Westerdam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

First of all I only book Holland America if at all possible if it fits in with my schedule.     This was my second Alaska Cruise and it was just great!    This time my sister and brother in law came along for their first time and loved every minute of it.     It was so much fun and the food and entertainment was wonderful.    We actually booked another cruise while on board with wonderful perks and we just can't wait.    Holland America is just classy without being ostentatious and every member of the crew always had a smile and a nice greeting and did everything to please.

This was my second cruise with Holland American - the first was wonderful in every way and I was very excited to be making another trip to Alaska.  Was so looking forward to spending time Juneau, Glacier Bay, Sitka, Ketchikan and Victoria.  However, instead of Sitka I got to spend the first night in Seattle!  Been there, done that, know Seattle very well......beautiful city from the ship.  I didn't pay for a night in Seattle.  I paid for a day in Sitka.  Now I understand that when there is a fire on a ship you can't keep sailing, so returning to port was very necessary.  HOWEVER, I paid for 7 days sailing to the beautiful Alaska ports-and the ones we saw were everything I hoped.  Missing Sitka was extremely disappointing.  Not being reinbursted for losing a day of cruising is almost as disappointing.   It was very thoughtful of the line to give my daughter and I spending credit on the ship of $250.00 ($125.00 per person) and offer a 25% discount on a future cruise, but I did not want to buy trinkets on the ship and at my age I may not have another cruise.  This 7 day cruise for two people cost $3200.00 or $457.15 per day - since we only recieved 6 days and 3 ports instead of 4, Holland America owes each of us approximately $208.00.

I trust, based on your excellant reputation, Holland America Lines will process our refund checks immediately.

Although we had mostly overcast and light rain for most of the time, it never stopped us from doing everything we we wanted to do.  Our veranda cabin was clean and well-attended to by the attendant.  Food was excellent...able to get huge variety on the Lido deck and had a varied menu and wonderful waiters in the Vista dining room at night. Would highly recommend the Saxman Village  excursion...our tour guide, Jack, was excellent! Also recommend taking the tram in Juneau...great views and go to the gift shop to see the master totem carver and to the theater to see the short videoon the Tlinget culture. We never did see any whales, bears, etc...only seals sunning themselves one day.  Margarite Glacier was fantastic.

As far as Alaska and British Columbia-all ports of call were wonderful. We had a great time as long as weren't on the ship! All public areas on the ship appeared fairly clean. Our initial perception of our room was it could have been cleaner (crumbs on the couch, floor not vaccumed very well). As far as the food goes; the food in the dining room was acceptable, at best. The food on the Lido deck buffett-you would have a hard time getting my dog to eat. Alot of the things that I came to expect from previous cruising (presentation, captains dinner, dessert extravaganza, etc) were not present. It doesn't seem like the staff on the ship has much supervision. Most of them speak in their own language than in English. The cruise says it sails inside passage but most of the cruise was sailed in open water which made for a rough ride most of the time. Very short stints of travel were made in protected waters.

We did the 7 day Alaska cruise on the Westerdam June14-21. The ship was beautiful, service was great, but some things were not so great. I would say 25% of the food we had was good. Even in the Vista dining room the food was off. Sticky cold risotto, strange seasonings, tough meat, it didn't warrant a luxury cruise. Even in the Lido dining, the food was off. In the casino, a lot of games were rigged, especially the electronic Keno. If a computer picks numbers every 3 minutes how can it be fair when it knows all the numbers picked. We never saw a winner. Claw machine did not have the strengh to pick up wrapped packs of money, we never saw a winner there either. 15% gratuity is added to every overpriced drink. Automatic gratuity is added at the end of your stay for the waiters, stewards, ect. It seemed like we were nickel and dimed to death.  The ports were great, but you would get that on any other cruiseline you picked. I will say the nightly shows were fantastic. You have other cruiselines to pick from. We would sadly say, pass on the Westerdam.

   Just completed our sixth HAL cruise . . . this time Alaska on the Westerdam.

   Ship very well maintained.  Staterooms small (like everywhere) but well planned.  Meals remain a 'cut above' other 5-Star lines.  Staff very good and the true difference on Holland America.

   Inside passage on Alaska was a great experience.  Glacier Bay was probably the highlight, though we also had an excellent whale watch trip and enjoyed Ketchikan, Sitka and Victoria.

This was a weeklong Grandma and Granddaughter getaway leaving the day after school ended. It was my first Holland cruise having done all previous with Norwegian. We enjoyed our balcony cabin, indulged in breakfast very day in our room, attended every show, and had the "Le Cirque" experience. We appreciated the covered and windless pool area with gourmet burger bar in the afternoon. This is especially welcome on cloudy days (Alaska after all). We had manicures, did shore excursions and sat out on our balcony through Glacier Bay. Service is wonderful in cabin and dining rooms. Food is delicious, Formal nights were a nice way to dress for dinner and feel special. We chose the "anytime dining" option which worked for us. My granddaughter was thrilled and we made some wonderful memories together.

