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Superbly refreshed, Westerdam cruise ship features excellent bar, entertainment and dining venues, plus completely reimagined suites. Westerdam is a fascinating destination in her own right and has won multiple Best Cruise Ship awards. On board, enjoy live entertainment with Music Walk™ and Billboard Onboard. Feel immersed on your cruise with regional cooking demonstrations and food and wine tastings with Port to Table. Enrich your travel experience at the new Exploration Central atop the ship.
We were a bit nervous about our choice of stateroom (deck 8 Aft), quite awhile after we booked we stumbled upon a review stating how horribly the noise would be. It was near departure date and we elected to stick with it and hope the reviewer just had a not so good experience. All I have to say about that is “wrong wrong wrong”! We did not experience any of that. Like I said we were on deck 8 , maybe the lowest aft deck(s) could be different for noise and vibration . Service was impressive from room Stewards, restaurants,bars and pools. They aim to please for sure. Food was quite good, in dining areas, fine dining superb.! Entertainment was excellent especially the house band in Rolling Stone Lounge. Hawaiian Ambassadors were a lot fun too,! Embarkation /disembark Smooth and easy and uneventful. Already looking forward to our next adventure on Westerdam. Overall great experience for our first long cruise, we had very big seas the first few days, dishes crashing in the ding rooms. But I believe that possibly strengthened our sea legs and conditioned us for the remainder of the cruise.
We were talked into trying a Neptune Suite instead of a Signature Suite by my parents (who had the suite next to us) and so happy we did! The large room layout and big bathroom are fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the extra space for 3 of us! Stayed right across from the Neptune Lounge. Lorraine and Red were amazing in the Lounge and so friendly, inviting and helpful everyday! I couldn't give it 5 stars because we did have a slight sewage smell in our bathroom for much of the week, but everyone was trying so hard to accommodate us due to the gross inconvenience. I can't say enough about the friendly staff! We had very hard working Andre and Deden as room stewards and enjoyed their personalized greetings with a smile every time we saw them. We enjoyed breakfast at the Pinnacle Grill every morning and our two waiters were so awesome remembering our favorites and making great suggestions. Betty at the Club Orange desk in the main dining room was a doll and tried so hard to make sure we got our favorite table 142 almost every night (only 1 night we had another one right next to it) and we had the nicest waiters who tried so hard to accommodate any special requests (apparently iced tea can be difficult to find?). For an older ship, I must say it seems nicely maintained and we saw people cleaning public areas often, especially public restrooms. Our only complaint about the older ship in the pools...although they were fun, they just aren't very exciting with no slides and somewhat small if a lot of people are around. They got "cloudy" very quickly with kids playing in them as well. Ocean Bar had the best drinks, but since it was always busy, service was a little slower than other areas. We had quick nice service at the Billboard lounge bar, and only slowed down a little during trivia which was always packed. We enjoyed playing trivia too and finally won once after playing several rounds! The Orange Party was a blast too! Only person on the entire ship that was visibly unfriendly and borderline rude was the bartender at the Art bar. He never cracked a smile, didn't care to pay attention to wait on people in order of arrival, and hardly opened his mouth to speak. We tried to be friendly and lightly engaging to get him to lighten up, and wrote off the 1st experience as a "one off"...but realized that he was just that way ALL the time...It was no wonder his bar was never too busy. The photo people were so friendly and helpful in finding our photos to put in our folder daily. We paid for a 15 photo package, but wished we could have had a couple more (surprised they couldn't just throw in 1 single more photo when I was struggling to decide between # 15 and # 16). The 15 photo package was already so expensive to us, so the next stage up was even more and we passed. It's a shame that they waste so many nice printed photos! VERY expensive since I still needed to get frames for them all. The Children's club was very inviting as we took our 6, almost 7 year old to the open house and the 2 guys there were so nice. But since he was right in between the 2 age groups, he wasn't really interested in hanging with mostly 3 and 4 year olds in the younger room or the 9 - 11 year olds that were hanging in the older room when we arrived. We did very much enjoy the carnival games on the pool deck on the sea day to Victoria. Only issue was the roof was partially open, and it was a little foggy so the very loud fog horn kept going off and the kids hated the loud noise each time. They closed it and then it became a humid hot box since so many people were in there for the event. It was slightly disorganized as so many people were lining up at each game and so many greedy adults were pushing kids aside to "get in line first" instead of letting kids go first. I know they didn't have necessarily have the staff to manage the lines AND the games, but that was the only annoying part about it. The kids seemed to love it though and our little boy had a blast! (I think only 1 single person got a ring over the bottle on the bottle ring toss game...they should consider a replacement game). Embarkation was a breeze, but we do think it is because we had a priority with being in a Neptune Suite...it looked pretty organized otherwise. Disembarkation looked like organized chaos. We were able to have a nice breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill first, and wait in our suite or the Neptune Lounge until our colored tag was called. The line was very long to try to get off the boat and wrapped around into the casino and art areas. Once out, we were able to find our luggage quickly, but it took several minutes to find a porter to take all of our luggage to the shuttle bus. I've heard of nightmares at this time, so it was smooth in comparison. Excursions: So glad we booked through Holland America! On our way to Juneau, our ship experienced a helicopter medical evacuation which slowed us down a couple of hours. We arrived into Juneau a little late as a result, but our HAL booked excursion waited for us, whereas not sure if others did. We did the whale