Oosterdam Review
Rating by category
Additional details
I wanted to try a 1 day cruise and it was really more work getting packed and it was over the moment I woke up. However we did upgrade to the Pinnacle Suite which was a lot of fun, and fairly affordable considering this was only one night. The golden marble in the bathroom was beautiful and it is much more tasteful than the newer HAL Pinnacle Suites, however the furniture is silly and the shower has a broken plastic panel. Room service was great. This ship has lots of brass and beauty unlike the other ships which are now the beige office building types. I was disappointed they did not contact me for a post cruise review. The room was soundproof, had a huge kitchen and quadruple sized fridge, lots of crystal glassware, silverware, plates, and a very big dining table. I am surprised the upkeep on this room is not perfect. They changed the chef in the Pinnacle from the wonderful fellow from South Africa to a fellow from India. Meals lacked total artistry and we had a salad that had chunks of romaine lettuce in it and that was it, zero variety or artistry. Kitchen here is a real dud. They did do a great job on my soufflé desert, it was very good. The one thing they have is people and they made a line of them from embarkation to our room which was touching. Same thing on disembarkation.
Cabin Review
Pinnacle Penthouse Verandah Suite
Mid ship room with zero wave action, didn't even know we moved at night. Open the door and there is an entryway with a bathroom to the right and the kitchen to the left, with another sliding door to enter the suite. The kitchen has a butler door to the outside hallway for privacy. It has a huge fridge, coffeemaker, toaster, sink, tons of silverware, dishes, etc. Free bottled water in the fridge. This suite is super soundproofed. A huge dining table, about 6 times the wardrobe space, desk, automatic curtains, and a very thick soundproof door separating the master bedroom. The living room has a fold out bed which is a double and quite adequate. The only drawback was you are first on and first off the ship which means you are supposed to disembark before anyone else. Bit early for me :)
Port Reviews
Seattle
Pier 91 sucks to get to unless you go by taxi. We took the light rail and bus which was fine and interesting until the bus part where a drug addict was falling on the floor and then started spitting across the bus like a machine gun. luckily that was when we got off. There is not a single sign to the cruise ship, so expect to wander here. They say a new port will open in South Seattle, oh Joy, why would anyone want to get dumped in the industrial part of Seattle? Why can't we be like Vancouver and have a decent debarkation at Pier 66? Why not wipe out all those old tacky piers anyway? Anyway HAL covers up all debarkation location information just to cover it up.
Vancouver
Ok! This port is right downtown, and well managed and nice. Wish the trains and sky bus and regular bus all met here, however there is a too close to the water problem. Now these guys keep the populace employed because they have a person every 50 feet to guide you. Take the escalator or elevator up and you are on the street.