Zuiderdam Med. Cruise april 25

This was our 5th HAL cruise in a row. The previous ones were on the Rotterdam and Ryndam, I was a bit hesitant about a Vista Class ship, it being a lot bigger. The Zuiderdam turned out to be a great ship, although a lot more pax on board than the on the Rotterdam and Ryndam , it was felt never crowded or busy.

Our cruise was the second one after the early april drydock, apart from some construction going on on deck 10, the ship was in a perfect condition. Freshly painted, lost of new carpets and all new chairs in the MDR. There were some issues on the first voyage after drydock but they seem to be fixed on our cruise, apart from some public toilets not working.

Our cabin was 1087 on Main deck, close to the midship elevators . In other reviews I read about this cabin and some nearby as being noisy, apart from some "scratching" sounds from below, usually after 8 AM and sometimes at night (10PM) , but never lasting more than 15 minutes, we didn't hear any other sounds. Cabin and beds were in very good condition and clean, clean, clean !

Embarkation in Venice and disembarkation in Civitavecchia went as smooth as ever. In Venice we took the Alilaguna Blue line boat to the pier. No problem whatsoever, the crew takes care of the luggage . Just make sure you have a ticket , they don't sell any on the boat. From San Marco to the pier is about 25 minutes. After disemabarkation we took a train from Civitavecchia to Rome, train station is a 20 minute walk. Luckily we had booked first class on the express train to Rome otherwise finding a spot and space for the luggage would not have been easy. There were 5 ships in port and the train station and platforms were packed.

We had dinner in the Pinnacle once, not as good as on the Ryn- and Rotterdam. Dinner in the MDR was better than on the other ships. Menu's were varied , service perfect and we never had to wait with our open seating option. We usually came to the MDR between 6 and 7 pm. We also had breakfast in the MDR, only once was our order a bit messed up, but promptly corrected.

Since the weather during the whole trip was sunny and warm, lots of people were on deck. There were always enough deck chairs and towels even though part of deck 10 was closed.

If you would believe the weather forecast given by HAL , you would always dress too warm. On every day there were off by at least 7 degrees centigrade. I checked the local forecast everyday online.

HAL finally did away with the Hal-cats and entermaint was more varied. The best ones as far as we are concerned , were Adagio , playing every night in the Explorers Lounge . They were colleagues from a music academy in Rumania and played a wide range of tunes from classical to film music on the violin and piano. Judging from the amount of people who came to see the show every night we weren't the only ones.

Average age onboard was lower than on other trips ( I guess about 55-65 avg.) and nationalities mainly USA, Canada, Australia and about 130 Dutch . So a nice mix.

Ports on this trip were Venice, Katakolon, Nafplion, Pireaus, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, Naples and Rome. All ports had something to offer, some more than others. Santorini is impressive as you sail into the caldera of the volcano. Katakolon, Nafplion, Piraeus and Kusadasi are perfect ports for visiting Greek and Turkish archelogical sites. Except for a HAL tour to the top of the Vesuvius in Naples we organised the tours ourselves, sometimes with a little help from other CC members. Nice to have met CC members whom we only knew by their CC names. One night at dinner we happened to be at the table with rajker74 ;)

All in all, as the old HAL saying goes : "It is good to be on a well run ship" and that certainly was true for this trip thanks to a wonderful staff !!

Thanks for your review.

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and the Zuiderdam.

Thank you for taking the time to post your review.

Glad you had a good cruise.

I appreciate your review very much, since our Panama Canal cruise next April will be our first on the Zuiderdam. Photos in another post also were most welcome.

Thanks for your report. We are on the same cruise in September. What did you do in Nafplion?

Thanks for your report. We are on the same cruise in September. What did you do in Nafplion?

Not much, walked around, climbed to the castle, spent some time on a little beach. Since Nafplion was in between Olympia and Athens we didn't want to vistit an archealogical site.

This was our 5th HAL cruise in a row. The previous ones were on the Rotterdam and Ryndam, I was a bit hesitant about a Vista Class ship, it being a lot bigger. The Zuiderdam turned out to be a great ship, although a lot more pax on board than the on the Rotterdam and Ryndam , it was felt never crowded or busy.

 

Our cruise was the second one after the early april drydock, apart from some construction going on on deck 10, the ship was in a perfect condition. Freshly painted, lost of new carpets and all new chairs in the MDR. There were some issues on the first voyage after drydock but they seem to be fixed on our cruise, apart from some public toilets not working.

 

Our cabin was 1087 on Main deck, close to the midship elevators . In other reviews I read about this cabin and some nearby as being noisy, apart from some "scratching" sounds from below, usually after 8 AM and sometimes at night (10PM) , but never lasting more than 15 minutes, we didn't hear any other sounds. Cabin and beds were in very good condition and clean, clean, clean !

