Oosterdam 5/29-6/5

We arrived late Friday night in Seattle and just crashed at the airport Holiday Inn. Quick and easy shuttle transfer and a very nice buffet breakfast included. For some reason it took 20 minutes to get a taxi to the hotel, but then it was a quick and scenic trip to the pier. It really is too bad that HAL and Princess have decided to use the new pier 30 facility. It's in the middle of the cargo area, not at all attractive and not convenient to the Seattle waterfront or downtown. Check-in for suite passengers was quick and efficient, with essentially no line. Filling out the embarkation forms online is definitely the way to go. Embarkation itself was a bit like running a gauntlet of crew members trying to get you to go to this or that raffle. They were more of a hassle than helpful. We embarked around 12:30 and were taken to our suite which was not quite ready. We opted for lunch in the Lido. While the Lido has potential, it is more often a confusing and fractured dining experience, especially when eating with several people. Also, finding a seat was next to impossible most times as it was a popular place to enjoy the scenery and instead of chair hogs by the pool, the Lido suffered from chair hogs in the dining room. Also, I found the Lido hours to be quite limited with several times during the cruise when one could not find food anywhere. The food was decent but several notches down from previous experience and the service was poor.

Our suite (7132) was outstanding. We had the aft port suite on the 7th deck. While the suite itself was a bit smaller than the typical S suite, it was still larger than an SS suite and most important of all it had a HUGE wraparound balcony. In fact I would venture to say that the balcony is larger than many of the cabins. The balcony on the side was covered and the size of 2 A category cabin balconies, the rear balcony was at least 10 feet deep. It only had a 3 foot overhang, not enough to protect from rain, but enough that if sitting by the wall, you could not be viewed from above. We rarely saw anyone looking down on us from the Lido deck and likewise we rarely saw anyone on the balconies below us. Furniture on the balcony included a dining table with 4 chairs, 2 lounge chairs, 2 padded chairs with ottomans and a small cocktail table. We only experienced soot on the balcony one day toward the end of the trip. In the suite was a (true) king size bed with a wonderful firm mattress, fantastic linens, a down duvet and 6 pillows. It was by far one of the most comfortable beds I've slept on. The couch was turned into a twin bed each evening by our steward. Additionally there were 3 leather chairs and a coffee table. The TV was a flat screen with an excellent picture quality. Beneath it were a CD player and a DVD player. We had brought our own music CDs and DVDs were available from the Neptune lounge. A granite minibar topped by a silver ice bucket and fruit bowl (with bananas, grapes apples and pears) finished out the main room. Next to the bathroom was a dressing room with 3 closets, all with full mirrors on the front. The lighting in here was not great. The bathroom had 2 sinks, a jetted tub with handheld shower head and separate shower stall with a handheld shower head. The shower stall was a bit tight, but not bad. The first day the towels had the HAL logo on them, afterwards they were very plush oversize plain white towels. Bathroom amenities included shampoo/conditioner (which was not at all conditioning, I'd advise bringing your own), lotion, a sewing kit and shower cap. Other suite amenities included two terry cloth robes, an umbrella, binoculars (Bushnell, good quality) and a hair dryer (not very powerful, and I have thin, easy to dry hair). When we arrived a bottle of champagne was chilling compliments of the captain. We also received personalized stationery and an invitation to the suite reception that evening. I had pre-ordered some wine and gin which were also in the room. Our room steward did a very good job making up the room twice a day. A daily program was delivered to the suite each evening along with what I felt to be quite a bit of "junk mail". Turn down service included a chocolate on the pillow. Each morning the dinner menu for the day was delivered. I really enjoyed that little bit of information. The Pinnacle Grill menu was in the leather suite information folder along with the rather limited room service menu. We received a corsage and boutonniere for the first Formal night (each a white carnation). Room service was not good. They continually refilled the mini bar with soda water when we used the tonic water. Getting through to room service was a challenge, several times we had to contact the concierge to have her contact room service. We never used room service for food, just tonic and ice. Read more