Review: Zuiderdam 02-12Jan10, southern Caribbean

[Mpowered]

Iowa-Cruiser posted a great blow-by-blow of our 02Jan 10-day southern Caribbean cruise on the Zuiderdam, so I am posting some of my thoughts and impressions of this cruise. My first thought is that we loved meeting the Iowa Cruisers and enjoyed our time with them. We kept running into each other, every day, I think. We had some meals together, including our last night onboard at the Pinnacle Grill. I think the “mariner sauce” joke will live on in infamy. :p (A somewhat inebriated diner in the Pinnacle, the night before, had attempted to order the Marnier sauce but called it the mariner sauce.)

My husband cruised once in the late 1970’s, but this was my second cruise and our second together. We took a 7-day Alaska cruise on the Zuiderdam in July 2009. We enjoyed it so much that we booked the Zuiderdam again, and we also booked the same SA cabin.

I started reading the Cruise Critic boards in September, after we booked the January cruise. I read a lot of negative posts about HAL, about the Zuiderdam, and about how things had changed on the ships. :confused: I started worrying about our cruise, thinking I had made a mistake by booking it. I couldn’t believe that things would change so much between July and September! I finally got a more realistic attitude about what I was reading, and I convinced myself that we would have another wonderful cruise on the Zuiderdam, and we did!

 

Embarkation. We flew to Miami on the day our cruise started. I was nervous about this, but it worked out perfectly. We had booked HAL transfer from the airport to FLL. Our flight arrived at 9AM, and I thought we might be sitting on a bus for a long time. Instead, we waited about 30-40 minutes before boarding a small bus, and we were relieved to immediately set out for FLL. The bus driver was a hoot, and we enjoyed his chatter along the way. When we got near the port, TSA officials were suddenly everywhere, and we had to take an unplanned route to the pier. The driver was upset about the craziness, but we got to see a lot of the pier area and enjoyed seeing the other ships (including the Oasis of the Seas – our driver was amazed by the number of “bedrooms”). We went to the end of a long line at the terminal, but it was a relatively quick trip inside, and we soon smiled at the camera and boarded. Ahhhh, what a feeling!

 

Stateroom. Our cabin looked and felt like home. It was spotless, as we expected. We were happy to find out that one of our former stewards, Putu, was still with us. The other steward, Kabe, had been replaced by Andri. They did a great job all week and received a good tip. They worked with our schedule, we made good use of our “service needed/privacy, please” card, and they were never intrusive. The room was always neat and clean, and each request was taken care of quickly and to our satisfaction. Our safe had been left open, and we couldn’t clear the previous lock combination. Jim reported it immediately, and in about 20 minutes someone came from the front office and fixed it. I jokingly asked her if she could fix my luggage, too. It had just arrived, and it was a filthy mess. As we were snaking through the line outside the terminal, I noticed that my one piece of luggage (brand new!) was off by itself, not where it had been when it was unloaded from the bus. Now it was covered with greasy dirt that looked like it came from a Tide commercial. She was appropriately appalled and said she would send someone to get it for clean-up. In the meantime, I emptied my belongings, and the someone arrived about 5 minutes later. Later that day, one of the Neptune ladies told me it had been cleaned by hand, and now they were steam-cleaning it to see if they could remove some more of the dirt. It was returned to me the next day. It wasn’t perfect, but I had to look really hard to see any stain. It also came back with a form in case I wanted to file damages. I didn’t.

