Just back from the Zuiderdam dec 2-9

[KalenaD]

Here is my personal review of our Zuiderdam Dec 2-9 cruise. It is pretty long.

I am 44 and my husband is 65, so we have a varied age perspective. We have cruised 6 times and this was our 4th HAL cruise. We were cruising with my parents on their very first cruise. There seemed to be a variety of ages onboard, and the few children onboard seemed well supervised.

 

First of all we had weather issues when we left for Ft. Lauderdale, we had flights cancelled and it took us 17 hours to get from Seattle to Florida.

We stayed 2 nights at the Embassy suites, I think it is pretty high priced for a couple, but if you are sharing it’s a good deal. The hotel was clean and I have no complaints, we were able to get on the first shuttle to the pier at no cost to us. Here’s a tip. The bellboys drive the shuttle, so if the desk tells you it is full, ask the bellboys.

 

We wanted a light dinner one night so we thought we would get appetizers in the Italian restaurant, we ordered two, a pizza and coconut fried chicken tenders expecting smaller servings. The pizza was EASILY a large and we got about 12 tenders, they were great, it may seem a tad more expensive than most bar food, but is well worth it, we got way more food than we could handle.

 

We left the hotel at 10:30 and due to 9 ships being in port, the traffic was pretty bad, we arrived to the ship at 11 and were sitting in the lido having a drink and listening to the steel drum by 11:25. Rooms were ready at 1:15.

 

We had room 4169, and were pleasantly surprised to see we had a bit larger balcony, we met our room steward Agung and he opened the balcony between my parents room and ours. I cannot say enough about Agung, he was always there with a smile, and took care of ANYTHING we requested. We had towel animals every night, my mom LOVED them.

 

I would like to take a moment to comment on the ships condition. I am constantly hearing on the boards about the “bad” condition of the Zuiderdam, personally I thought it was fine, yes, there is some wear of carpets and upholstery., but nothing I thought was unexpected for a 4 year old ship in constant use. There were a few places you could see minor vandalism, but I saw the crew CONSTANTLY cleaning and repairing. Apparently the AC on our floor went out for a couple of hours very early one morning, we never noticed it until the fan kicked back on. We could see the crew working on it in the hallway and there were no other problems the rest of the cruise. There were also a couple of late nights when you would walk out on the balcony and be hit with an awful stench, at first I thought it was sewage, but I think they were using the incinerator. I work in a meat dept. so I know what bad meat smells like, and it smelled more like rotten food than sewage. It only happened a couple of nights and was VERY late and only for about an hour. I NEVER smelled it in the cabin or hallways.

 

Food is very subjective, we are not “foodies” so we thought everything was great. Although we may have had a few items that were not to our personal taste, everything seemed prepared well. The only exception I can think of was the strawberry shortcake my husband ordered that only had a couple of strawberries on it. We ate every dinner in the dining room, 8 pm seating and the service by our waiter Yudo and asst. waiter Eko, was perfect. The only comment I have on the lido is the hours of operation. For those of us from the west coast you are talking about a 3 (and sometimes 4) hour time difference, we would go to have a late afternoon snack and there wasn’t a lot available, but it wasn’t a really big deal. As long as my husband got his turkey sandwich, he was happy. We ordered room service for breakfast twice and it was on time, hot and correct.

 

My only comment on our ports will be about the Sunny Liston tour we took in St. Thomas. He was a few minutes late to pick us up at the ship, no big deal, we were driven to town and elected for 2 hours of shopping. The pick up to start the tour at 12 was VERY confusing, we had a truck with NO Sunny Liston signs telling us to board. We had to walk across the street twice, before we finally saw Sunny himself. The tour was fine, We thought the banana daiquiris were AWESOME. Unfortunately we had three people on our tour who apparently couldn’t tell time and put us 15 minutes behind leaving the mountaintop. We had the same problem at Sapphire beach, Sunny put us on another truck to return to the boat. Traffic was HORRIBLE, and the driver of the bus had the music SO loud it hurt your eardrums. We were then let off in the Havensite mall, not taken back to the ship. I don’t know if this is the usual, but myself and all of our party of six, expected to be taken back to the boat. We were hot and tired, and my step dads hip was really hurting him, then we had to walk quite a ways back to the ship. I would still recommend the tour for the price, but be aware, they don’t take you all the way back to the ship.

