Just back from Zuiderdam partial Canal

[3rdGenCunarder]

13 hours ago, RocketMan275 said:

Great review.  We're taking this cruise in December.  We've got an aft wrap Neptune on deck five.  Starboard side, IIRC.

 

How was breakfast in the Pinnacle and how was the Neptune Lounge?

 

Pinnacle breakfast was good, but it's MDR food. (I was spoiled by the fresh waffles in CO on K'dam last winter.) But the peaceful atmosphere is still there and I enjoy that gentle start to the day. The Lounge concierges were pleasant and did answer a number of questions for me. I missed the Mariner brunch and they got a tile delivered to my room. Printed the boarding pass for my flight home, the usual things. The food was good, nice variety of snacks and sweets changed out regularly for breakfast, lunch, tea, cocktail hour. The honor bar was still there. I'd heard that some ships don't do that any more. It wasn't a hangout. People mostly came in to have a snack or take food back to the room. 

 

Deck 5 is a great location for the canal!

[3rdGenCunarder]

13 hours ago, MARLEY225 said:

Thank you 3rdGenCunarder for you intensive review of your cruse.  My question is - was there any issues concerning with getting on the cruise as far as health questions giving the ongoing Corona-virus situation?  Or any other health scares while on board?  I have an upcoming cruise on March 22nd and I am debating whether to go or not?  Thanks.

 

9 hours ago, Iris5383 said:

Same question from me. We're there any issues with corona virus? Was it talked about onboard? I also have a cruise booked (Volendam-Caribbean) March 22 and considering cancellation.

 

There was not a lot of discussion about corona among the passengers I met. The subject did come up briefly at dinner one night when Italy began reporting cases and Venice cancelled the Carnival celebration because that's such a big deal. I think we were taking comfort (however false it might be) in being far from China and enjoying the warm sunshine. Sticking our heads in the sand (water?), maybe, but I do admit to giving myself some time off from news exposure when I'm on vacation.

 

 We did have a pre-boarding questionnaire that asked about symptoms and travel to/through China and the other affected countries. I did not see anyone pulled aside for screening. The ship was healthy, no Noro. I did come home with my usual "cruise cough," but that's my fault as much as anything. I'm very susceptible and the AC is so dry and I didn't do enough to keep my respiratory system moist. Stupid because I travel with nasal saline spray for the plane but didn't think to use it on the ship. So when the guy behind me on a tour was barking like a seal and not covering his cough, I was a ready target for the germs. 

 

The captain held a Q&A and one of the questions was about corona. He said it's a constantly changing situation and all cruise lines can do is proceed as scheduled until something happens to change that. He said that HAL is watching reports from WHO and CDC, and will do whatever is necessary. And then he made the pitch about washing hands and covering coughs. I'd don't mean to make it sound like he shrugged off the question. But, really, what else can HAL do? Nobody knows where the next "pop" of corona will be. You can't prevent what you can't predict. 

 

March 22 is 3 weeks away. If you cancel now, you're out the money. So I'd say wait. Don't burn the money yet. Just make sure you have good health coverage as part of your travel insurance, just in case there's a problem. And decide closer to the time.

Edited March 1, 2020 by 3rdGenCunarder

[3rdGenCunarder]

1 hour ago, projecthandbag said:

Thank you from me too for your review!  We are taking this same cruise in a few weeks and I have a couple of questions:  1.  Were there any enrichment lectures about the canal or only the movies on tv?  2.  Where was the piano player playing?  Thanks!

 

The enrichment lectures weren't canal-specific. They did show one of the documentaries in the mainstage. One documentary is new and very technical. The other is an older one about the history of the construction. On my previous canal cruise, they showed the older documentary in the screening room and had to show it quite a few times in order to satisfy demand. There was commentary on the canal day. It's difficult to hear from the bow. 

 

Billboard has the "dueling pianos." It's by the casino. I didn't walk by there a lot, but I never smelled smoke. Perhaps the casino has gone smoke-free because it's so open to the other venue. (The only smoking area I'm aware of is by the aft pool)

 

44 minutes ago, *Miss G* said:

I was wondering where you were!  I enjoyed your review.  Thank you.  Did you get much use of your balcony?

 

Not as much as I would have liked because there was so little cover, but it was great for going through the canal. Going due north on the way back, both the back and the side were in full sun. But it was lovely to stand at the rail at night and look at the stars. There's something timeless about standing at the corner where all you see is sky and ocean. That's one thing I didn't like about deck 5. It was too closed in for my taste. 7 and 8 were better for me. 

[*Miss G*]

4 minutes ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

There's something timeless about standing at the corner where all you see is sky and ocean. That's one thing I didn't like about deck 5. It was too closed in for my taste. 7 and 8 were better for me. 

