Holland America 7 night Western Caribbean Cruise February 27 - March 6, 2005     

by Tim Larison, CLIA Master Cruise Counsellor (MCC)

Ship:Holland America Westerdam

Cast of Characters:Tim, Anne, Andrew, and Joshua Larison

 

My family and I looked forward with great anticipation to our first Holland America (HAL) cruise on their newest ship - the ms Westerdam! In preparing for the trip some questions came to mind. As a travel agent I have read many rave reviews from my clients who I have booked on HAL cruises in the past - how would Holland America compare to other cruise lines I have experienced in the last two years (Disney, Carnival, Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL, and Crystal)? How would our 11 year old twins like the children's program, especially since they had cruised on Disney just three months before? On this cruise I planned a number of independent shore excursions instead of booking excursions with HAL - how would that work out? Below you can read my answers to these questions and more.

This cruise was attractive to us as we would be visiting two ports for the first time (Half Moon Cay, Ocho Rios), another port where we had our shore excursion cancelled on a previous cruise (Cozumel), and a 4th port we had visited before (Grand Cayman) but planned to do an entirely different shore excursion this time.

Half Moon Cay

We really enjoyed our day at Half Moon Cay, Holland America's private island in the Bahamas. We had only been to one private island on previous cruises (Disney's) so we were curious how HAL's island would compare to the wonderful times we've had at Castaway Cay in the past.

The first difference between these two islands was an obvious one - at Half Moon Cay passengers took tender boats to the island rather than docking at the island like at Disney's. Those of you who are experienced cruisers know that tendering can be a bit rough and is more of a hassle than docking at an island. While it would have been nice to dock at the island, HAL's tender setup at Half Moon Cay was a good one. The ride to the island was a little rough, but once at the island the tender boat entered a calm inner channel where getting off the boat was a smooth operation.

After walking through a shopping area we soon found ourselves on the beach. We rented a clam shell ($9) that a HAL staff member setup for us. We liked this shady covering as we were warned it was easy to get sunburned on the island. For a higher price there were also private cabanas you could rent that overlooked the beach. These private cabanas looked very nice (see my pictures to get a view of these) and better than anything Disney had for relaxing in comfort and style right on the beach.

We found the beach at Half Moon Cay more "real" than the lagoon like area on Disney's beach. The HAL beach had real waves gently rolling over the sand. Our twins said they enjoyed the waves here more than the calmer Disney beach. There was no separate family beach and adult beach like at Disney, but our kids said they liked how there were fewer kids around at the HAL beach so they had more room to play.

Half Moon Cay also has a small water park area for the kids with water slides - we found this area to be uncrowded during our stay. There are also water sport rentals available. We rented a beach float ($6) that provided relaxation and fun. There is also snorkeling gear available to rent.

HAL had a nice barbeque area behind the beach with plentiful treats like chicken, ribs, hamburgers, hot dogs, mahi mahi, salads, and desserts. We liked how the dining area was arranged in several covered shelters, with green shrubs all around. We thought the barbeque food was very good.

We did not see the entire island - Anne considered doing the horseback riding (where you can ride on the back of a swimming horse) but we were enjoying the tranquil beach setting so much that we decided to spend our few hours there. We have always enjoyed Castaway Cay on our past Disney cruises, and now we have another private island favorite to visit if we take another HAL cruise in the future. I think Half Moon Cay is a big plus when comparing HAL's itinerary to similar sailings from other cruise lines that don't have a private island stop (such as Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas).

Ocho Rios, Jamaica

This was our first visit to Jamaica, and our first experience at booking an "independent" shore excursion on a Caribbean Cruise. I had prearranged a private tour guide at Ocho Rios - Orville Taylor at a price of $55 for our family of four.

This turned out to be a really good decision. Our first stop was the famous Dunn River Falls. With Orville as our guide we were one of the first at the falls that morning. We decided not to try to climb the falls (we thought this might be too much for our kids), but we enjoyed the beautiful setting of the falls and watching others do the climb from the safety of a nearby staircase.

In watching others climb the falls it did seem to be too much for young children unless they were very comfortable in the water. We saw a few kids with frightened looks and tears as their parents assisted them up the falls. We think our kids could handle the climb in another year or two, but for this trip we were glad we decided to sit the climb out.

To make the climb a Dunn River Falls guide assists you. There were several interesting stops along the way including a natural water slide where you were completely submerged in the water. A couple that went with us had their own guide, while a later ship sponsored shore excursion had about 20 people and one guide - arriving early with a private tour was the way to go!!

