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Join Pete and Judy on their Celtic Adventure aboard the ms Zuiderdam

The-Inside-Cabin

By The-Inside-Cabin,
in Holland America Line

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The-Inside-Cabin

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Our driver picked us up at 4:30 AM to take us to San Diego’s Lindbergh Field marking the beginning of our current adventure, a 12 day knitting cruise “The Celtic Adventure” on the ms Zuiderdam. This will be a round trip from Copenhagen, Denmark with the following itinerary. I will also be posting copies of the menus and other information here on the blog www.theinsidecabin.com

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As you can see, there is an overnight visit to Dublin, Ireland and a late departure (1 AM) from South Queensferry (Edinburgh), Scotland along with 3 sea days and 2 gala nights. We will be joined by 76 other people in the knitting group and will be visiting various sights and places of special interest to knitters and fiber enthusiasts.

Our flights to Copenhagen were on time with Delta and KLM but long as expected. We used frequent flyer miles for our ticket so we had limited choices for flights and had to decide between a 1 hour layover or 8 hour layover in Detroit.

 

We chose the longer layover, which required our earlier departure to catch our 6:50 am flight, but then we had no worries about making our connection. As it turned out, everything was on time, so we could have managed a shorter layover, but you never know that in advance,

We connected in Amsterdam to a KLM flight to Copenhagen. Although the flight was only about 1 hour, KLM managed to provide a full beverage service with complimentary sandwiches for all. We noticed that the folks in business class received a full meal – this on a one hour flight!

 

Copenhagen’s airport is modern and efficient. We quickly cleared immigration in Amsterdam. After a short wait we retrieved our bags and headed towards Euro Customs. Customs consisted of pushing our luggage cart (no charge for the cart by the way) thru the green door marked “Nothing to Declare”. There was no line for the taxis and we were soon on our way to our hotel “The Square” located right next to the famous amusement park “Tivoli Gardens” Total time from stepping off the plane to stepping into our hotel – 55 minutes – not bad.

 

After we got settled in we headed out to get some dinner, The closest spot was the familiar “Hard Rock Café”. We were soon seated and ordered a very expensive Cheeseburger - 150 Kroners or about $24 USD. Thankfully, although expensive it was very good and huge, so Judy and I shared one which was plenty.

On our way back to the hotel we were surprised to find the street blocked by men in yellow vests labeled “Blocker” “Friday Night Skate”, In a few minutes the street filled with 700 people on various type of roller/inline skates escorted by motorcycles and other “blockers” in yellow vests. We learned later that this happens every other Friday or so during the summer and the skaters skate a 20 KM loop thru central Copenhagen. It was quite a sight and was over in a few minutes – pretty amazing we managed to stumble across this without any prior planning. If you ever find yourself in Copenhagen on a Summer Friday Night – be sure to look up the route and check it out HERE. Fun!

 

That was enough for the night and we headed back to the hotel for some rest after our day of traveling.

Overcast skies greeted us the next morning. We took it easy in the hotel all morning after a nice buffet breakfast on the hotels sixth floor.

 

About 1 pm we met others from our group in the lobby and set off on a walking tour of central Copenhagen along with some stops to a couple of yarn shops. The tour took about an hour and ½ and we covered about 1 mile at a very leisurely pace – along with time for some yarn shopping at Uldstedet and then at Sommerfuglen . The weather didn’t cooperate and it was sprinkling most of the day requiring using an umbrella and a light rain jacket. Of course, once the walking tour was over, the clouds parted and we were treated to sunshine the rest of the day.

 

After a quick bite to eat, we headed back to the hotel to relax and get ready to meet the Zuiderdam at Copenhagen’s Ocean Quay Cruise Terminal tomorrow.

 

More pictures on the blog at www.theinsidecabin.com

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Stratheden

Stratheden

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Thanks Pete for doing this. We will be on the Zuiderdam in June/July next year for a Baltic and Northern Islands cruise. I will be very interested in the menus, also in any excursions that you take.

 

Hope the embarkation from Copenhagen goes well. Enjoy yoyr cruise.

