Last Updated: 19-JAN-2019
11 night Southern Caribbean Wayfarer Cruise with Holland America - MS Oosterdam departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on December 7, 2015.
We booked this cruise with Vacations-to-go on the web in August for approx. $1,650.00 pp with a now unknown ship credit. In late summer, Ken had been moved to an open office environment and was fed up with the lack of privacy and bright lights so he decided to take more vacations in his short time to work before retirement. This was cruise #11 and the third time with a balcony. After our light outside our cabin issues (cabin 5063) We were moved to the 6th floor mid-ship balcony. The cabin # was 6025 and we liked it. Quiet and A/C worked very well.
We decided to fly to Fort Lauderdale on Southwest Airlines the day before the cruise began ($220 a person round trip) We stayed again at Marriott Courtyard Fort Lauderdale Beach And had a room on the corner on 7th floor which had views of beach and intercostal waterway. Government rate @ $180+ tax and we were happy. Nice location and we walked the beach Sun and Mon morning. Took cab to port and arrived about 11:15. Long lines, It took an hour to board ship. But luggage was in the room and the fun began.
So we showed up in main dining room at 7:00 for open seating. We were given a clicker and told we would be called. This was too much for Ken so I went back to the matradee to give back the clicker and he said but we were just about to call you. So they escorted us to table for you #77 on 3rd floor. Then 10 minutes later a couple showed up to claim their table. They were reseated elsewhere and we were assigned that table. Puri and Agos were great waiters and we went to dinner there every night. Ken was given a suitcoat on formal nights to hang on his chair. Food was good and fast on most nights. There Was a small Chihuahua Dog that ate dinner in main dining room on our floor. We were amazed as they wheeled him in and he sat in a modified baby carriage. Never heard him! He must not have had a tux since he didn't go to formal night!
Ken says that this was the best cruise we have taken to date. It was easy, low stress, great weather, had a very interesting itinerary. The ship was not crowded and had lots of interesting menu items. In fact I could easily do this exact cruise again in the fall of 2015 as Holland America continues to offer it.
SHIP LAYOUT: The ship was in good condition. Being on the 6th (upper Veranda) we were centrally located. I never had any issue finding a free place to sit. Holland like other cruises would tie up the chairs but it was easy to untie and they did not ever say anything to me for doing that. The front area on deck 12 was an excellent place to look at the stars as it was the darkest place on the ship. But, having 1,900 - 2,200 people on the ship it never seemed that crowded.
The Oosterdam is a member of HAL's Vista-class and offers a more sedate experience and far better service than partying megaships. Despite its array of dining and entertainment options, Oosterdam's best feature is that 67% of all staterooms include a veranda, with 85% offering ocean views.
HOLLAND ALCOHOL POLICY: They allowed BEER / WINE to be brought on. They were not that good at checking your bags and I was able to get harder stuff on (taking home) easily. Also, if you buy the plastic bottles with a plastic cap and keep it on your person you can just walk on thru the metal detector. Soda was not an issue as we brought some on board at most ports. I think this is another demographic aspect. With the average age so high they are not worried about wild booze parties !
DRESS: We had three formal nights. The first formal night I got some looks as I would wear short sleeve shirt, NO TIE and dress type pants. The second formal night they actually chased us down and gave me a jacket that was about 10 sizes too small. I just hung it on the back of my chair.. Not my problem as I AM ON VACATION ! They did this on the third formal night too. This was the most restrictive I have ever encountered on all my cruises.
CASINO: I don't remember spending any money on this cruise.
INTERNET: Because of pets at home we paid for one of the internet plans. I must say that I was very impressed with the speed. I was checking web cameras and accessing email and the speed was excellent. The ship also had a nice computer area. I accessed the web via an android phone (Wi-Fi) and was impressed that it worked all over the ship. In fact it even worked in our room. As always I would read / write email offline and only connect to send/ receive.
SECURITY: No issues in bringing on plug strips / outlet expanders that I had hid across the bags. On the cruise groups, I have seen issues with these items being taken.