 

That’s one thing I loved about the bump-out NS I had on the Zuiderdam.  I was never interested in an aft-wrap but, since you mention that aspect, I am now.  Thank you.

[jimdee3636]

3rd Gen Cunarder:

 

This is one of the most helpful and well-written reviews I've ever read on this site. Thanks for sharing your experiences and observations with us. I've done a full canal transit before (on the Silversea Cloud) and thought I'd find a partial transit to be a poor alternative, but I guess I should think again.

 

Jim

[3rdGenCunarder]

The bad

 

I hate writing this, but  in the interest of truth, I have to. For years I've been reading posts about cuts and people disappointed in changes in HAL. I honestly wasn't bothered by it until this cruise. But cuts in staff were evident. And I think supervision in some areas is sloppy, which makes it worse.

 

Muster drill was chaos. Nobody shushed people who were talking. There weren't a lot of announcements because they expect you to have watched the video on the TV. I think this was the first time I didn't have that video running on my TV when I entered my room, so I hadn't watched it this time. The card scanning was a mess. The man with the scanner stood in front of the crowd reaching in to scan cards as people held them up. I thought he got me, but I returned from dinner that night to find a note about a make-up lifeboat drill. Problem was, it had already been held by the time I saw the note. I was concerned that I was in trouble, so I went to the concierge to ask what to do. I told her I had been there and scanning was sloppy. She said if I had been there, just ignore the note. That seemed awfully cavalier for something as important as lifeboat drill. Passengers aren't taking it seriously--I guess we've all forgotten Concordia. But HAL should take it more seriously. 

 

Tour office is understaffed and badly managed. The cruise and EXC director is new. 7 months with HAL, no previous cruise experience, and she's in charge???????? Her background is acting training and I overheard some passengers all excited because they'd seen her as a news presenter on a local TV channel. Okay, a lot of CDs really want to be actors, but they usually come up through the ranks, learning the CD job as they observe it from a lower position. In Limon, Costa Rica, they had sold 900 tour tickets. That's 900 people to go to the mainstage, get stickers, and sit until they're called. 900 passengers were on tours and there were only 2 (yes, TWO) people handing out stickers. I expected a bit of a line, but not this. I got off the forward elevator and started walking back to find the end of the queue. I walked almost all the way to the midship elevators! It was so backed up they sent staff to walk the line, pulling out people whose tours were leaving in the next few minutes. Part of the problem was that people showed up early. I admit that I did. I had seen how slowly things went in Cartegena, so I figured I should make sure I had enough time to get my sticker before my tour was called. I was in line for 20 minutes, and when I got to the table, there still were only two people doing stickers. While I was still in line, the CD/EXC made an announcement that people should go to the mainstage to report for tours "and be sure to bring your passport." What? The ticket said "photo id." We were all madly checking our tickets to make sure. In Cartegena, the ticket said "passport," but nobody ever asked to see ID beyond my cruise card. Today, we were all shaking our heads and muttering about stupid wrong announcements. Nobody was running all the way back to the cabin for a passport when it wasn't required. (And again, the only ID I ever had to show was the ship card) How could they be so woefully unprepared? They KNEW there were 900 tickets sold. The captain knew. He mentioned it in his remarks the day before. 

 

Food servers are stretched thin. Twice, the night before a port (Panama Canal and Limon), this note appeared:

 

Dear Guests,

Due to the early meeting times of Shore Excursions in Panama Canal on February 22, we are expecting In-Room Dining (Room Service) to be very busy during breakfast. 

We would like to bring to your attention that we have adjusted the meal hours for the Lido Market as follows in order to allow our guests to enjoy a full breakfast before departing the ship.

 

Lido opened at 6:00, MDR at 7:30. I looked at this note and to me it said "Don't bother room service, go get your own breakfast." I was shocked. Gracious service has always been one of HAL's strong points. This is the most un-gracious note I can remember getting. Since a couple at our table had been skipped by room service in Curacao, I didn't want to risk it so I went to the hell that is breakfast in the Lido. 

 

Lido is a mess at breakfast. They keep running out of mugs at the coffee station. One morning there were no bowls for the oatmeal, so people were standing around waiting for bowls to appear. This was right at opening, so they couldn't have run out already. A runner went by with a bunch of bowls and one smart passenger asked for one, so he got his oatmeal. The others were still waiting when I (finally) got my toast. The toast server was clueless. Toast (warm bread, really) would come out of the toaster and he would look at it as if he had no idea what to do with it. I can't bear to go through the other breakfast problems, it's just too sad.  I think the servers seem stupid because they're overwhelmed and they've stopped caring about doing a good job. If they had decent supervision and training and support, perhaps they'd be better able to get the job done. 