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janmcn

janmcn

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Have a great trip! Just off the Z'dam after the 24-day Baltic and northern Europe cruise (didn't do Ireland as you, but included Norway, Shetland, etc.) Loved it...and enjoyed the Z'dam a lot. Hi to "the twins" in the Lido from us! and Rana in the MDR if you have the upstairs seating...looking forward to your expertise on the WC for knitting! Enjoy the day in Dublin..spent a week there last year...lots of knitting, but too heavy for me.

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whogo

whogo

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Thanks for bringing back fond memories of food and drink service on a one hour KLM flight and of free luggage carts in Europe. I am happy to see another live report from Pete and Judy and The Inside Cabin.

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The-Inside-Cabin Great Review Rare

The-Inside-Cabin

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Day 0, Copenhagen, Denmark

 

The early morning rain stopped around 10 AM and although more rain was in the forecast, it never materialized which made our transfer to the Zuiderdama little easier.

 

We checked out our hotel around 11:30 and asked the Hotel front desk to call us a taxi – which arrived in about 10 minutes. There were probably about 30 people waiting in the lobby to go to the ship so I was a little concerned that there may be a delay to get a taxi and was pleasantly surprised when one arrived so quickly.

 

Our taxi was a very nice Mercedes station wagon and the rideto Terminal 1 of the Ocean Quay took about 20 minutes and cost about $40 which we paid by credit card. Our USA credit card – chip and sign – worked fine with the driver used a small card reader to process the transaction which also printed out a receipt.

 

There wasn’t much of a crowd in the parking lot outsideTerminal 1 when we arrived around noon, but we were surprised that we didn’tsee any porters or luggage carts available to assist with bags. We didn’t investigate further to see if porters were available elsewhere because we only had to roll our luggage about 50 yards to a large conveyor belt where we dropped our luggage before heading off to security.

 

A
fter we dropped our bags, we were handed one of the standard health questionnaires and walked another 50 yards to the security checkpoint –no line – and we cleared quickly and saw the rather short lines to check intothe ship – I would guess 30 minutes for most guests and what turned out to be a 10 minute line for 4/5 stars and suite guests. Check-in was quick and four stars wereallowed to go aboard the ship immediately. Other guests were assigned a group number and had a short wait until they actually boarded the ship.

 

The ships photographers were set up ready to take the embarkation photo’s right after you finished checking in but before you returned to the terminal waiting area until your group was called. Four stars didn’t have to return to the terminal waiting area and missed the opportunity to get an embarkation photo taken unless you spotted them over in the corner and sought them out like we did. We always enjoy taking these pictures and wewere soon on the ship heading up to our cabin – 8109. One of the many nice things about Holland America is that the cabins are usually available by noon despite the fact that passengers leaving the ship are permitted to stay in their cabins until their scheduled debarkation time.

 

This is our first HAL cruise since last October and we have read a lot about the various changes that many people have reported and we wereon the lookout for things that had changed. Our last HAL cruise was also on the Zuiderdam, so we will have a good opportunityto compare the service levels on the same ship after many of these changes have taken effect.

 

Once in our cabin we noticed the following:

 

The old “On Location” guide is now called “When and Where” and has a much cleaner and less cluttered look. The document is larger and the font is bigger, with more white space, which makes for easier reading. Gone are the welcome letters from the Captain and they seem to use fewer words to describe various activities.

 

There is now an Orange booklet that explains many of the available services, room service menus and other rules and safety information. There is an interesting graphic under theheading “What to Wear” (see it here) which shows a closet being filled with clothes appropriate to the activity. It starts off with “Daytime dress on board is casual” and shows a pair of shorts and a polo shirt hanging in the closet. Next up is “Most Evenings, Smart Casual Attire is appropriate…” and they add some trousers, along sleeve collared shirt and a ladies top and skirt. The final squares show “Gala Nights” which addsa men’s suit and a long dress. No tuxedo in the closet! Seems pretty simple but alas it seems that formal nights are a distant memory. I still brought my tux and we will see how many others there are tomorrow night for our first of two gala nights.

clothes008.gif

 

 

 

As many previous posters have noted, the room service menu nowcharges for Dive Inn Hamburgers and Pinnacle Grill steaks. I don’t mind the ala carte pricing as I figureour whole cruise cost as the sum of the various parts. Others prefer a true all-inclusive pricing modelso this is a step in the wrong direction for them.

