LOUSY CRUISE ON ZUIDERDAM

[dmcfad2]

@GeezerCouplethank you! I will try that next time. It’s a bummer when it happens after you spend a long time writing it! 

[GeezerCouple]

8 minutes ago, dmcfad2 said:

@GeezerCouplethank you! I will try that next time. It’s a bummer when it happens after you spend a long time writing it! 

 

I know!

 

And it's NOT just a matter of "taking the time to type it again".

I've found that whenever I try to duplicate text that went missing, it's NEVER as good as it was the first time.  My phrasing just isn't as good, perhaps because it's not flowing naturally; I'm trying to force certain remembered thoughts.  Or I just forget to include something and then think of it later, etc.  Grrrr.

 

But it's also the annoyance of needing to do it again.  And when it happens yet again, more than once, then.... GRRRR!

😉 

GC

 

[CafeBruno]

5 hours ago, FLcruiser2011 said:

What's the point of buying a Signature Suite and a Club Orange package if you can't get into Pinnacle once.

 

I am very confused by this statement....buying a Signature Suite has nothing to do with the Pinnacle, its just a bigger stateroom. Buying a Neptune Suite does allow you to have breakfast in the Pinnacle restaurant. Buying Cub Orange also has nothing to do with the Pinnacle restaurant, it just gets you a separate area in the main Zuiderdam dining room, an extra entree choice at dinner, and free mimosas at breakfast.

 

On our last couple of cruises I've found that you have to book the Pinnacle or Tamarind the first day on board, or you will miss out. HAL's success selling the Have It All package means that they have a lot more people with free dinners to accommodate.  

 

Hoping you find some positives for the rest of your cruise. 

[BetsyS.]

I recommend the Dover Sole at Rudi's Sel de Mer. It was a big piece and the waitress deboned it at the table.  The Crepe Suzette was a big portion. Delicious meal and great service.  This was on the Niew Statendam in August. I agree with others who said to

book dining reservations on first day onboard.  I booked Rudi's Sel de Mer on the 

phone from my cabin. I bought Rudi's cookbook at dinner.

[Overhead Fred]

19 hours ago, kazu said:

Wonder if I will have my luggage back in time from my last cruise’s flight for it?  LOL.

 

Maybe you can just change the luggage tags and be good to go! 😁

[kazu]

20 minutes ago, Overhead Fred said:

 

Maybe you can just change the luggage tags and be good to go! 😁

 

LOL - not quite the same weather 😉 

[Sea42]

18 hours ago, CafeBruno said:

On our last couple of cruises I've found that you have to book the Pinnacle or Tamarind the first day on board, or you will miss out. HAL's success selling the Have It All package means that they have a lot more people with free dinners to accommodate. 

I'm sure that is especially true on a holiday sailing!

[liketraveling]

On 11/22/2022 at 4:19 PM, FLcruiser2011 said:

Well, this cruise just gets worse and worse.

 

We were told by the Pinnacle hostess that Pinnacle is sold out for the remaining 9 days of this cruise.  We have not even had a chance to try it.  What's the point of buying a Signature Suite and a Club Orange package if you can't get into Pinnacle once.

 

But we then decided to try Canaletto tomorrow night, when they have veal liver.  They could squeeze us in at 9 pm, we were told.  And THEN, to add insult to injury, the guest services person suggested we might like to have DINNER at the Lido, "where you won't need a reservation.
 

So what I'm really looking forward to on a not inexpensive cruise is fine dining in the buffet.  Wow!  This sure is one classy cruise line.

 

BTW, we sat a couple of miles out of Huatulco for three hours, while the Mexican authorities messed with the ship's officers for cancelling their stop in Huatulco.  Of course, we could have spent that three hours in port and perhaps everyone would have been happy!

If you want to try it, Can you order from Room Service.  I am on the same cruise and have club orange and I can order from Room Service from my Stateroom.  I am in isolation because my dad tested positive on Monday and I tested positive today.

So I don’t know if it was added because of the club orange or because I am isolated.

 

Sorry you couldn’t get a reservation.  

[Diver2014]

I read these topics just for the entertainment value.  Since the title was about a 'lousy cruise on Zuiderdam', I took the bait and all I can say is ---some people expect everything to go exactly the way they want and if anything goes wrong, then it's a lousy cruise.  So they come to Cruise Critic to air their grievances and meanwhile I just shake my head.  Poor things.  I'd love to be on their lousy cruise.  

[trinilopez]

Like another poster here, just got off the Oosterdam on Saturday after a 14 day Barcelona to Miami Atlantic crossing. Had an absolutely "brilliant" time. This was our third HAL cruise this year, and experienced no issues to really complain about, even anything remotely Covid related. Too bad this particular Z-dam cruise had some issues,  but is probably a one off. I am even booking another HAL cruise in March 2023!

[CruisingAndDiving]

24 minutes ago, Diver2014 said:

I read these topics just for the entertainment value.  Since the title was about a 'lousy cruise on Zuiderdam', I took the bait and all I can say is ---some people expect everything to go exactly the way they want and if anything goes wrong, then it's a lousy cruise.  So they come to Cruise Critic to air their grievances and meanwhile I just shake my head.  Poor things.  I'd love to be on their lousy cruise.  