Orville's tour was much cheaper than the ship sponsored tour, too. Dunn River Falls had a separate $10/person entrance fee not included in our tour cost. After our visit to the Falls we were escorted by Orville to Fern Gully, a lush green area, and several scenic spots.

The couple we toured with did inner tubing down a stream. We decided to go back to the ship for lunch as our kids were getting tired. The couple we went with toured for several more hours including a stop at a Jamaican restaurant for a lunch of "jerk" chicken and beef.

While we saw lots of poverty in Jamaica, we were struck by the beauty and greenery of this lush island paradise and the friendly Jamaicans. We would like to visit again on a future cruise, and perhaps next time we'll have the courage to attempt the Dunn River Falls Climb!

Grand Cayman

Anne and I had visited Grand Cayman in November 2002 on a Disney Cruise (read my trip report here ) At that time we took an island tour and a semi-submersible sub tour; others on that cruise with us raved about the Stingray City excursion. So this time we decided to visit Stingray City!

Like at Ocho Rios, I arranged a private tour to take us to Stingray City. This was less expensive than the cruise line tour and they claimed they would get us to the stingrays faster (Moby Dick tours ). We had a mixed experience with Moby Dick tours.

When we tendered to Grand Cayman we took a bus to where we were to meet our boat for the Stingray City tour. We waited for 45 MINUTES for the boat to arrive. Turns out Moby Dick had a problem with one of their boats and they sent a second boat to take us to the stingrays. Things like this can happen to any tour operator, but while we were waiting we were told "the boat is only a few minutes away" and "the boat will be here any minute" when in fact no boat was nearby.

Once we got on the boat we were whisked away to Stingray City. The 3 person crew (2 men, 1 woman) did a good job of explaining what to expect at the sandbar where the stingrays were. When we arrived at stingray city we found the area full of other boats, so our boat wasn't able to get too close. We weren't comfortable with the boys swimming in 8 to 10 feet of water to get to the stingrays (or me - I can't swim!) so Anne alone visited the stingrays this day.

Anne reports the following: "Swimming with the stingrays was awesome. I would highly recommend this shore excursion. The tour guide indicated that the make-up of stingray city had changed after the hurricane last year. Previously he said they had as many as 150 stingrays in the area. Now, there were far fewer. The day we were there I saw at least 30 - 40 stingrays. While still on the boat on our way to Stingray City, one of the tour guides gave us detailed information about stingrays, including what to expect, where to touch them and even how to feed them octopus if desired! They are very gentle creatures and not a threat in any way. We were provided with snorkeling gear, including an inflatable vest or life jacket. I had no problem getting over to the sandbar. There were fairly rough seas that day, so even after getting to the sandbar where the water was about 4 feet deep, there were rolling waves of a foot or more. The incredible thing about the stingrays is that they are so use to being around people that they glide toward you on purpose. They are looking for food. I had several brush up against me when I wasn't looking, a little unnerving when unexpected! I watched people feed them octopus, which was very cool. People were even gently holding the stingray above the water for pictures. It was a memorable experience I won't soon forget."

After the visit to stingray city Moby Dick tours took us to a nearby coral reef to do some snorkeling. This was out in the ocean and much tougher than snorkeling off of a beach, so we sat this one out. Overall Anne enjoyed the Stingray City tour and the boys and I enjoyed watching from the boat, but I would be hesitant to book this tour with Moby Dick again due to the transportation problems they had.

Grand Cayman had SIX cruise ships in port the day we visited. Georgetown was crowded with people, so after our Stingray City adventure we decided to head back to the ship. The tender boats here encountered some rough water while heading back to the Westerdam. It looked like Grand Cayman was building a new cruise dock which will be a welcome addition to this port in the future. The port seems to have recovered well from last season's hurricanes.

Cozumel

We had one very good experience with an independent tour (Ocho Rios) and one mixed experience (Grand Cayman) so I was curious how our independent arrangements would work out at Cozumel.

Here I planned for us to take a taxi to Paradise Beach - a "free" beach with a good number of water toys for the kids and a restaurant on site. We were extremely pleased with our day at Paradise Beach! The taxi ride from the downtown port was only $14 for the 4 of us. When we arrived we purchased for $5 per person wristbands which allowed unlimited use of water toys, floats, kayaks, etc. For a $20 deposit you could also get snorkel equipment and life vests (the $20 was returned when you returned the equipment). The life vests were great for our 11 year olds as they are not strong swimmers - the vests gave them extra confidence to venture further out into the water.

