startwin

I was just reporting what I have seen on various ships.

You are absolutely correct, KK. It seems to be the norm. I used to be under the impression that it is a no-no, but you will see scooters over-nighting in the elevator lobbies on most cruises. They aren't blocking anything, so I guess why not?

I love your reports, they are so descriptive - thanks for taking us along.

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One of the first things I thought of when this story broke was the many threads there have been about parents allowing their young children to sign themselves out of Club HAL and go wandering around the ship alone. I hope this incident will put an end to the ability to do this right now.

Maybe it's because I don't usually follow threads about kids anymore' date=' but I can honestly say I have never seen a thread on this topic, ever. [/size']

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Love it! Thanks for the chuckle.:D

The lower promenade is great and you will no problem with privacy. Just check to see what is above your cabin. We had a major noise issue once on the Ryndam. I think it was galley above us.

It sounds like he was completely deranged and psychotic. What a terrible attack. Thank you for posting this and putting a stop to all the speculation and rumour.

I have now cruised twice with a couple who each use a scooter. (I don't know them, they just happened to be on the same cruise as me). Their scooters are usually close to their room in the elevator lobby on their deck, overnight. I always thought it was a no-no, but it was explained that as it is a large area there was no blocking of the hallways. I think the ship accommodates as much as possible.

Good info - thank you.

We rent a wheelchair for my DH from Special Needs at Sea, in FLL. They are great to deal with and they have a kiosk area right out the terminal building where you pick up your equipment.

Magellans.com. $15. Takes four batteries. Three speeds. Has a strap, so you can hang it around your neck. The fan can be set in two positions, so you can hold it straight, or hang it with the fan blowing up.

 

I have one, love it. I would not leave for a cruise without it. I even use it when I go out at home.

I have one of those! I recall getting it in a loonie store (dollar store to our US friends) some years ago. It was not just for travel..... women will understand.:o Suffice to say there are times when you just want to sit inside the fridge.:eek:

Bon Voyage - have a wonderful time!:)

This sounds like a re-run of our Zuiderdam cruise in 2012. Only ours was for 22 days.:( Yes the front office was fobbing you off with that excuse. We had an honest plumber who told us that was not the issue - the problem was faulty vacuum pumps. And there are people on this board who will insist that you were putting things down the toilet that you shouldn't. (Our cabin neighbours did not have any problems with plumbing, but they had a lack of air conditioning instead). Each time the plumber came to fix it, he would remove a panel in the wall outside in the corridor, do something there, and it would be OK for a few hours - sometimes a day or so. But the problem always returned. Sorry you had to experience this problem, I know how frustrating it is having to go find a working toilet.

During our cruise, we had one day when all pax had to go ashore while they shut down the whole system to replace the pumps. Unfortunately, the problem persisted in some areas.

Hi everyone,

 

I thought I would share a few thoughts on our recent trip on the Zuiderdam. I'll take some time and detail the good experiences we had as well as the stuff that we felt a little disappointed in. I'll also talk about the ports and what we chose to do at each one. Finally, I'll discuss a rare thing on this board, the HAL Kids' Club

 

First off, for anyone that was on this sailing, we were the family with the 5-year-old girl who could be seen dancing all over the ship. It was my wife and I, both around 40, and my parents, 5-star mariners in their 60's. My folks took this same cruise last winter and thought we would enjoy the itinerary so they booked us on the spot last February. I must say, the ports are what interest my wife and I and this group was a complete set of new locations for us. This is the 5th cruise for my wife and I and the 3rd for my daughter.

 

We had a bit of trouble getting to the ship though. We're from Ottawa, and we chose to fly from Syracuse NY this year to save some cash. My parents drove down a week earlier with our luggage, which was awesome of them. We had planned to make the 3 hour drive on Saturday in advance of our 1:00pm flight, but with the weather a little uncertain, we drove down Friday night instead. Once we reached the airport at 10:00am on Sat, I knew there was some weather coming. We were due to connect in Detroit, and with a small window to do so, I was worried. I asked the agent to check on things and she assured me all was well, but booked us on a flight via Atlanta on Sunday, just in case. Sure enough, our flight was delayed, guaranteeing we would not make the connection in Detroit. They couldn't find a way for us to get to Florida that day, so instead of being stranded in Detroit, we stayed a second night in Syracuse, enjoyed the great Destiny USA mall upgrades and flew out on Sunday without incident.

 

Embarkation went without a hitch. We tagged along with my folks the 5-stars and skipped the lines and boarded early. Our room was ready so we set off to explore. First impressions are that there doesn't seem to be any real theme to the decor. Italian art, Venetian to be exact I guess, seemed to be the only common thread. Not that I pay close attention to that sort of stuff, but I know some find that important.

