Zuiderdam 5191 or 6177? Port or Starboard aft?

[Sailkeywest]

I am considering 'jumping ship' from the Golden Princess to HAL's Zuiderdam for an upcoming Alaskan cruise due to the fact that the Golden will only be in Ketchikan for 5 hours during our trip. We want to take an aerial tour that would not be able to get us back to our ship in time, and I much prefer the Zuiderdam's itinerary, which would include Tracy Arm (the Golden does not).

 

My question is, does anyone know anything about the Veranda suites 6177 or 5191? I know that 5191 is larger, but I believe that I read someplace that 6177 has a fully covered deck, which might be important if it is rainy. Also, the HAL rep I spoke to said for this cruise itinerary, starboard would be best, even though I have read for Glacier bay viewing, most people say Port is better. Anyone have experience with this?

 

Any input regarding these suites and/or ship is greatly appreciated! :) Thank you!

[jtl513]

My question is, does anyone know anything about the Veranda suites 6177 or 5191? I know that 5191 is larger, but I believe that I read someplace that 6177 has a fully covered deck, which might be important if it is rainy.

It's deck 5 that has the fully-covered stern verandahs. On deck 6 there's partial exposure.

Also, the HAL rep I spoke to said for this cruise itinerary, starboard would be best, even though I have read for Glacier bay viewing, most people say Port is better. Anyone have experience with this?

For viewing at each glacier it's best to be out on a forward deck. Cruising in and out of Glacier Bay I think which side wouldn't make much difference.

[Krazy Kruizers]

For the majority of our cruises we have booked port side to view the Glaciers -- and on almost all of our cruises the captains have kept the port side of the ship facing the glaciers the longest.

 

One time we booked starboard -- and we lucked out -- this captain was different and kept the starboard side of the ship facing Glacier Bay the longest.

 

Are you planing on taking the Zuiderdam late in September? I noticed that you have the Golden booked then. Word of caution -- that late in the season you may not get into Tracy Arm very far.

 

Also the weather that late in the season -- more rain -- areial tram may be iffy.

 

[Sailkeywest]

Thank you, JT, for the info about the covered verandas and glacier viewing. :)

 

And Thank you, Krazy about letting me know about Tracy Arm! That is a HUGE consideration. I wonder what they do instead if they can't get there?

 

The HAL rep said that starboard would be better for viewing land? He said overall it would have better views, but it is Glacier Bay that I am most concerned about. We will more than likely go above deck to view, but certainly not for all day and would still like to have really nice views from our cabin/veranda. That is the reason that I bit the bullet for an aft suite!

[Krazy Kruizers]

HAL ships will try to go in as far as they can go -- no substitutions.

If you have a corner aft cabin -- you will see some calving. The other aft cabins see nothing at the Glaciers.

We never book an aft cabin -- really like to see where we are going and where we are -- not where we have been. JMO

[Sailkeywest]

Thank you for the info, Krazy :) After everything that I have read about aft cabins/suites, I am ITCHING to try one!

[room010]

We went to Alaska on Zuiderdam in July this year, Deck 6 midships Starboard (6067) and had GREAT views of the glaciers in Tracey Arm and Glacier Bay, probably better overall than the Port side but that may have been luck and how our Captain chose to manoeuvre. The verandah was fully covered and views weren't obscured by lifeboats and the cabin was slightly larger. We thought about an aft cabin but were glad we didn't because several uncovered aft verandahs can be overlooked by people up on the Deck 9 pool area so privacy could be an issue and if you are prone to "mal de mer" as my beloved is it can get a bit uncomfortable back there in rougher seas.

[Sailkeywest]

Very good info, room010, thank you :) It has been so long since we have been on a ship, I don't even know if we would be seasick! I guess that I fell in love with the view from the pictures. :)

[Duck Duck Cruise]

We were on the on Zuiderdam this July in a corner aft 7151 (starboard side) and had great views of all of the glaciers we went to in Glacier Bay. When we first arrived at Marjorie Glacier the port side was closest to the glacier, but we were able to see part of it from our balcony.

 

The captain turned the ship and we had a direct view of the glacier. We also timed it and the starboard side and port side were facing the glacier for the same amount of time. However, we were able to view the glacier longer on the way out than our friends in the corner aft on the starboard side.

 

I hope you are as lucky as we were during the cruise. We had no fog or rain at all (July 4-11) and everywhere we went they were setting record high temps. The naturalists from Glacier Bay Park who boarded the ship told us that there are usually only a couple days a year where you can see the 15,000 foot peaks behind Marjorie Glacier and we were lucky enough to be there.

 

There are some pictures of the Zuiderdam, Glacier Bay, the Glaciers we went to, and everything else on our Alaska Cruise Blog. There is a link at the bottom of the page to it if you are interested.

 

Have a great cruise and I know you will enjoy the Zuiderdam. We enjoyed it so much that we canceled our Celebrity Panama Canal transit and changed to the Zuiderdam repositioning cruise from Vancouver to Fort Lauderdale next September/October through the canal.

[Sailkeywest]

DuckDuck, thank you for the insightful information regarding your experience with cabin location. :) Your cruise sounds amazing, and I loved the link to your blog! It's sorta funny, because when I was googling this question yesterday, I read your blog and was showing my hubby all the great pictures. Nice of you to take the time to do that for newbies like myself. :)

 

Your repositioning cruise sounds AMAZING. Going from Vancouver all the way to Ft Lauderdale is going to be quite an adventure! I will have to make a note of that just in case hubby and I ever get that much time off from work. :P (I've had my Alaskan cruise book on my desk for 5 years now and just getting around to it) It took me 3 years to plan our Las Vegas trip. ;) I am constantly planning trips that I don't even know if we will ever take!

 

Thanks again for all the input

[Sailkeywest]

One thing DuckDuck, can you tell me why you chose 7151 as opposed to one on the 5th deck? Covered more or just because it was higher?