Enjoyable Experience
Oosterdam Cruise Review
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 10
Helpful Votes: 196
Review summary
Very enjoyable itinerary, great ship, excellent crew. Poor cruise/tour director was the only downside.Embarkation
Embarkation was smooth and well organized. Was very disappointed in the sail away. Essentially, the sail away "party" was one long advertisement for the spa which included multiple drawings for discount coupons. Very poorly done.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
The Lido buffet was the best in my experience on HAL. The workers were wonderfully happy and the food was great. The dining room also served excellent fare and we enjoyed the burgers at the Dive Inn.
Onboard Activities
We enjoyed the cultural talks immensely. They did a cool raft demonstration and a fruit carving demonstration. We were truly disappointed with the "ballroom dancing " activity that ran nearly daily. The cruise director essentially booked a room and put on recorded music. No bartender, nobody giving lessons, no support whatsoever.
Entertainment
I miss the HAL singers and dancers. Everything is now contracted acts. We had 4 comedians all of them mediocre. The dance acts were decent, as were the 2 piano players. The Dutch Tenors were very good.
Service and Staff
Our room stewards were outstanding as was the Lido team mentioned previously. The reason I gave this a 4 is the cruise/tour director who informed my wife when she requested some music during the sail away, that he didn't care about her loyalty to HAL, and if she didn't like the selected music she should sail with another line.
Ship Quality
The Oosterdam is an older ship, but we really enjoyed the layout and decor.
Cabin / Stateroom
Had a deck 4 veranda. The verandas on deck 4 are about one and a half feet deeper than higher decks. Our room was on the aft part of the ship which we prefer.
Disembarkation
Well organized and efficient.
3 Comments
Gwbigdog 2 years ago
cruisereckoning 4 years ago
Cruiserike0322 4 years ago