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Holland America Line

MS Westerdam

Your Rating:
Reviewed by:Bill Forsstrom
# previous cruises: 10+
Date of Trip: April 3, 1999
Itinerary: Transcanal

While there are better looking ships, she's quite nice and from some angles, she is even beautiful. I find the cabins excellent and the food was nearly the best I have had, and that includes 16 trips on the QE2 and 8 aboard various Holland America ships. The itinerary was fabulous. There was not a bad port, and included were private island Half Moon Cay, Cartagena,Columbia; Panama Canal; Puerto Caldera, Costa Rica; Huatulco, MX, Acapulco; and Cabo San Lucas. I got off at Los Angeles, though the ship was continuing to Vancouver. Staff aboard was every bit as good as the Maasdam and the other newer HAL ships. It was a bargain on top of it all. I would love to take the trip again.

I Particularly liked the Lido bar, out by the back swimming pool. Very comfortable seating in the Admiral's Lounge for shows. Among the better looking areas are the Ocean Bar, library, and sports bar. There were no ugly rooms. The walk-around promenade was popular with walkers each morning and afternoon. The rear pool was exceptionally nice, was plenty deep, and has fresh water. The Veranda Pool up under the dome was fine and would have been used more had the weather been inclement. As it was, the trip was quite warm and it was too hot up where it is. I never went to the casino. I can find other ways to lose money.

Dining room dinners were excellent both in variety and in flavor and temperature. Waiter was friendly and knew how to "work" the kitchen to ensure hot entrees. The Lido and Veranda restaurants have great reputations, but I was a bit disappointed this trip due to a lack of breads and crackers to go with the meals. I think that the QE2 and its Lido restaurant have surpassed what I found here. Not bad, but could be a bit better. I would also like more of a choice at breakfast in omelets.

I had an "Anchor" suite (grade "I" outside economy on Restaurant Deck forward), referred to in the Travelpage review. It was a real bargain, yet was outside and had plenty of room. It was noisy on mornings were we were going to dock and as we sailed away, but once at sea, all was well. Bathroom was compact but just fine.

The cruise staff was fairly young but very enthusiastic and they did just fine. The shows were all good. If I missed a show because it sounded boring or uninteresting, I found that others enjoyed it. After a while, I made sure to go to the shows regardless and I was always well entertained. Other cruises I have been on have not been as uniformly good as this in terms of entertainment.

Aboard, I just enjoy the ships, its facilities, and the other passengers. I was on the young side on this cruise (49), but there was a good group of others my age. On days at sea, the lido pool was an attraction as was the Lido Restaurant. Shore excursions were good. I usually took one of the tours, whether a city tour (Acapulco, Cartagena), snorkeling (Huatulco), nature hikes (Half Moon Cay, and in Costa Rica), or special interest trips (Cabo San Lucas). All were fine and reasonably priced. It is also a good way to meet more of your fellow passengers. Shopping at Cabo was particularly nice near the harbor. There is a particularly nice open air market in walking distance from the tender dock.

One major gripe. The P.A. system did not work on the open decks at the front of the ship were most of us wanted to be as we cruised through the Panama Canal. We therefore missed the excellent narration of the trip through the canal. The P.A. system worked elsewhere. The Westerdam usually does only Caribbean and Alaska trips, and I thought that on one of the truly unusual cruises that she does, they would have had everything in better working order. This failure to have the P.A. in good working order on "Canal Day" annoyed me so much that I was still miffed about it at the end of the otherwise great trip.

I was in the minority being "only" 49 and relatively young for this crowd, but there were plenty of others my age and we all found each other. I expected this to be an older crowd because the cruise was 14 days and it was, after all, Holland America. No problem thought. The older folks were all very nice, polite, and friendly -- not mean, vindictive, and self-centered older people as I have met on other cruises that cater to people from Miami and New York. I met lots of people from Canada and the west coast. I am from Ohio and was good to meet people who live far away. That's one of the fun aspects of cruising. The people I enjoyed being with loved the cruise as much as I did and found very little to complain about. I would be delighted to have a dinner table reunion and a Lido Bar reunion aboard another ship or this one. I also hope to visit a number of my cruise mates in the future.