Anyone returning from Zuiderdam 10/28??

[Mlascheid]

Anxious to hear reviews from those returning from Zuiderdam 10/21-10/28. Please post when you you get situated and return to reality.:)We are sailing 11/4 and hoping to get some feedback about the ship, ports, etc. before we go. Thanks!

[Candy]

Anxious to hear reviews from those returning from Zuiderdam 10/21-10/28. Please post when you you get situated and return to reality.:)We are sailing 11/4 and hoping to get some feedback about the ship, ports, etc. before we go. Thanks!

Hey there, Mlascheid! We'll be joining you on 11/4... our Roll Call is at:

 

CC Roll call Page

Our Own Page

 

This is our 7th Zuidy cruise, so I can assure you she is a wonderful ship and a gracious hostess.

 

Candy the ZuiderPrincess

 

[cntrydncr1]

My sister just returned today was very disappointed. She has been cruising Celebrity for the past few years and decided to check out HA. She said the food was awful and the service was not good either. Surf and turf was a little thin piece of steak and shrimp cocktail was not available on demand as it is on celebrity, princess and rcl. She thought Turks and Caicos was a waste. She spoke with a woman who is a regular Zuiderdam cruiser and she also said she was very disappointed.

[Katzi428]

Anxious to hear reviews from those returning from Zuiderdam 10/21-10/28. Please post when you you get situated and return to reality.:)We are sailing 11/4 and hoping to get some feedback about the ship, ports, etc. before we go. Thanks!

Hi Mla!

I cruised with my mother & some friends of the family from 10/14-10/21. on the Zuiderdam.On a scale of 1-10, I myself would give it a 9.The only complaint I have was on one of the last days when we played "Bingo".The Bingo caller said that one of the boards we were doing was an angry New Yorker salute. (in other words...the middle finger!:eek: )Formerly livng in New York(we're in Florida now), my mother,a friend of the family and I were extremely angry at this & we let the Bingo caller know.He didn't seem to care!

Other than that,we found the food very delicious,and our cabin steward was wonderful! Already we're looking forward to another cruise!:D

[bruce-r]

She thought Turks and Caicos was a waste.

Which certainly couldn't be considered HAL's responsibility. Afterall, she was the one that picked the itinerary.

[cntrydncr1]

Yes she did pick the itinerary. She had been told how wonderful Turks would be but she was disappointed. No, not HAL's fault, just commenting on the port as the OP requested.

[Mlascheid]

My sister just returned today was very disappointed. She has been cruising Celebrity for the past few years and decided to check out HA. She said the food was awful and the service was not good either. Surf and turf was a little thin piece of steak and shrimp cocktail was not available on demand as it is on celebrity, princess and rcl. She thought Turks and Caicos was a waste. She spoke with a woman who is a regular Zuiderdam cruiser and she also said she was very disappointed.

Sorry to hear that your sister was unhappy with her cruise. It is always disappointing when something does not live up to preconceived expectations.

[Mlascheid]

Hi Mla!

I cruised with my mother & some friends of the family from 10/14-10/21. on the Zuiderdam.On a scale of 1-10, I myself would give it a 9.The only complaint I have was on one of the last days when we played "Bingo".The Bingo caller said that one of the boards we were doing was an angry New Yorker salute. (in other words...the middle finger!:eek: )Formerly livng in New York(we're in Florida now), my mother,a friend of the family and I were extremely angry at this & we let the Bingo caller know.He didn't seem to care!

Other than that,we found the food very delicious,and our cabin steward was wonderful! Already we're looking forward to another cruise!:D

Thank you for your response. Since we are not bingo players I guess we can expect our cruise on Zuiderdam to rate a 10:D. I'm sorry that you felt insulted by the bingo caller's insensitive remark. Looking forward to just relaxing, enjoying the ship, and a few beach stops along the way. Can't wait to just be onboard the ship....better than being home, cooking, cleaning, chauffeuring the kids....A bad day on a cruise is still better than a good day on land!!!:p

[bruce-r]

Yes she did pick the itinerary. She had been told how wonderful Turks would be but she was disappointed. No, not HAL's fault, just commenting on the port as the OP requested.

Sorry. I didn't mean to be so harsh.

 

It is just too bad she hadn't talked to someone more informed about the specific Turks island the ship visited. There are more than a few islands in the Turks and Caicos and they aren't all created equally. Before Carnival helped build the cruise ship terminal on Grand Turk, the only reason people traveled there was to scuba dive. To think that the island had somehow been transformed just because cruise ships can now dock there is incorrect. There really isn't all that much to see on Grand Turk.

