'Twas the Cruise During Christmas - Zuiderdam 2018

[POA1]

When our crack team of researchers were doing their extensive 7-12 minutes of scouring the Internet for an old set of deck plans, we discovered the ones we'll use for our Wayback Machine "Then & Now" graphics. You'll note that the old deck plans had little tables and chairs in the diagrams, whereas the current deck plan shows the shape of the room without all the little details.  We got to wondering why that is, and then it occurred to us. Cutbacks.

[canadianbear]

Have a wonderful holiday cruise.  The Zuiderdam will never be the same after 😁

[Turtles06]

Have a wonderful Christmas cruise!  Having just sailed on the Zuiderdam (our first HAL ship!), I'll not only be interested in your before/after thoughts (I only know the "after"), but also seeing your photos of the ship decorated for the holidays. 

 

And it's refreshing to have a "live-from" blog that hasn't started out with photos of the poster's packed luggage, detailed reports of getting the pre-cruise haircut and mani-pedi, and all the other "look at me" stuff that seems to overwhelm so many of these blogs...  

 

Happy holidays and happy sailing!

[kazu]

Oh Brian, you are already on a roll and you haven't even left yet 😉  LOVE it!

 

Your Christmas song is quite clever too 😄 

 

Love following along on your LIVE threads.  They are always entertaining as well as informative.

 

I hope you and Michelle and Poohby Joe have an absolutely marvellous time on board and the happiest of holidays 😄 

[luvteaching]

Have a great cruise! I look forward to your postings and your sense of humor!

 

Karen

[Cruising-along]

Bon Voyage!  I'm looking forward to this, always fun to "come along".  Thank you for bringing us!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Bon Voyage!!

 

Have a great Christmas cruise.

 

Looking forward to your reports.

[Copper10-8]

3 hours ago, POA1 said:

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

 

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

 

The big structural changes to the Zuiderdam are the addition of the extra cabins to the aft if the Crow's Nest and the addition of the Retreat Cabana area, which we'll cover in detail later.  Here's a set of Before & After pix showing you where the changes occur...........................

 

One more big change to Zuidy and her two younger Vista sisters (Noordam came out with those extra cabins) since you last sailed her was the addition of a new block of thirty-four prefabricated cabins that was lowered into place and installed on her stern on Upper Verandah, Rotterdam and Navigation decks, increasing her passenger capacity from 1,848 to 1,916 and her gross registered tonnage from 81,769 to 82,305, and changing her aft profile in the process. Zuidy got hers in April 2008 at Fincantieri's Palermo, Sicily yard

 

 

 

[DeeniEncinitas]

Brian,  love the lyrics!! Hey you sure your not doing the Ocean Bar on board? I love how you can put music lyrics together.

Tomorrow your journey begins! Enjoy your Makers Mark and the beautiful sunrises and sun sets👍

Denise😊

[POA1]

40 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

 

One more big change to Zuidy and her two younger Vista sisters (Noordam came out with those extra cabins) since you last sailed her was the addition of a new block of thirty-four prefabricated cabins that was lowered into place and installed on her stern on Upper Verandah, Rotterdam and Navigation decks, increasing her passenger capacity from 1,848 to 1,916 and her gross registered tonnage from 81,769 to 82,305, and changing her aft profile in the process. Zuidy got hers in April 2008 at Fincantieri's Palermo, Sicily yard

 

 

 

I thought she looked more squared away off in the butt. Many thanks on behalf of the fine folks in the Wayback Machine. 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, DeeniEncinitas said:

I love how you can put music lyrics together.

 

It seems like a good idea around the holidays, but I am always rewriting song lyrics in my head. A real treat on car trips. I'm just glad DW has an easy laugh. A lesser woman would probably slap me upside the head every few miles.

[rwams]

Bon Voyage! Have a great cruise looking forward to following.

[Ryten]

Always wanted to do a holiday cruise but can't seem to convince my daughter that we don't need a ten foot tree to celebrate Christmas. Oh Well, maybe someday.  We just got off the Zuiderdam on December 5th and can report that the ship is in great shape along with a great captain an crew. In your reports you will no doubt see that Observation deck area forward of the Retreat Cabanas is now dedicated to crew only. The were in the process of putting in plumbing for their convenience. It is my understanding that it is essentially a smoke break area. We did see some passengers smoking there as well. Have a great time.

