Pleasant first trip

Oosterdam Cruise Review to Alaska - Inside Passage

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 3

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Oosterdam

7 Night Alaska Explorer (Seattle Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 19, 2010

Ship: Oosterdam

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 14 years ago

Review summary

We liked the ship, the public areas and our stateroom. The upstairs library has great reference, travel, and best seller books to read, espresso, and deep comfy chairs with big windows to watch the view (but get there early). The string quartet in the evening was very elegant, also in a comfortable lounge. Sadly, overall the food was mediocre (bland) and service in the dining room incredibly slow. Culinary demoss were not as advertised - more of the napkin-folding than celebrity chef type. Wished for more yoga classes.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
The food was mostly mediocre. We liked having the 'eat as you wish' option. We preferred to have a table for two and could be accomodated most of the time. We did not participate in formal nights and the only other options were the Lido restaurant (cafeteria) or room service. There were only a couple of entrees offered on the Lido and they were dreadful. We ended up getting a couple of sandwiches from room service. Service in the dining room was really slow.

Entertainment

3 out of 5
Advertisements for this journey made a big deal out of the culinary demos available by celebrity chefs, which I was much looking forward to. Phooey! Most were of the how-to-fold-a-napkin variety. And I had hoped for daily yoga. Nope. The massage I got was good, but then I got very high pressure to buy ridiculously overpriced spa products. Not very relaxing!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The staff were superb, especially the Indonesians who were friendly, kind, helpful, and had a great attitude. (I got some attitude from some of the American and European staff.)

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Having only been on smaller vessels before it seemed a big ship but the layout easy to understand. I liked the understated decor. The ship was very clean. The elevators were fast and plentiful so moving around between floors was easy. The casinos - which Imy husband and dislike in general - were smoky and I wish I could have moved through that deck without having to have walked through there at all.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We had a balcony stateroom which was very pleasant and worth the extra cost for us. Even though we had some bad weather and couldn't spend as much time as we would have liked on the balcony, the large doors were like giant windows to the outside. The bathroom was a good size, and there was plenty of storage space in the cabinets and under the bed. The bed was quite comfortable.

Pros: Great service

Cons: Quality of the food

Recommends Oosterdam? Yes!

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