 

 

None of this "ruined my cruise," but it did make me take another look at HAL and whether it will continue to be good value for my money. I'm angry at them at the moment because I booked a future cruise on HAL and got screwed out of the obc I should have had. The only way I could book it was with a promo because he said the system "wouldn't let me have the non-promo fare." But my TA had told me what the non-promo fare was and the onboard booking agent said yes, my TA could refare me. What he did NOT tell me was that the only way to refare was to cancel and rebook, which means I lost the onboard booking obc. So I wasted an hour of my vacation for absolutely NOTHING. I keep thinking about that old questionnaire thing about "did we make you feel valued as a customer?" And for the first time on HAL,  I would answer No.

 

Edited March 1, 2020 by 3rdGenCunarder

[RocketMan275]

1 hour ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

That's one thing I didn't like about deck 5. It was too closed in for my taste. 7 and 8 were better for me. 

 

The full cover on deck five is one of the feature attractions to us.

I considered myself very fortunate to snag a deck five.

[*Miss G*]

Thank you for that last post @3rdGenCunarder.  That is a truly badly-run ship.  They should be ashamed of themselves.

 

WRT the OBC.  Was this a special promo for that particular booking?  I never book onboard because I can get the same OBC using the ZPM/ZPN promo.

 

As a related aside.... on one of my cruises the FCC had made a mistake.  (One of many.)  Since I was boarding another cruise within two weeks I went to visit that FCC.  At first she told me she couldn’t fix it but I wasn’t taking no for an answer.  So she called Seattle, while I was there, to get permission to correct the problem.  I say all this to say that someone in Seattle has the authority to override the problem.  I hope you are able to have yours corrected.

[3rdGenCunarder]

12 hours ago, panoramaofthepast said:

We will be on this cruise starting next Sunday. Your comments on your excursion made me do some additional research and we have canceled our original excursion. Right now I am somewhat mobility limited [full knee replacement 5 days after the cruise!!] so the prospect of bumpy  roads made the decision easy, but I don't want to just stay on board. Are there shops or other buildings of interest near the pier in Puerto Limon? I can walk, just not very quickly! 

 

 

There isn't a lot near the port. There's a large covered market at the port with lots of souvenirs and some food stalls, but not a lot else nearby. People at our table just walked out of the port area and found a guide to drive them around locally. They stopped at a variety of little places rather than the large tourist ones and the rest of us agreed they had a much better day than we did on our ship tours and for less money. If you don't feel comfortable doing that, see if there's something on Trip advisor or check out the site "tours by locals" to see if you can get something low-impact.  

 

 

[MARLEY225]

2 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

 

There was not a lot of discussion about corona among the passengers I met. The subject did come up briefly at dinner one night when Italy began reporting cases and Venice cancelled the Carnival celebration because that's such a big deal. I think we were taking comfort (however false it might be) in being far from China and enjoying the warm sunshine. Sticking our heads in the sand (water?), maybe, but I do admit to giving myself some time off from news exposure when I'm on vacation.

 

 We did have a pre-boarding questionnaire that asked about symptoms and travel to/through China and the other affected countries. I did not see anyone pulled aside for screening. The ship was healthy, no Noro. I did come home with my usual "cruise cough," but that's my fault as much as anything. I'm very susceptible and the AC is so dry and I didn't do enough to keep my respiratory system moist. Stupid because I travel with nasal saline spray for the plane but didn't think to use it on the ship. So when the guy behind me on a tour was barking like a seal and not covering his cough, I was a ready target for the germs. 

 

The captain held a Q&A and one of the questions was about corona. He said it's a constantly changing situation and all cruise lines can do is proceed as scheduled until something happens to change that. He said that HAL is watching reports from WHO and CDC, and will do whatever is necessary. And then he made the pitch about washing hands and covering coughs. I'd don't mean to make it sound like he shrugged off the question. But, really, what else can HAL do? Nobody knows where the next "pop" of corona will be. You can't prevent what you can't predict. 

 

March 22 is 3 weeks away. If you cancel now, you're out the money. So I'd say wait. Don't burn the money yet. Just make sure you have good health coverage as part of your travel insurance, just in case there's a problem. And decide closer to the time.

Thanks for the information.  I am currently watching the on going situation with the Corona-virus and will decide in the days to come exactly what to do concerning my March 22nd cruise on the Volendam.  I have Hal's Platinum cancellation plan, so I would get back 90% of the cruise cost.  I'll look into getting additional travel health insurance as you recommended.  As far as my airfare paid, I can still go to Fort Lauderdale and stay at a condo I have use of for the time I would have been on the cruise, if I decide not to take it.  Again, thanks.