 

Embarkation in Venice and disembarkation in Civitavecchia went as smooth as ever. In Venice we took the Alilaguna Blue line boat to the pier. No problem whatsoever, the crew takes care of the luggage . Just make sure you have a ticket , they don't sell any on the boat. From San Marco to the pier is about 25 minutes. After disemabarkation we took a train from Civitavecchia to Rome, train station is a 20 minute walk. Luckily we had booked first class on the express train to Rome otherwise finding a spot and space for the luggage would not have been easy. There were 5 ships in port and the train station and platforms were packed.

 

We had dinner in the Pinnacle once, not as good as on the Ryn- and Rotterdam. Dinner in the MDR was better than on the other ships. Menu's were varied , service perfect and we never had to wait with our open seating option. We usually came to the MDR between 6 and 7 pm. We also had breakfast in the MDR, only once was our order a bit messed up, but promptly corrected.

 

Since the weather during the whole trip was sunny and warm, lots of people were on deck. There were always enough deck chairs and towels even though part of deck 10 was closed.

 

If you would believe the weather forecast given by HAL , you would always dress too warm. On every day there were off by at least 7 degrees centigrade. I checked the local forecast everyday online.

 

HAL finally did away with the Hal-cats and entermaint was more varied. The best ones as far as we are concerned , were Adagio , playing every night in the Explorers Lounge . They were colleagues from a music academy in Rumania and played a wide range of tunes from classical to film music on the violin and piano. Judging from the amount of people who came to see the show every night we weren't the only ones.

 

Average age onboard was lower than on other trips ( I guess about 55-65 avg.) and nationalities mainly USA, Canada, Australia and about 130 Dutch . So a nice mix.

 

Ports on this trip were Venice, Katakolon, Nafplion, Pireaus, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, Naples and Rome. All ports had something to offer, some more than others. Santorini is impressive as you sail into the caldera of the volcano. Katakolon, Nafplion, Piraeus and Kusadasi are perfect ports for visiting Greek and Turkish archelogical sites. Except for a HAL tour to the top of the Vesuvius in Naples we organised the tours ourselves, sometimes with a little help from other CC members. Nice to have met CC members whom we only knew by their CC names. One night at dinner we happened to be at the table with rajker74 ;)

 

All in all, as the old HAL saying goes : "It is good to be on a well run ship" and that certainly was true for this trip thanks to a wonderful staff !!

Yes it was a good cruise right?

I can't add much more from what you said about the cruise. The only thing I would add on the positive side is the fellow cruisers we met on board including thru the CC group were the best we have encountered, you and your wife included! Thanks.

This was our 5th HAL cruise in a row. The previous ones were on the Rotterdam and Ryndam, I was a bit hesitant about a Vista Class ship, it being a lot bigger. The Zuiderdam turned out to be a great ship, although a lot more pax on board than the on the Rotterdam and Ryndam , it was felt never crowded or busy.

 

Our cruise was the second one after the early april drydock, apart from some construction going on on deck 10, the ship was in a perfect condition. Freshly painted, lost of new carpets and all new chairs in the MDR. There were some issues on the first voyage after drydock but they seem to be fixed on our cruise, apart from some public toilets not working.

 

Our cabin was 1087 on Main deck, close to the midship elevators . In other reviews I read about this cabin and some nearby as being noisy, apart from some "scratching" sounds from below, usually after 8 AM and sometimes at night (10PM) , but never lasting more than 15 minutes, we didn't hear any other sounds. Cabin and beds were in very good condition and clean, clean, clean !

 

Embarkation in Venice and disembarkation in Civitavecchia went as smooth as ever. In Venice we took the Alilaguna Blue line boat to the pier. No problem whatsoever, the crew takes care of the luggage . Just make sure you have a ticket , they don't sell any on the boat. From San Marco to the pier is about 25 minutes. After disemabarkation we took a train from Civitavecchia to Rome, train station is a 20 minute walk. Luckily we had booked first class on the express train to Rome otherwise finding a spot and space for the luggage would not have been easy. There were 5 ships in port and the train station and platforms were packed.

 

We had dinner in the Pinnacle once, not as good as on the Ryn- and Rotterdam. Dinner in the MDR was better than on the other ships. Menu's were varied , service perfect and we never had to wait with our open seating option. We usually came to the MDR between 6 and 7 pm. We also had breakfast in the MDR, only once was our order a bit messed up, but promptly corrected.

 

Since the weather during the whole trip was sunny and warm, lots of people were on deck. There were always enough deck chairs and towels even though part of deck 10 was closed.

 

If you would believe the weather forecast given by HAL , you would always dress too warm. On every day there were off by at least 7 degrees centigrade. I checked the local forecast everyday online.