 

I'm sorry that your sister didn't enjoy her cruise, for whatever the reason.

[KittyKat1723]

Hello everyone,

 

Well, this was our first cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale. We spent the night before at the Holiday Inn Express which was only a block away from the entrance to the port. I would HIGHLY recommend this hotel. The room was great the beds were VERY COMFORTABLE and the service and staff where great. They have menus for all of the local eateries and we ate at the outback steakhouse and had a great meal. We got up early the next morning and had the continental breakfast which was great and left for the port at 10am. I would tell you right now to NOT to go early because we had to sit in our car for over an hour until they got everyone loaded into the buses and off the ship. Your better off waiting until 11-11:30a when they start letting you drop off your luggage. It wasn't the nicest part of the trip. No signs to tell you where to drop off, staff was very unfriendly when you asked. But after all that we finally got our luggage out of the car, I parked across the street in the parking garage (it gives you a ticket and after you return and leave the parking area you pay, for 7 days it will cost 84 dollars, 12 a day.) We made sure that we left a 100 bucks in the car for this... We walked back to the terminal stood in line for about 10 minutes and away we went into the terminal. It was very smooth and took only 5-10 minutes from door to getting our key and on the boat by 12 noon. Went right upstairs to the lido and started the first day of non-stop eating! If you like Sushi make sure you go to the WOK I ate it everyday and it was so fresh and great!!! Food was good, desserts could have been better in taste. We had a VA verrandah and was very dissapointed in the size even though I looked at the size of 249 sq ft. It was extremely small. I've been on other cruise lines and had more room in there smaller rooms... I wouldn't pay again for the balcony since it was a small size. We had the 2nd 6:15p seating and food and service was great. Really couldn't complain to much on the food since everything we had was very good. I brought a bottle of wine for about 22 bucks and enjoyed it for 4 nights. Surf and Turf as someone said above was ok. The lobster was small and the meat was very thin but very tender and could cut it with your fork. Hey, if you wanted more all you had to do was ask and they would bring as many as you like. We did it for desserts and apps. Not a problem!! This ship was very well laid out better then the Zaandam. Only bad thing I could say was that our room was in the aft on the Navigation floor (8) right under the back lido pool and lido rest. and every morning at 5:30a we heard all this noise of the crew putting the chairs in place. Plus, the main pool was only opened for 2 days as they had to do maintenance on it and shut it down. So the only pool opened was the smaller in the aft. Had one day (Thursday that was rough 5.7-12 ft waves) rocked the whole day and had rain on and off. other then that the seas where great.. smooth.... The shows where NOT GOOD AT ALL... We walked out each time. They need better singers and dancers. Had great drinks each day at one of the bars. Oh, when your in the LIDO make sure you find MARCUS and say KATHY says HELLO! This guy will remember you for the ENTIRE cruise... Even yesterday we were on line to leve the ship and he passed me and said goodbye Kathy... He gave me this great little shirt he made out of a magazine and signed it for me! What a great GUY! The staff ALL OF THEM are so friendly I must say that we enjoyed all of them and just relaxed the entire cruise. As for the ports... Grand Turks, as stated it was a BIG WASTE OF TIME. We stayed for only an hour and went back to the SHIP. The new stores they put in were not great on prices so don't bother buying anything.. It's cheaper in St. Thomas.. We've been to Tortola before and only went to the small tents outside on the road leading to the small town and to the little bungalow stores and went back to the ship within an hour also. Beautiful island, and I'm sure that if you took a excursion that it was nice.. we didn't. St. Thomas was the BIG spending for us. We did the liqour first and brought 10 bottles back (5 per person) and spent 99 bucks on that. Brought our perfumes right next door in AH RIISE (also the liquor in the same place) the whole island has the same prices so don't bother checking it will be the same no matter where you go. Brought 2 bottles of Chanel #5 for 48 a piece. Spent about 5 hours walking around and enjoyed it. Oh, by the way the weather in Tortola was EXTREMELY HOT AND VERY HUMID... 87% humidity!!! We were soaked and it was the same thing the last time we visited. Bring a fan with you!! Last island was Half Moon Cay... As stated we were here before and it's our FAVORITE private island.. It is a PARADISE!! the water is crystal clear,bring our snorkel gear because right from the beach you will see beautiful fish!! You don't need to go out far at all, they come up to you and don't even bother you.. It was so BEAUTIFUL!!!! and relaxing... We stayed until 12p and went back to the ship for lunch, we've done the BBQ before and decided to enjoy the lunch on the ship instead. All in all the cruise was great, relaxed for once! and if anyone has any questions please feel free to email me or ask. I've put my slideshow below and have plenty of pictures of the boat and islands. I hope you enjoy them as we did... Enjoy your cruise...

