Review: Holland America Line - Oosterdam - [May 04 , 2005]

[Net Reviews]

Review By:

Reviewer Comments:

Oosterdam - Pacific Northwest Spring Cruise

May 4 - May 7, 2005

This was my 16th cruise to date having sailed on Celebrity, Holland America,
Norwegian, Princess & Royal Caribbean previously.

This was my first short 3 night cruise, others were either 7 day Alaska
cruises, or 10 or 11 day Caribbean, Mexican Riviera or Hawaii repositioning
cruises.

Previous cruising on Holland America Line includes an 18 night Vancouver to
Hawaii and return to San Diego onboard the Statendam and two 7 night Alaska
Inside Passage cruises on the Volendam.

This particular itinerary left Vancouver on Weds May 4, sailed to Astoria,
Oregon for Thurs May 5 (Day 2), Fri May 6 Victoria BC (Day 3) and
disembarked in Seattle, Washington on Saturday May 7/05.

I knew (or at least had a very good feeling) that this was going to be a
great trip from the moment I found out that I'd had a visit from the
"upgrade fairy" and had my cabin (booked a guaranteed outside "D" category)
upgraded all the way to a VB Verandah category balcony cabin on the Upper
Verandah deck - WOW, first time ever I lucked out, and a real nice upgrade
at that! Thanks HAL.

Considering this is the very beginning of the Alaska cruising season from
Vancouver, Canada Place and Holland America operations were functioning very
smoothly indeed. I heard of very few computer terminals being temporarily
down, and apparently it got quite crowded later in the afternoon, but when I
went through it couldn't have been smoother sailing.

I was dropped off at Canada Place at around noon. Being it was such a short
cruise (and no formal wear nights) I packed very light and managed
everything in a carry-on. Within moments I was through U.S. immigration and
into the lineup to obtain room key.

Holland America has greatly improved their check-in processes. No longer
does one have to visit the front desk during the cruise to register their
credit card, but it is done up front, beforehand while checking on, as it is
on other cruise lines. This makes things run a lot smoother and makes good
sense. As I mentioned last year in a different HAL review and others have
said, DO fill out your immigration forms beforehand on the computer and take
a printed out copy of the forms with you to your check-in pier. This WILL
save everyone a lot of time and allows you to board the ship that much
quicker than those who haven't done this very simple bit of preparation for
their embarkation. Dining room seating is given out before boarding now as
well, rather than finding out when you go to your room.

Once on board one can go up directly to the Lido deck and enjoy a nice
leisurely lunch buffet while waiting for their cabin to be ready. Also on
the Lido Deck 9 is the outside Terrace Grill open serving hamburgers,
hotdogs and tacos. Bags can be taken with you or dropped off in the Piano
lounge for storage.

An announcement was made shortly after 1:30 pm to the effect that the cabins
were now ready for occupancy. As I wanted to check mine out and hang up my
clothes all taken in carry-on, I went directly to mine first chance.

The stateroom I had (#6118) port side was on the Upper Verandah deck on
Oosterdam in Cat VB and was very nice and spacious indeed. Nothing was
lacking - all nice toiletries provided, hair dryer (not that I need it) in
desk in living room, tub with shower. I was traveling alone on this trip
and had tons of storage space, way more than I could ever use. I'd think it
to be very sufficient for 2 traveling a week or more. Nice wicker type
balcony furniture. The beds are simply wonderful, so comfortable and
fabulous duvets on them as well. Fully stocked mini-bar, fruit in room, and
did not even see my super efficient room steward even once! Contrary to
what I'd read in another review, the TV sets DO have the yellow "VIDEO
INPUT" plugs to view your digital camera pictures on the TV screen.

Food - I did not get to the Pinnacle Grill on this particular cruise, so I
can't say for sure - all I can say is it was the same menu as other
Pinnacle's and I've eaten at them on Statendam and Volendam and they were
scrumptious! I heard from other people on this cruise who did eat there
that were very impressed. I can say that the food in both the dining room
and the Lido deck was wonderful the whole trip -everything I had, bar
none. On other HAL trips I've stuck to mostly seafood as have felt they
excelled there, but this trip I was very pleased with all the food (and
excellent desserts!) consumed.

Had room service one morning - excellent delivery, great food.

I was far more impressed with the overall feel of this ship than with other
HAL ship styles. From little touches like all the tables in the Lido having
various shades of live beautiful orchids on them to the array of artwork
throughout the ship, very special and unique rooms like the Library or the
Oak room with lovely faux finishes all lent themselves to an earthy homey
feel.

The Oosterdam singers and dancers were great in their production show in the
Vista Lounge.

There are many different venues to relax or have fun in. Sports Bar, Piano
Bar (nice room, did not care for this particular pianist however), Odyssey
Bar (bar at the Pinnacle Grill), Northern Lights (disco, my favourite for
late night activity - great DJ "Jazzy" )Explorer's Lounge, Ocean Bar, Sea
View at the Aft Pool Lido Deck, Lido Bar at the Lido Pool and the Crow's
Nest upstairs on Deck 10. A very nice room (I'm not a smoker myself but
like that they try to accommodate everyone) has been added beside the Crow's
Nest which is called the Oak Room and it is a smoking and Cigar Lounge with
nice furniture and a fireplace in it. It also has doors to the outside
which I imagine is how they keep it smelling fresh.

Northern Lights: The Oosterdam has a specific set out Disco "Northern
Lights" on the second floor next to the casino. I think it is quite an
advantage over the older type HAL ships which try to combine the Crow's Nest
and turn it into a disco later on at night. This allows the Crow's Nest to
have one set of entertainment geared to an older crowd who prefers a softer,
more romantic waltz type of dancing, while the disco can "pump up" the
adrenaline for those who enjoy a little faster music to dance to.

The Oosterdam staff are very pleasant with warm words and genuine smiles
at all times. I heard so many first time cruisers also comment how nice
they thought everything was and they'd be back.

Shore Excursions:

Astoria Oregon:

Seaside & Cannon Beach - These are beautiful beachside towns on the Oregon
Coast. During the summer one can't move in those towns due to so many
tourists, but May being so early in the season yet everything was deserted.
It was quite windy down at the ocean, so it was more a chance to shop at
various boutiques and artsy shops. Very nice scenic tour.

Victoria, BC:

Whale Watching - Being that I live on the Mainland of BC in Vancouver and
get over to the Island a few times a year, I decided to bypass the usual
staid tours of Butchart Gardens , Horse Drawn Carriage Rides, High Tea at
the Empress Hotel etc. and go for a more adventurous and decidedly more
aquatic tour.

The tour company HAL used in Victoria for the whale watching was called
Naturally Salty Excursions. There were only 12 of us from our ship taking
this, so we luckily got to take a small 12 seat craft out for our
discoveries. We were out in the choppy Straits for several hours and
covered many miles however were unfortunate that afternoon and did not see
any pods of whales at all. Many had been spotted closer to Vancouver and
hadn't been sited at all that day near Vancouver Island on the various
tours. We did however see some porpoises, seals and a couple of eagles and
had a great informative day with our tour guide Ian Stothart. Definitely
enjoyable.

Seattle:

Disembarkation went very smoothly. Orange and Black stripes had me off the
ship by 9:10 and outside waiting for the tour bus. Being that my flight
home to Vancouver wasn't until 3:30 pm, I took the Seattle Highlights/Pike
Place Market Tour which also takes you to SeaTac airport afterwards. This
is an enjoyable tour with over an hour at Pike Place Market.

This cruise, although too short in number of days, was one of the nicest
ever sailed. I will definitely cruise on a "Vista" vessel again.