 

HAL finally did away with the Hal-cats and entermaint was more varied. The best ones as far as we are concerned , were Adagio , playing every night in the Explorers Lounge . They were colleagues from a music academy in Rumania and played a wide range of tunes from classical to film music on the violin and piano. Judging from the amount of people who came to see the show every night we weren't the only ones.

 

Average age onboard was lower than on other trips ( I guess about 55-65 avg.) and nationalities mainly USA, Canada, Australia and about 130 Dutch . So a nice mix.

 

Ports on this trip were Venice, Katakolon, Nafplion, Pireaus, Kusadasi, Mykonos, Rhodes, Santorini, Naples and Rome. All ports had something to offer, some more than others. Santorini is impressive as you sail into the caldera of the volcano. Katakolon, Nafplion, Piraeus and Kusadasi are perfect ports for visiting Greek and Turkish archelogical sites. Except for a HAL tour to the top of the Vesuvius in Naples we organised the tours ourselves, sometimes with a little help from other CC members. Nice to have met CC members whom we only knew by their CC names. One night at dinner we happened to be at the table with rajker74 ;)

 

All in all, as the old HAL saying goes : "It is good to be on a well run ship" and that certainly was true for this trip thanks to a wonderful staff !!

Thanks for the review and great name/handle! ;)

Thanks for the review....very interesting. We are on Zuiderdam for my first HAL cruise in June. Usually cruise Azamara or Silversea but I'm really looking forward to my first HAL cruise.

Have all the carpets been changed I wonder? Some of them in old photo's seem quite migraine inducing.....reminded me of a Vegas casino! Also, have the staterooms been upgraded? I have heard that the beds on HAL are already very comfortable? Also, why was your Pinnacle Grill experience less than stellar?

We are in a gty veranda and waiting for our stateroom allocation.

Many thanks.

Thanks for your report, rotjeknor! I'm seriously considering a cruise aboard the Zuiderdam, of which I've never been aboard, and your post helps. You mentioned the 20 minute walk to the Civitavecchia train station. I was there last summer & there was construction. Did you walk from the port to the station?

Thanks!

Thanks for the review....very interesting. We are on Zuiderdam for my first HAL cruise in June. Usually cruise Azamara or Silversea but I'm really looking forward to my first HAL cruise.

 

Have all the carpets been changed I wonder? Some of them in old photo's seem quite migraine inducing.....reminded me of a Vegas casino! Also, have the staterooms been upgraded? I have heard that the beds on HAL are already very comfortable? Also, why was your Pinnacle Grill experience less than stellar?

 

We are in a gty veranda and waiting for our stateroom allocation.

 

Many thanks.

It was our first time on the Zuiderdam too, from what I heard, lots of carpets were indeed replaced with less flashy ones. The Zuiderdam used to have a wild color scheme ( friends of ours mentioned that), it 's much more in line with other HAL ships. The chairs in the MDR were replaced too. I looked at older pictures, the chair were red then, now they are white. Looks a lot better.

The beds are just great,firm but not too firm, very comfortable indeed. We always look forward to going to bed :D

Thanks for your report, rotjeknor! I'm seriously considering a cruise aboard the Zuiderdam, of which I've never been aboard, and your post helps. You mentioned the 20 minute walk to the Civitavecchia train station. I was there last summer & there was construction. Did you walk from the port to the station?

 

Thanks!

Yep we walked. At the exit of the port, take a right and then just follow the road. Near the station take the road ( on the left) which goes up, otherwise there are some stairs. The sidewalks all have littel ramps, so pulling the suitcases is made easier. As I mentioned in my review, buy tickets online at http://www.trenitalia.com/ , saves a lot of time.

Thanks for the review and great name/handle! ;)

Thanks, if I change the name/handle to 010 , you would like that as well, right ? ;)

Yes it was a good cruise right?

 

I can't add much more from what you said about the cruise. The only thing I would add on the positive side is the fellow cruisers we met on board including thru the CC group were the best we have encountered, you and your wife included! Thanks.

Dito and cheers to that :)

Thanks, if I change the name/handle to 010 , you would like that as well, right ? ;)

Sure, although I was born and raised in 020 ;)

Thanks for your reply, rotjeknor. Just one more question about walking in Civitavecchia: did you walk all the way from your ship or from the shuttle drop off to the train station?

THANKS!

Thanks for your reply, rotjeknor. Just one more question about walking in Civitavecchia: did you walk all the way from your ship or from the shuttle drop off to the train station?

 

THANKS!

I'll add our comment since we were on the same cruise as rotjeknor. We got off the ship at 7:45am with a shuttle bus to the temp. Port entrance. We knew there was a shuttle bus from there to the train station for 1.80 euro per person and 1.80 euro for each persons luggage. But once we got there was quite line up for the bus to the train station. So we decided to walk it with me pulling two rolling suitcases and my wife with one rolling suitcase and a back pack suitcase. It was a level walk with side walks that were wide enough to accommodate the suitcases. It took us about 20 mins. to walk it and it was not tough for some one with no mobility issues.

