Did you have AC issues on Zuiderdam?

[OlsSalt]

Not what I want to do, as we thoroughly enjoyed our two cruises with HAL. The more laid back atmosphere is great, and we thoroughly enjoyed the more mature age mix. The food was excellent, as was the entertainment IMO. Hopefully, the offending ships can be truly overhauled in dry dock and establish a clean post dry dock record. We would love to sail HAL again, but it will take a while for me to override the callous treatment they knowingly give their customers. And that is the problem for me, "knowingly", they put people in these rooms.

 

If you concluded HAL was callous and uncaring and intentionally duplicitous with their customers, I think you created a deal-breaker for yourself.

[Janice Jones]

My DH and I are scheduled to sail the Z in February and have a SY Guarantee booked. We have not made final payment. Have the SY rooms had a problem with AC or toilet issues?? Should we cancel?? Thanks for your information or suggestions.

[OlsSalt]

My DH and I are scheduled to sail the Z in February and have a SY Guarantee booked. We have not made final payment. Have the SY rooms had a problem with AC or toilet issues?? Should we cancel?? Thanks for your information or suggestions.

 

According to reports here, the whole ships sounds shaky. We traveled on her a few years ago and everything was fine in our SY - one of the best cabins layouts and size of all HAL ships, and the food in the MDR was the best ever.

 

But apparently everything has gone downhill to rack and ruin since then and HAL does not even care according to the posters who report here. Why take a chance with reports like this flooding this board?

[MermaidWatcher]

If you concluded HAL was callous and uncaring and intentionally duplicitous with their customers, I think you created a deal-breaker for yourself.

 

After talking to numerous folks on my 11/8 cruise, and hearing their stories, I have indeed reached that conclusion. And the more I see previous posts on this situation, the stronger my conviction becomes that this lack of functioning AC was not a unexplained breakdown which occurred after sailing ( an thus out of HAL's control), but known for multiple previous sailings, making it indeed a callous act, IMO.

One couple had even been given a free upgrade into one of the affected cabins within days of sailing. If that doesn't fit the billing for "callous and uncaring, and intentionally duplicitous", what does ?

[OlsSalt]

After talking to numerous folks on my 11/8 cruise, and hearing their stories, I have indeed reached that conclusion. And the more I see previous posts on this situation, the stronger my conviction becomes that this lack of functioning AC was not a unexplained breakdown which occurred after sailing ( an thus out of HAL's control), but known for multiple previous sailings, making it indeed a callous act, IMO.

One couple had even been given a free upgrade into one of the affected cabins within days of sailing. If that doesn't fit the billing for "callous and uncaring, and intentionally duplicitous", what does ?

 

Proof of intent (mens rea) can be tricky, but it was a bummer to be on the short-end of this deal no matter what else was going on. Don't blame you for not risking this. That couple's story is a good warning now when offered future upgrades. Agree, it should have been disclosed when the offer was made that there would be no A/C since you say they knew about this.

Edited November 23, 2013 by OlsSalt

[OlsSalt]

I've experienced the delayed flush when finishing a chapter or article I've been reading. Other than a lot of noise, however, I didn't notice anything untoward. Nor have I read elsewhere anything about vacuum bombs or related jokes. As I'm curious now, can you share a bit of background? :confused:

 

 

The delay-flush can only become a "vacuum bomb" in a perfectly sealed situation if someone is later sitting on the commode and a vacuum toilet decides it is going to finally flush, on its own after a previous attempt to push the flush button. (There also may be an override setting if the lid is lifted, I don't know.)

 

The HAL toilet seat design also prevents a "perfect seal" from happening, regardless of the girth of the user at that time. We tend to notice it is only a few minutes delay when this happens, and this delay flush has happened pretty much on all HAL ships. We take it in stride. And don't worry about urban myth "vacuum bomb" stories in this ship side setting.

 

There have been reported tragedies about infants in swimming pools that have vacuum features, so this is not entirely something to make light of but that does not apply to this setting.

[MermaidWatcher]

Proof of intent (mens rea) can be tricky, but it was a bummer to be on the short-end of this deal no matter what else was going on. Don't blame you for not risking this. That couple's story is a good warning now when offered future upgrades. Agree, it should have been disclosed when the offer was made that there would be no A/C since you say they knew about this.

 

Just to be clear, I am not, nor do I want to be, interpreted as saying that upgrades are routinely being used strictly for deceitful purposes, but in this particular instance, it appears so. Of course when they asked if they could get their original cabin back, they were told it had been sold.

