, ending in Vancouver or Seattle (April 2024, about 30 days).  Would be our first time on a bigger ship (usually small ships less than 500).  Put down deposit on Westerdam, but then read very critical things on recent online reviews, repeaters saying this ship and HAL in general not what they used to be.  Do folks here agree or disagree?  Specific criticisms were around food and service quality, wines, entertainment, etc. not being as good as pre-Covid.  Critics attributed to cost cutting.  We have always been apprehensive about a bigger ship and these criticisms give us second thoughts.  Appreciate any and all helpful information to make an informed decision.

 

Almost all cruise lines are experiencing some level of cutbacks right now. Whether or not HAL's cutbacks are a dealbreaker for you would be hard to say. 

 

I will be on the Westerdam for 28 days (starting in about 2 weeks) for the "around Japan" part of your itinerary. I am not staying onboard for the additional days to Alaska. I will certainly be sharing my thoughts after the trip.

 

Is it the "bigger ship" part that is giving you pause?  Or is it the cutbacks that worry you more?

[Hlitner]

We are heading to Japan in a few days and will eventually board the "Westy" for 42 days (Yokohama to Seattle) on a voyage similar to what is being offered in 2024.  I will eventually post some observations and will try to do some posts from the ship (assuming that HAL Internet is usable.  I will admit that we also have a lot of concerns about the current quality of the HAL product (we are 5* Mainers) but are reserving our judgement until we can see the situation first hand.  I do find some recent HAL policies to be ridiculous (such as charging $7 + 18% for a Starter and salad in the Pinnacle).  I can also say that the current state of HAL customer service (in Seattle) is bad to awful!  It is impossible to get answers to simple questions such as whether we need to get our own K-ETA visas for Korea (one of the ports).

 

Another negative is how HAL is handling excursions booked by those with the HIA package.  We were waitlisted on one excursion and finally cleared the waitlist.  But in order to finish the excursion booking, we had to pay (via credit card) because the HAL credit cannot currently be applied to any excursion from which one clears the waitlist.  HAL's comment (made to me on the phone) is that this is a known software problem and "might" be corrected sometime this year.  That is no way to run a business.

 

Hank

 

 

[JES4845]

Thanks to both of you for these quick and helpful replies.  Look forward to your upcoming reports and wish you safe journeys and enjoyable voyages.  As to the first question, it is a combination of the “big ship” and service quality.  We often travel on SeaDream - max 112 passengers - and the quality of the food and service is top notch largely because of the small size.  We have been told by others that generally as the ship gets bigger, the quality becomes uneven.  We aren’t looking for the royal treatment, but we aren’t used to long lines and subpar meals.  SeaDream lacks any entertainment, so the HAL offerings are a plus - but recent reviews implied those aren’t what they used to be either.

[Ferry_Watcher]

@Hlitner and @cruisemom42, looking forward to your review and observations about your Japan / TP cruise on the Westerdam.  We will be on the 26 day TP & around Japan cruise leaving Seattle Oct 1st, also on the Westerdam  Hope you all have an amazing cruise!

[3rdGenCunarder]

@JES4845, you will find a lot of complaints on this board about HAL's cost cutting and other changes. The entertainment is a definite weakness. They have made some changes, taking away some things, but not telling what (if any) additions will be made in their place. 

 

While Westerdam is larger than you're used to, it is not a large ship by modern mega standards. It's a Vista class ship, which is my favorite. I've been on 3 of HAL's 4 (Including Westy many years ago) and one of Cunard's 2. The layout is convenient, the spa hydropool is wonderful, and the ships ride very well in rough weather. 

 

Unless/until you find an itinerary on another line, I'd say keep your deposit and read threads/ask questions here. Your cruise is a year away. HAL is understaffed at the moment. Perhaps things will be better if/when they get a full staff. They have added annoying upcharges on foods. If they get enough pushback and complaints from passengers, perhaps some of those will go away as they recoup Covid losses. They might introduce some new entertainments or enrichment to improve the experience onboard. Or things could stay as they are, which would disappoint many of us who have sailed HAL for years. 

 

Don't rely too heavily on the reviews because a lot of those are written by people who were nitpicking or had some experience that made them want to slam HAL. I've been on HAL and Cunard boards for a long time, and when I look at reviews, I rarely see a name I remember from the boards. CC doesn't let us see the history/profile of reviewers, so we have no idea if their comments should be taken to heart. At least here, if you read regularly, you can see a variety of comments from people wyo aren't one-post-wonders.