 

Kat

 

http://www.photoshow.net/watch/gC5te2kd

[KittyKat1723]

Hey,

 

Just a FYI... On the link above for my slideshow.. Be patient it will take a few for it to load but once done will go fast. I have over 242 pictures..

 

It's worth the wait :D :D

 

Kat

[KittyKat1723]

Please be patient when it loads... It's worth it...honest! once loaded it will go fast.. there's over 242 pictures.. Also, a note that on the time stamp you'll see 2005 Mom forgot to change it to 2006.. Also, in the midle of the slideshow you'll see some pictures of a condo I stayed in at Ft. Walton, sorry I forgot to remove them once I made the slideshow. Not to many, and then will be back on the ship again.

 

Enjoy!

 

Kat:D :D

[seaisme]

KittyKat...which cabin were you in? We're booked in 8124 next April. Getting up early isn't a problem for us, so the noise at 5:30 won't be a problem. Is the verandah covered? Can people on the Lido see all of your verandah? This will be our second sailing on the Zuiderdam, so we love the ship...but our first in the aft cabin (we usually like the "hump" but had an aft on our last cruise (RCCL) and loved it.

[KittyKat1723]

KittyKat...which cabin were you in? We're booked in 8124 next April. Getting up early isn't a problem for us, so the noise at 5:30 won't be a problem. Is the verandah covered? Can people on the Lido see all of your verandah? This will be our second sailing on the Zuiderdam, so we love the ship...but our first in the aft cabin (we usually like the "hump" but had an aft on our last cruise (RCCL) and loved it.

 

I was in 8116 but I think Linda was in 8124 I was right around the corner from 8124. The aft for that cabin I believe is not covered. If you look at my slideshow you can see the aft balcony's mine was covered but those on the lido can look down but they can't see you if your sitting down in the chairs etc...

 

Kat

[johnlcruise]

Enjoyed your photo show. Nice job.

[Mlascheid]

Kittykat..

 

Thanks for your review. Great picture show! Can't wait to get onboard next week.:)

[Candy]

Zuidy's wake verandas on deck 8 are covered. As a sun-worshipper, that's the only deck I wouldn't choose.

 

Can you tell me the names of the Captain, HotMan and CD? Can you post the Daily Programs? Thanx.

 

Candy <-- will be boarding her for the 7th time in 6 days!

[seaisme]

WOW...do I really have to wait until April 2007??? What a great reminder of why we love cruising!

[HappiestWhenCruising]

KittyKat, thanks for your review. I guess I only have one question about the entertainment. Was Joel Mason the singer on board? He's the Elton John impersonator. I sure hope he is back. Thanks.

[robsta]

Anxious to hear reviews from those returning from Zuiderdam 10/21-10/28. Please post when you you get situated and return to reality.:)We are sailing 11/4 and hoping to get some feedback about the ship, ports, etc. before we go. Thanks!

 

My wife and I just returned from the Zuiderdam (10/21-10/28). We had a corner aft Deluxe Verandah suite. That was definitely the highlight of the cruise. One of the nicest suites that we had ever had. Although, there did seem to be an inordinate amount of vibration at certain times. We had sailed the Zuiderdam last year and had an aft balcony cabin and never felt anything. But, there was some noticable vibration and the suite cabin was only one cabin away from the verandah cabin we had the year previous. I think that the scheduling of the ports and where they were located had something to do with the captain having to go full throttle on some occasions, thus producing more vibration.

 

There also seemed to be confusion among the staff. The CD that started the cruise disappeared a couple of days later and there seemed to be a vaccum of leadership. The passengers didn't know what was going on.:confused:

 

Overall, we enjoyed the cruise because it is hard not have a good time when you are on a cruise ship relaxing.

 

I'll do a quick rating of different elements based on a 1-10 scale.

 

Service Overall- 9

Dining room Server - 10 (in the top 5 of all the cruises we have taken)

Dining Room Food - 7 (not the best but not bad -selection was extensive)

Lido Food - 8

Cabin - 10+ (the new bedding is awesome - the best rest ever after 30 cruises)

Entertainment (Production shows) - 9

Entertainment (Guest entertainers) - 6 (magician was awesome, everything else was not good - the Zuiderdam "orchestra" was just this side of awful - they accompanied a quest singer and had not rehearsed the music enough and you could tell - fortunately they didn't play that often

Ports - 8 ( My wife and I personally enjoyed Grand Turk - It reminded us of Costa Maya but cleaner - I wish the Z staff would have been more informative before we arrived, but it would have probably negatively affected their excersion sales - St. Thomas was "been there, done that" - Half Moon Cay is definetely the best private island period but the barbeque lunch is average at best.

