Just returned from Zuiderdam

[Bullets46]

Prior to our cruise I scoured the forum looking for information regarding HAL and the m/s Zuiderdam. Now that I have returned I found that most of the information was either erroneous or represented isolated incidences.

The 11 day Panama Canal cruise was great.

The ship is in good shape with routine maintenance ongoing. Remember, this ship is 12 y/o. Do not compare with a 2013 ship. No issues with air conditioning or toilets. Food was great. Service was outstanding. One post I read prior to sailing commented that the cabin steward was never seen. We saw both of ours daily and they were fantastic. Always fresh fruit and ice although we never requested either. There is a daily charge for gratuity. Previous posts stated that additional gratuity to individuals is pooled. This is not true... from the mouth of the cruise director.

I have come to the conclusion that negative comments I've seen from other posts should be taken with "a grain of salt". It is unlikely negative experiences will plague future cruisers. In any case, those with bad experiences should be taking it up wth HAL not complaining here.

[RJ2002]

Welcome to CC! And welcome back from your cruise.

 

Yeah! Another recent good review for the Zuiderdam. :)

[magandab]

I was the one who posted that we saw our cabin steward exactly twice during our cruise. It really wasn't a complaint, just an observation, as our cabin was cleaned, and maintained perfectly the whole time.

 

As for the tip situation, what was posted is that IF you removed the automatic tip from your account, THEN anything you give directly to any crew member is pooled. If you leave it in place, then the recipient of extra can keep what you give him or her.

 

Our cruise on the Zuiderdam was at least 95% perfect and I am, as I believe you are, so very happy we didn't let the bad reviews make us change our minds.

 

Just curious, did you see the Adagio Duo at all? Are they still a woman (piano) and young man (violin) from the Ukraine? Wondering if they were still having personal, personality, something.... issues that interfered with their performances.

[kazu]

Prior to our cruise I scoured the forum looking for information regarding HAL and the m/s Zuiderdam. Now that I have returned I found that most of the information was either erroneous or represented isolated incidences.

The 11 day Panama Canal cruise was great.

The ship is in good shape with routine maintenance ongoing. Remember, this ship is 12 y/o. Do not compare with a 2013 ship. No issues with air conditioning or toilets. Food was great. Service was outstanding. One post I read prior to sailing commented that the cabin steward was never seen. We saw both of ours daily and they were fantastic. Always fresh fruit and ice although we never requested either. There is a daily charge for gratuity. Previous posts stated that additional gratuity to individuals is pooled. This is not true... from the mouth of the cruise director.

I have come to the conclusion that negative comments I've seen from other posts should be taken with "a grain of salt". It is unlikely negative experiences will plague future cruisers. In any case, those with bad experiences should be taking it up wth HAL not complaining here.

 

Welcome to cruise critic :) So glad you had a great experience on the Zuidie.

 

We had a great time on that ship when we sailed. No issues and fabulous service. Nevertheless, I don't discount reports from cc members who take the time to report.

 

Remember, just because it didn't happen to you doesn't mean it didn't happen to someone else.

 

We need ALL reviews - it doesn't take much to figure out which ones to discount. All reviews have to be taken with a grain of salt of course as everyone is subjective but they are very helpful to others.;)

 

Glad you had a good one and welcome home:)

[RuthC]

Welcome to CC. Glad to hear continuing reports that the problems that plagued this ship for a lengthy period (including the time I was aboard her) seem to be cleared up.

Let's hope they don't recur, as they were awful.

 

Will you be doing a thorough report of your cruise?

[magandab]

I think with the Zuiderdam, you either have problems or you don't. Nobody seems to have a part of a problem, or a short term problem.

 

A member of the crew on our cruise (12/9) told us that there were 150 cabins without AC on the previous cruise. That's only a "FEW" if you aren't in one of them. If you are not in one of those cabins, there is no problem. If you are in one of those cabins, the ship is in horrible repair and should be scrapped. If your toilet flushes, there are no plumbing problems. If your toilet doesn't flush, or has a delayed flush, again, the ship needs to be send to the bottom.

 

Kind of reminds me of the six blind men and the elephant.