 

The weather was beautiful the whole cruise, in the mid 80’s, with only the last night being really rough seas.

 

We had a small roll call group and I can’t thank BOB and Dee enough for organizing a wonderful get together!!! We had Mark Pells the hotel manager not only attend, but graciously hosted drinks and appetizers. My parents were VERY impressed.

 

One of our roll call members Vicki, made it to the Superstar talent show finals, personally I think she was ROBBED!!!! We all attended and cheered her on. I do have to say that usually I’m not really impressed with HAL entertainment, but I though this ship had the most talent I have seen. My parents, who live in Las Vegas, were impressed especially with the magician and the production show we attended. I saw the same show on the Westerdam last year and felt the talent on this ship was much better.

 

I don't know if this falls under entertainment, but my husband won enough money in the casino playing ONE slot machine, we left with more cash than we brought with us.

 

Sadly we had several medical emergencies, we had to make a stop at an island to meet an air ambulance to let off two passengers, one had a stroke. We were also late leaving St. Thomas while we had another passenger taken off the ship by ambulance.

 

All together it was a wonderful cruise. My parents LOVED it and are eager to go on another. My step dad who can be a bit hard nosed and sometimes judgmental of service, could not say enough about the crew, their smiles and greetings as well as the level of service made a great impression on him.

It was fun to see cruising through a “first timers” eyes.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Kalena:

 

Welcome home, and thanks for the review! After your horrendous outbound journey to the east coast, I hope your trip home was calm and uneventful!

 

Karin

[Atomica]

Glad you had a great time on the Zuiderdam! Thanks for the fantastic review.

[doglover44]

Thank you so much for the reivew! It was fun to read as we leave this Friday, 12/15 for our cruise on the Zuiderdam. I'm so sorry you had such a long flight in to Florida. Were you on the direct red-eye flight on Alaska airlines to Miami or did you fly directly into Fort Lauderdale? We are on that flight friday night, it leaves at 10:25pm and arrives into Miami at 7am. We are a little nervous about being delayed by weather and are hoping Seattle is looking good that day. By the way, where is Carnation? I live in eastern Washington - in Kennewick! Thank you again for all of your helpful information and welcome home!

[hammybee]

Thank you for your well balanced report. I cannot believe the ordeal you went through to get to FLL. 18 hours !!! you might as well have flown to Austrailia for your cruise. Maybe next year, eh.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write your report.

[fann1sh]

My Zuiderdam cruise is just over a year away, but I loved getting a preview through your eyes. Thanks so much!

[vpoopsy]

Thanks Kalena, but I knew I wasn't the best!! It was a pleasure meeting you and your family.

 

Vicki

[Djptcp]

Thank you so much for your review -- DH and I will sail on the Z this Saturday the 16th and can't wait :D Glad you had a great cruise and your tips are helpful, especially about the Sunny Liston tour. After a day of exploring and shopping, the closer I get a ride to the gangway the better for me!

 

Holland America - 2004, 2006

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

[lg rover]

Thanks for your review Kalena. So you wouldn't do the Sunny Liston tour again? I have done Mountaintop many times and would do again, the price $25.00 per person seems like a good deal for all that you did. Saphire beach is a good distance. I was on the Zuiderdam last March and enjoyed the ship, will be on Westerdam this March. I cruise with a bunch of girlfriends every year. Have also cruised Osterdam, Volendam and Zaandam w/ the gals, we love HAL.

