Eastern Caribbean Westerdam

Westerdam Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

yeahpack

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 32

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Ft. Lauderdale Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 20, 2016

Ship: Westerdam

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 5170

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

Our first cruise with Holland America.

The ship catered to the 800 group of guests and forgot about the rest of the passangers. We had issues with our inability to eat dinner in the main dining room after 6:30 pm with our anytime dining plan. WHAT?? No "before sailing" help from Holland America. We had to deal with it when on the ship. The ship allowed the 800 guests to reserve the dining room for 800 at 8:00 pm in the main dining room, every night. Not a good business model to forget the other 1,000 guests' needs/enjoyment. Many had to alter their plans because of this. There were no lectures or shows from the theater during the day as this 800 group used the theater every day. No Zumba classes offered! No information sessions about the island we were to visit next. Few lectures offered. No ability to make a small salad at the Lido. Ship needs to be updated and refurbished.

Positive: Rooms were kept clean and great service from our steward.

Food was mostly quite good. Deck was great for walking. The "Holland America 5K for Cancer" was awesome plan. We joined that. Weather treated us well!

Sailed as planned, on time arrivals, etc...

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Liked the bath tub. Carpet could be cleaner.

Ports of call

Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida

5 out of 5

Grand Turk Island

5 out of 5

San Juan, Puerto Rico

5 out of 5

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5

Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)

5 out of 5

6 Comments

GerryBCruisin 2 years ago

Thanks for taking the time to share your review of the Westerdam.

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enjoyurdaysmile 8 years ago

We never got an email about not eating at a certain time for our any time seating. Did you?

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enjoyurdaysmile 8 years ago

Oops. At times we had to wait like others. I don't know why you couldn't eat at 7:30 if you wanted to. We came any time We wanted.

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enjoyurdaysmile 8 years ago

We had any time dining and never had a problem. I'm sorry things happened to you. Chartered groups can be on any line and any ship. We went to the shows at night. A few I didn't go to because I was tired. The Filipino show was very nice. The dancers had lessons to teach the guest dances. I didn't go. I'm glad I had gone and had a good time.

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enjoyurdaysmile 8 years ago

I was on the Westerdam 2/20-27 of this yr. The ship was not too bad. The service was great. We were in the Main Dining room for dinner and seated before the Sandi Patti group came. At times We has to wait a little, but not too long and it's not just the group that people had reservations for, but had to wait for others to finish. We went to deck 2 to be seated and some nights we sat up stairs. I didn't know there was supposed to be a Zimbabwe class as it was not part of the day's program. There were activities to do. This was my first Holland cruise. I

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flymom7 8 years ago

Who were the 800? Was it a special group?

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Had a wonderful week