I have been thinking the same thing for the past few days!  

 

As a fellow diver ... we just need to get wet and ignore them.

[BetsyS.]

like traveling - I'm sorry you and your dad tested positive.

I hope you both will be better soon.

 

[FLcruiser2011]

Well, this cruise just keeps going from bad to worse.

 

This morning we decided to order Thanksgiving breakfast from room service and enjoy Thanksgiving breakfast on our balcony.

 

Right on time, a very nice breakfast comes, we go out to the balcony, and are overcome by paint fumes.  They have picked Thanksgiving morning to paint the lifeboat directly beneath our balcony.

 

So we hunch down in our room -- my wife over the vanity, I over the desk -- and eat our separate breakfasts.  Happy Thanksgiving.  Later a guest services person comes and give us a key card to a cabin two floors away on the other side of the ship so we can "enjoy" the balcony.  What a wonderful solution.

[oaktreerb]

16 hours ago, liketraveling said:

If you want to try it, Can you order from Room Service.  I am on the same cruise and have club orange and I can order from Room Service from my Stateroom.  I am in isolation because my dad tested positive on Monday and I tested positive today.

So I don’t know if it was added because of the club orange or because I am isolated.

 

Sorry you couldn’t get a reservation.  

Anyone can order from Room Service.  Call your concierge and ask them if you can order from the Pinnacle.  Club Orange has a special phone contact to call and you may as well take advantage of it!

[Cruising-along]

55 minutes ago, FLcruiser2011 said:

They have picked Thanksgiving morning to paint the lifeboat directly beneath our balcony.

I'm sure they decided to pick that one because they knew it would tick you off more than anyone else. Good grief.  🙄

[Mary229]

59 minutes ago, FLcruiser2011 said:

Well, this cruise just keeps going from bad to worse.

 

This morning we decided to order Thanksgiving breakfast from room service and enjoy Thanksgiving breakfast on our balcony.

 

Right on time, a very nice breakfast comes, we go out to the balcony, and are overcome by paint fumes.  They have picked Thanksgiving morning to paint the lifeboat directly beneath our balcony.

 

So we hunch down in our room -- my wife over the vanity, I over the desk -- and eat our separate breakfasts.  Happy Thanksgiving.  Later a guest services person comes and give us a key card to a cabin two floors away on the other side of the ship so we can "enjoy" the balcony.  What a wonderful solution.

You have as much bad luck as my sister.  I won’t even travel with her anymore because disaster always strikes 😉

[Mosaic]

The people here complaining about the complainers are complaining....

[Wakepatrol]

And I thought Thurston Howell was just a TV character

[Copper10-8]

With the way things are going with this particular poster, it wouldn't surprise me if the Panamanians refuse Zuidy transit through their canal this Sunday and she'll wind up in Dutch Harbor, AK doing winter Bering Sea cruises to Vladivostok and back 

[Sir PMP]

45 minutes ago, Copper10-8 said:

With the way things are going with this particular poster, it wouldn't surprise me if the Panamanians refuse Zuidy transit through their canal this Sunday and she'll wind up in Dutch Harbor, AK doing winter Bering Sea cruises to Vladivostok and back 

With a little bit of 'schaatsen':

[Sir PMP]

2 hours ago, Cruising-along said:

I'm sure they decided to pick that one because they knew it would tick you off more than anyone else. Good grief.  🙄

Call front desk and have them move the lifeboat.

[Copper10-8]

5 minutes ago, Sir PMP said:

With a little bit of 'schaatsen':

 

Time for an Elfstedentocht / Eleven cities tour in Friesland in 2023! Last one was in 1997!! 

 

 

Edited November 24, 2022 by Copper10-8

[Mary229]

I hope you were not taking issue with my thread.  While driving with sis I have had the road to the top of Mesa Verde wash out, missed falling off the cliff by 20 feet.  On another trip we had a major hail storm of the century.   On an Amazon steamer the rudder fell off of the ship in the middle of the Amazon river. We left Ecuador, she stayed and there was a major earthquake the next morning. Unlike American Express I try to leave home without her.  We laugh a lot now but in the moment 

[Mary229]

Just now, Mary229 said:

I hope you were not taking issue with my thread.  While driving with sis I have had the road to the top of Mesa Verde wash out, missed falling off the cliff by 20 feet.  On another trip we had a major hail storm of the century.   On an Amazon steamer the rudder fell off of the ship in the middle of the Amazon river. We left Ecuador, she stayed and there was a major earthquake the next morning. Unlike American Express I try to leave home without her.  We laugh a lot now but in the moment 

PS notice my avatar photo.  That is in the middle of the interstate in Montreal where our Uber lost its tire and had no spare

[Native Floridian 26]

On 11/22/2022 at 8:43 AM, baggal said:

But a word of advice, if you do use your own kit, DO NOT DISCARD it in the anywhere in the cabin.  Keep it locked up in your luggage.  You never know who's checking your trash...

We were just on an MSC Med/Greece cruise and I brought some home tests and used when I came down with a sore throat.  No COVID, but I discarded them in the public restrooms every time so noone would see them in the cabin.