[Typhoon1]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[djhsolara]

Prior to our cruise I scoured the forum looking for information regarding HAL and the m/s Zuiderdam. Now that I have returned I found that most of the information was either erroneous or represented isolated incidences.

The 11 day Panama Canal cruise was great.

The ship is in good shape with routine maintenance ongoing. Remember, this ship is 12 y/o. Do not compare with a 2013 ship. No issues with air conditioning or toilets. Food was great. Service was outstanding. One post I read prior to sailing commented that the cabin steward was never seen. We saw both of ours daily and they were fantastic. Always fresh fruit and ice although we never requested either. There is a daily charge for gratuity. Previous posts stated that additional gratuity to individuals is pooled. This is not true... from the mouth of the cruise director.

I have come to the conclusion that negative comments I've seen from other posts should be taken with "a grain of salt". It is unlikely negative experiences will plague future cruisers. In any case, those with bad experiences should be taking it up wth HAL not complaining here.

 

 

Please remember that each person has their own experience. Just because everything went just fine for you it doesn't mean that it went the same for the person perhaps even in the next stateroom. It doesn't mean that either of them are sharing erroneous information, it just means that they each had their own experience.

 

This is Cruise Critic. We are all here to share our experiences...good and bad. If sharing information about a bad experience can mean that someone can avoid something that possibly could be bad for them then perhaps they will have a better trip. The same goes for sharing good experiences as well. It is up to the reader how the want to read into any post

[Wakepatrol]

The original poster... it appears had a great cruise, working A/C

And a flushing toilet.

 

Why must he/she be pounced on, called names and lectured?

 

For the original poster I've got four words for you

 

"Welcome To Cruise Critic"

[Linda&Vern]

Thanks for posting Bullets46. Nice to hear good things about the Z. My next trip on her is coming up, so I was extra happy to read your review.

[erewhon]

Welcome to Cruise Critic.

 

Thank you for commenting on your Zuiderdam cruise.

[madera1]

Thank you for returning from your cruise and reporting on your experience. Glad you had a great trip. We were on the Z in Sept and had a similar good experience.

[HALcruiser2]

Thank you for your post! I like the positive trend I'm seeing...especially since I'll be sailing on her in just 6 days!

Edited January 29, 2014 by HALcruiser2

[Himself]

I am glad you enjoyed your 11 day cruise on the Zuiderdam.

[iancal]

Just a bunch of damm complainers and ingrates I guess.

 

We have never had a serious a/c or plumbing issue on any ship that we have had the good fortune to cruise on over the past 15 or 20 years. Both newer ships and older ones.

 

Therefore I assume others who experience these problems-on tHe cruises that we have been on and others must obviously be exaggerating or worse! Makes sense to me. Not.

Edited January 29, 2014 by iancal

[Copper10-8]

........................................

Just curious, did you see the Adagio Duo at all? Are they still a woman (piano) and young man (violin) from the Ukraine? Wondering if they were still having personal, personality, something.... issues that interfered with their performances.

 

FYI - They finished their contracts fifteen days ago

[magandab]

FYI - They finished their contracts fifteen days ago

 

And I suspect won't be renewed. Lots of complaints about them while I was on board. Sad thing was they were pretty good musicians, when they got around to playing.

[Bullets46]

Just wanted everyone to know that I don't take offense at any of the responses to my original post that may have been viewed by others as negative.

 

The reason that I scoured the posts before the cruise was that I was looking forward to the cruise. I wanted to see comments from happy people and how they enjoyed the cruise. Sort of like a pre Super Bowl party.

 

I've lived in this world quite a long time and realize mishaps will occur. On a ship with 2000 passengers, something will go wrong. This can be minimized by choosing a newer ship but not completely avoided.

 

It doesn't help someone's mindset to wonder every time that they enter their cabin if they are going to see a puddle of brown water on the floor or if they are going to get blasted by a wave of hot air.

 

Anyway, I like to live my life without beibng burdened by too many what ifs. If something bad happens, unexpected and unpredictable, deal with it then. Don't try to anticipate every possible negative outcome.

 

This brings me to my original comment: Take everything with a grain of salt, especially the Margaritas, and enjoy the cruise.