There are very much activites which we like.I like every kinds of music.There are very good information system which tell you what activites in future.very nice food and public area,e.g library ,dining room and pool.But the stateroom is not enoght large. We booked balcony room for three people but my son's bed is not comfortable.

The ship and the ports nice, but we had some negative experiences also.  On Thursday night, after leaving Ketchican for the open seas en route to Victoria, B.C., a severe storm came up.  The Captain announced something over the P.A and put out a note saying sea sickness pills were available, but did not say that they needed to taken before the storm started to be effective.  Our adult son, who accompanied us did not know this, and became very ill with repeated vomiting and a severe headache.  He took the pills, but too late.  I called the front desk and they sent a nurse who gave him a shot, which didn't help much, and  Gatorade powder, which was unuable, since we had no way to reconstitute it, and a bottle of hand sanitizer which was billed for $97.50.  I believe that they should have covered this cost, since our son did not know that he needed to get the pills before the storm came up.  It lasted 12 hours, which he described as "the worst night of his life". 

The shore excursions were overpriced and the girl representing the shops at the ports was very aggressive and really pushed the shops, making it sound like a great bargain.  I felt we were being manipulated to buy the merchandise which Holland-American would get the profits.   Also, the evening entertainment was very disappointing.  In the past, there have been different acts which were very entertaining.  This was a dance group with a hard rock sound and nothing else.  We tried it twice, and found them the same and of no interest to seniors.

also  

At this time, the next time we cruise (and we have taken many cruises on different lines), we plan to take another company. 

The ship was generally dirty.  Shower mat and curtain had black mold growing on them.  Walls in cafe/buffet area where you sit and eat had food and dirt on them.  There was no one regularly supervising the workout facilities, so you had people on their cell phones being disruptive and not wiping down the equipment when they're done.  I asked the staff when one showed up just before closing (@ 9PM - why limit it to then when you're on excursions most of the day??) and he told me that they only do a "good" wipe down at the end of each day!!  Food was barely acceptable and you only had access to it for dinner after 5:30PM - they closed most of the day - even for any type of healthy snacks or fruit.  Shame on them!!!!!

The cruise consultant was GREAT !! Alaska itself is absolutely Beautiful and I will go back again someday.  As for the ship, ms. Westerdam, it was just okay. It was a smaller ship than what we have cruised on in the past which was okay and our room was good and clean ALWAYS. But the rest of the ship needs to be cleaned. The windows were so dirty in places you couldn't see out very well. dirty dishes were left sitting around and the floors weren't kept up. The food wasn't all that great compared to

other cruises we have taken and our food seemed like it was rationed. The help on the ship was okay except the last day of the cruise they all just quit. No service. No help to the passengers much at all. It was like they were ready to be rid of us. When you  pay that much to go on vacation you want friendly, helpful service for the whole thing.  Very disappointing compared to other cruiselines.

This was the first and last time on Holland America.  There was nothing to do on the ship, but drink and eat.  The entertainment was poor.  The food was bland.  The staff was poor and were either misinformed or flat out lied to passenger.  I feel that they lied.  Alaska was great when you were off the ship.   Canada was terrible.  Canada sucks.

This was our sixth cruise on Holland America (eight cruise overall), the first on the Westerdam; so we had expectations with regard to service, food, and accomodations.  We were not disappointed at all with the service or the food.  With regard to accomodations, our only complaint is the veranda was not deep enough to allow the partition between our veranda and our neighbors (who we were traveling with) to be opened and still allow our door to our cabin to open.  I should note that previous cruises were on decks 7 and 8 which have a deeper veranda to allow an overhang for our deck 5 cabin on this cruise.  We will just book higher decks from now on.  Cabin size, including bathroom, was excellent by cruise standards, with plenty of storage.

We cannot say enough about the service and food on HAL cruises.  Cabin attendees are thorough, accomdating, and friendly; they called us by name from the first day.  Waiters and servers in the dining room are equally as good, treating us like we were their only responsibility--yet doing the same for other passengers.  The entire crew exhibits the same friendliness, whether serving you or just passing you in the hall or other common areas.  The food was excellent, whether in the main dining room, the Lido buffet, or the only specialty restaurant that we dined at on this cruise (Canaletto).

All HAL ships follow similar formats with regard to cabins, common areas, layout, names, etc.  with differences in size and decor specifics.  This made it easy for navigating the ship, especially if you have cruised HAL before.  Being the last cruise for the Westerdam before heading to drydock for refurbishing, we did not know what the expect with regard to the condition of the ship.  We were pleasantly surprised that there was little sign of wear.

cruised on westerdam in march. holland is geared towards older people. this was our 2nd cruise on holland and we have cruises over 20 times total. drinks on holland are the weakest of any ship we have been on. entertainment is good but ends early. holland offers anytime dining which we did however the cruise line employees do not appear happy about it. we prefer princess and carnival when we can.

