Portas

We took Amtrak from Sacramento also! Left on an early morning train - Amtrak bus over to Fisherman's Wharf - went into a nice little restaurant and had a late breakfast. Could see the ship! Not a far walk.

Thanks CruiserBruce for your info. I have done all the Amtrak research. Just curious to get details from folks who have used the train to go to their cruise and if it was timely.

We are considering taking the train from Sacramento to SF for our cruise because March 14th is a big Parade day in the city.:rolleyes:

Have you taken the train before? Would like to know the details of transfer to the bus in Emeryville. And where do you catch the bus after the cruise to get back to the train station?

Some of your favourite treats that you can't source on the ship and likewise some nibblies/nuts for your balcony wine sessions. Sadly, olives are no longer available at the buffet.

I like to buy these (and wine if possible) at a supermarket near port and avoid using luggage space.

We bring on our favorite chips, nuts and snack items too :) Love having those items in our cabin to go with a great glass of wine or a cocktail while enjoying our balcony;) DH loves his olives...hmmmm...may add them next cruise.

I read somewhere that you need to take a small shelf to use in the shower. I found a product called gotoob that is a 2 oz container that has a suction cup on the bottle that sticks to the shower tub! I got several at BB&B.

 

Clorox wipes- I am not usually paranoid about germs but do not relish being sick on the cruise.

 

Purex 3 in 1 sheets- Someone suggested this and it makes sense to me if you do laundry.

 

A chill attitude!

:) I have read a zillion helpful hints here on CC... I have to say three I have used the most:

Clothes Pins...always bring a few to hang our wet things on the bathroom shower line.

Small Flash Light...for just in case.

Zip Lock Baggies...I take a gallon zip lock, put in a wet hand towel fill it 1/2 full of ice..add just a bit of water...and tuck it into my insulated carry bag. It is so great when we take 'hot' excursions or if we are on a 'beach' day...to cool us down or wash off the ocean water.:D

James Deering is ultimately responsible, but I didn't say it was his fault, and he's a very pleasant man. I would rather he addressed the problems rather than roll out the PR. At least the CD and the captain were pretty open and honest about it, and apologetic. James informed us that the only work to be done during the dry dock was cosmetic - which surprised us.

As you have found ~ as soon as we arrived home I put my "two cents worth" in on these boards...and I must say some of the replys were honest, concerned (from future Zuiderdam cruisers) and some were ... I don't know the words....:rolleyes: :( Being your 'next door neighbor' we tolerated the issues we were confronted with but as CC folks we just want to let others know that the Zuiderdam does continue to have these problems. Because I am a new poster I was taken aback by some of the "non-trustworthiness" comments...BUT...those of us who were on the ship for those 18 days know what we had to deal with.

Your comment on the "Dry Dock" time this coming December is exactly what we were told by several staff (and of course I will NOT state their names). They said that correcting the plumbing issue would take much more time than a 'Dry Dock' time.

So sorry for your experience. I hope you are writing Seattle. This is such a shame - something is definitely going on with this ship and HAL needs to get to the bottom of it. Do share your room number/deck as it will be helpful to others.

Room/Deck doesn't matter ~ this problem was shipwide:mad: We did not let it ruin our cruise but we sure did not like having to deal with the unsanitary conditions...and the "BIG" thing on HAL is "wash or sanitize you hands", signs are everywhere...hand sanitizers are everywhere...they don't want anyone getting the intestinal thing BUT you can't flush toilets and you smell sewer?...:eek: In one of our ports I guess so many complaints were called in that during the morning they announced that "two" pumps had failed at the same time and they were replacing them right away and would have the system fixed within an hour. Toilets flushed for that afternoon, then right back to the same problem. We did see dock-side what appeared to us to be a sewer line (set up just like an RV sewer line) so I think they were pumping the system. We saw this twice during the cruise.

Thanks to all for your comments. I will say that if I read about this kind of problem reported over and over on this board I will avoid the ship for sure.

We are just home from 18 days on the Zuiderdam and were very disappointed that we experienced approximately 90% of our cruise with a toilet that would not flush. Sometimes it would take "hours"!! Most of the days...nothing would happen... We are experienced cruisers and know very well not to 'push' the button more than once, nor do we overload with paper. We also experienced many many afternoons and evenings with a "sewer smell" (which was very strong) in our cabin. I did take wet towels and cover the bathroom drains but finally figured out that the "smell" was actually coming through the air conditioning vent system :eek: My DH was not too convinced on that until we went down to the Future Cruise Consultant desk. The elevator area on midship deck 4 smelled horrible and once we arrived a few decks lower and were seated talking to the cruise consultant the smell was overwhelming.While sitting there talking with her she told us that the sewer smell was making her feel ill!! She also said that she reported it because it was so strong in her desk area but was told it was simply a 'black water' smell and would not affect her ~ nor make her ill. Gads! it was awful!

I do try and understand that lots of huge mechanical issues may happen with a big ship that is on the go constantly. (Air conditioning was another issue that the Zuiderdam had to correct. We had a full day in port without any air-conditioning while they replaced units).

BUT...this ship has had horrible sewage issues reported here on the boards for quite some time. We kept our booking on this cruise because there were reports on this board that things 'were fixed'... unfortunately we found that they were not.

Quite the health issue, in my opinion. Toilets not working in cabin and even several of the public area toilets were inoperable also.:mad: I just deplore spending our cruise vacation money expecting a "wonderful" experience and have to deal with sewage issues ~ not something I want my vacation spoiled by.:(:(:(