[MISTER 67]

2 hours ago, JES4845 said:

Greetings … and thanks in advance for any help folks here can offer.  We are looking at the Westerdam for a long trip around Japan to Alaska, ending in Vancouver or Seattle (April 2024, about 30 days).  Would be our first time on a bigger ship (usually small ships less than 500).  Put down deposit on Westerdam, but then read very critical things on recent online reviews, repeaters saying this ship and HAL in general not what they used to be.  Do folks here agree or disagree?  Specific criticisms were around food and service quality, wines, entertainment, etc. not being as good as pre-Covid.  Critics attributed to cost cutting.  We have always been apprehensive about a bigger ship and these criticisms give us second thoughts.  Appreciate any and all helpful information to make an informed decision.

Unfortunately Holland America is not the cruise line it once was, just too many cutbacks especially with the food and entertainment budgets, service also could be better probably because of staffing shortages, not sure if it's on purpose or not.

As far as the Westerdam, we have sailed on her twice but when she was fairly new, one thing IMHO is that HAL keeps their ships in great condition and very clean but I can't say for certain what kind of shape the Westerdam is in. We sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam this past December and she is not quite as old as the Westerdam and she was in great shape.

Edited March 12, 2023 by MISTER 67

[MISTER 67]

2 minutes ago, MISTER 67 said:

Deleted.

 

Edited March 12, 2023 by MISTER 67

[Crew News]

For may years, the Westerdam had the reputation of being the happy ship and was the ultimate crew assignment.  The aft balconies on Deck 5 are about 12 feet deep and fully covered which means you can spend a lot of time there with no wind/rain.

[oaktreerb]

@JES4845If you are concerned about service in the dining room you should choose fixed dining.  You will not have to wait for a table and you will have the same waiters throughout the cruise.  Stateroom stewards generally provide excellent service.  We try to make their job easier by putting the service request hanger on the door when we go to breakfast and dinner.  They are servicing more rooms post Covid.

[Destiny0315]

52 minutes ago, JES4845 said:

We often travel on SeaDream - max 112 passengers - and the quality of the food and service is top notch largely because of the small size.  We have been told by others that generally as the ship gets bigger, the quality becomes uneven.

Yes because almost anything when it gets bigger will see the quality become uneven. Take an 80+ year old into a mega supermarket or to a new car dealer and ask them to compare the quality of service between now and when they were younger and bought food at their neighborhood store or cars from the little garage down the street. I have a nephew and his wife who have been on both a Sea Dream cruise in the Caribbean and on one of RCCL's mega ships to some of the same locations, with equally good things to say about both ship experiences. But they are aware that HAL has a good tradition of taking people to some places that many others don't and they would choose them if it came down to itinerary with the ship being less a factor.

[OlsSalt]

2 hours ago, JES4845 said:

Thanks to both of you for these quick and helpful replies.  Look forward to your upcoming reports and wish you safe journeys and enjoyable voyages.  As to the first question, it is a combination of the “big ship” and service quality.  We often travel on SeaDream - max 112 passengers - and the quality of the food and service is top notch largely because of the small size.  We have been told by others that generally as the ship gets bigger, the quality becomes uneven.  We aren’t looking for the royal treatment, but we aren’t used to long lines and subpar meals.  SeaDream lacks any entertainment, so the HAL offerings are a plus - but recent reviews implied those aren’t what they used to be either.

 

I think you need an entirely different set of expectations, if you decide to take this Westerdam cruise.  Not good or bad, just a lot different. If you are taking this cruise primarily for its itinerary and costs, compared to the much smaller boutique lines, you will not be disappointed. 

 

However, if it is hard to let go of those much smaller ship expectations, I can't imagine you enjoying a ship like the Westerdam.  It provides all the travel and itinerary basics, but it is just simply larger - not oppressively larger, but a far more impersonal cruise experience.

 

Everything will feel "more crowded" simply because there will be more people. So yes, you might have to wait in tender lines, dining waits, more banquet style food, travel offshore in larger groups if you do ship excursions, and more or less fend for yourself among a group of relative strangers more than an intimate group of fellow passengers on your past smaller ships.  We have found most, if not all, HAL passengers are very good sports and courtesy handle this in all good spirt.

 

We like the "smaller HAL ships", but even those are in the 1200-1400 passenger range (certainly not your past 100 passenger small ship experiences!), so we did not find going on many slightly larger Vista ships like the Westerdam too much of a change because they were pretty much a familiar format for us.  

 

The larger, newer HAL ships are not our own cup of tea, but others love them for very different reasons than what we came to prefer about the older, smaller HAL ships. One needs to make sure they know what ship one is hearing about when either compliments or complaints are registered - each size ship will generate very different experiences. 