 

As I have stated in most of my posts on this subject, we were fortunate enough to not have been in any of the affected rooms, so my "knowledge" is based on what I was told by multiple people who were in them, and by the posts on this board from people who were in these same rooms, with the same non existent AC on several cruises prior to 11/8. This continuity of the timeline between cruise dates and the AC trouble logically leads to the conclusion that HAL had to know of this.

Edited November 23, 2013 by MermaidWatcher

[OlsSalt]

Just to be clear, I am not, nor do I want to be, interpreted as saying that upgrades are routinely being used strictly for deceitful purposes, but in this particular instance, it appears so. Of course when they asked if they could get their original cabin back, they were told it had been sold.

 

As I have stated in most of my posts on this subject, we were fortunate enough to not have been in any of the affected rooms, so my "knowledge" is based on what I was told by multiple people who were in them, and by the posts on this board from people who were in these same rooms, with the same non existent AC on several cruises prior to 11/8. This continuity of the timeline between cruise dates and the AC trouble logically leads to the conclusion that HAL had to know of this.

 

One wonders how much direct communication there is between reservations and the ship's engineers who can confirm the status of each cabin. This may be a missing link that needs further coordination for all concerned.

[iancal]

I am a big believer in voting with my feet and with my wallet.

 

If enough people simply avoid these problem ships on the respective cruise lines perhaps the revenue impact will be felt. Or, if there is enough warning and bad PR about them on boards like this, it may encourage the cruise lines to remedy the situation.

Edited November 23, 2013 by iancal

[bcscot]

I am a big believer in voting with my feet and with my wallet.

 

If enough people simply avoid these problem ships on the respective cruise lines perhaps the revenue impact will be felt. Or, if there is enough warning and bad PR about them on boards like this, it may encourage the cruise lines to remedy the situation.

Our problem is deciding which ones are the problem ships, or is it a fleet wide company policy that is the problem?

[OlsSalt]

Our problem is deciding which ones are the problem ships, or is it a fleet wide company policy that is the problem?

 

Or is it industry wide, if you assess micro-issues. :cool:

[iancal]

I do not think that it is fleet wide. We have never experienced a cabin with no A/C or with plumbing issues on any cruise line, including HAL. I guess that we have been fortunate since this would drastically reduce our enjoyment of a cruise.

 

Certainly there are not on going, consistent posts on CC to our knowledge with any of the other HAL ships that we have considered in the past or sailed.

Edited November 23, 2013 by iancal

[Wisconsin Travelers]

First time I ever saw it mentioned here but I thought they might turn things down at night too. A dinner-mate mentioned that they were waking up during the night and kicking off the covers and wondered if the AC was being turned down. I realized the same thing was happening to me. Didn't have a thermometer nor did I want to get that involved but now that I see it again...hmmmmm

 

We were on the Zuiderdam Oct. 18 Panama Canal cruise and had no problems with A/C or toilet. We DID hear about A/C problems from several people we met. We also saw posts before we left about these problems. Personally, I would not book rooms on a ship with repeated A/C problems. There is plenty of information on this board about ships in every cruise line. If someone knows enough to find the CC board, then they should also know enough to research the ship they are considering sailing on and make an informed decision from there.

 

Sue, I see you're posting around the HAL boards and we'd love to hear from you directly! My email is barbaramae813@yahoo.com, so please drop me a note and let's get in touch!

[TracieABD]

We were on the Zuiderdam Oct. 18 Panama Canal cruise and had no problems with A/C or toilet. We DID hear about A/C problems from several people we met. We also saw posts before we left about these problems. Personally, I would not book rooms on a ship with repeated A/C problems. There is plenty of information on this board about ships in every cruise line. If someone knows enough to find the CC board, then they should also know enough to research the ship they are considering sailing on and make an informed decision from there.

 

Sue, I see you're posting around the HAL boards and we'd love to hear from you directly! My email is barbaramae813@yahoo.com, so please drop me a note and let's get in touch!

 

What cabin were you in?

[stan1]

We confirmed on this and another website with a current June 2014 posting that the AC, plumbing, and cleanliness Zuiderdam problems continue so that we cancelled out planned Sept. 2014 Zuiderdam cruise from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale. We are 4-Star ( many cruises) HAL passengers and noticed that except on 3 ships (New Amsterdam, Eurodam, Amsterdam) service, dining room and Lido food, and overall ship conditions have deteriorated. My travel agent said that his other clients have comments similar to mine, and his HAL bookings have dropped substantially. Some passengers are very loyal to HAL and overlook problems not encountered elsewhere. We are now cruising on other lines and would only take a HAL cruise on one of the above vessels. I noted that HAL is now substantially discounting cruise prices that other lines with nearly identical dates and itineraries are not discounting.