 

Food.The food seemed even better on this cruise than on our Alaska cruise. Our MDR and Pinnacle food was very good to excellent. JIm had several raw, uhhh, rare :rolleyes: steaks that were perfect. We had one lunch in the Lido. The Asian entrée was very good, but we didn’t care for other things we tried there. Except the ice cream! It was yummy, and we had some almost every day. We ate at the grill on the Lido deck twice. We both liked the burgers, but the hot dogs and fries were just so-so. The Pinnacle Grill hasn’t let us down yet. We reserved 4 dinners there for this trip, and our TA added one more, so we ate there 5 nights. We also had one lunch there (plus the Indonesian lunch), and a few breakfasts. Most of our breakfasts came from the Neptune. More on that below. We noticed that service was slower than it was on our last cruise, in both the MDR and the Pinnacle. Everyone was working hard, so we figured it was simply due to fewer people working. I’d read that HAL made cuts in this area, and it showed. It was not a problem for us because we enjoyed lingering over dinner. We didn’t do much for HAL in the bars and lounges, but Jim enjoyed his daily Grolsch, and I became quite a fan of Clicquot Champagne. :o On this trip, we also discovered the afternoon tea. We really enjoyed the two we attended, but it was too much food in one day, so we reluctantly skipped the others.

 

Neptune Lounge.We love the Neptune! It was our breakfast spot most days. Jim discovered the breakfast parfait, and I mostly ate croissants and plain yogurt. We ate fewer snacks this time than in Alaska, but we managed to get a few cookies each day. Hazel and Roxy did a great job. We usually dealt with Hazel, and she was super. We frequently used the “guest computer” because it was closer than Explorations, and the connection seemed to be faster. We had open dining, but we tried to make MDR reservations for the evenings we weren’t eating at the Pinnacle. We had scouted out some tables-for-two during lunch and asked about those. They were already taken for the entire cruise! We thanked Hazel and said we’d just wing it. We did manage to get a table for two the first night. Then, the next day we magically received a reservation for a two-topper in the MDR. And for each night we weren’t at the Pinnacle, we magically received another. At least twice, it was actually a table for 4, but no one was seated with us. We aren’t sure if this was due to the efforts of Hazel or the maitre d’, but we suspect that both were involved. :) As with our room stewards, each question and request at the Neptune was handled efficiently, with a smile, and to our satisfaction.

 

Shore excursions.Overall, the shore excursions weren’t as good as what we experienced in Alaska. It’s hard to compete with Alaska! Aruba was pretty good. We had a good bus and a very good guide. We went to an aloe factory, the site of the collapsed natural bridge, and a butterfly farm. We enjoyed each place. The Curacao tour was not as good. The bus was fine, but the tour guide was lacking. The tour was unorganized, and nothing had been set up beforehand. We went to an ostrich farm and an aloe plantation. We had to wait a while at each place because nothing had been planned. At the ostrich farm, we waited and waited, then finally got into a vehicle for the tour. We sat there a bit while the guide and the driver had a conversation in Papiamento. Then we were removed from the vehicle so our group could have one to ourselves. More waiting. Finally we got the tour. It was okay but could have been better. The aloe plantation was actually better than the aloe factory in Aruba, but the wait was unpleasant. (I’m not going into great detail here, I know.) We did not book an excursion in Panama. Our favorite was the Tortuguero Canals in Puerto Limon. Here we had another nice bus and a super guide. I think he knew everything about Costa Rica, and he was an expert with the wildlife. We saw lots of it on the canals. The guide and the boat operator both had good eyes! We also visited a banana plantation. Before we arrived there, our guide passed out small bananas that tasted like the ones I had growing up. He went the extra mile in a lot of ways. Our Half Moon Cay tours were a little disappointing. Jim posted on his fishing trip here. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1122664 I did the horseback riding, and we both did the stingray adventure. The horseback riding description said no experience was necessary, but that was not the way it worked for me. I tried to follow instructions, but 4 different guys were working with us - and shouting at me. :( They never seemed happy with anything I did, even when they had placed my hands or feet and I hadn’t moved at all. Twice I asked them to just help me get off the horse because I obviously didn’t know what I was doing. They wouldn't do that. Finally, they put a guide in front of me who took my horse’s rope and led us through the trail. I elected not to ride in the water, and I think they were all happy about that! The supervisor came over to talk to me and wanted to know who had been shouting at me. I think the photographer might have told him about it. I didn’t know any names, and I tried to downplay the entire incident. He said when he asked them who was shouting, they all just looked at each other! I still had a good time, but it could have been better. The stingray adventure was a bit mis-advertised, too. The original description did not say that you MUST snorkel. The information we got on the ship said there would be no standing in the enclosure, that you must snorkel. I didn’t really want to snorkel but obediently got my gear and headed down to the water. The guy in charge was in a wetsuit, and the rest of us were in swimsuits. Hmmm. I had a feeling I was going to be cold. The water was very cold, and many of us had to acclimate instead of going right in. I moved in a little at a time. When I got to thigh-level, I started shivering and couldn’t stop. (I must say here that I am bald because of chemo treatments, and that didn’t help.) So I got out of the water, dried off, and tried to warm up in the sun. Then he told people they could just stand in the enclosure and didn’t have to snorkel if they didn’t want to. Sigh. Well, I still had a good time watching my husband and watching the rays, but I would have made a bigger effort to get in the water if I’d known I could stand up and not snorkel. If we go to Half Moon Cay again, we will rent a cabana and have a day at the beach. We both love the beach, and I’m not sure why we didn’t plan it that way on this trip. For us, a day on that glorious beach would be better than treating HMC like a port with shore excursions.

