Westerdam Review

4.5 / 5.0
1,113 reviews

Not Horrible, but Not Great

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Westerdam
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zaxanon6
6-10 Cruises • Age 30s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Oct 2015
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom
Cabin 5089

This was my 3rd Holland America cruise, and 6th overall. It was certainly not the best cruise, but certainly not totally horrible, either. I'd call it average: not good enough to repeat or strongly recommend, but not bad enough that I'd never cruise with HAL again. There weren't any huge issues, just lots of little things that started to stack up and become annoying as the days went on.

Embarkation had its ups and downs. We had a transfer from Ft. Lauderdale airport and the guide unnecessarily brought us out into the hot Florida sun about 15 minutes before the bus actually showed up. We'd already been waiting about another 15-20 minutes inside and easily could have just stayed there. The lines inside the cruise terminal were quite long at ~1:15pm, as would be expected. The woman at the desk was pretty quick once we made it through the line and getting on the ship was mainly smooth after that. The most memorable moment was one worker angrily yelling at us not to walk up the escalator. We could only stand and ride while holding on with both hands. I understand they're concerned with safety, but I didn't appreciate being spoken to in that tone.

The Westerdam was 11 years old at the time of sailing, and it really felt it. Hopefully a renovation is coming soon. Furniture was nicked, scuffed, or otherwise marked up. The area around the lifeboats had lots of chipped paint and rust. The glass door to my balcony had many scratches. The crew appeared to be working hard to keep up the ship, cleaning common areas, scraping off rusting paint, and re-laquering wood. It just felt like they were fighting a losing battle.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Cabin VA

I had a verandah balcony cabin on deck 5 and overall, it was "nice". I had not expected the lifeboats to be peeping up in front of the balconies, partially blocking the view (and making pictures uglier). The overhang from Deck 6 above us was nice, though; kept things drier in rain and reduced direct sunlight. The sizes of both the room and the balcony were as expected. There were a few signs of aging out on the balcony such as chipped paint and rust. The partitions between balconies could be opened, but it blocked a good portion of one of the balconies. The clip to hold the partition open was rusting and loose. The bed was very comfortable, although the couch was not (saggy). The bathroom was mostly well cleaned except the medicine cabinet was a horrible lime-y mess on the inside. The stewards did clean it once it was pointed out.

It took 4-5 calls and about 12 hours to get someone to come unclog a sink, and the tub drained slowly. The stewards weren't overly friendly/talkative; I'd never before been on a cruise where the stewards didn't introduce themselves at the beginning of the voyage. However, they did smile and do their jobs reasonably well. They often had not come yet to turn down the room by the time we returned from dinner (7:30-8pm). I think this was because the average dinner time was later (6:30-7:30) so they were on a later schedule.

The biggest problem with the room was structural. At night, when sailing the rougher waters of the Atlantic, the walls/floor made horrible metal noises as the ship rolled. I'm used to a little bit of shuddering from the ceiling or an occasional creak. But this was multiple hours on multiple nights of a metallic groaning that honestly made me concerned about the integrity of the ship. I don't think I'll ever again sail on a ship that's so many years past construction or a retrofit.

Port Reviews

Grand Turk

The dives were great and Oasis was a fantastic shop.

San Juan

The driver was great. The group should have been split in two for the hike - those who wanted to get a nature walk and those who wanted to spend more time at the waterfall. Since the hike took forever, the rest of the time was rushed.

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