 

My biggest complaint with the Zuiderdam after three cruises on the Z is the decor of the ship. :eek: But, my wife and I have have been able to relax more on this ship than most others that we have cruised because it is not high pressure sales and bothersome events continually. The Zuiderdam sort of gives you a mixed bag. some things are simply awesome and some are "not-so-awesome". You have to focus on the awesome and enjoy it.

 

At the end of the day, most cruises become what you make of it. If you don't like your food, send it back and they will do something to make you happy. The Surf and Turf on the dinner menu was rather pathetic. The smallest lobster I had ever seen and a 'Filet Migon" (that's what they called it) :rolleyes: that was so thin you could almost see through it . I sent my steak back and they brought me another lobster and another steak that was much better.:) It was great.

 

I'm sure you will enjoy your cruise.

[lb0103]

We were in 8124 and it does have a covered deck.

 

We had a wonderful time!

 

The beds are GREAT and VERY comfortable.

 

The size of the room isn't as bad as the bed takes up most of the space and only one person at a time can get by. We were using hand signals on where we were going and we still had trouble getting around. But the service was great.

 

We can't say the same for service in the dining room. We were at 8PM and our waiter was not the best. People at our table ordered ice tea every night and they never got it till the night before last.

 

There was many nights one of us didn't get what we ordered. I didn't get my salad the night I ordered a soup AND salad.

 

HAL in my opinion has really cut corners, they have combined soup and salads together, I guess in the hope you only order one, and when you ask for both sometimes we got them and sometimes not. If you mentioned it to them sometimes you got them and sometimes not and then sometimes the main course came before you could ask for the missing course. I LIKE to believe all the problems were not the waiters fault, but some sure were.

We always made sure we had enough to eat, but the taste was really bland.

 

In the Lido Markus was really a hoot, how he could remember all those names is beyond me. Such a wonderful person.

 

Having the main pool closed the last half of the cruise was not a problem for us, but there were a lot of kids on this cruise, I thought unusual for this time of year on a dam ship, but they were not problem for us.

 

Another cost cutting measure in the Lido is only water or iced tea at lunch. I really wanted lemonade but didn't see ANYONE with one or hear anyone ask. They also put it in the little juice glasses and with the ice I had to get 3 to equal a regular glass, lots of wasted ice.

 

I loved the drinks of the day, I can't remember the names, but I tried them all and enjoyed them all.

 

As on other HAL ships the entertainment was not good. The HAL singers were really bad, in MY opinion, the dancers average. The illusionist was good and the comic, Julie Barr I think her name was, was good. The other singer wasn't that great either.

 

The ship was great for us, we don't care about decor or layout, we just want to be on a ship.

 

These are just MY opinions and if you have have any questions will be happy to answer.

 

Linda

[robsta]

I wanted to add one comment to my previous post. There were a tremendous amount of kids on this cruise, especially for a HAL cruise. We have cruised on RCCL many times and encountered a good deal of kids being on the ship, but I must say that these kids were the most unruly, rude and obnoxious kids I had ever seen on any cruise.

 

We had privileges in the Neptune Lounge because we had an S suite. The unfortunate thing was there were people with unruly kids that also had a S suite. The kids would raid the food areas and put their hands on food items and not take them (leave them on the trays). :eek: They would run in and out and behave in a disorderly manner. Their parents would go to dinner and then leave the kids in the lounge ( I suppose for the concierge to babysit).:mad:

 

On RCCL, they limit who can be in the concierge lounge in the evenings. I now understand completely why. It would be good of HAL to adopt a similar policy. I was shocked that this was allowed on a HAL ship. My wife made mention of this on her comment card.

 

Just FYI, my wife and I do have three children that we have taken on numerous cruises, but we did make them behave and act orderly. Fortunately RCCL has started to "lay the law down" when they conduct the Muster Drill. This would also be a good thing for HAL to mimick.

[Roz]

KittyKat,

 

Didn't read your review....tried to, but it's difficult to read without paragraph breaks.