Edited March 1, 2020 by MARLEY225

[*Miss G*]

Definitely nothing of interest at Puerto Limon.  We did as 3rdGen’s table-mates did and agreed to a price with one of the locals at the port.  It was okay; there’s really not much to see.  I would stay onboard if I went back again.

[3rdGenCunarder]

2 hours ago, bluebeachbum said:

Thanks for your review.  We are leaving Sunday for same cruise.  What's the earliest you can arrive at terminal?  Is there ever a line waiting outside in the sun?  We  are in a Neptune suite mid-ship on 7.  You mentioned these didn't have much balcony cover, is there any?  What is a CO menu you mentioned?  Thanks for the internet info as I need to work while on the ship.  I will come back & post a review after returning on March 18th. 

 

I would say arrive around 11:00. Most of the early-birds will already be through security, so the line shouldn't be bad. Once you do security, you get priority check-in, so things should go quickly after that. 

 

I was talking about the aft-wrap balconies, which vary in terms of cover. The Neptunes along the side have the usual full-depth cover.

 

CO is Club Orange. It's an upgrade package that gives passengers not in Neptune suites some of the priorities, like priority boarding and priority tendering. They also get an extra entree choice at dinner. Neptune and Pinnacle suites get the CO entree, too. You also get the CO priority line in the dining room if you're doing open seating. You'll see a sign for it. If you have fixed dining, as I did, you don't need the CO line. The regular menu has a black cover. The CO menu has a white cover. If you don't get it, ask for it. 

[puppycanducruise]

Thanks again for posting your comments, even the bad.  A nice, honest, balanced report.

[rkacruiser]

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

Dear Guests,

Due to the early meeting times of Shore Excursions in Panama Canal on February 22, we are expecting In-Room Dining (Room Service) to be very busy during breakfast. 

We would like to bring to your attention that we have adjusted the meal hours for the Lido Market as follows in order to allow our guests to enjoy a full breakfast before departing the ship.

 

I received this same note during my Eurodam Partial Canal Cruise.  I also was a bit surprised.

 

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

She said if I had been there, just ignore the note. That seemed awfully cavalier for something as important as lifeboat drill. Passengers aren't taking it seriously--I guess we've all forgotten Concordia. But HAL should take it more seriously. 

 

Muster Drill on the Eurodam was well organized and run.  Guests "behaved" themselves.

On the other hand, Muster Drill on MSC Meraviglia was very perfunctory.  My station was the main showroom (sitting how many hundreds and hundreds?).  Cruise cards were scanned as we entered, crew members wearing lifejackets were scattered around the room,  guests were orderly and quiet when a very brief , and definitely not thorough, announcement of what was taking place and would happen during an emergency.  (This announcement for a brand new cruiser would have been most unhelpful, I think.)  A demonstration by the crew of how to put on a lifejacket followed an ending of the Drill. 

 

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

I think this was the first time I didn't have that video running on my TV when I entered my room, so I hadn't watched it this time

 

Same when I arrived in my stateroom on Eurodam and I also hadn't watched it.  If there was a safety video on Meraviglia, I never saw it and don't recall it being mentioned during the Drill.  On Volendam, the video was on when I entered the room.

 

5 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

when I (finally) got my toast. The toast server was clueless. Toast (warm bread, really) would come out of the toaster and he would look at it as if he had no idea what to do with it. I can't bear to go through the other breakfast problems, it's just too sad. 

 

The Volendam's toaster was able to be operated by the guests.  I liked that.  We could keep putting our bread/bagels/English Muffins through the process as much as we desired to get the food "cooked" to our liking.  The toast preparer on Eurodam was cooperative and did positively respond to guests' requests for more "toasting", please.

 

Your comment about supervision, or the lack thereof, may well be the key ingredient.  

[scubacruiserx2]

22 hours ago, 3rdGenCunarder said:

 

 

 

 

One comment on my cabin. If you have a chance to pick an aft on other than deck 6, do so. I've now had a corner aft on 5, 6, 7, and 8. 6 is definitely much smaller than the others. And it has fewer closets. I recall that on 7, there were the closets in the dressing area and closets along the wall by the side of the bed. This one has only the dressing room closets. That was fine for me by myself, but two people having to get clothes out of the dressing area closets at the same time could find it difficult. 6 also has the least cover over the balcony, except maybe 4, which is largely open. I don't mean to sound whiny, it was still a NS and still had a good balcony. But there are better aft wraps if you can get the instructions, go right to the guy who can help you.

 

 

 

Thanks for your great review . We have recently stayed in the corner aft NS on the Zuiderdam and here's videos of the 7th and the 5th .