Wesmoms

I'm booked on carribbean princess, R749. Darn, I was hoping someone had answered! How was your stateroom? Thanks

Hi Kazu. My parents and i are leaving on January 2, 2015 on the Zuiderdam. We will be on the 10 day Panama Canal cruise. My father will celebrate his 71st birthday during the cruise. They have been on many HAL cruises, the first was about 20 years ago, and this will be my second cruise on HAL. We are all looking forward to it! :). Thank you

I was on the Zuiderdam in mid-October for a 10 day cruise. As soon as we entered the cabin, we noted a major problem. There was no air coming out of the vent at all. We proceeded to call the front desk several times and visit them several times. Numerous people came up and agreed that it was hot in the cabin and that there was no air coming out of the vent. They gave us a fan, but that just blew hot air around the cabin. We kept after them until 11 PM, when one of the previous mechanics on his third visit came with another mechanic. That one was able to resolve the problem somehow.

 

Everyone was concerned and checked the air flow, the thermostat, and something outside the cabin, but no one could fix the problem until the one man who came at 11 PM. This was the first cruise of the Sunfarer season, so we suspect that there was no one in the cabin just before us. It came from Alaska where A/C would not have been necessary and there may not have been anyone in the cabin during the repositioning.

 

This was a bad start to the cruise, particularly after a VERY slow processing in at Port Everglades. If there was a Mariner's welcome lunch in the dining room, we missed it. With people coming and going to check the A/C, we weren't able to leave the cabin except for dinner.

 

With the thermostat at it's coldest setting, the cabin was OK as long as the curtains were closed in the daytime. It turned out to be a very enjoyable cruise with pretty good food and an excellent crew. We were in a stern verandah cabin on deck 6.

Hi Sundagger. Thanks a bunch for taking the time to comment. Goodness, it does sound like the cruise started off badly for you. I'm glad that they were able to get your stateroom to a level acceptable to you finally (even though you had to keep curtains closed, which is the point of the balcony level, to see out, but you did what was necessary) and that you enjoyed the rest of your cruise, in spite of the beginning. Had heard from others that lately the processing at PE is extremely slow, but nobody could pinpoint why. We'll go prepared for snail pace, i think, and hopefully be pleasantly surprised. Pleased to hear that the food was pretty good and the crew excellent.

Currently on Zuiderdam Navigation deck. No problems with A/C or plumbing. Have not heard any grumbling from others. Although there may be some with trouble, as other posters have noted. Stuff happens on any ship. We are enjoying our first cruise on this ship very much.:)

Thanks very much for your reply. Glad to hear you are enjoying your cruise! Have a wonderful rest of your trip. :)

November 7-17, 2014. Cabin 4152 would not cool below 77F. The guest relations manager worked very hard with the technical team to try to resolve the problem. In the end we were given inside cabin 4158 for sleeping allowing us to maintain the use of our verandah. The inside cabin was very cool and comfortable.

They also provided a letter of apology with a generous onboard credit.

Jim

 

 

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Thanks for the feedback. Sounds like they worked to accommodate you. That's what would be most important to me. Some reviews make it sound like nothing was done at all regarding this issue-i try to take reviews with a grain of salt (and maybe some of these people weren't polite in dealing with the crew members, that would be the best way to get nothing accomplished), but I'm a worrier lately, and if it happened, would be a big issue for me. I'm definitely hoping it won't happen, but if it does, your feedback has done a lot to ease my mind. Thanks again.

Take a good look at the dates of the reviews, especially those talking about HVAC and plumbing problems. Are they all in a close period? When?

 

There was a time, a few years ago, when the Zuiderdam had severe plumbing, and HVAC only to a lesser extent, problems. This went on for several months! :eek:

However, eventually this was pretty much fixed, and the problems have been sporadic since. That's normal.

 

I don't recall reading reports of the serious problems more recently.

Do be aware, though, that when you are sailing a Panama Canal itinerary, you are going to a very hot/humid place. You are likely to feel the heat regardless of the ship you are on.

Thanks for the comment Ruth. Yes, i looked very closely at the reviews. Some are from up to a year ago, and those don't really worry me too much, except to show that it isn't only a recent problem. However, 20+ reviews in the past couple of months did get my notice-including those posted just toward the end of last month. Yes, i realize it happens on every line and probably every ship sometime, but the ship we've booked is the one I'm concerned about. I called Seattle to reserve a fan, and was told they were all taken, and the agent stated she had been hearing "a good bit" from passengers on this issue. I wondered if perhaps it was more noticeable in one section, those kind of things. I get that we are going to a hot/humid place. We live in southeast texas, so that's pretty much our norm. I'm mostly worried about getting way too warm and not being to get cooled off again-good a/c does the trick, but if it's on the fritz.....

Thanks bunches HamOp! :)

I just wanted to say that for the zuiderdam 1-2-15 sailing, the thanksgiving promotion wasn't available due to the prices being so low. We are Texas residents, so i don't think it is a "racism" thing. C'mon, really?? In the US, pricing often varies as to which state you are in. Is that "racism" also? Hmmm....perhaps a call to the ACLU is in order to let them know about this "racist" cruise line

I haven't cruised HAL in a while. When did they start charging for cappuccino in the MDR? (If you have any idea, that is. Lol). Thanks

My parents are taking a cruise with HAL in April. The last cruise they took was on Princess and for $7.00 or so a day, I was able to buy my dad a basic soda card that covered his diet sodas that he likes to drink throughout the meals. He said it was so easy because once the servers knew he had that card, he didn't even have to show it anymore, they just had his two sodas ready when they saw him.