[Linda&Vern]

We confirmed on this and another website with a current June 2014 posting that the AC, plumbing, and cleanliness Zuiderdam problems continue so that we cancelled out planned Sept. 2014 Zuiderdam cruise from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale. We are 4-Star ( many cruises) HAL passengers and noticed that except on 3 ships (New Amsterdam, Eurodam, Amsterdam) service, dining room and Lido food, and overall ship conditions have deteriorated. My travel agent said that his other clients have comments similar to mine, and his HAL bookings have dropped substantially. Some passengers are very loyal to HAL and overlook problems not encountered elsewhere. We are now cruising on other lines and would only take a HAL cruise on one of the above vessels. I noted that HAL is now substantially discounting cruise prices that other lines with nearly identical dates and itineraries are not discounting.

I'm sorry you felt you had to cancel your cruise based on what you read on the internet. We cruised the Zuiderdam in March this year. I can assure you we observed an extremely clean HAL ship. Our suite was so cold we kept turning the temp until we got it a little warmer. We had no plumbing problems and saw none anywhere on the ship. Our MDR service was the best we have ever had on HAL. Staff was always polishing and shining up the ship interior. My DH saw one crew member on his hands and knees with a toothbrush polishing the brass holder of a wooden handrail. How serious do they take clean on this ship? Upon docking in Aruba one of the HAL cleaning staff ran off the gangway with a bucket and towel and started washing off the tops of the portable metal fences that port staff put up to direct passengers into the terminal. They take clean very seriously on this ship.

 

FYI - The least impressive dining room service we have had was on the Amsterdam in 2011 - yet you note it impressive. I read everything I can about a ship before we cruise. Then I make my own assessments once aboard. I won't bother you about how I almost cancelled my first HAL cruise because of what I read. To-date that is still the best of all our HAL cruises!

[frankc98376]

We confirmed on this and another website with a current June 2014 posting that the AC, plumbing, and cleanliness Zuiderdam problems continue so that we cancelled out planned Sept. 2014 Zuiderdam cruise from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale. We are 4-Star ( many cruises) HAL passengers and noticed that except on 3 ships (New Amsterdam, Eurodam, Amsterdam) service, dining room and Lido food, and overall ship conditions have deteriorated. My travel agent said that his other clients have comments similar to mine, and his HAL bookings have dropped substantially. Some passengers are very loyal to HAL and overlook problems not encountered elsewhere. We are now cruising on other lines and would only take a HAL cruise on one of the above vessels. I noted that HAL is now substantially discounting cruise prices that other lines with nearly identical dates and itineraries are not discounting.

 

This thread was from last year. We spent 2 weeks on Zuiderdam in May and no complaints from anyone about A/C or plumbing. Zuiderdam has a great staff, outstanding Captain and HD. The ship was in great shape- absolutely spotless. You resurrected this thread from November 2013- you evidently haven't been reading current threads. All mainstream lines are discounting close to sailing. I see complaints about A/C problems off and on on most of the boards. Ships are floating self contained cities and like any city "ship happens". Perhaps your TA is reading 2013 reviews also or perhaps making a higher commission on another line.......

 

Yes- sometimes I get frustrated by HAL and blow off steam. But throwing out mis-information about my HAL and especially my favorite ship will get me riled up every time.

[kjw869]

We confirmed on this and another website with a current June 2014 posting that the AC, plumbing, and cleanliness Zuiderdam problems continue so that we cancelled out planned Sept. 2014 Zuiderdam cruise from San Francisco to Ft. Lauderdale. We are 4-Star ( many cruises) HAL passengers and noticed that except on 3 ships (New Amsterdam, Eurodam, Amsterdam) service, dining room and Lido food, and overall ship conditions have deteriorated. My travel agent said that his other clients have comments similar to mine, and his HAL bookings have dropped substantially. Some passengers are very loyal to HAL and overlook problems not encountered elsewhere. We are now cruising on other lines and would only take a HAL cruise on one of the above vessels. I noted that HAL is now substantially discounting cruise prices that other lines with nearly identical dates and itineraries are not discounting.