Paradise Beach itself was a beautiful sandy beach with plenty of lounge chairs, hammocks, and shady areas. In the shallow water the beach did have more rocks than what we experienced at Half Moon Cay. The restaurant at Paradise Beach had a good variety of drinks and inexpensive food options. We loved the chicken nachos, while the boys enjoyed the steak quesadillas. The waiter service was prompt and efficient.

Anne reports this about Paradise Beach: "I would highly recommend Paradise Beach. In addition to the beautiful surroundings, there was something for every member of the family. I did enjoy snorkeling and kayaking with the twins and in addition to all the activity, taking time to relax. To me there is nothing better than relaxing on a beach float in the ocean with the warm sun on my face. Also available was a water trampoline and a very large rock climbing iceberg! I'm a chicken nacho fanatic and theirs were great! The best part of the whole experience for me was that there was so much to choose from to do, but we could also kick back, relax and do nothing."

For a total cost of about $70 for the four of us (taxi fare, food, drinks, water toy rental) we found a day at Paradise Beach to be an excellent value. Overall we enjoyed the ports we visited on this cruise very much. One nice touch that HAL added was providing free towels when you left the ship at each port. We really appreciated this since we booked independent shore excursions at three of the ports.

The Ship

The ms Westerdam We were attracted to sailing on the newest ship of Holland America's Vista Class series - the Westerdam. Surprisingly we found some areas of the ship to be plain when compared to other cruise lines we have sailed on. There was a simple atrium area and the Vista Dining room reminded me in décor of the dining rooms I have seen on older Carnival ships.

The dining rooms of Princess, NCL and Royal Caribbean we have seen were much more ornate and luxurious. We booked an inside stateroom, and we found our room to have lots of space. The stateroom had all sorts of little storage areas so it was no problem unloading all of our luggage for our family of four in the room. We liked our deck 6 midship location (room 6071). We had a large king sized bed, a sofa sleeper that converted to a bed, and a 4th bed that came down from the ceiling. The ceiling bed came down over half of the king sized bed and gave the person sleeping on that side of the bed very little head room (you couldn't sit up in the bed on that side). There was also a chair in the corner under the 4th bed that was difficult to use since the 4th bed was only a foot or two above the chair. There was very little desk space in the room. Other than the lack of desk space and the clearance level below the ceiling bed, we were happy with our stateroom.

The ship had two midship glass enclosed elevators on each side - we found these glass elevators much faster than the other elevators onboard. It was good to have our stateroom so close to these elevators.

The Westerdam had a very nice Promenade deck (below the life boats) where you could walk around the ship on a teak deck or lounge in a comfy reclining chair in the shade while overlooking the ocean. This was a favorite spot of mine to take an afternoon nap or read a book. I review other areas of the ship below.

Dining

Vista Dining Room

We found the food in the main two story Vista Dining room to be very good but not great. Some nights the food was excellent, while other nights the quality was lacking. On one night, for example, the boys and I had excellent beef tenderloin, while Anne's portion was overcooked. We found the pork dishes to be mediocre. We did have some very good meals in the dining room, though. Anne loved her Salmon dish. I thought the New York cheesecake I had for dessert one night was about the best I have had on a cruise ship. Our boys enjoyed ordering off the adult menu - the sirloin steak was their favorite. I thought the rolls offered with dinner each night were excellent, especially with the ample supply of butter provided. Overall I rated the dining room food similar to Disney, Royal Caribbean, and NCL - not quite as consistent or as good in quality as what I have experienced on my Princess cruises.

The service at dinner was subdued but efficient. We had the early 5:45 pm seating and our Indonesian serving team was prompt and courteous. The head waiter would often visit our table and help our boys cut up their steak. On many nights our boys did not care for the exotic appetizer choices available, so our servers would bring them iceberg lettuce and dressing prepared just for them.

We only ate in the Vista Dining Room one time for breakfast - we did not think the food was any better than what was offered in the buffet and the choices were more limited. On other cruise lines for breakfast in the main restaurant they had much more variety in the pastries offered - on HAL they put a limited number of rolls and pastries in a basket on the table.

Lido Buffet

We found the Lido Buffet on board to be one of the best we have experienced on a cruise. One feature we really liked was a pizza station open until 1 am, and a "cooked to order" pasta station also open until 1 am. I liked the Chinese section of the buffet open from 11:30 to 2:30 pm for lunch most days. The buffet also had a dessert station open until 1 am. We found ourselves eating lunch here almost every day of the cruise - the selection and quality of the food was very good.