[Missi Queen]

My husband and I were also on this cruise. It was our first HAL cruise. We were with a group which made it a lot of fun but I have to say that I was quite disappointed with the state of the ship. It appears to need a complete overhaul.

Many Many chairs had split fabric , cushions for the lounge chairs were soiled and ripped., the carpets were worn and looked dirty. The balconies on the port side on deck 5 often had 2 inches if water on them because a drain further back in the ship was clogged. While I think that the ship was generally clean it was so worn that it appeared quite dirty.

 

Our AC was quite effective as was the toilet flushing. The food was good but the dining room was jammed with tables and chairs and once you were seated due to the closeness of the neighboring tables and chairs , you were wedged in.

 

Our favorite places were the crows nest and the outside area on deck ten. They were the only areas of this ship that did not appear to be dark and dingy. Another treat we found was the Piano Bar and an excellent entertainer , Jim Fisher. He was great.

 

The constant PA announcements from the cruise director were quite annoying and on all the cruises we have ever done, We have never seen alcohol pushed as aggressively as on this cruise. But also even though it was aggressively pushed , I never saw anyone inebriated .

 

Unless we heard that the Zuiderdam had a complete overhaul, we would never cruise on this ship again. Based upon this experience we would not probably sail on HAL again. While the cost is extremely reasonable, it did not have the value to us.

[IRL_Joanie]

I just want to say thank you for posting your thoughts and experience(s) on my favorite ship, Zuiderdam:)

 

Glad you enjoyed not only the ship, but the cruise as well:)

 

Also am overjoyed to read that your experience(s) mirrored mine:)

 

Welcome back to HomeDam!! I won;t welcome you to Cruise Critic because I see that though you have only 3 or so posts, you've been a member since Dec 2013:) Not quite a newbie but....:D

 

Joanie

[TracieABD]

I was on the Zuiderdam on the New Year's sailing. There were some real bright spots, and a couple of things that were one-off.

 

I felt that the crew seemed stressed by back to back 7 day turn arounds. I get that is really difficult, but I don't think the passengers should feel that (and then have it confirmed by several staff members).

 

I did not love the decor on this ship. It felt it appeared very dated and a bit garish (compared to the Rotterdam).

 

We had no A/C issues. Our toilet was very slow to flush, but we figured a way to get it go.

 

Will I sail on HAL again? Yep!

 

This was one cruise and one week of my life. On a scale of 1 to 100, I would rate the cruise an 89.

[RJ2002]

I was on the Zuiderdam on the New Year's sailing. There were some real bright spots, and a couple of things that were one-off.

 

I felt that the crew seemed stressed by back to back 7 day turn arounds. I get that is really difficult, but I don't think the passengers should feel that (and then have it confirmed by several staff members).

 

I did not love the decor on this ship. It felt it appeared very dated and a bit garish (compared to the Rotterdam).

 

We had no A/C issues. Our toilet was very slow to flush, but we figured a way to get it go.

 

Will I sail on HAL again? Yep!

 

This was one cruise and one week of my life. On a scale of 1 to 100, I would rate the cruise an 89.

 

Thanks for sharing your experience on the Zuiderdam. When someone says they would return somewhere (hotel, restaurant, cruise line/ship, etc.), that is a good sign in my book. :)

[startwin]

It is and older ship, and some areas seem quite shabby. The decor looks like the designer was a 60's hippie high on something. Obviously, from all reports (and my own experiences) the mechanical issues are hit and miss - personally I had one nightmare cruise, and 1 perfect cruise, in that regard. But there is something about the ship that appeals to me, and I say again the MDR food is the best I have had on any HAL ship, and the crew is great. You cannot discount any one report on problems - or lack of - because they are all likely right. My plumbing nightmare did not happen to my cabin neighbours, but they had a/c issues instead. While others had no problems at all, all on the same cruise. So it's not a case of "take it with a pinch of salt" - which is basically dissing all negative reports - but add it to your information base and make your own choices.

[WayneFougere]

add it to your information base and make your own choices.

 

 

Where's the like button on this forum?

[Susie51]

Welcome to CC. Our first HAL cruise was on Z in 2007. DH thinks HAL is the best! We had a wonderful time. I'm so glad you had a good experience,