Holland America Oosterdam

I haven't sailed with Holland America for four years, so I thought it was time to go back.  I had sailed with them twice previously; both sailings being mediocre.  So I was pleasantly surprised with the December 8, 2007 Mexican Riviera sailing, my 53rd cruise.

We had a VF balcony guarantee cabin and were assigned a category VE.  The cabin itself was fine, but there was a lifeboat in front of our balcony, so we could not see straight down.  In the future, I would only recommend doing a gurantee for a category VD or above. The vast majority of ocean view cabins and above have a combination bath tub/shower, and of all things I really liked the shower head, it provided a nice strong flow and also had a massage option.  Our cabin also had a flat screen TV with a DVD player.

Food in the both the dining room and lido buffet were very good.  The lido was not self serve, there were plenty of staff on hand to serve the food.  There was a grill area, salad bar, sandwich bar, pasta/pizza area, Asian specialities, and two dessert areas.  Service was mostly excellent; especially our dining room wine waiter who was responsible for all the beverages brought to our table. We did try the Pinnacle Grill one night and thought it was good, but not great; I actually enjoyed the Pinnacle on my two Ryndam sailings better.

Overall, I was impressed with HAL's new Signature of Excellence, and can recommend their Vista class ships.  I give our cruise a solid B+.

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