Westerdam Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,112 reviews

Nov 29, 2009 West(erdam) Western Caribbean

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Westerdam
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teemsum
First Time Cruiser • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Nov 2009
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Our room was right at the forward elevators so you could hear the elevator dinging, people talking & vacuuming early in the morning ( 7:30 am ) & late at night ( 9:30 pm ). Also, the bridge is on Navigation deck which obstructed our view. We arrived at the cruise terminal at 9:30 am where we waited in a small waiting area until about 10:30 am. You are given numbers and then called to go upstairs where they'll start boarding at 11 am. Suite guests and VIP guests have priority boarding. They had a Welcome Back Mariners Lunch from 12 pm - 1 pm in the Vista dining room. It was an Indonesian Set Lunch menu. The food was very spicy. Holland America allows their guests to stay onboard until 9:45 am which is really nice 'cause then you don't have to take your belongings with you to breakfast. That's why the staterooms aren't available until 1:30 pm. But up on the Lido deck, there is an area where you can drop off your carry-on luggage while you have lunch & explore the ship. The Lifeboat drill is at 4:15 pm on the Promenade deck. You don't wear your lifevest to this event. The reason is that there were several guests injured on Cunard when someone tripped on the trailing straps & it caused a domino effect. They show movies in the Queens Lounge and also continuous movies in your stateroom. Tonight's movie is X-Men: Origins Dress: Smart Casual Every evening in the Lido buffet, they have a theme. Tonight it's French from 11 pm - 12 midnight. Day 2 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas Smart Casual Movie: The Proposal Evening entertainment: Thien Fu, comedic juggler Late night snack Asian from 11 pm to 12 midnight. We walked around the island & enjoyed the bbq buffet. On the ship, Holland America has an extensive menu for breakfast & lunch in the Lido buffet and a more limited menu at dinner. For breakfast, they have: omelettes, pancakes, waffles, French toast, 7 kinds of Eggs Benedict, cereal ( no granola ), fresh fruit, pastries etc. For lunch, they have pizza, pasta, Asian ( quite good ), burgers, 5 different entrees. For dinner, they have pizza, pasta, 5 different entrees Make sure you walk around both sides of the buffet as they are a little bit different. We were on open dining. We ate in the dining room on the first night & in the Lido for the rest of the cruise since it was basically the same menu. Day 3 Grand Turk Formal Evening entertainment: The Grand Tour ( production show ) Movie: Julie & Julia Late night snack: Mexican from 10:30 to 12 midnight We took the Conch World tour which was quite informative. Day 4 at sea Smart Casual Movie: The Answer Man Evening entertainment: Joel Mason, pianist/comedian (tribute to Elton John ) Joel requires a lot of audience participation & gets quite wild. Today we had our Cruise Critic Meet n Greet in Michelle's "stateroom". Captain Peter Harris, Cruise Director Keith Cox, the Executive Chef , the Hotel Director and Marion from Guest Relations also attended. It was a lovely party. Captain Peter Harris & Keith Cox are really personable. They would say 'hi' when I saw them around the ship. I found that there weren't too many activities in-between mealtimes. A lot of guests were reading a book. ( They do have an extensive library ) Late night snack: Caribbean from 11 pm to 12 midnight Day 5 Grand Cayman Formal Movie: Angels & Demons Evening entertainment: Stage & Screen ( production show ) Late night snack: Spanish from 11 pm to 12 midnight. We'd been here last year, so just shopped this time. Day 6 Costa Maya Smart Casual Movie: Shrink Evening entertainment: Mamma Mia movie sing-a-long Dessert Extravaganza from 10 pm until 12 midnight. We went ashore & just shopped. We were a bit disappointed at the Dessert Extravaganza that there weren't more chocolate desserts. We just took pictures & didn't stay to eat it. Day 7 at sea Smart Casual Movie: The Taking of Pelham 123 Evening entertainment: Farewell show ( which lasted about 70 mins ) Late night snack: American from 11 pm to 12 midnight ( lots of pies ) Final cruise bingo $ 100,000 jackpot if you cover your card in 46 numbers or less. ( slim odds ) You have up until 1 am to place your luggage outside your stateroom. They have silent disembarkation which means after the initial announcement that the ship is cleared; there'll be no more announcements. Our flight was at 3 pm so we opted for independent disembarkation. We got off the ship at 9:30 am & were at FLL airport by 9:50 am. The taxi is $ 10-12 USD. They have laundry specials by the Bag for $ 20 or Unlimited Laundry for 7 days for $ 45. They also have Unlimited Pressing for 7 days for $ 30. Internet is 250 minutes for $ 100.00 (0.40 per minute ), 100 minutes for $ 55.00 ( 0.55 per minute ) or pay as you go 0.75 per minute. It rained in Costa Maya in the morning and also the morning of the last sea day ( poured, actually ) We enjoyed our cruise. Guests & crew were friendly & the food was good.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Cabin VA

Our room was right at the forward elevators so you could hear the elevator dinging, people talking & vacuuming early in the morning ( 7:30 am ) & late at night ( 9:30 pm ). Also, the bridge is on Navigation deck which obstructed our view.

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