Westerdam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
The only thing that exceeded the problems we encounters on our cruise was the sheer ARROGANCE and dismissive attitude of the "Customer Service Director". I took my wife and four kids for Spring Break on this cruise as we dearly wanted to see Grand Turk to fulfill my promise for my daughters Sweet-16 (to get her to Turks & Caicos). A couple things went wrong that we just "went with the flow" and tried to make the best of, but in the end, it was a bad experience.
The head of guest relations was not only unhelpful, he was antagonistic. For all the problems we brought to him, he shrugged them off and said there was nothing he could do. Later he was a real jerk to my daughter and we are taking that up with HAL directly.
Problems ranged from missing the main port-destination; to 2-hours to get dinner in the main dining room (we were told it was our own fault since we had open dining instead of assigned timed-seating); to repeated issues with the room keys not working (and being told it was our own fault - that we probably were rubbing them up against our cell phones - but in fact they were all in the paper holders we were issued); to the fitness director kicking my son out of the fitness room because he was under 16 (when all he did was come up to coordinate schedule with me while I was working out).
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
These Cabins are always small but was good enough. We had a Veranda Balcony room and a large interior cabin as there were 6 of us (Dad, Mom, and 4 kids, so went 3&3). The balcony is very nice and we used it a lot (much more than I thought we would). The cabin steward was polite and attentive, but couldn't do anything about all the other mishaps on our cruise. For his part thought, it was OK.
Port Reviews
Fort Lauderdale (Port Everglades)
We embarked in Ft. Lauderdale and almost everything went as expected. Minor issue with the room key, that didn't work for boarding about 2-minutes after they issued it to me, then the replacement didn't work either. The 3rd one worked for a day. My kids keys worked fine.
Grand Turk
Our cruise missed this port which was awful because this was the ONE port we really wanted to visit. That's what we get for taking Holland America Cruise line instead of a good cruise. We won't make that mistake again.
San Juan
We had a lot of fun in San Juan. Almost took an island tour for $20/person, and with six of us, that was $120. Instead we got a $14 taxi that took us right to where we wanted to go (Fort in north east shore) and then a $10 taxi back to shopping. Taxis are the way to go. All our drivers were friendly and helpful.
St. Maarten
A fun place. Went snorkeling that we booked on the spot with a local. It was good, but there is a floating dock right there that I would have been happier with. We had fun going to airport beach where planes land just a few feet overhead creating a fun environment for the kids. Good bar/Resturant there at the end of the runway.
Half Moon Cay
This was the highlight of our cruise. One of the most beautiful islands I've ever been on, on a par with the Hawaiian islands. This was absolutely stunning, and we bought a villa for the day, which I'm really glad I did - and would do it again in a heartbeat if there were other cruise ships there. Snorkeling, swimming, and just strolling on the beach - were all incredible. One of the most beautiful places on the planet.