Westerdam Review
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This was the first cruise for my husband and I- we were with my parents as well as my sister and her boyfriend. My parents had previously sailed on the Westerdam in January so we had a leg up as far as finding things on the ship.
Embarkation: We arrived in Seattle the day before embarkation, which turned out well because we got up in the morning and headed to the pier. The embarkation process was rather slow (they only had one metal detector/x-ray machine!) but we expected lines upon lines so it wasn't a surprise. Once onboard, we went straight to the Lido buffet for lunch, which was a nightmare, as expected, since it was basically the only place for everyone to congregate. But, all in all, embarkation went pretty smoothly and our rooms were ready earlier than we even expected.
Accommodations: My husband and I shared an outside cabin with my sister and her boyfriend. Tight quarters, to be sure. My parents had a verandah- one with a wraparound corner balcony. Both rooms were nice, although four people in an outside room was a tight fit and I definitely wouldn't recommend it! One word of caution- the rooms are advertised as having sofa beds, but these are not your everyday sofa beds. They do not pull out. Essentially the part of the sofa that you sit on flips over and that is the sofa bed- it is probably smaller than your average twin bed. Our plan was to sleep two people on the sofa bed, but once we got there, we realized this wasn't possible. We were told by our travel agent that we could have four people in one room- however, once we got on the ship, they would not provide us with a cot to sleep that fourth person. However, they would bring the cot to my parents' suite. So, we took it in the elevator and brought it to our cabin with little to no trouble and it was left at that. Tight quarters indeed, and we left our steward a nice tip for all the trouble he went through working around the cot and cleaning up after four people in such a small room! Anyway, the verandah suite was very nice and I would highly recommend having a balcony, as it was quite handy to have in Glacier Bay.