tartanmom

Just off 16 nights on Zaandam. We mostly ate in Lido for lunch, MDR for breakfast and dinner. Food was delicious although some serving portions in MDR were far smaller then in the past. Once we figured it out we just learned to order an extra appie or whatever. Marshmallows are the new whipping cream...lol. They use them on the sundaes and to fancy up desserts where in the past whipping cream was used. I ordered the Asian salad in the Lido several times and it was to include rice noodles but they never had them. Not a huge deal for me - I'm just thrilled to not be the person cooking and cleaning up afterwards - although hubby was a wee bit disappointed. The plate presentation, especially in MDR, was beautiful as always and all our meals were tasty.

Just off 16 nights on Zaandam. Found the app to be the most frustrating thing ever. Never worked properly for us and neither did the wifi. Constantly getting the spinning wheel of death, error messages etc. Assumed chat worked and then would find out later the message never sent. Better to use texting or whatsapp

Same here.

I've always brought high heels for formal nights but seem to be jinxed with rough weather on those nights. No fun to try to navigate in heels around a rocking ship so this year the heels are staying home and I'm just bringing fancy flats and blingy sandal to wear with my dresses.

https://book2.hollandamerica.com/protocols/ Enter your booking number for protocol information on your specific cruise.

Yes it has been offered in the past and yes you can take it home. We had the large one a few years ago and then brought it home with us in our carryon. It is very lovely, prelit, and came with red and gold decorations. It certainly added a festive touch to our stateroom and now serves as a wonderful memory of our Prinsendam holiday cruise.

Any idea what this shaded out area is near the bow on Lower Prom. deck on the Zaandam? Is it laundry? Quiet in the evening? I do know that it is just below the World Stage but not too worried about that as we always attend the late show and aren't in the cabin during the day.

Thank you so much for all the comments/advice. We've always loved HAL -- especially the crew and I'm sure once onboard we will have a wonderful holiday. Usually I would just bite the bullet so to speak and be done with it. You win some, you lose some when it comes to pricing. But this is such a considerate amount that I can't let it go. Plus the booking has had issues since the start. Originally I booked a specific cabin and then several weeks later signed into my account and the cabin number was different. Phoned the travel agent who then spent hours on hold with HAL to find out that they had randomly changed our cabin due to "operational concerns" and the cabin was inferior to what we had originally booked. 😡 Needless to say I'm already an unhappy camper after that!

Booked on the Zaandam for the Dec. 20th, 16 night holiday cruise. Final payment was last month and this week I received a Mariners Club email with offers for upcoming sailings. To my horror the price of my stateroom has dropped $3,000 cdn! I phoned my travel agent today and she is going to look into it but says HAL is usually pretty firm that if the price drops after final payment I'm out of luck. Is this true? Anyone else have experience with this? Both my husband and I are loyal HAL cruisers and are just about to reach 4 stars as our children who just recently left for university. So we have spent a lot of money with HAL prior to the pandemic and have always enjoyed our cruises with them. I'm hopeful they will take this into consideration and perhaps offer an onboard credit or something because I truly feel sick to my stomach at the moment.

That was wonderful! Cheers to all onboard and enjoy your cruise.

Is there a link to a webcam? Would love to watch her go. Wishing all those on board an amazing cruise.

It looks like proof of a negative test (for fully vaccinated passengers) prior to boarding for cruises longer then 14 days has been dropped. We sail Dec. 20, 16 nights on Zaandam and it isn't on the Enhanced list.

We have had similar situation but in our case the rooms were adjoining. When we booked it had to be 1 adult/1 under 18 per room but once onboard they were ok with the kids in their own room (ages 17 and 14) and perks transferred accordingly. However, the big difference for us was that the rooms had a connecting door. If this wasn't the case they said that, for a variety of reasons (which were completely understandable), they would not allow the kids to be on their own.