 

Tell me more about 4169 we plan to do aft cabin on upper promenade or verandah deck. Any chance of pictures of 4169. Thanks Lindy

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanks for the review!! We're leaving in a couple of months and we're so excited. :)

[KalenaD]

Thanks everyone,

We had another glitch with our flights, when we arrived at the airport we found they had CANCELLED our return flights because of the change when we left. They FINALLY put us on the flight but they had to get supervision involved and we found out they had a waiting list of 40 people on standby. It is the first time we have flown with American, and I wasn't impressed. Mostly because of the ticket agents attitude, instead of apologizing and fixing the problem, she told me it wasn't HER fault and I should have checked it myself ( I SPECIFICALLY asked if there would be a problem with our return flights, and was told NO), she then made me feel like I was the problem and she was doing me a favor. We talked to another passenger who flew in from Seattle the same day we did and due to BOTH airports they were rerouted to being shut down, they didn't make it to Ft. Lauderdale until 2 days later. So I guess I can't complain too much.

 

Doglover, we flew from Seattle to Ft. Lauderdale. We were supposed to go through Dallas, but ended up going through Atlanta.

Carnation is about 15 miles east of Redmond and Woodinville, in the Snoqualmie valley. We have a small recreation place in Leavenworth as well.

 

Vicki, don't you believe that!!! You were AWESOME!! Hope you guys had an easy flight home. Tell Bart, the first thing Denny bought at the grocery store was turkey for his favorite sandwich!

 

lg rover, I DO think that the sunny Liston tour was a good deal, however I just wish we would have known he wasn't taking us ALL the way back to the ship. There was a change in itinerary for a Princess ship, so there were a lot of last minute people, so I believe he had to get help and that might have created the problem, that's just my guess though. Cabin 4169 was almost to the aft, it was an average verandah room, but the balcony extended a couple of feet more than most verandahs. We only noticed a tiny bit of vibration on the one night when we had 7-12 foot seas. We were very happy with the room, especially our room steward.

[vpoopsy]

I was on the Sunny Liston tour with KalenaD and I thought it was quite stressful. He sings this song, but it was quite loud and got annoying after awhile. Like she said, there were alot of people in town that day and the traffic was horrible. I think that was the worst part of our cruise (besides me getting seasick).

 

We'll think of Denny everytime we eat a turkey sandwich!!!!

[familyofd]

We had room 4161 and I loved the location of that room It wasnt too far away if you wanted the elevator or if your using hte stairs, our balcony also was opened as my parents were in 4165 but I see the room stewards are different those were not the same names I remeber and we didnt get towel animals every night but there was trouble with our toilet all the time.

Is Joel Mason still on this ship? I loved his show!

[JahJahwarrior]

That is SO odd--I'm in room 4169 in less than a week! Any chance you have some pictures of it? I want to get a feel for how big it is and know where I ought to try to sleep--sharing the room with two cousins. Also, I'd love to know how big the balcony is, I'm going to be drying scuba gear on it possibly. Is there anything on the floor, so that if I dropped something, say a baseball, it would stop it from rolling off? There is a chance that I'll try to sleep onthe balcony.

[DFD1]

Kalena: You have written a great review. Interesting and fun to read. Thanks for taking the time. I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise. Take care.

[rburns44]

Kalena, Just found out that my aunt Carol was one of the emergencies. Not the stroke vic but the other lady. My aunt had a bowel obstruction and was taken off at San Salvador. She collapsed there on the tarmac and they spent an hour getting her stablized. Medics said they didn't want to leave her at the hospital there. She had emergency surgery in FLL and is doing ok. Took out 2 feet of intestines. Ship doctor had wanted to keep her another day to see if she got better, but when the woman had the stroke they decide to air both of them. Thank God! Doctors in FLL told her she wouldn't have made it if they had kept he another day. Another Aunt was traveling with her but since they had two patients, she couldn't go. Anyway, she will be fine just going to take some time.

 

Becky

[KalenaD]

That is SO odd--I'm in room 4169 in less than a week! Any chance you have some pictures of it? I want to get a feel for how big it is and know where I ought to try to sleep--sharing the room with two cousins. Also, I'd love to know how big the balcony is, I'm going to be drying scuba gear on it possibly. Is there anything on the floor, so that if I dropped something, say a baseball, it would stop it from rolling off? There is a chance that I'll try to sleep onthe balcony.