 

But we have never cruised on a 100 passenger ship for any length of time, so I cannot really say anything definitive other than the need to make your choice on very different criteria than your prior very small cruise ship choices. I have longingly looked at ships like Island Sky and loved where and how they go places pretty much off the map. But they do not offer HAL prices either, so any comparisons are simply not fair.

 

Complaints about food and on-board entertainment on HAL ships are endemic, and even the HAL ships themselves, ever since HAL became our own cruise line of choice back in 2009. None of those complaints ever stopped us from accumulating over 600 days onboard and loving every single one of our mainly long, and exotic HAL cruises.

 

We just re-set our expectations to match the price we were paying, while still enjoying some pretty fabulous destinations. 

[Aulanis]

We are booked on the Westerdam  9Dec 23  singapore to HK  so interested

to hear how things are.  We were on Volendam  in Nov 22 FFL to Amazon

and the seemed to struggle in the dining rooms not enough waiters nor chefs.

   The staff that were there were still friendly and efficient the problems were

out of their control. Last cruise with HAL prior to that was 2016  and overall

it was not as good as we had hoped, though still good value for money.

   We have been on 2 Princess cruises last year and they too had too few staff.

Lots of cut backs there as well notable on the elite perks.

   We are on P&O next week  another Carnival group company  so will see how they are doing.    In the UK I think most of the land side staff are working from home still  and enquiries are difficult , phone line is not  free to call so expensive if you are on hold for ages and replies to emails can take weeks.   Hopefully it will continue to improve.

 

 

[zelker]

To the OP, while we love sailing Seabourn for the small ship experience, HAL is definitely our go-to cruise line (as evidenced by our 5* Mariner status).  Our first-ever cruise was on Westerdam's maiden voyage in April 2004 out of Venice, and she's still my DH's favorite ship.  We are partial to the Vista Class ships (Westerdam, Zuiderdam, Noordam, Oosterdam), with 3 of our next 6 cruises on Westie (two are B2B's for a total of 44 days and the other one is 28 days) and 1 on Zuiderdam (30 days).  I completely agree with @OlsSaltcomments/advise to you about evaluating your priorities and expectations.  HAL's outstanding crew are second to none and that, and the awesome itineraries they offer, keep us coming back.  Good luck in choosing what works for you!

[cruisemom42]

3 hours ago, JES4845 said:

Thanks to both of you for these quick and helpful replies.  Look forward to your upcoming reports and wish you safe journeys and enjoyable voyages.  As to the first question, it is a combination of the “big ship” and service quality.  We often travel on SeaDream - max 112 passengers - and the quality of the food and service is top notch largely because of the small size.  We have been told by others that generally as the ship gets bigger, the quality becomes uneven.  We aren’t looking for the royal treatment, but we aren’t used to long lines and subpar meals.  SeaDream lacks any entertainment, so the HAL offerings are a plus - but recent reviews implied those aren’t what they used to be either.

 

SeaDream's ships are rated 5.5 stars; Westerdam is rated 5 stars. But it is important to realize that those are within their category. As already said, there is no way that a ship holding 2,000 passengers will equal the experience of a ship with 100 passengers. 

 

I spent many cruises on Voyage to Antiquity's 350 passenger ship. It's a very different experience. I like having far fewer people onboard -- especially as a solo. You have more of a chance to connect with others.

 

However, I sail first and foremost for itineraries, and HAL had the best itinerary for this particular voyage of any I looked at. (And for comparison I am sailing with Oceania and then with Azamara later this year.). I just make adjustments based on what is reasonable to expect.

 

That said, I must admit that I do have some trepidation that the HAL of past cruises still has enough of the basic onboard atmosphere that I have enjoyed. I expect the food is probably the equivalent of similar likes (such as Celebrity and Princess), but I am more concerned about how "quiet" things will be on board. I will admit to enjoying a bit of a social vibe onboard ship and I am not an early to bed person. However, coming from a ship with little entertainment, perhaps the difference won't be as stark for you.

 

[sciencewonk]

I was on a 34-day cruise on Noordam, a Vista Class ship like Westerdam.  It was a terrific cruise, but not without its problems, which I think you would get on any long cruise.

 

I've never been on a small ship like you described, but I can't imaging the service being better than HAL's service.  The crew are amazing.

 

I thought the food in the MDR and Pinnacle Grill was great.

 

I was a little disappointed with the entertainment, but I expect there to be a lot of repeat performances when you're in the middle of the Pacific for as long as we were.

 

I hope you enjoy your cruise.