 

The room

 

We had rooms 1062 and 1068, J Class rooms on the main deck. These are oversized interior rooms, easily the largest I've been in, including the balcony we had on the Oasis last year. With a pull out coach and a bunk that drops from the ceiling, there were tons of configuration options and more than enough space for the three of us. The bathroom was nicely sized and aside from one toilet blockage the only real problem here was a faint sewage smell from the toilet when the lid was up. There were no AC issues in either cabin at all.

 

If I had one complaint, it was the TV. I know many of you yell at your computer now, wondering why I would sail on a big ship and want to watch TV, but we do enjoy some TV now and then, even when we are on vacation. The problem here is two fold. First, the TV is mounted to point at the couch and not the bed and it doe snot pivot. Second, the channels suck. Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC News, ESPN International and ESPN 2 International. There were three movie channels along with the ship advertising. Now, we're not American, so I guess I can't appreciate this, but how do you people put up with people in suits talking about politics all day long? Every single angle on even the smallest subject was broken down into some sort of partisan agenda. Also, I love sports, but my appetite for them appears to end at cricket.

 

My dad asked about the channels, since last year they at least had the Cartoon Network, and he was told that HAL is changing their contract with their carrier around. The good news is that they may be adding CBC Newsworld and TSN.

 

Dining

 

We ate diner in the dining room seven evenings, once in the Lido, once in Canelleto, once in Pinnacle and one night we ate on shore in Aruba.

 

Pinnacle was very good. Odd that my daughter was asked her order and served her meal before we even ordered ours. I guess they assume we are going to send her away to the Kids' Club or something, but my daughter is a very adventurous eater and loves restaurants. She loves seafood of all sorts and even asked for duck in the dining room one night. They at least could have asked what we intended.

 

Canalleto was quite poor. No one really enjoyed their food and the new family-style service was not explained well so we ended up with piles of everything. The best of the batch was the spicy sausage penne.

 

The dining room was a mixed bag, to be sure. We had open seating, and were generally at dinner by 6:00pm. We found the starters to be well-composed and very tasty, soups especially. The main dishes, well, I can say that I wasn't completely satisfied with and main dish I ordered. Everything seemed half-assed, if I can put it that way. I had chicken under cooked twice and steak overcooked once. I had pork arrive with out the promised sauce. My dad had fish arrive basically raw not once, not twice, but three times at the same dinner, after having it sent back. The excuse was a very weak one about the difficulty in filleting this type of fish. Comically, on the first night, my mom found a hair in each of her four courses. The dining room manager visibly fumed about that one and it was he who caught the hair in her desert before it was served to her.

 

Sometime service would be lightning fast, with us in and out in 45 minutes and sometimes we would be there for more than 2 hours, staring at dirty plate for 30 minutes. What really got me about this is that it was normal to see attendants standing around against the wall unoccupied.

 

By and large, this dining room experience was the weakest of the 5 cruises I've personally been on. That's not to say that it was horrible, but it was certainly below average. The food and service in an Appleby's or Red Robin is superior to the MDR. I think they try to be too fancy for their own good. There's nothing worse than a facility that tries to emulate fine dining but isn't prepared to actually do it. Maybe the MDR should set their targets a little lower, let their hair down and unbutton their collar. Serve food that isn't as complex and let the waiters have some fun.

 

Entertainment

 

We attended most of the evening shows and some were good, some were bad, and some were just there. The magician was fun, my daughter loved him. The singers were ok, and the dancers, while complete cheese, were also ok. I was bugged by the presence of the HALCats band during the production numbers, because they are only pretending to play to a pre-recorded soundtrack. They only insult the musicians and the audience when they do things like that. I spoke with two of the HAL Cats guys that cruise and they are not happy with the stuff they have to do.

 

What I can't speak highly enough of though is BB King Blues Club band. Both the shows in the Queen's Lounge every night and the big show on the main stage are fantastic. Easily the best thing I've ever seen at sea, with the possible exception of the high diving acrobatic act on the Oasis last year. I had a bunch of chances to chat with Darrell Stanley, the band leader, during the week and these guys are just out there having a blast. It's a lot of work for them, but these guys are true professional entertainers. They do 5 month runs, and this group will be off the Zuiderdam the end of March and on the Eurodam in July. On the 11 days, they play three 45 minute shows, 8 nights a week mixing their sets around, and then one night they do a whole different show in the main theatre. The shows in the Queen's Lounge are loose, and fun, with audience interactions and dancing, while the production show is choreographed and tight. My daughter was a fixture at the 9:00pm shows, on the dance floor front and centre. One night a guy from the audience (Bruce) jumped up on stage with harmonica in hand and killed it! Seriously, HAL has hit a home run here.