[VMax1700]

 

Have a great cruise and Christmas holiday!

 

 

The I.T. department have gone to sea! 

For those of us remaining on dry land.........if the computer doesn't work, then reboot, if that doesn't work then shut it down and reboot, and if that doesn't work then the I.T. department will resume normal service after the holidays, please take a ticket.... 

 

[Turtles06]

54 minutes ago, Ryten said:

We just got off the Zuiderdam on December 5th and can report that the ship is in great shape along with a great captain an crew. In your reports you will no doubt see that Observation deck area forward of the Retreat Cabanas is now dedicated to crew only.

 

Several months ago on the Zuiderdam, they announced that they were going to open up that crew-only area at 10PM one night for a stargazing meetup.  Unfortunately, we were socked in with clouds. . . 

[Hflors]

Wow!!!  So sorry to see the "crow's nest" gone.  We love to go up there and watch the ship leave port!  Just checked out pics of the new area.  it doesn't look very inviting.  I guess we will see when we spend 10 days on her in Jan.

 

 

[terrydtx]

1 hour ago, Ryten said:

We just got off the Zuiderdam on December 5th and can report that the ship is in great shape along with a great captain an crew. In your reports you will no doubt see that Observation deck area forward of the Retreat Cabanas is now dedicated to crew only.

Has HAL done this change to the Noordam as well? I loved the observation deck for sail aways. 

[Krazy Kruizers]

9 hours ago, POA1 said:

 

 

* “It’s good to be on a well-run ship” was Holland America’s slogan back in the 1950’s and 1960’s. I stumbled across it when I was doing some fact-finding for our upcoming mission. Since I am in my 50’s and was born in the 60’s, I decided it would be a good time to bring the tagline back. Perhaps it’s not as catchy as “Signature of Excellence,” “Savor the Journey,” or “Hey! We got us some Oprah over here” but I like it. It’s direct and to the point.

 

 

 

 

Love this picture.

 

Where did you find this old picture showing a life ring with the name on it -- Nieuw Amsterdam?

[vms]

Bon Voyage! Thanks in advance for this review-  with a cruise coming up in Fall 2019 on the Zuiderdam, it will be good to get first hand reports from the Institute of Cheer.

Edited December 15, 2018 by vms

[lastlook]

Bon Voyage & Merry Christmas to you and yours.  Thanks for taking us along and providing entertainment as well!🌲🚢🍸🍷🍹

 

[POA1]

1 hour ago, Krazy Kruizers said:

Where did you find this old picture showing a life ring with the name on it -- Nieuw Amsterdam?

 

It's from the Wolfsonian Collection at Florida International University.  There are a number of others that I have collected to sprinkle throughout the reporting.  I don't want to spoil all the surprises, but here's another one:

 

 

The Wolfsonian's server is offline now. I don't know if that's temporary or if they've closed it down. I've also got a logo from a 1953 brochure when they were using the tagline.  It's similar to the one they used to use with the Halve Maen (Half Moon) sailing ship prior to the modernization.  Pollution was clearly worse back then, because the water is green.

 

 

 

 

[POA1]

20 minutes ago, POA1 said:

The Wolfsonian's server is offline now. I don't know if that's temporary or if they've closed it down.

 

I guess it was temporary. It's back online now at:  https://www.wolfsonian.org/research/collections/

[Habubabu]

Looking forward to meeting you all.  I travel with a tiger mascot named El Tigre and we are doing this cruise plus the one after it that celebrates the New Year.

[Krazy Kruizers]

59 minutes ago, POA1 said:

 

I guess it was temporary. It's back online now at:  https://www.wolfsonian.org/research/collections/

 

Thank you -- that is a great site.

[POA1]

8 minutes ago, Habubabu said:

Looking forward to meeting you all.  I travel with a tiger mascot named El Tigre and we are doing this cruise plus the one after it that celebrates the New Year.

 

Nice! Sadly, we only get to do the one lap.