My mother and I had a great time aboard Holland American's Westerdam.  We sailed from Port Everglades, to our surprise we had zero wait time as we checked in.  This was a great start to our 7 day Eastern Carribbean cruise.  Once aboard we went to our stateroom to rid ourselves of our hand luggage, (we traveled light).  Our travel agent upgraded our interior cabin to  a balcony for a very reasonable charge, we were pleased.  Our stateroom was spacious.  We had plenty of space to hang and place our clothing. I walked into the bathroom and again to my surprise, I saw a small bath tub. We've cruised several times prior and never saw a bath tub in a stateroom.  There were two chairs on our balcony, and the stateroom was clean and prepared for us to utilize.  

We went to the Dive Grill on the Lido deck where I had the best hamburger, and fries I've ever eaten. The meat was fresh and made to perfection.  I usually put ketchup on my fries but they were so good I forgo the ketchup and didn't miss a beat munching on my delicious fries.  We had breakfast once in the Vista Dining Room, and wish we could have had more, however, the dining room closed way too early for us.  We got up at approximately 8:00am, and by the time we get down to Vista they were no longer seating.  We had open seating for dinner, and we usually arrived at 7:30p.m, and opted to sit with others when dining in Vista.  We met a lot of people during our cruise, and they were all very nice people.  

We also had our meals on the Lido deck, and enjoyed the variety of foods that was available. Since we got up late on most days we skipped lunch.  We loved the menu in the Vista, especially the breadfruit soup (I came home and tried to recreate it).  During lobster night we ordered in our dinner because the sea was too rough, we decided to stay in. We wish we had ordered our meal an hour in advance, because it took them one hour to deliver it. We were miffed at the time it took for the food to arrive, but all was forgiven when it arrived.  The salad, soup, lobster, dessert and tea was fantastic.  I tried to call information to complement the chef, however, the line was busy.  I suspect many passengers ordered in as well, just like we did.

We made good use of the gym aboard the ship, but I noticed that every time we went there were machines, such as threadmills that were out of order.  I tried to use a stairmaster and it squeaked so I went on another and it too squeaked, but not as loudly as the previous.  We also made use of the Greenhouse Spa (for a fee), everyday.  We made sure we got our money's worth.  Mother and I loved the hydrotherapy pool and heated mosaic lounge chairs along with the steam room.  We sipped on iced water and flavored water before and after we exited the spa.  This was very thoughful of the cruiseline.  

I took full advantage of the entertainment offerred at the Vista lounge.  I enjoyed the illusionist as well as the Dancing With The Stars shows.  The lounge was large and accommodate with good views from different angles.  Mother enjoyed her "therapy" in the casino.  I wish there was more daytime entertainment aboard the ship such as dancing, karaoke.  Holland America's competetors have forexample karaoke, and the Newlywed Game which they record and show on the television in the staterooms.  

Our first port was Grand Turks; I have no idea why it's called Grand, because there was nothing grand about the island.  I was VERY disappointed with this port.  Our saving grace was a stop for a drink at Margaritaville.  Our second port was San Juan, Puerto Rico.  We love Old San Juan so much we never made it to New San Juan.  There is a lot of shopping right by the port as you walk off the ship and head across the street.  The first thing we did while in San Juan was to have a drink of coconut water from a street vendor, for $3.00.  Our third port of call was Sint Martin.  This was by far my favorite island.  My mother also love this island.  I wanted to stay; I've got to go back for at least a week's stay.  I enjoy the views of Simpson Bay and the beaches were clean.  I enjoy the fact that there was shopping right after we got off the ship.  We went into Philipsburg, the capital of Sint Martin and rented a taxi that took us around the island.  I wish we were in port longer; we were only in port for about 7.5 hours.  We had no time to drive over to the sister island of Saint Martin, because we didn't trust the traffic.  We bought the usual tourist items, T-Shirts, caps, and couldn't resist the native spices.  May sure you have enough cash on you, because our vendor's credit card machine was broken and could only accept cash.  I sampled the coconut smoothee and wish I had ordered one.  They had so many native drinks available right outside the area once you got off the ship.  Our final stop was Half Moon Cay.  Mother decided to remain aboard the ship while I ventured out and took a tender over to the island.  There wasn't much to see on this island' it's Holland America's private island.  They offered shore excursions but we never took any.  I wanted spare ribs for lunch, but they did not have any.  I asked for spare ribs but a piece of chicken and steak was plopped down on my plate instead.  The day I visited on land it was beautiful, not hot and not cool, however, the sea water was cool for swimming.  Cabanas and lounge chairs wer available.  