Nearby in the pool area the Terrace Grill offered very good grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, tacos, and nachos. Our son Josh would get a hamburger here every day and loved it - Anne liked the nachos. The buffet was also an excellent choice for breakfast. I liked the cooked to order omelet station, and another cooked to order scrambled eggs station. So often in breakfast buffets I find mediocre scrambled eggs on the buffet line made hours before - here the cooked to order scrambled eggs were excellent. There was also a wide variety of juices, breakfast meats, and pastries available. After eating in the main restaurant one day for breakfast and not being overly impressed, we ate breakfast at the buffet for the rest of the cruise.

For dessert I thought HAL could have a better quality of ice cream available at the buffet - I don't know what brand they had but it wasn't as good as Haagen Daaz or Dreyer's like I have had on other cruises. After being disappointed with the ice cream a couple of times, I stuck to order soft serve frozen yogurt from the buffet which was very good.

Pinnacle Grill at the Odyssey Restaurant

The specialty restaurant onboard, the Pinnacle Grill, featured the best food onboard. We had a superb meal here. Anne had a very tasty rib eye steak and I had an excellent chicken marsala dish. I am not a big steak eater but even I was impressed with the taste of Anne's entrée. The chocolate dessert we had here was even better than what I had at Disney's Palo. The Pinnacle charges $10 per person for the first night, and $20 per person thereafter, so dining here on the first night is a good deal. I would rate the Pinnacle Grill as among the best specialty restaurants I have eaten at on a cruise.

Kids Club

While the Westerdam's Club HAL did not have as many bells and whistles as Disney's kids club, our boys liked the HAL club better! Like on our Princess cruise two years ago, the boys liked being in a smaller group of kids when compared to Disney. They found it easier to make friends and be more involved in the activities. The kids club staff had a good program mixed with group activities and video game time. We could not keep our kids away from the club! They wanted to attend every session. The hours of the club are more limited when compared to Disney.

On "at sea" days the club was open from 9 to noon, 2 to 5 pm, and 8 pm to 10 pm. On "port" days they club was open from 8 to 10 pm at night, and available during the day (9 to 5 pm) if you had signed up the day before. The 8 to 10 pm nighttime hours worked out extremely well for us but ONLY because we had the early dinner 5:45 pm seating. Anne and I were able to go to the 8:30 pm show each night while our kids were having fun in the club. Had we had the 8 or 8:30 pm seating we would have either missed the show each night (the late show was at 10:30 pm) or pay for "after hours" time in the kids club ($5 per child per hour).

For a family cruise I still rate Disney as the best, but families who have cruised on Disney several times and looking for a different experience I think will be happy with the quality of HAL's children programs and the friendly treatment the kids get onboard.

Entertainment

The nighttime shows in the Vista Lounge generally were excellent and exceeded our expectations. The male and female lead singers were better than what we have heard in cruise line shows in the past. The best show of the week was a song and dance tribute to Broadway with several memorable songs, including a rousing "river dance" number with Irish dancing. We also enjoyed the magic show of Leo Ward one night. Leo also was the comedian on the first night. The Vista Lounge was much smaller than the main show theatres I have seen on other ships. This allowed the audience to be close to the stage - there really wasn't a bad seat in the house. Our favorite spot was the top row of the balcony, where we could see the performance just fine and exit quickly after the show.

Since our kids got out of the childrens program at 10 pm each night we did not attend any of the late night entertainment. There was dancing available in the Northern Lights night club, a late night comedian, and on most nights a late night movie. If none of these options interested you the casino was open until the wee hours of the morning.

I had heard that HAL featured educational lectures on some of their cruises - this cruise had no adult learning opportunities other than a cooking demonstration one day. Anne and I enjoyed participating in the afternoon team trivia contest on most days of the cruise. This was a fun way to meet other passengers. We usually do pretty well at trivia but this sailing had the best trivia players I have seen on a cruise! We did not win anything but had fun.

Recreation

The Westerdam had a basketball court and a mini-tennis court on the top deck. A sophisticated golf simulator was available where you could play 18 holes on some of the classic courses of the world for an extra fee. The main pool area had a retractable roof - a feature I have seen and liked on a few Princess ships. While the pool area was crowded during the day from about 6 to 9 pm you could swim or relax in one of the hot tubs with very few other guests around. The only activity we participated in was ping pong next to the pool. The Westerdam had two ping pong tables that were usually available.