watching and even though we had another delay with having to switch boats, we had a nice time. Sitka was a fun stop and we enjoyed walking through town, played at the park by the Sitka Sound Science center, did their hatchery tour, walked to the Totem poles, got a Junior Ranger badge at the visitor center, did the rain forest walk, and went all the way to Harbor Mountain Brewery. Great beer, but slowest expensive pizza ever! In Ketchikan, we did the Kawanti Tours rain forest zip line and rappel tour with HAL. It was a blast!! We LOVED it! Those platforms are HIGH and have no railings around the edges so even if we were safely harnessed and latched in all the time, it made everyone want to hug a tree when the tree moved a little if someone was on the line. Fantastic adventure and can't wait to do something like that again when our little one is old enough to join us. Victoria, B.C. - We took the $15 a person bus in to town. Although it was a nice little tour from the driver, it just seemed like such a waste at the end. By the time we got there, and looked through a couple of stores, we went to find a bar nearby to have a drink in Canada. The whole place, including walking on any street near The Empress was packed! We could barely get in to walk around shops or pay and there was no way we could find a seat or even spot to purchase a drink at a bar. We decided to get back on the shuttle bus and the line wrapped around the sidewalk and almost all the way up to the Empress....after about a 30 minute line, we finally headed back with not too much time to spare before leaving Victoria. Felt like it was a waste to get off the ship even though I love Victoria (been only 2x before, but think its a beautiful little town.) Entertainment: Trivia was fun, bingo was too expensive, the casino was smaller than expected (wanted to play in the poker tourn and the one electronic table never had an empty seat), and Deal or No Deal was interesting. Had no idea what we were 'matching' on Deal or No Deal and asked for an explanation and the lady in a somewhat short tone, instead of explaining it to me, said to just come by after and they will scan my card to see if I won anything. This was disappointing after between 5 of us, spent over $100 and didn't know what we were rooting for. Missed 2 of the shows because it was SOOO busy 5 minutes before the show and zero seats available. Went early and saw the 4 singers show, which was not very good. We aren't that picky for free entertainment and the singing by the woman was just bad...we left after 4 songs. The comedian was funny and we laughed. Our cruise director Stone was fantastic! We enjoyed listening to her speak and talk about excursions or various subjects and she is such an engaging speaker and her voice just made us want to listen to what she had to say. Art Studio was always full and we only go to stand and do the frog origami but all other activities, we arrived 5 min before and no seats. Food - Pinnacle Grill was very good for breakfast which we had daily and we had one nice dinner in there. Main dining room was very good with only 1 or 2 dishes that one of our party commented that it was "just okay". Lido - we didn't eat here that much but liked the curry section and pasta station for kids (and ice cream) so we tried to have lunch here a few days. The place was always packed with people that it was always a wait to get a dish served. We had the hardest time finding a seat and the people working were usually clearing tables and not helpful in finding seats or taking drink orders (we had the Elite package and only go to order a drink in there one single time). Since we were a party of 5, we needed a bigger table. We noticed so many single or 2 people taking up the big tables with several 2-tops available so we had to stand once around the small table allowing just my 7 year old and 75 year old father sit down. You would think someone would notice and assist and they were always too busy (probably short staffed) to help. Elite drink package was the way to go except for the one frozen drink my husband wanted to try that was $15.50 ($15 max). We never reached our daily limit and maybe got to 8 - 10 drinks a couple of times, but it was nice to not worry about ordering ever. Guest services was always so polite, friendly and helpful the few times we spoke to them. Overall, we had a nice HAL experience on the Westerdam. If it wasn't for the stinky smell in our room for much of the stay, we loved the size of the room and the huge balcony that come with a Neptune Suite.
With refined amenities and Holland America Line signature Mariner’s Dream bed gracing each elegant stateroom, the ship offers six grades of staterooms. Most are ocean-facing, many featuring teak-lined verandas for dining alfresco or private sunbathing.
Enjoy everything from a burger and fries by the Lido Pool to the authentic Italian flavors of Canaletto to the ultimate in refined and luxurious dining at the Pinnacle Grill.
Onboard activities abound, including exclusive America’s Test Kitchen workshops, Rijksmuseum at Sea and BBC Earth Experiences. Hone video-editing skills, rejuvenate at our Greenhouse Spa, go to a wine tasting or simply relax and unwind.
Every day aboard a Holland America cruise ship brings a wealth of cruise activities and indulgences, along with the freedom to partake in as many- or as few- as you please. It's an opportunity to try something new that surprises you, every day. Dabble, discover, daydream- do everything, or do nothing at all.
Whether you want to workout in the Fitness Centre, learn yoga, pamper yourself with a massage and spa treatment, or enjoy a game of basketball, there's a perfect onboard activity for everyone.
Holland America Line's youth activities program, Kids Club, offers an array of entertaining events for kids and teens ages 3-17, supervised by a full-time, professionally trained staff. They'll have an opportunity to join other kids their age for arts and crafts, sports, video game competitions, scavenger hunts, challenging team games and themed parties.
Note: Kids Club is not offered on cruises of 25-days or longer, including all Legendary and Grand Voyages. We will offer a selection of children’s activities throughout these longer voyages for any children who may be onboard.
Safety Comes First
Safety is our primary concern and strict policies are in place for effective supervision. Adult guests are not permitted to remain in Kids Club unless attending to a special-needs child.
Please note: During voyages with a high number of families onboard, we will make all efforts to accommodate interested parties. However, participation in our program cannot be guaranteed. Hours of operation may change to better serve our guests.
