Oosterdam Review

Pleasant suprise

Review for the Southern Caribbean Cruise on Oosterdam
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Abby321
10+ Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Nov 2017
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

A friend wanted to try Holland and she found a good price so we decided to take the 7 day cruise. I have sailed on Stimar (1970's), Carnival (traveled on Madi Gras, Tropical) so you can see I started with them at their very beginning and Princess I did 7 cruises with them (they are still my favorite) and was a little hesitant to try Holland. I had heard they were older ships and older passengers. I was pleasantly surprised on both counts. Boarding was a breeze, ship had only 1600 passengers about 400 short of being sold out. I was very impressed with our room which had a balcony and also included a small sofa and a bathtub. To get this on Princess you had to book a mini-suite. The ship itself did seem older but very well maintained. It reminded me of my first cruise with Stimar. We had five days of off and on rain so we did have time to explore the ship. The seminars with Frank from Microsoft giving us updates on new Windows was a great surprise especially with the weather. I went to most of them and loved and learned from them. He made me realize how much I miss Microsoft. Entertainment was very good. The dueling pianos was one of our favorite stops. Casino I gave up on, I don't care if I win but at least give me some playtime. Went to a couple shows all were very entertaining. Staff was wonderful didn't run into any rude staff at all. Our stewards were great.

Food I thought was very good. Surprisingly I ate at the buffet more than I ever have. I felt they had a great selection and the pasta bar I fell in love with. Actually this was the first cruise ever that I ate dinner in the buffet. Dining room food was good some day excellent some day not so. We did do anytime dining and I think you don't get to build a relationship with your dining staff but I like the anytime too much to go back.

To me the biggest disappointment were the ports, due to the hurricanes San Juan was definitely out so we made two stop in the Dominican Republic. Amber Cove is one of the ship built ports nice but we didn't go into the town because of the threatening weather. Think that would have been a good idea if weather would have been nicer, the second stop was Punta Cana we walked around, shopped had coffee and use WIFI and went back to ship. Third stop was St. Thomas that one hurt. That is one of the most beautiful islands and to see it hurting like it was was hard. We were the first "large" cruise ship into port and you could see the people were so glad to see us. We didn't do any tours just stayed in town and spent some money. I spent more there than I planned on but felt good about it. They need the ships coming into port so I hope people are not too hard on them trying to get the cruise ships back in, let's help get them and all the rest of the caribbean islands get back on their feet.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Can't remember the room number but we were in the bow and had a veranda . Room was very nice with a lot of storage. Drawer under the bed which I have never had before and plentiful closet space. Balcony was a nice size we just didn't use as much because of the weather but still nice to have. Very, very pleased with the room and our stewards.

Port Reviews

Amber Cove (Puerto Plata)

Had a lot of nice shops. We did not go into town but stayed at Amber Cover. Very nice price were actually pretty good for a ship town.

Half Moon Cay

This was a beautiful stop and a fanastic way to end a cruise. Enjoyable,beautiful and relaxing, what more can you want.

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