 

Roz

[Rudydog]

It's interesting how everyone has a different perception of the same cruise, and I'm no different, so take this for what it's worth. I'm a travel agent and I went with another agent from my agency and TA's are the most critical bunch around. This was my fifth HAL cruise and my least favorite. There were good things and not so good things. I'll start with the positive: I thought there was a nice selection of food in the dining room and in the lido. The salad bar at the Lido was always fresh (even if you did have to wait in a long line at peak times) and had a nice selection. Our cabin steward was efficient and thorough and very friendly. I loved the comedian, Julie Barr -- I thought she was hysterical, as did many other people I talked to. Don't miss her if she is performing on your cruise. We ate at the Pinnacle Grill and loved it. We both had the filets and the chocolate lava cake for dessert. I had the best soup I've had in ages -- some kind of Vietnamese vegie or chicken soup -- I can't remember. Service was a bit slow, but I think it was supposed to be. I heard other people complain, but we had a very positive experience. The singers and dancers were soso, but entertaining nonetheless.

 

Now for some of the not so positives: the service in the dining room was terrible. We had the 8:00 seating and were almost always one of two or three tables left at the end. It seemed disorganized and sloppy. I complained and was told that they had a new system in the kitchen, that they were preparing food to order. I find that hard to believe -- maybe some of the items were being prepared that way, but there's no way it could have been for everything. That still didn't explain why we were one of the last tables served every night. The ship seemed crowded to me -- something I've never experienced on HAL. Maybe that's a good thing though -- lots of activity and people taking advantage of lounges, casino, etc. Our hair dryer didn't work for more than about two minutes, so I suggest taking your own, just in case. We had a veranda and the cabin seemed small, but it was adequate. Like someone else mentioned, it was a little difficult getting around without stepping on each other's toes. We were near the elevator and heard the ding ding throughout the night, but not much other noise.

 

Some miscellaneous things: they steered us to the dining room for lunch upon boarding -- not sure why as the lido was open, and I've never eaten in the dining room the first day, but it was enjoyable. I liked Grand Turk. It was new and clean and the pool was nice. People seemed to have a great time with the DJ's activities. The water at HMC was unbelievable -- clear and blue and fun. We had trouble finding chairs, but some kind people let us use their chairs and float while they were at lunch. Joel Mason was not on board during this cruise. The weather was so hot, but seas were fairly calm until Thursday, I think.

 

There were 109 kids on board and some people complained but they never bothered me. It was nice to see younger people on HAL. It was a very mixed age group. We were the only ship in Turks, Tortola and HMC which was really nice and there was only one other ship in St. Thomas, which is so unusual.

 

That's about it -- would I recommend this ship? I guess it depends on what you want from your cruise experience. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

[joyceb]

My husband and I were on this cruise and found it very relaxing.

 

Most service we found to be great. Markus in the Lido worked hard to know everyone's names and he did a great job. Some service was a bit rough - but got the job done. Our dining room steward and assistant were not always on the ball, but got better as the week went on. We felt the food was excellent - better than it had been on recent cruises, more like it used to be. I ordered an App, Soup, Salad, and at least 1 entree each night. It did take forever to get our coffees, but after a few days they figured out who wanted cappacino, espresso, tea and hot chocolate without asking. The wine steward basically gave up on our table, and we gave up on him after he charged us incorrectly.

 

Staff and workers always said hello, how are you etc as we passed in the hall. Found a good waiter and Bartender in the crows nest. (we did find the mixed drinks to be expensive and weak.)

 

The CD did disappear after a few days and the stories varried from a family emergency to drunken escapades in the nightclub, and missed events. Don't know that we'll know the real story.

 

We agree the shows were lacking. The singers were really bad - we felt the dancing was pretty good when they weren't singing. Julie the comedian was ok, and the magician was good. The other singer (Latin/Spanish singer) was not so good (unless that is your particular favorite type of music.)

 

We enjoyed the ports. We went to town in Grand Turk and there isn't much there, but they are friendly and don't acost you as some islands. We went to Govenors beach which was nice. Snorkeling I think was better further down, but we kept an eye on a Thunderstorm and didn't venture that far. Otherwise it is like Costamaya with a big cruise ship port area.

 

Tortola we did a snorkel tour then ran to the spice shop that stayed open until about 6:00, then went to Pusser's and had a painkiller and an appetizer.

 

St Thomas is shopping mecca, but we headed over to St john's and went to Trunk bay for more snorkeling. We had lunch back in town before the ferry back. We did get a couple things at the port shopping area.

 

HMC is of course the finest sandy beach with beautiful water. I would say snorkeling here is not great (compared to the other 3 places we did snorkel).

 

The captain was Jerone Von Donselar (or close to that - don't have anything handy with his name.)

 

All in all we got what we wanted. Good food, met nice people, and got to really relax.