My significant other and 14 year old son were very excited to be cruising the inside passage on the Oosterdam. We had sailed twice before with Carnival which I refer to as the Walmart of the Seas. We had shied away from HAL because of its reputation for catering to seniors but was certainly not the case on the Oosterdam. There was a nice mix of age groups and lots of well behaved teens as well as younger children. No yelling, running wild or screaming kids anywhere!

We loved the ship,comfortable beds, sparkling clean ship, great service everywhere. The Indonesian staff was awesome..friendly, polite, entertaining, and very hard working. I was disappointed to find the infamous Hunky Dory was not aboard this trip but his protege John Wayne was and sure enough remembered our names 3 days after meeting us just once! Hunky Dory has a talent for knowing the names of every passenger onboard by the end of each cruise!

We chose an outside stateroom with an obstructed view which I scammed for the same price as an inside cabin...we were on a tight budget. The room was tastefully decorated, flat screen tv, dvd, lots of storage, shower with tub, very nice toiletries, great towels. Our room came with a sofa which made into full sized bed. The downside was it was located between the bathroom and the queen bed and when it was unfolded it completely blocked the walkway to the bathroom! We never pulled the bed out...son Tyler slept on the sofa which was really too small. HAL really needs to put the sofa bed at the other end of the room! The only other complaints we had about our room was the lighting...too dim in the closet and vanity area and too bright in the bathroom! The halogen light in the bathroom was worse than any dressing room lights I ever saw. On the upside,the sight of cellulite each morning controlled my appetite at breakfast! None of us gained an ounce! Rough seas the first day also helped with that. I was surprised and upset to find that the oosterdam was sailing into the the Gulf of Alaska to reach out first port of Juneau. I thought it would be the inside passage on the way up...wrong! The seas were so rough I was in bed all day DAY 1. After taking the free medication offered I felt better and dressed for the first formal night. The dining room is beautiful but located in the back of the ship and the motion was worse. One look at my shrimp cocktail send me running to the bathroom. I returned to my stateroom while the others finished their meals. Next time I will take the medication at the first sign of trouble! Back to the room...sheets were high quality but pillows very small. The ice bucket was small too and we often needed more ice. We brought 3 liter boxes of wine on board (allowed by HAL) and asked the steward Hasan (who was great) for wine glasses. This saved us a fortune at the bar. We ordered an inexpensive bottle with dinner two nights which was very good for $22 plus tip of course! We splurged and tried the Pinnacle one night just for kicks...we didn't find the food THAT much better than the dining room. I don't think its worth an extra $20 per person. Read more