 

A nice addition to the physical room is a USB charging port next to each bed lamp. There is now a second set of electrical outlets on the desk – to give you a total of 4 – two 115 Volt for North American plugs and two 220 volt outlets for continental European plugs. Remember to bring an adapter forthe appropriate plugs and you will be able to use all the outlets. Keep in mind the voltage differences – most electronics are dual voltage capable but anything that heats up will not work with the incorrect voltage – but you aren’t supposed to bring appliances that heat up inthe first place so that shouldn’t really matter. Hair dryers are provided.

 

The lifeboat drill was a pleasant surprise. The days of calling off names are gone as they use hand held scanners to register your attendance. They no longer even call off names for those missing. I asked what they do when someone misses the drill and an officer informed me that the front desk gets a listof no shows and the guests are tracked down and must attend a make up drill. The drill started at 3:15 PM and we were dismissed at 3:35. Very smooth.

 

Dinner service the first night can be a little rough as they spend time helping guests find their table and everyone is still getting usedto the menu so ordering may be slower. However,tonight’s dinner was a joy – perfect service with impeccably timed courses. Prompt wine and beverage service and a wonderful presentation of delicious meals. Judy had the Flat Iron Steak and I had the Pork Chop – both delicious. We had a wonderful cheesecake for desert and the coffee was piping hot – sometimes getting “hot” hot coffee can be a challenge – not tonight.

 

Afterwards we ran across Rick, the Pinnacle Grill Manager, who we got to know on the 2016 World Cruise,our last cruise on the Zuiderdam and now this Zuiderdam cruise.

 

One of our dining room waiters, Made, from last October isstill here – 9 months into his 10 month contract. We were surprised that he remembered us so quickly – and as everyone who sails with Holland America more than once will always come across familiar faces on future cruises. As an aside, we were walking back to our cabin after the show, on Deck 8 butprobably 50 yards from our room, we encountered a cabin steward in the hallway who enquired if we were from 8109. We hadn’tmet our cabin steward yet, but he must have either looked up our picture or hadmet all the other guests in his area and figured that these new faces were the folks in 8109. The crew of every Holland America ship is really what sets this line apart from the others we have sailed.

 

Tonight’s show was a sampling of many of the musicians that will be playing around the ship including the Piano Bar Entertainer Jimmy, Adagio and HAL singers and dancers. Cruise Director Don was the MC and he also introduced the members of his On Location team. The show was fantastic – high energy and enthusiasm and we are looking forward to watching them perform over the next 12 days.

 

We turn back clocks tonight and are looking forward to a sea day tomorrow.

 

Copies of menus and "When and Where" are

 

More pictures on the blog at
Edited by The-Inside-Cabin
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RJ2002

RJ2002

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Looking forward to your review. Great itinerary.

 

We were on the Zuiderdam recently, and had a wonderful time visiting some of the same ports you will see.

 

Rick (PG Manager) is a great guy. We got to know him on our cruise.

 

Have a great time!

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CruiseMGM

CruiseMGM

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<snip>

 

Rick (PG Manager) is a great guy. We got to know him on our cruise.

 

 

Loving the review! We were on the Z last summer for a similar cruise, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

 

Does anyone know if Rick was on the Volendam in April of 2016? We never caught his name, but the PG manager we had on the Volendam in Asia April 2016 moved to the Zuiderdam a few months later, where we saw him again. If that's him, you're right, he's a great guy! He definitely made our PG dining nights a lot of fun.

 

 

Best wishes!

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The-Inside-Cabin Great Review Rare

The-Inside-Cabin

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Enjoying your blog, thank you.

 

 

 

Was surprised to read that HAL usually has the cabins ready by noon.

 

Previously the cabins were ready by 1130.

 

Do you know when the change to noon occurred?

 

 

 

They were probably ready by 11:30. I just said noon since I wasn't there by 11:30. no official change I am aware of...

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