 

Ports

 

Half Moon Cay - As beautiful as ever. I wish we had longer but all aboard was an early 3:00pm

 

Aruba - We hit Palm Beach, which came well-recommended. It was very hot that day and the beach was packed. I wish things were a little more wide open. I think there must be better beaches in Aruba with less people. In the evening we had a nice meal at one of the spots near the pier. I found it funny that with two ships in port until late in the evening, everything shut down at 5:00pm.

 

Curacao - We just walked around all day, seeing the sites.

 

Cartagena - With a very early departure time (1:00pm) and the fact it was Sunday, we choose to just roam around the port area. There is a large store with a small area with animals and cheap wi-fi. My daughter says her favorite part of the whole cruise is the parrot trying to eat my toes here.

 

Panama - We did the Embrarer Indian Village tour here. I could talk about this for hours, but it was an eventful day. An hour bus ride with a very informative guide and you are at the canoes. Another hour on the canoes and you arrive at the village. Be prepared for topless women, including children and teens. You're shown around the village, given a history lesson, some singing and dancing, some tasty food prepared in the firepits and some beautiful crafts to buy. While the experience was great, I just didn't buy the authenticity of it all. Just while the chief is explaining the remoteness of their village, a group of 30-odd German tourists come down the hill, clearly just off a bus. The crafts, while beautiful were expensive and the money the village makes off these tours 3 times a week isn't reflected in the structures we saw. I am quite sure that the moment we left, the tribe put their clothes on and returns to their real village. This realization that this wasn't the bush people we were being told they were made the unclothed women, particularly the teens, more than a little off-putting. The 3-4 teen girls were clearly not comfortable.

 

Costa Rica - We did the Tortugua Canal tour. Nothing much to speak of here. A nice tour of the region on the bus before boarding the boats for a leisurely jaunt down the canals. We saw glimpses of monkeys and sloths, some interesting birds, but not much else. Still, I understand that animal sightings are often much more common, and we were just unlucky.

 

Closing thoughts

 

I don't think we'd do another Holland America cruise unless my folks were along again. They love the line, but the average age on the ship was probably nearly 70, without exaggeration. Five kids were registered with the Kids' Club, which didn't bother my daughter though. We found that once 9:30pm hit, the ship was quiet. People move very slowly on a cruise like this and while I can't fault anyone for simply getting to a mature age, it makes one feel like a fish out of water at my age.

 

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have! I may add some more thoughts as I think of them.

Thank you for your report. The only thing that bothers me is the info regarding the MDR. I have sailed on the Zuiderdam several times, and with having to put up with mechanical problems, and yet I have always felt in spite of everything, the MDR was the best of the HAL fleet, and the food was excellent. So that part of your report saddens me.

Nice webcam shot, showing the bridge and the X and Princess ships.

Thanks, everyone for the "welcome back"! We're waiting for our 3:14 flight to Boston. It's 15 degrees at home...yuck. :eek:

Hope you have a safe journey home, and that the weather awaiting you is not too much of a shock.:eek:

Now this is where I have decided to post a response after reading many posts in regards to this specific chartered cruise.

1. whenever I enter a Hotel or Cruise Line Stateroom I immediately wipe down all door handles, furniture, tables, phones remotes etc.. with my Clorox wipes.. Oh and here is the funny part... hope you all get a good laugh out of this one..

I am a nudist of 34 years and I was on this cruise with my husband of 33 years! now pick your chins up off the floor.

I am a very educated in my 60's , pudgy and happy and love the feel of sun on me and would not have it any other way.

There are many of us out here, we live in nudist resorts, drive cars, married have children and grand children.. we are police men, doctors, lawyers, teachers, air line pilots.. we are old , young, handicapped, fat, skinny, tall , short.. and on and on. We are a community who share a like for au natural and love of the sun, water and life in general... so don't knock it until you know something about it.

We are not "dirty" in fact we carry our towels with us and are quick to police ourselves and tell ANYONE who even tries to not use a towel in error that it is a unforgivable no no..we have fought for the rights of nudists in courts for the right to stretches of PUBLIC beaches that belong to all of us..then endure the "normal" men who proceed to walk miles down the deserted stretch of beach to parade in full clothing to get a peek at us like a zoo animal. Now who is the weirdo ?

we are not molesters, sexists etc in fact we are the opposite.. men within our community will not tolerate this and will proceed to remove anyone from our community that is a gawker or there for the wrong reason immediately.. we are excepted by the gay community and we except them ... it is about respect.

