This was our second cruise aboard the Westerdam (and fourth HAL cruise) during the holiday season. We also sailed on the Westerdam during the holiday season in 2011. Sadly, we were disappointed with HAL for the first time. We have always been HUGE HAL fans, but after this cruise we are definitely strongly considering whether or not we use this cruise line again.

Firstly embarkation - we had to wait for almost an hour to get on the ship...any other HAL cruise we've been on - we've had to wait 5 - 10 minutes at most. More concerning...all of our cruise documents indicated the cruise ship left the port at 5:OO. We were extremely surprised to hear that the muster drill was happening at 3:15 - we thought this curious, as there would be people who wouldn't yet be on the ship...we were even more surprised when the ship sailed shortly after 4:00!

Our room was great, and aft balcony - which was huge, and we enjoyed using it throughout our cruise. Otherwise a standard balcony room. Our room steward was excellent (as usual). A couple of SERIOUS (in our opinion) issues with our room, however. Our fridge did not work for the duration of the cruise, despite calling the front desk several times to get this fixed, and numerous complaints to our room stewards. At one point they said had been fixed and even replaced, however, it was so overheated and smelled so badly of burning plastic, that my husband actually had to unscrew it and unplug it. You would have thought that several complaints to the front desk of a fire hazard would have gotten some response. Not so. It was still not working when we left the cruise. Also, the air conditioning was COMPLETELY inadequate. Again, we complained more than four times to the front desk. Day three of the cruise, a technician came to our room and confirmed what we already knew, 'ya, that's definitely not working properly...I'll have to check a couple of things out and come back' the technician was never to be seen again. It's not enjoyable to be in such a lather after blow-drying your hair that you can't get dressed in evening clothes because you are soaked...and then sleeping - very difficult with no air conditioning. On a positive note, the bedding was very fresh and clean, and the bed was very comfortable. Yes, compared with the problems of the world, we realize these were minor inconveniences...however, when you are paying good money for a relaxing vacation to get away from the stresses of daily work life, it is very disappointing. Read more