Since I had looked at the route to and from the train station with Google Earth with the street level view it was easy for us. Just head out the gate of the temp port entrance, cross the street and start walking down the street toward the station. Best if you check a map or Google Earth to get your bearings before you go.

If we had gotten off later I can't imagine what the train station looked like since there were at least 3-4 other ships in port with the Zuiderdam. With 4 pieces of luggage it was tough finding space on the train. We used two empty seats in front of us which may not be the best if the train is full and people have to stand. The isle ways are not wide enough to place suitcases there and the areas at the doors have limited space and you would have to stand there with them. The train is not set up to handle a lot of people with suitcases.

Thanks for your reply, rotjeknor. Just one more question about walking in Civitavecchia: did you walk all the way from your ship or from the shuttle drop off to the train station?

 

THANKS!

Here is a link to Google which shows the walking route to and from the train station and the temp. port entrance. A CC member had this link in a Ports thread. This is the exact route we used to walk to the train station.

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Via+Turco,+00053+Civitavecchia+RM,+Italy/42.088295,11.79813/@42.0926239,11.7889396,1066m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m10!4m9!1m5!1m1!1s0x1328a352f5d424c3:0xcdb9468821334935!2m2!1d11.7883322!2d42.0971877!1m1!4e1!3e2?hl=en

Thanks for reviewing your Zuiderdam cruise.

I'll add our comment since we were on the same cruise as rotjeknor. We got off the ship at 7:45am with a shuttle bus to the temp. Port entrance. We knew there was a shuttle bus from there to the train station for 1.80 euro per person and 1.80 euro for each persons luggage. But once we got there was quite line up for the bus to the train station. So we decided to walk it with me pulling two rolling suitcases and my wife with one rolling suitcase and a back pack suitcase. It was a level walk with side walks that were wide enough to accommodate the suitcases. It took us about 20 mins. to walk it and it was not tough for some one with no mobility issues.

 

Since I had looked at the route to and from the train station with Google Earth with the street level view it was easy for us. Just head out the gate of the temp port entrance, cross the street and start walking down the street toward the station. Best if you check a map or Google Earth to get your bearings before you go.

 

If we had gotten off later I can't imagine what the train station looked like since there were at least 3-4 other ships in port with the Zuiderdam. With 4 pieces of luggage it was tough finding space on the train. We used two empty seats in front of us which may not be the best if the train is full and people have to stand. The isle ways are not wide enough to place suitcases there and the areas at the doors have limited space and you would have to stand there with them. The train is not set up to handle a lot of people with suitcases.

We walked from the shuttle bus drop-off point as well .We were at the station at about 10:30 . It was a zoo, platforms were packed, lines at the tickets booth etc.

As i mentioned before, we had booked 1st class tickets online for the express train. I asked one of the people of Trenitalia people where the first class cars would stop, he pointed me to the right place . Express train is kind of high to climb into but comfortable ( reserved) seats and enough space for suitcases between the back of the seats. Costs were 15 euros per ticket.

Thanks for the info, rajkr74 & rotjeknor! Have been to Civitavecchia twice on disembarkation day ... once used HAL's shuttle for an early flight & the other took the train for a post-cruise stay in Rome. Oh, my! We left as late as possible, thinking we'd escape the chaos...nope! Had to stand with our luggage the whole way, not a seat to be found. You both were wise in your planning ...glad you had such a great time aboard the Zuiderdam!

Thanks again!

Thanks for the review....very interesting. We are on Zuiderdam for my first HAL cruise in June. Usually cruise Azamara or Silversea but I'm really looking forward to my first HAL cruise.

 

Have all the carpets been changed I wonder? Some of them in old photo's seem quite migraine inducing.....reminded me of a Vegas casino! Also, have the staterooms been upgraded? I have heard that the beds on HAL are already very comfortable? Also, why was your Pinnacle Grill experience less than stellar?

 

We are in a gty veranda and waiting for our stateroom allocation.

 

Many thanks.

I noticed I forgot to reply on the PG, usually the PG is better than the MDR. But I had a filet mignon in both PG and MDR, MDR was just better. My wife had salmon in the PG and she said it tasted , well, fishy..

The Ceasar salad in the PG is still made at the table, service is very good, so not a bad experience but we found MDR just as good.

Also some pics from inside the ship and one "backstage" of the painters keeping the railings looking like new !

Thank you for your review - we are so excited! We board Zuiderdam in July for 12 day Barcelona/Rome (and thanks for info on train!) did you notice if the Retreat cabanas were installed on deck 10?

*deck 11