Now about this specific cruise

Yes there was an incident... the way I found out was when we were given a typed letter of apology from the ships Captain in our mailbox advising the incident was an attack on a female passenger in her cabin by a crew member of HAL. The crew member was being held and would be released to the authorities in Ft Lauderdale . The victim was treated in the ship hospital and was taken to the Airport in Roatan and flown home at their expense.

The ship allowed any crew who were not comfortable with our group to move to another ship for the week..(Carnival also has done this for our charters (oh and we booked the whole ship as a FULL CHARTER ) all but 40 rooms were filled.

HAL crew was nothing but WONDERFUL to us all.. they were so kind for the whole cruise. By the way, best food ever on a cruise Textile or Nude!

I have done 5 of the Bare Necessities Cruises and on everyone there is a walk for the cure sponsored by the owner whom a breast cancer cure is dear to her heart.

My husband and I are avid cruises, we have cruised East Coast West coast Alaska, Mexico etc.. NCL, HAL, PRINCESS, CARNIVAL, RCL etc.. if on a textile cruise you would not ever expect we are nudist (except maybe our all over tan:)

I have not meant to offend anyone on this board with this post, I too use this board for cruises and have been a member for awhile.

I just wanted to set the record straight since I was on the ship.

God Bless

Thank you. So good to get a report from someone actually on the cruise, and from a nudist. It helps us - I hope - all understand a little better.

I'm not sure if I can make this one.

Canadian here - and no, I don't have it.

Maybe it's only available - or can be seen - on certain cruises.

There is the equivalent of a Winners here close to the Embassy Suites (not far from you at all). I think there is also a sports equipment place at the Harbour shops. Head over there and good luck!

I did some major shopping at Ross before my last cruise - including another suitcase:eek: Very handily located close to ES. I didn't see much at the Harbour shops apart from Publix and Total Wine - which was my destination.:D

Not totally true. One our first HAL cruise we were given the breakdown of countries of origin and minors for pax on one of the dailies. Now, I haven't seen it since.....

Yes, they still do it, at least on some of the ships.

Have you ever heard of an independent operator in Alaska leaving cruise passengers stranded after their cruise ship departed? In years and years of traveling there, I haven't. That line is actually just a "scare tactic" for the cruise lines to discourage people from booking independent excursions.

 

Harv & Marvs is a great example - 6-passenger boats vs. the 100+ passenger boats the cruise lines contract. Four hours on the water vs. +-3 hours for the cruise excursion. Free drop off at Mendenhall Glacier (not sure if the cruise line option even offers this, though they might).

Speaking from experience, and 5 Alaska cruises - we use nothing but independents, and have never had a problem. The only one we heard of was a HAL excursion to Haines where we left 60 people behind who were held up due to bad weather (last cruise of the year). They were eventually flown back to Vancouver. We tend to use independents on all our cruise ports, wherever.

I am very offended by this. It is your opinion and you are welcome to it. But to make such a definative statement?

 

I never thought much of them, in truth, until my husband gave me one that HE chose for ME after a very difficult year that saw the death of my last parent. We were renewing our vows and he wanted me to have a new ring. It was made by a specialty jeweller in our town. Not at a mass market chain shop.

 

Would I call it chocolate...no...but I think it is beautiful and that is all that counts I guess. I have an engagement ring and didn't need another clear diamond. I was looking for something different. This is pink gold and I am very proud to wear my ugly ring.

 

I nearly red triangled your post, that is how offended I was. But then I would be foisting my opinion on the community and I won't do that either.

 

I'll keep my ring and wish you could have kept your ugly comment to yourself.

It's gorgeous - and I would love it! Don't let a comment upset you. Hopefully it wasn't meant the way it came out.

I was to be on the Eurodam today for my first cruise.....but here I sit in Maine watching it snow! I was to fly out on the 13th but due to weather and the start of school vacation I couldn't get out anywhere! I did have insurance but UGHH!

 

I'll be back later to watch her sail out and dream again:-(

Oh no, that's awful. The weather has been responsible for many missed cruises recently. At least you were smart and had insurance, and you can schedule something else.

I agree with all of this and must admit that my very first HAL cruise was a 5-day coastal.... and my onboard account was unbelievable.:eek: I'm a little more savvy now, but the newer cruisers do tend to spend more onboard. They haven't seen it all before.

Having seen the videos and photos of the storms in the UK and especially from the coastal towns - all my relatives live there and some have their homes flooded - I agree that Mother Nature is too mighty for any mere window to withstand waves like that. It`s natural in the first stages of grief to look for something/someone to blame.