Our vacation was beautiful, and I would recommend this cruiseline.  I hoped the crew consisted of men and women from various nations, however, our ship had mainly Filipinos and Indonesians.  Everyone aboard worked hard to satisfy the passengers.  

All in all a good ship, but the Internet service was unavailable for about one day.  I found out I am an Internet junkie.

Enjoy your vacation like we did.

This cruise was a last minute trip for us after a very long and lousy winter, so we didn't much care about itinerary...we just needed a break. The Westerdam was, therefore, a glorious surprise package for us. First of all, I was stunned by the ship's  beauty -- beautiful art, incredible fresh flowers everywhere, stunning Euro-design furniture. Add to that a genuinely friendly staff who greet you warmly and try to be as helpful as possible at all times and you feel at home immediately. 

We loved the option of just showing up in the main dining room at any time in the evening instead of being assigned a set time and dinner companions we might not enjoy. Instead, we were asked if we wanted to share a table. We met a slew of fascinating people that way.

Maybe the best thing about the Westerdam was the great mix of passengers of all ages and family configurations. There was everything from multi-generation families to GLBT couples and singles, and the kids on board were awesomely well-behaved, which I translate as meaning they were never bored.  My husband was somewhat reluctant to go on a cruise because he thought it was mostly for old folks, but one look around and he was reassured. 

The Westerdam is very spacious, both public areas and staterooms, and even on our last day I was still discovering areas of the ship where I might enjoy hanging out. It never ever felt crowded and in this day of mega ships, that is very very pleasant and relaxing.

The food is always good and occasionally awesome. The sit-down afternoon tea in the dining room every afternoon is human civilization at its very best, by which I mean exquisite pastries and elegant tea sandwiches in unlimited quantities. The Lido deck buffet is brilliantly staffed and replenished, and the food is exceptionally good. It also had plenty of seating space even at the busiest hours, and the tables were cleared instantly. The dining room had particularly good fish dishes every night, but some truly bizarre soups they need to re-think, particularly the one containing melted vanilla ice cream!

One quibble about this trip was the expensive and rather unstable Internet. We spent over $300 keeping up with our business issues during the trip. When we arrived on board there was a letter from the Captain saying that the service was in the process of upgrading so maybe it will improve soon...or maybe we need to deal with our addiction.

Very enjoyable cruise.  Food was excellent as was the entertainment.  Extremely friendly crew and staff.  Highly recommend cruising with Holland America.

It was very good sailing.  The nice part of it was because we were in a suite with the Neptune Lounge .   I do not think we would have enjoyed it as much if we were in a lower class.   They really take care of the suite people.   The size of the room is wonderful.

We did not take any tours because we have been to these islands so many times that we just wanted to cruise.

But,  the ship[ is very nice and I would recommend the Westerdam to anyone.

Nice ship, clean rooms, good beds, food was okay.  I was disappointed that they said we could have fruit basket in our rooms everyday and we only had one.  then on Friday while we were on half Moon cay Island they came in my cabin and took the last two apples I was saving for that evening.  I explained to the cabin maintinance man that I was diabetic and I needed fruit in my room. 

We had a problem on board so we were not able to serve ourselves.  I know it made more work for the crew. 

Enjoyed the ports we stopped at and enjoyed the shore extursions we took.  The high lite was the power snorkeling at Grand Turk.  We didn't really get to see any exciting fish, some small ones, a small sea turtle, a puffer fish and a few baracudias in the distance.  The fun was the power unit made it easy to get around. 

We were mainly disappointed in the last stop at Half Moon Cay.  We road the Aqua Taxi and that was a blast then we ate lunch and lastly we snorkled with the stingrays.  The stingray pen was so murkey that it was hard to see five feet deep.   The guide was nice and we got to touch the stringrays, a sea star and a sea cucumber.  My friend and I both got sick after that swim.  We were fine up until then.  Stuffed noses, cough and tight chest, which made it hard for us to breath.  I wonder who else got sick after that venture?  I would strongly recommend Holland tries to clean up that stringray enclosurer.

One disappointment:  I purchase a soda card and was unhappy that I could only purchase fountain soda with the card.  A small glass for a large fee.  It was not explained to me that I could not purchase a can of soda.  I did however get a refund on the unused portion of the card which was appreciated.  I think Holland should rethink the soda card.

I have cruised on 7 cruise lines including Holland America line before and was very pleased. However, I will never travel on this ship again. The balcony room was much smaller than any other, the ship was overbooked, the wait staff was almost rude and the food was mediocare. Also, I must mention the fact that what was promised by Cruise.com (on board credit) was not provided and the person with whom we booked the cruise did not return inquiries. Therefore, I will never book through Cruise.com again. I don't like to be negative but when you spend thousand of dollars you do expect at least to be satisfied.