 

I can confirm nothing like this happened when we were on the Zuiderdam in May, nor did we here any complaints. I can also confirm, if there currently was such a problem, it certainly would be brought up on this board. We were also with Frank, the poster above, and agree, that the info you read was old news as well as the other website you mentioned.

[sheba2008]

Veendam gets both too hot and too cold reports. I'll bring my in room temperature register too on our upcoming Veendam trip, which I dragged along on a prior Statendam cruise because of similar complaints.

 

That is when on the Statendam trip I found how subjective the perception of the exact same temperature could be. I had to even take the thermometer out to the balcony to see if it was working because while it registered exactly the same in-cabin temperature, some days that felt subjectively cooler and some days that felt subjectively warmer. Room temperature is far more art than science is all I could conclude. Plus pay more attention to the humidity readings which may be the culprit far more than the exact temperature as we know from normal outdoor weather.

 

I also wonder if they keep the show room temperature down (very chilly on the Rotterdam too) when there are show rehearsals going on those same days? Just like the dining room needs to be kept a good working temperature for the working staff in their heavy uniforms more so than for us who just sit there, with bare arms and open collar shirts.

 

We also had a A/C problem on the Statendam, after complaining and trying to reset it, they repaired it and it worked back after a couple days. Pffff we where on a 35 days sail, I was relieved it worked back after a few days because it can be very hot in the Pacific.

Next problem the toilet, one evening getting ready for bed our toilet ran over, water over the toilet and it was coming quickly, by the time I called guest relation water was already out of the badroom into the carpet of the cabin.

Water supply was cut off, no water for the night and the next day.

This is extremely uncomfortable no toilet and no washing and no shower!!!

Next day it was fixed, normally a port day but due to bad wheather a sea day.

Had to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and in the morning at the Show lounge.

Some friends at the same cruise had the same problem, we where at the lowest deck and so where they.

Looks like this is a HAL problem (A/C and toilets) had a A/C problem on the Eurodam also, never had this problem on another ship and I cruise different lines see below :)

I hope HAL will know about the same problem on diffrerent ships and deal with it.

 

Linda :)

[sheba2008]

I can confirm nothing like this happened when we were on the Zuiderdam in May, nor did we here any complaints. I can also confirm, if there currently was such a problem, it certainly would be brought up on this board. We were also with Frank, the poster above, and agree, that the info you read was old news as well as the other website you mentioned.

 

My sailing was in september 2013 on the Statendam, see above.

[PathfinderEss]

My sailing was in september 2013 on the Statendam, see above.

 

We were on both the two ship you mentioned, the Statendam in Nov/Dec 2013 and the Zuiderdam. Had no problems on either ship, guess we must be lucky.

Edited August 11, 2014 by PathfinderEss

[sheba2008]

We were on both the two ship you mentioned, the Statendam in Nov/Dec 2013 and the Zuiderdam. Had no problems on either ship, guess we must be lucky.

 

You have been very lucky hahahaha, love you're expression.

I love cruising with HAL let that be clear for everybody, I had a wonderfull time and cruise on the Statendam, Hawaii and French Polynesia is awsome. I will do the same cruise in a minute if possible.

Despite the minor problems i still cruise with HAL, going on the Westerdam for 3 weeks in november, I can't wait :) Yesssssssss

Maybe I was lucky on the other lines.

 

Linda :)

[kjw869]

:confused:

My sailing was in september 2013 on the Statendam, see above.

 

What does that have to do with the Zuiderdam? I never mentioned the Statendam.

 

Am I missing something, different ships at different times.:confused:

[sheba2008]

:confused:

 

What does that have to do with the Zuiderdam? I never mentioned the Statendam.

 

Am I missing something, different ships at different times.:confused:

 

Me report has nothing to do with you're post. I was telling my story of A/C and toilet problems on the ship I was on. Maybe Zuiderdam is all fixed now and hopefully Statendam has fixed the problems also.

Sorry for telling my story of Statendam on this tread :( I will never do that again.

 

Linda

[kjw869]

Me report has nothing to do with you're post. I was telling my story of A/C and toilet problems on the ship I was on. Maybe Zuiderdam is all fixed now and hopefully Statendam has fixed the problems also.

Sorry for telling my story of Statendam on this tread :( I will never do that again.

 

Linda

 

Ok, I understand now. I've only had minor problems on one ship-the Oosterdam. On two separate cruises, years apart we had problems with the toilet, one lasting three days. But, I would still sail her again. Never had an A/C problems on any ships. My wife has, she thinks it's too cold.

Edited August 11, 2014 by kjw869