 

 

What a coincidence, Please say hi to Agung for us!!!

I have a small suggestion for you, Agung said he liked to get international calling cards as a tip so he can call his family, believe me he did an AWESOME job.

I didn't have any pictures, sorry it was just like our cabin on the Westerdam, so nothing new. Except for the larger balcony. It has enough room to sleep on, but REALLY depends on the weather, we had hot, humid weather and it might be uncomfortable. If you can't sleep outside, there is a bunk that comes down from the ceiling, or my thought would be to put the table and chair out on the balcony to make more room for the sofa bed. The balcony was about 2 feet longer than our balcony on the Westerdam, so I would guess about 5 feet by maybe 9-10 feet, that's just my guess. There will be plenty of room for scuba gear.

Have a great trip!!!!

 

Becky, I am so glad your aunt is ok. We all were praying for both women. Her angel must have been watching!!!

 

familofd, the comedian was Jeff Burghart, and there was a magician, sorry I can't remember his name and the piano man was Edward Kelly. No Joel Mason

[saginaw]

Thanks for the great review KalenaD! I have a question or two about Sunny Liston. Were you docked at Havensight? Do you think you could of requested being dropped off at the ship instead of the mall? Was there enough to do downtown for 2 hours or are the shops the same as the mall? We were hoping to grab a nice lunch while shopping, was there enough time? One more question! Did you pick which beach you wanted?

Thanks!

saginaw

[KalenaD]

yes, we were docked at Havensite, if you want to shop AND have lunch, two hours might be a bit of a rush, my mom bought a ring at diamonds international, and we had just enough time to get a few t-shirts for the nephews, but not enough time for lunch. He gives you a choice of beaches, we planned to go back to the ship and not stay at one of the beaches. Our gripe was we didn't know we would be dropped off at the shopping mall until we were basically told the tour was done and to get off the bus. We were sent back to the ship by another driver, not Sunny. We seemed to spend half of the tour waiting for other people who did not come back to the bus when Sunny said.

[dimonzr4me]

Hi Kalena,

So sorry we missed the cruise critic get together!! We had every intention of going but DH still isn't feeling too good after the work on his ear and we went back to our cabin and fell asleep, woke up the next morning and realized we slept thru it. DH walked around the whole time bumping off the walls (like the rest of us did on the last nite out, boy were we rocking and a rollin or what?) so he just wasn't up to par at all on this trip. Sounds like it was a very good get together with Mark Pells there. The casino was good to DH also, he won a progressive on a quarter slot machine, ended up winning as much as we brought also. I was happy to see all the purell everywhere. Even so DH came down with a sore throat on Friday and has continued to get worse, he is going to the Dr. in the a.m., I think he has gone into bronchitis now. Hope you all made it home well! Lisa

[lg rover]

Would you post some cabin pictures of 4169 when you get back!!! Have a great cruise.

[Neeva]

Hi, I enjoyed your review of our cruise Dec 2 to 9. I would like to add the following info for anyone planning a tour on the big Z...

 

I LOVED this cruise, here are a few tips that I wish I had known before sailing...

 

If you are a serious foodie I suggest you get as many dinner reservations for the Pinnacle restaurant as possible (yes, it's $30 a meal plus tip but worth every penny if bad food makes you grumpy). We were only able to get reservations for one night there as we waited too long. It is the only truely gourmet food on board. My friends that were in a suite were also able to eat there for breakfast. I loved this cruise but thought the food was institutional at best. I lived on pizza, sushi and cookies off the Lido deck for most of the cruise.

 

If you are a high volume soda drinker, you will be frustrated. Bring 20 oz sodas in a collapsible cooler and con your room steward in to giving you more ice to chill them. We did not see a single place to buy soda in bulk on any of the shore excursions. If you get an unlimited soda card, be aware that the staff do not make their 15 percent off of your transaction. I tipped our drink steward $20 bucks in the dining room at the start of the cruise because the 7 of us had soda cards. She kept us literally swimming in diet coke at dinner for the rest of the cruise.

