Opinions on Zuiderdam

[Rudolph38]

My wife and I are looking at a February Panama Canal cruise on the Zuiderdam in a veranda cabin.

 

This would be our 6th HAL cruise, but all previous cruises have been on the Westerdam, Zaandam, and most recently, Noordam.

 

How does the Zuiderdam compare with these other ships?

 

All opinions welcome. Thanks in advance.

 

Rudy

[LVSue]

We love the Zuiderdam. After an unpleasant experience aboard the Oosterdam (port instead of starboard, norovirus, etc.), we were really wary about that class of ship, but all our trips aboard the Zuiderdam have been great! I love the blues of the decor. If you've been aboard the Westerdam and Noordam, you're aware of the ship set-up, so you should enjoy it.

[3rdGenCunarder]

I haven't been on the ships you mention, but I did sail on Zuiderdam last fall. It was my first cruise on a Vista, and I was pleased with how well the ship handled the rough weather sailing from Vancouver to San Francisco in a storm.

 

The food and service inthe MDR were good (we had early fixed dining). The ship was clean. The business end of things seemed to be well organized--we were cleared in each port right on time. (Alaska) We ate in the Pinnacle one night, and everything there was good.

 

The only thing I didn't like on Zuiderdam was the Lido. It seemed oddly spread out and I didn't find my way around easily. We had been very happy with the Lido breakfast on Veendam, so this was a disappointment. Please don't flame me, but I swear, the scrambled eggs on Zuiderdam's lido were powdered eggs. (On Veendam, scambled eggs were cooked on the grill behind the serving area, about a dozen at a time, so they were always fresh.) But the OJ in the morning was fresh squeezed, and the ice creams at lunch were yummy, so it wasn't all bad.

 

I would book a cruise on Zuiderdam again if it offered an itinerary we wanted to do.

 

Hope this helps.

[AZNative2000]

A November 2010 SUNFARER (same cruise you are doing) was our second cruise on Zuiderdam (1st was Alaska) and we loved them both.

 

The whole ship just felt comfortable.:) Enjoy!

[IRL_Joanie]

Boarding her in 73 days. Booked her after all the great reviews and photos of her:)

 

Joanie

[SwissMyst]

I haven't been on your other ships but we liked the Zuiderdam better than I had expected just by looking at the photos which I thought were garish -- but in fact we found the overall feeling to deep toned and more elegant in real life - burgundies, dark paneling, reds. It worked.

 

So decor wise, we liked it much better than the Oosterdam. I think the room choices with the lower priced suites (without the Neptune privileges) was a very nice upgraded level of cabin which we liked a lot - wonderful size room with great extra windows and balcony at a price not much more than the regular balcony -- probably because this was for Alaska and balconies were not a top seller on a cruise where it was unlikely one would be using them. But just having the extra window space in these SY suites made it a very special cabin for Alaska after all.

 

The main dining food on the Zuiderdam was the best we have had so far and we really liked our dining staff and were sorry we had made last night Master Chef Dinner reservations at the Pinnacle because we ended up wishing we had spent that last night with their great care instead.

 

Only drawback for the Zuiderdman (and other Vista ships) is they relocated the Explorations Cafe and Library up to the top deck Crows Nest which made it less special of a location for us and less spacious overall in this shared space, but the books in the library were great and there was not that much down time to enjoy this space anyway since the scenery even at sea days was so captivating on that cruise. Had there been more sea days, I would have preferred a ship with the lower deck Library like I believe the Noordam has still retained among the rest of the Vista class ships.

 

So good decor, good food, good cabins, good crew --- there was a lot to like about the Zuiderdam. We would sail her again among the Vista ships -- though I think the Noordam wins the Vista class competition - she will be most likely our next Vista ship. But since we love the Mexican Riviera itinerary we would even go back to the Oosterdam too --- the ship itself is less important than the trip for us.

[kazu]

We did the Zuiderdam partial Panama a couple of years ago. We really enjoyed the ship. We had fabulous MDR waiters and fabulous food.

 

Definitely a good ship to sail on IMO:D

[RedmondCruiser]

The Zuiderdam is a well maintained and very beautiful ship. We like all the Vista Class ships and I think that you will too. I hope that you have Captain Christopher Turner as your skipper. I found him to be one to the most personable captains I have ever met. Have a great cruise.

[LindaKE]

We just returned from our Alaskan cruise on the the Zuiderdam. This is the only HAL cruise we've taken so I can't compare to HAL ships, just to other cruise lines ships. We found the Z easy to negotiate and in good condition. I had really high expectations of food and service based on what I've read on this board, but was disappointed to find it merely comparable to all other cruises we've taken. We did enjoy dinner in the Pinnacle Grill much more than the food in the MDR. I agree about the layout of the Lido buffet. It seemed to be really spread out and required a lot of walking to get everything (food, beverage, etc.) We wouldn't hesitate to go on her again and loved our cruise; it just wasn't so much better than what we've had on other lines in the past as I was led to expect.

[Duck Duck Cruise]

We sailed on her in July of 2009 for a week. Loved the ship. We are taking her sister, the Oosterdam, to Hawaii round trip in February. Here is a link to the blog we did on the Zuiderdam cruise. It has lots of photos of the ship you might find interesting.

 

http://thegeomonkeys.com/category/alaska-2009/

 

Enjoy your cruise.

[ironin]

The Zuiderdam is a well maintained and very beautiful ship. We like all the Vista Class ships and I think that you will too. I hope that you have Captain Christopher Turner as your skipper. I found him to be one to the most personable captains I have ever met. Have a great cruise.

 

Hear! Hear! Great ship, Great crew. Captain Turner's joie de vivre is palpable. Enjoy!

[mcduck]

We sailed on the Z on the Sunfarer last January and found the ship to be in excellent condition with a great crew, and as usual boarded as passengers and got off as cargo despite all the daily laps around the Promenade deck (So yes, the food was very good as well!). Captan Turner is an outgoing individual and his afternoon reports from the bridge can be very funny.

 

We have also sailed on the Nieuw Amsterdam, Amsterdam and the Westerdam and are looking at booking on the Eurodam next January. The Z and its' crew can hold their own with any of these great ships