ARRIVAL / DEPARTURE TIME: No problems at all at any port. Like I said it was easy on. In Ft. Lauderdale I was expecting issues in getting off the ship and it was easy. A real quick look at our passports and NO questions were asked. We carried off our bags and they were never screened. Again, very easy and we were in a cab and heading to the airport in Ft. Lauderdale within minutes of getting out of the terminal.
FOOD: Ken does not worry about this as he could eat hot dogs and mac-chees every night. Mary asked for a mango and they gave it to her the last dinner night. They had pizza, cookies & ice cream available most of the time and it was good and varied. Food was quite good. Can't compare it to the 1990s cruises because the cruise industry has cut costs and food quality has suffered. They do try to make you happy however.
DEMOGRAPHICS: Interesting and as usual on Holland... The 70+ crowd ! A few kids but generally we did not see them. The usual clogging the elevator crowd.
I picked up a new Canon EOS-70D 20.2mp camera setup for this trip. I wanted to learn how to use it on my free time. One problem, I did not realize was how hard it would be to process the photos and make our web pages after the trip. Going back and forth between the two cameras was a mess. After this trip I got much better and syncing the times in the cameras / phones so they all process in the correct order.
All photos were taken with a Canon EOS-70D 20.2mp camera or a Go Pro Hero4 Silver or a Moto-X 2013
For a detailed description of the Canon EOS-70D 20.2mp camera setup I am using, visit my Camera Page
Any video was from all three cameras and converted with AWS Video Converter 8
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Itinerary
DAY DATE PORT ARRIVE DEPART Part 1 ------------------------------------- DAY 01 - Mon Dec 07 Fort Lauderdale, FL 4:00pm DAY 02 - Tue Dec 08 At Sea DAY 03 - Wed Dec 09 At Sea DAY 04 - Thu Dec 10 St. Maarten 8:00am 3:00pm DAY 05 - Fri Dec 11 St. Lucia / Scenic Cruising Soufriere Bay 8:00am 4:00pm DAY 06 - Sat Dec 12 Barbados 8:00am 5:00pm Part 2 ------------------------------------- DAY 07 - Sun Dec 13 Fort-de-France, Martinique / Daylight Passing Mount Pelee (Cruising) 8:00am 5:00pm DAY 08 - Mon Dec 14 St. Kitts 8:00am 5:00pm DAY 09 - Tue Dec 15 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 8:00am 5:00pm DAY 10 - Wed Dec 16 At Sea DAY 11 - Thu Dec 17 Half Moon Cay, Bahamas 8:00am 3:00pm DAY 12 - Fri Dec 18 Fort Lauderdale, FL 7:00am
Cruise Log
Total mileage on this voyagePorts Mileage
Fort Lauderdale, Florida to Philipsburg 1,094.9 nm Philipsburg to Castries 274.6 nm Castries to Bridgetown 112.2 nm Bridgetown to Fort de France 129.7 nm Fort de France to Basseterre 188.6 nm Basseterre to St. Thomas 148.7 nm St. Thomas to Half Moon Cay 725.8 nm Half Moon Cay to Fort Lauderdale, Florida 286.6 nm
TOTAL 2,923 nm
2,923 nm = 3,363 land miles
Ship Facts
Holland America Line's first Vista-class cruise ship, Oosterdam recently emerged from dry dock with exciting updates-including completely refreshed suites and new lounge, dining and entertainment venues, such as Music Walk, with Lincoln Center Stage, B.B. King's Blues Club and Billboard Onboard. Guests can choose from among delectable specialty restaurants, hone culinary skills with America's Test Kitchen and thrill to BBC Earth Experiences.
Class and type: Vista class cruise ship Tonnage: 82,000 GT 10,965 DWT Length: 290 m (950 ft) Beam: 32.25 m (105.8 ft) Draught: 7.9 m (26 ft) Decks: 11 passenger decks Installed power: 3 x Sulzer 16ZAV40S diesel engines 2 x Sulzer 12ZAV40S diesel engines General Electric LM2500 gas turbine Propulsion: Diesel-electric 2 x ABB Azipod (2 x 17.62 MW) Speed: 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) (maximum) 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) (service) Capacity: 1,848 passengers Crew: 812 crew Notes: Range is 18 days at 19.5 knots
DAILY SHIP GUIDES / MAPS / OTHER INFO
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