Westerdam Cruise Review

Our April 2023 14 Night Cruise Around Japan

We sailed on the April 10, 2023 Westerdam sailing around Japan. It was wonderful.

If you’d like more information about the Japan part of the trip, click the link to check out these videos:

• United Polaris Business Class Review

• Tips for Japan: Entry, Wifi Rental, Subway, Restaurants, Toilets

• Tokyo, Osaka, Universal Studios Japan, and Yokohama

• First week on our Japan cruise visiting Omaezaki, Kobe, and Fukuoka (Hakata)

• Japan cruise 2nd week: Kanazawa, Otaru, Aomari, Hakodate, and Busan, South Korea

Now, onto the review of the cruise experience:

Cabin:  9

We booked a guarantee and were placed in cabin 6036. This is a category VB for four people. Two people in beds. One person in a bunk over the two beds. One person on the small sofa bed.

We were very impressed with the cabin. It’s hard to find fault with it. It was very comfortable, had good storage, and a nice balcony. We were surprised to find a bathtub. The point deduction is due to the fluctuating temperature and some minimal age showing on the balcony.

Overall Ship Condition: 9

The Westerdam recently came out of Dry Dock. They did a terrific job. The ship is refreshed. One point deduction because you can see some wear and tear a few places.

Casual Dining: 9

The buffet really offered a lot:

• Asian area

• Pasta Area

• Salad Bar

• Sandwich station

• Pizza

An alternating taco bar and noodle bar were available for lunch through the afternoon next to the pool. Dive in Burgers is available outside by the pool with great fries.  

Sit Down Dining: 9

We were impressed with our meals in The Dining Room for dinner. I loved the Asian menus. The menus had a lot of variety. The dining team did a great job serving the food warm to hot. The one point deduction is due to a tough steak and one night with a bit of slow service.

Entertainment: 8.5

The main evening entertainment was something in the theater, the Rolling Stone Lounge, Billboard Piano Players, and Third Avenue West in the Ocean Bar. All the live musical acts were great.

I took off 1.5 points because one night the evening “show” in theater was a movie. The Dance Troupe shows are enjoyable, but I really prefer having a live band for the production shows on these types of ships. The other issue was that the music sets were repetitive for the lounge acts. If you went every night at the same time, you may hear a lot of the same songs.

Service: 9.5      

The crew was wonderful. The ½ point deduction is due to one night in The Dining Room. I think the Maitre’D sat too many people at the same time in a section.

Value: 9

The quality of the food was really impressive and that drives up the value score.

Overall: 9

I was a bit worried going into the cruise since the Westerdam is an older ship. Overall, I was very impressed and would definitely sail again.