Nice itinerary. Dissapointed in HAL

The food and service in the Pinnacle Grill were wonderful. The food at the buffet was not good and was poorly presented. The staff in the buffet were very helpful (not their fault the food was bad). The Bain dining room food was hit or miss. Afternoon tea was very nice. We went knowing that the Westerdam was due for a remodel in dry dock soon so we expected that the ship would be showing her age.....but we were shocked to have lots of mold growing in one of the showers in our suites bathroom. There is no excuse for that as there are chemical cleaners that will kill/remove mold. We did not mention it to our room steward as A- you really should not have to point that out and B- we only saw the steward once the entire week. The room was serviced every day but we never saw the steward, no introduction or greeting etc. The itinerary was excellent. The BB King All Stars Band were great. The magician/illusionist spends most of his show trying to sell his Magic kit to the audience. I don't mean just mentioning it or just having a table outside of the showroom to sell from- I mean he spends a good thirty minutes of the act extolling the virtues of it and what is included if you will buy it from him for $125.  This was our first cruise with HAL and I went with the expectations that HAL would be better than Norwegian but not quite as nice as Celebrity. I will now say that HAL beats Norwegian only on cabin size and the food in the "paid" Pinnacle Grill restaurant but that otherwise Norwegian is better in every other way. Celebrity is the way to go if they sail the itinerary you want hands down. If you are wanting to do the Mexican Riviera and your choices are HAL Westerdam or Norwegian Jewel I would go with the Jewel ( I sailed on both ships in the last eight months).