 

I see on the gifts page for HAL that I can buy a $50 soda fountain card. Does anyone have an experience with this? Is it something that gets swiped or deducted? How much are sodas? Are they included with the meals (I haven't found that to be the case on many cruise lines, but they are all different). Is there another option that's more like a drink package but non-alcoholic? He really just drinks Diet Cokes.

 

Trying to figure out what would make a good Christmas gift, and he still talks about how great a Father's Day gift the drink package on Princess was, so I thought covering his drinks on their upcoming cruise might be a good option.

 

Thanks!

The last HAL cruise we were on, you had to go to a bar to get your soda and have your card swiped. We couldn't use it in the MDR (or the lido or room service). Nobody else has mentioned it, so i thought i would. All in all, it wasn't too annoying, just a quick stop for the soda before proceeding to meals. {i don't find the HAL card to be quite as good a value as some cruise lines that have unlimited soda cards for one price or per day. Takes buying 4 to 5 cards per cruise to support my soda addiction! Lol}

I don't know I think allowing poultry on board is a very bad idea . It can lead to a lot of trouble .

 

You just know there will be guys hanging around the lounges trying to lure women back to their cabins with the line "Wanna see my cock and pullet"

Bahahaha! You just made my day! Love it 😂

A lot of service dogs for people in wheelchairs are trained to set on the owners lap not under a table.

Ummmm.....NO, don't think so! This is a definite, huge no-no for any true service dog!

The original poster provided more details yesterday.

 

"Nonce again, the dog is only an issue because of the owner. We have sailed with ADA dogs before, but the dog did not sit in a chair in the Lido, did not poop all over the ship, did not sit on a stool in the Crows nest, did not walk on an extended leash so other guests could trip, was not babysat at the front desk, did not bark in the theater, Queens Lounge, or at people who walked by and lunge at others. The dog is small and cute, but as I have said before, HAL needs to figure out how to handle the situation, when the owner breaks all the rules and upsets many passengers."

 

Sorry, but this doesn't sound like a service dog. It sounds like it might be a therapy dog and HAL doesn't recognize the difference, or a faked certificate, or both. I'm 35, and disabled, and while i don't bring my dog on cruises (even though he would probably enjoy them and i KNOW he would be well behaved) i would never dream of dressing him up, not keeping him in his approved harness, allowing him on furniture in a public place, or allowing him to disrupt another person). Talk to the person, and unobtrusively get the owner's name, place of residence, and the dog's name. Then, turn them into the ADA. They may be able to investigate. Sounds like this poor dog should be taken away from its "owner" and if it is has not lost too much of its training, placed with a deserving new owner. That is, if it is a REAL, CERTIFIED service dog! Too many people abuse the privilege of having a service dog, and it makes the rest of us look horrible.

Hello all. My father booked us a cruise on HAL Zuiderdam for 1-2-15, to the Panama Canal. We will be cruising in separate cabins, balcony, deck 7, aft. However, i have been reading so many reviews about the restroom and air conditioning issues that i am very apprehensive about taking this cruise. I am 35 and disabled, with several health problems. My main issue is that it is life threatening for me if i get much too hot. 72 degree rooms are somewhat warm to me, btw, but above 80 or so, if i am not able to get cooled off, could be bad. On most other cruises we've taken, my parents and other guests said it was pretty cool in the main rooms, while i was comfortable or just slightly warm. Never before had issues keeping the cabin cool enough (have had a steward or two call the temp in the cabin "frosty" lol). Also, i do have stomach/intestinal problems on occasion, so a working commode is pretty important. Can anyone that has sailed on this ship lately please help? I'd like to know if you encountered these issues, and if so, was anything done about it. I'm so hoping everything has been fixed! Thanks in advance for any comments. 😊

(I know that every ship has these issues, and just because it happened once doesn't mean it will happen again. However, the problem seems ongoing, at least from some reviews. I get it! Still, I'm curious as to what people who have sailed recently have experienced. Also, any other thoughts you had are appreciated. Thanks again.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I thought i had posted on the HAL boards. Lol. Really not exactly tech savvy! I will try again :)

Hello, all. My father booked us a cruise on HAL Zuiderdam for 1-2-15. We will be cruising in separate cabins, balcony, deck 7, aft. However, i have been reading so many reviews about the restroom and air conditioning issues that i am so very apprehensive about taking this cruise. I'm 35 and disabled, with several health problems. My main issue is that it is life threatening for me if i get too warm. 72 degree rooms are somewhat warm to me, btw, but above 80 or so, if i'm not able to get cooled off, could be bad. Most other cruises we've taken, my parents and other guests said it was pretty cool in the main rooms, while i was comfortable. Never before had issues keeping the cabin cool enough. Also, i do have stomach/intestinal problems on occasion, so a working commode is pretty important. Can anyone that has sailed on this ship lately please help? I'd like to know if you encountered these issues, and if so, was anything done about it. So hoping everything has been fixed! :). Thanks in advance for any comments

Hello fellow cruisers. Had a drink about 20 years ago on the Nieuw Amsterdam sailing from New Orleans. I think it was a drink of the day and it was called a KAHLUA COLADA. For about the past 10 years, my dad has been asking the bartenders of HAL if they could make him one, but no one has heard of it. Has anyone the recipe please? Thanks so much