 

Disembarkation.Quick and easy. J We used the Signature Express baggage service, and that was nice. We'll do it again.

 

Etc.I’ve posted several times about various aspects of our trip. One about the good condition of the Zuiderdam is here. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1122072 None of the negative things turned our trip into a negative. We had a great cruise! We still love the Zuiderdam, and we still love “our” cabin. We will sail HAL again, and we made a deposit on a future cruise. The rough seas were kind of fun. The walks on the promenade deck helped balance our food intake and were fun. We enjoyed the magician and the Adagio Strings. Jim had several conversations with the captain. We got our first Mariner tiles. Jim got to play in the casino. I napped whenever I felt like it - on that wonderfl bed. What a great cruise! I can't wait to hear that DAM HAL horn again.

Joan

[Himself]

I am glad all went well with you on your recent HAL cruise on the Zuiderdam. Curacao and the Canal were my two favorite ports other than Half Moon Cay which is a big favorite for most people who get to go there. Welcome Home. With the Midwest weather I bet you wish you were still at Sea.

Himself

[Mpowered]

I am glad all went well with you on your recent HAL cruise on the Zuiderdam. Curacao and the Canal were my two favorite ports other than Half Moon Cay which is a big favorite for most people who get to go there. Welcome Home. With the Midwest weather I bet you wish you were still at Sea.

Himself

 

I am honored to have a response from Himself. :) Yes, I wish we were still at sea, even though our weather in Raleigh, NC, is not quite as bad as the Midwest. Stay warm, my friend!

 

Joan

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write your review.

[portofrome]

Thank you for your review.

[Iowa-Cruiser]

We enjoyed meeting you guys too!

 

I still get a kick out of your joke about going back to where "surf and turf" is a can of tuna with spam.:p

 

 

BTW - Mrs. Iowa Cruiser is waiting for you to email her.:D

[momofmeg]

Joan, Tony posted a review in the member cruise review section. He posted a link to it in in our roll call thread.

[Mpowered]

We enjoyed meeting you guys too!

 

I still get a kick out of your joke about going back to where "surf and turf" is a can of tuna with spam.:p

 

 

BTW - Mrs. Iowa Cruiser is waiting for you to email her.:D

 

Don't forget, it's the fancy Spam with the little cheese cubes in it. :rolleyes:

 

First I have to find the little piece of paper with Mrs. Iowa Cruiser's address on it. :o I'll try to find it this weekend.

 

Ms. Mpowered :p

[Iowa-Cruiser]

Don't forget, it's the fancy Spam with the little cheese cubes in it. :rolleyes:

 

First I have to find the little piece of paper with Mrs. Iowa Cruiser's address on it. :o I'll try to find it this weekend.

 

Ms. Mpowered :p

 

If you haven't found it, you can drop me a quick line at m3r3d3@yahoo.com

I know the Mrs. would love to chat with you.:)

 

Mr. Iowa Cruiser