Life onboard

We were surprised that the Westerdam had a good age mix among its passengers. I had heard that HAL tended to draw an older crowd, but this week we saw many young adults and families. I thought the average age of the passengers was no different than what I have seen on other main stream cruise lines we have sailed on (Princess, Royal Caribbean, NCL) with Disney of course having more kids.

Arrival and Embarkation:

We stayed at the Comfort Suites Ft Lauderdale on Davey Road. The Comfort Suites were clean and provided a free shuttle from the airport and to the port the next morning. The Comfort Suites also featured a modest free breakfast buffet. I have seen bigger "free" buffets at other suite properties (like AmeriSuites) but this buffet was fine to hold us over until we got on the ship around 11:30 am.

Embarkation was quick and easy with Holland America. We arrived shortly before 11 am and we were on the ship by 11:30 am. There was a delay in getting the staterooms ready - we were able to get into our cabin at 2 pm. We appreciated the opportunity to board early so the stateroom delay was not a big deal - we spent the time exploring the ship.

Disembarkation:

At the end of our cruise we docked at Ft Lauderdale at 7 am, and we were off the ship by 10 am. Getting off the ship took some time - we were put in a "color" group and waited until our color and # was called before we could depart. One nice feature of a Holland America cruise, though, is that you can wait for your group to be called in the comfort of your own stateroom. No need to wait in a lounge or common area of the ship. We passed the time watching tv in our stateroom.

Once off the ship getting through customs and claiming our luggage was a breeze. We decided not to buy airport transfers from HAL at $12/person because we thought we could get a taxi for much cheaper. This turned out to be a wise decision, as we met an airport transfer service outside the cruise terminal that only charged $18 for our family of four.

The Ft Lauderdale airport is very close to the cruise terminal (about a 10 minute drive). The Ft Lauderdale airport was extremely crowded. The Southwest Airlines line was huge. Fortunately we flew on a smaller airline (Frontier) to return to Denver so our checkin was relatively painless.

If you are flying on one of the major carriers after your Ft Lauderdale based cruise I suggest allowing plenty of time to get to the airport and get checked in, or consider staying an extra day or two and fly out early in the week where the cruise ship passenger traffic is less.

Summary

Based on this cruise, I would rank Holland America as similar to Princess as a quality "mainstream" cruise line. We thought HAL was a step below Crystal - a luxury line we had sailed on in December. The positives far outweigh the negatives on this sailing but here is a list of some things that could have been better on the cruise:

The ship isn't very "flashy" - I have seen more luxurious surroundings on other lines. The ship's decorations didn't "wow" us.

Inconsistent quality in the main dining room - food could have been better on some nights. The pork dishes, in particular, were not that good. Mediocre ice cream in the buffet and at meals - HAL should spend a little more to stock the dining rooms and buffet with the quality ice cream. The soft serve yogurt was a good alternative, though.

The shore excursion mixup at Grand Cayman - our delay to get to the Stingrays could have been avoided with better planning by the private tour operator (unaffiliated with HAL - the ship sponsored excursion went much smoother).

More educational options in the afternoon - more lectures or cooking demonstrations could have been offered. I have seen more "enrichment" programs on other cruise lines - this cruise didn't really have any.

More movies - the ship's lounge where movies were shown was nice, but the movies were often only shown in the evening in conflict with the evening shows. More movies could have been offered in the late morning or afternoon.

Ten things I liked best about this cruise:

Half Moon Cay - a great private island with lots of shore excursion options available. Enjoying the private beach was a wonderful way to spend the day here for us.

Pinnacle Grill - One of the best "specialty" restaurants I have eaten at on any cruise.

Big stateroom - our inexpensive inside stateroom was good sized with efficient storage.

Stateroom attendants - quiet, efficient, courteous. Our room was always made up when we were doing other things.

Main dining room very "kid" friendly - the head waiter went out of his way to talk to our kids each night, and allowing the kids to order from the adult menu was a special treat for them.

Excellent childrens club - well monitored and the kids had plenty of fun activities to participate in.

Very good entertainment - Excellent shows most nights in a theatre (the Vista Lounge) that allowed you to be very close to the stage from any seat.

Diverse ports of call - in addition to Half Moon Cay the ports of Ocho Rios, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel were each very different and each had their own unique features

Excellent buffet - good option for quick breakfasts and lunches with lots of choices, and we liked how it stayed open late for snacks.

Time alone with the family - this was our first 7 day "family" cruise in two years. I believe cruising is a great family vacation and this cruise was no different. My son Josh said on the last night "I wish this cruise would never end." Kids grow up so fast and our daily lives get so busy - it was nice to take a week off to have fun as a family.

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