 

Bring a drink with you to the late movies (10:45 pm) as the bar is not open in there that late. They do have yummy popcorn set out though. If it isn't set out when you go in, have no fear, they will make it at some point during the movie :)

 

If you are female, you will feel very safe at all hours alone on this boat. The crew are impossibly nice any way, but especially when you consider that they work every single day for 11 hours for ten to twelve months before they take 3 months off.

 

The original poster's suggestion about the phone cards to tip in addition to cash is an excellent one. I thought about that on board and would definitely do that in the future. It's hard for the crew to get to town to buy them. They are so nice, trust me, you'll be throwing money at them by the end of the week.

 

If money is no object or you are traveling with a large group, have at least one suite amongst you. My friends had the level of suite right below Penthouse with Neptune Lounge privileges. I had a normal room with an ocean view balcony. I can not tell you how much access to their suite added to my cruise. There were 7 of us on board and we used that thing like a club house. It was great for sitting around on the balcony during ship departures and arrivals and for meeting up en masse before shore excursions. The suites are flawless. The ocean front balcony is HUGE as are the bathrooms. The leather sectional wrap around couches are perfect for lounging. Ever heard the quote, "Luxuries once sampled become necessities"? I'm ruined now that I saw that suite. :) Most amazing suite perk of all -- unlimited free laundry and pressing. My friends went home with suit cases full of clean clothes.

 

Turks and Caicos is a bit of a stretch as a stop over, though they do have a lovely beach and pool at Jimmy Buffet's place there near where the boat docks. The shops there are all new construction. It's kind of like parking at an outdoor mall with a beach.

 

Do not miss the ship's arrival in to the American Virgin Islands. I highly recommend the pool deck for viewing it. Grab a drink and a table and just hang out, it's lovely.

 

Didn't get a chance to go to the spa though understand it's also US based with 12 US locations and apparently pretty wonderful.

 

My friends were jewelry addicts and pulled me through about a hundred jewelry stores on St. Thomas. Be prepared for very nice but commission hungry sales people. The two stores that impressed me the most with their laid back demeanor were Diamond's International to the right when you first come in to the shopping area and Touch of Gold farther in to the district.

 

When your jewelry crazed friends have exhausted you on St. Thomas, ask for the "19th Hole" a little Mom and Pop bar at the front of one of the jewelry/t- shirt stores. They make an unbelievable frozen drink called a "Bushwacker" which is basically a long island iced tea in frozen drink form. You will be feeling no pain. Tell the owners "Happy Anniversary" as their 40th wedding anniversary is coming up. :) If you are employed in law enforcement or fire, bring your patches with you, they have them displayed from all over the world.

 

Holland America's pier side check in and check out at start and finish of the cruise were the most painless I have EVER encountered, very well done.

 

The parking garage at Ft. Lauderdale takes cash and credit cards. It was $84 to park there for the duration of the cruise.

 

Hope these help, I'll answer anything else I can if you have any questions. :)

 

P.S. Someone needs to start a post cruise "back to the real world" support group, it's been a hard week readjusting to civilian life :)

[Neeva]

The front desk gives out Meclizine for free for sea sickness which is fabulous. Personally, I wish I'd taken half a tab before the boat sailed. A lot of us woke up sea sick the first day at sea. Meclizine worked like a dream.

 

Ocean front balconies are truely private, you can't see your neighbors. They make awesome reading spots for insomniacs like me in the middle of the night. The ocean is incredible at night and the light switch is well positioned for thoughtful entrances and exits for your sleeping roommates.

 

The ship's library is amazing. You must sit in the italian wood chairs with the rocking backs around the long table, unlike anything you've ever seen.

 

The boat was built in Italy and has some funky light and tv switches and shower controls. Have your room steward orient you to your cabin. The couch has drawers underneath which aren't immediately obvious.

 

The 2 cent slot machines are the best kept secret in the casino. You can play for ages on them and they have fun music. And they won't break your bank:)

[vpoopsy]

Neeva,

 

Sorry that we didn't meet on the ship. We had a great time and met some incredible people.

 

(If you watched the Idol competition I was the country singer)