Stay away from the Westerdam

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 4

Review summary

What you can expect on the Westerdam? Unapologetic Incompetence from multiple departments ! Navigator App If you send a message on their Navigator app, and ask the receiver to pass it on to a Guest Services agent, no one passes on the message. Then you’ll have to GO to Guest Services to find out if the Guest Services agent DID in fact get the message. Then, when you describe the incident, you’ll get a form letter that could have been sent to ANY passenger. Disembarkation In one port Kushiro, 4 agents had no idea where I should go. One told me to go to deck 1. When I got there, another agent told me to go to deck 2. There, another agent told me to go to deck 1. When I got to deck 1, another agent told me to go to deck 2. When I got to deck 2, another agent told me to go to deck 1. Then, when I described the incident to Guest Services, I got a form letter that could have been sent to ANY passenger. Crowd Management At Japan Immigration, I saw another passenger budge the line and she went ahead of about 100 passengers, including me. When I advised the Guest Services agent, she REFUSED to solve the problem. She told me to SIT DOWN and walked away! Then, when I described the incident to Guest Services, and asked what I should do next time I saw another passenger budge the line, I got a form letter that could have been sent to ANY passenger. Internet Costs When I asked the Future Cruise agent about the internet costs, he told me "I-don’t-sell-Internet”, and that I should go to Guest Services for that information. When I asked Guest Services for the internet costs of a 9-day cruise, they gave me a range of costs for the 7-day and the 12-day cruise, not a specific number. What is worse, I heard the Future Cruise agent share the internet costs with the passenger before me! Mmmmm! Guest Services Five Guest Services agents insisted that the room temperature could NOT be adjusted to exceed 73 degrees. After the AC guy came, he quickly found a way to get the room temperature to exceed 73 degrees, as I had requested. I requested a $44 refund of the cruise port to Seattle airport shuttle, and the Guest Services agent told me that only my travel agent could issue the refund. When I explained that the travel agent told me that only Guest Services could issue the refund, the agent told me that the shuttle was non-refundable, and that I should find and review the terms and conditions of the ticket. I objected to that option and asked Guest Services to share that section of the terms and conditions to ME. Later that day, the refund was issued. No apology! No explanation! Then, when I described the incident to Guest Services, I got a form letter that could have been sent to ANY passenger. When I asked a Guest Services agent how many times my credit card would be charged throughout the 53-day cruise, he told me the account would be settled at the END of the cruise. I told him that I had seen, in the Daily program, that my account would be charged on 26 Sep, he told me that THAT information was not available for guests. I recommended that he contact another Guest Services agent. Then he guided me through the MONEY section on the TV. There, I discovered that $30/day would be charged to my account, but THAT did not apply to this cruise. Then he told me that my card would be charged twice. Then, when I described the incident to Guest Services, and asked how I could avoid another 20-minute conversation with multiple mistakes, I got a form letter that could have been sent to ANY passenger. The form letter from the Front Desk Manager was the epitome of trivializing a guest’s concerns. Don’t waste your time writing about Guest Services. Their response will be more infuriating than your original concerns. Just suffer through the incompetence! Shore Excursions Don’t believe a word from a Shore Excursions agent. I asked the agent about the drive times on a tour. I was told that one drive segment of the tour would be 15 minutes, I reiterated “1-5” for clarity. When the tour guide announced that the drive would be 50 minutes, I was shocked and didn’t have the supplements that I needed for a 50-minute drive. When the I described the misinformation and its consequences to the Shore Excursions Manager, instead for apologizing for the misinformation, he told me that I SHOULD HAVE INFORMED the Shore Excursions agent that I had a medical condition, and that I SHOULD HAVE TAKEN a different tour. No apology! The Shore Excursions Manager promised me a 15% discount, but it never came. That was 4 weeks! On one tour, after I asked the tour guide four questions, and he told me that I was “QUESTION BOMBING HIM”. When I described the tour guide’s statement, the Shore Excursions manager told me that sometimes tour guides have a narrative and that they like to finish their narrative. No apology! Stay away from the Westerdam, you’ll spend HOURS documenting incidents of incompetence, and the responses from Guest Services and Shore Excursions will infuriate you even more than the original concerns! It’s the Westerdam Way, and trust me, it will give you a headache! However, when you report problems to Housekeeping and to the Maitre’d, they offered a heartfelt apology and things improved.

Embarkation

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Onboard Activities

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Ports of call

Seattle, Washington

Victoria, British Columbia

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

Sitka, Alaska

Haines, Alaska

Cruise Hubbard Glacier

Dutch Harbor, Alaska

Cross International Dateline

Kushiro, Japan

Hakodate, Japan

Yokohama (Tokyo), Japan

Shimizu, Japan

Osaka, Japan

Kochi, Japan

Hiroshima, Japan

CRUISE KANMON STRAITS, JAPAN

Sakaiminato, Japan

Toyama, Japan

Kanazawa, Japan

Nagasaki, Japan

Ishigaki, Japan

Naha, Okinawa

Honolulu, Oahu

Hilo, Hawaii

Disembarkation

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