Westerdam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
Before I officially begin my review, I should set the stage a bit... I have cruised 5 times before, mostly to the Caribbean. I feel like I know what to expect based on my experience. My wife and I decided to take a cruise to Alaska for two reasons: we live closer to Alaska now than when we last cruised and we have always wanted to check out the inside passage. We booked a category VF and were moved to a category VB. Our room had a balcony and only had a shower (no bathtub). The only thing we knew we really wanted to do on this cruise was see some whales. We stopped in Juneau, Stika, Ketchikan, and Victoria.
The boarding process was a piece-o-cake. We flew into SEATAC, arranged our own transportation beforehand with Shuttle Express, and showed up at the cruise terminal at around 11:15 a.m. We boarded around 11:45. Our cabin was ready and we introduced ourselves to our cabin stewards. They were completely awesome the whole cruise. Seriously. I had read somewhere on this board that the staff of the Westerdam had somehow become "less friendly" lately. Not my experience whatsoever. Every single employee I encountered throughout the entire cruise looked me right in the eyes and greeted me.
We ate in the Pinnacle Grill the 2nd night and as I had anticipated, I enjoyed one of the best steaks I have ever had. My wife had the salmon (and had the salmon every night after that except one).
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
Lots of storage space (we had two suitcases and two A4-type bags full of stuff). The bed was comfortable. I recommend bringing a squeegee so you can clean the balcony windows if they get wet. I used a towel but it wasn't quite able to do the job adequately. The cabin had a shower only (no tub) but since I haven't used a tub in years and neither has my wife we didn't miss it. We went to the spa whirlpool to satisfy any "tub" cravings. There was a nightstand on each side of the bed. There was a TV with a DVD player. They had a movie list of about 1,000 movies you could get delivered to your room. There was a small sofa that couldn't be moved (I wanted to move it 90 degrees so it would face the balcony). We brought the chairs from the balcony into the room while in Glacier Bay. And there was one additional chair that seemed out of place (my wife indicated she saw a room full of these chairs that others found as useful as we did). There was a blow dryer permanently affixed inside a cabinet at the desk. My wife had to dry her hair sitting at the desk. There was body wash, shampoo, and conditioner in the shower. The body wash tore my face up so I had to stop using it. I had to use the soap I brought with me for my face. We never felt cramped.