Zuiderdam 11/17 Review

[diveoz]

Background:

We had been on three prior cruises with our last one being 10 years ago. The first two were 3-day cruises to Ensenada and the last was a 7-day Mexican Riviera Cruise on the Carnival Holiday. While I had a great time on the last one, my wife was less than thrilled, hence the hiatus. That said, we are both quite well traveled and I am intimately familiar with the cruise and travel industry, having spent a few years in a past life working in the travel journalism field.

 

Fast forward, my wife was turning 40 and requested that we travel somewhere we had never been rather than have a big party, without our three kids for the first time in 7 years! So with marching orders in hand I began my research. I was initially considering Tahiti, but cost and time constraints nixed that relatively quickly. Then I remembered cruising. Fortunately for us I found HAL and CC before planning another cruise line.

 

Planning:

My initial booking of an SA Suite was easy through the HAL website. But then I found a great deal using a timeshare trade through RCI (Resort Condominiums International) which gave me an unheard of $1,400 credit for my timeshare trade, this was off of a price already below HAL’s, so I cancelled my initial booking and rebooked through RCI and am very happy I did. Our Cabin was SA7059, right across from the Neptune Lounge.

 

Pre Cruise:

Using accrued mileage I was able to book flights in First Class with our arrival one-day prior to the cruise and departure from FLL the day after the cruise. While I am happy we flew first-class as it allowed us to bypass the security lines and gave us nice seat room, Delta’s first class is not even close to other airlines business class, let alone first class, in terms of service.

 

I booked pre and post cruise hotel nights through an on-line auction and managed to get the Diplomat Country Club and Spa for an excellent price. This hotel has only 60 rooms, as opposed to its sister hotel Diplomat Resort and Spa which has 900 rooms, and is absolutely beautiful. They upgraded us to a suite on the first night and we had a standard room on the last night. Both were magnificent with marble bathrooms, balconies, beautiful furnishings and incredible beds! While HAL’s beds were great, the Diplomat’s were even better!

 

Embarkation:

When embarkation day finally rolled around we were thrilled. We arrived at the terminal at about 12:30. My wife was trying to tell me to go to the main line and I was ignoring her, opting instead for the suite line. After several minutes she “got it!” Within 15 to 20 minutes we were on-board and headed straight for the Neptune Lounge to drop our carry-on bags. That’s when we met Carlo, one of the two concierges, the other being Fey. Both are wonderful!

 

Having dropped off our bags, we began to tour the ship, visiting the Crow’s Nest, walking around the observation Deck and working our way down from there. Giddy is the only word I can use to express our moods for those first few hours. Somehow we ended up on a tour of the Spa which lasted way to long with an introduction to every service they offer. Finally completed, we headed to the spa booking desk and in our haze my wife booked a pedicure for 5:00pm on embarkation day. I later remembered that this was the same time as sail-away. It would have been nice if the spa had reminded us, but no biggy, she got her nails done and I enjoyed the views and atmosphere of anticipation.

 

Cabin:

After the spa tour we headed for our cabin and were thrilled! It was every bit as beautiful as I had imagined and my wife was thrilled with our accommodations. The myriad of gifts I had pre-ordered were in our cabin, so it was truly festive with the flowers and gifts to open. With all we packed, or rather over-packed, we couldn’t possibly fill all the cabinet and drawer space and our luggage fit perfectly stacked under the bed. I was surprised that there was no box spring leaving a solid foot of vertical space down there. Closet space was more than sufficient for all our clothing. Or cabin steward, Nurman, was excellent and always smiling! He kept the ice bucket filled, replaced the bathroom amenities daily as the old ones kept disappearing into a bag and kept our cabin spotless.

 

Our luggage arrived about 2:30 and we were unpacked by 3:00. I had brought a power strip and an extension cord, so my wife had power on her side of the bed using the extension cord, but given the outlets in the suite we probably didn’t need the power strip.

 

Our veranda was a hit. We spent many hours sitting on it both night and day. This was our first time with a veranda and while I would be happy with a bed next to the engine, I don’t think my wife will ever allow for anything less in the future.

 

Neptune Lounge:

Being right across from the Neptune Lounge was great! We loved the coffee and snacks and Carlo and Fey were awesome. As I had read in all the other reviews I never had to go to the front desk. Both concierges deserve standing ovations for their skills. My wife forgot pony tail rubber bands and Fey gave her a few of her own. When a button was falling off my suit coat, no problem, Fey got it sewn back on.

 

The Ship’s Condition:

I had read with concern several reviews which reported that Zuiderdam’s condition was bad and that she is more than ready for dry-dock. I actually began to wish I had booked Westerdam a day later due to the reviews. In my opinion this is simply not true. I am a commercial real estate appraiser by trade and continually rate the condition of properties. In my opinion, Zuiderdam is in good to very good condition with work going on continually. I saw no signs of deferred maintenance, thus maintenance is not being ignored as has been suggested. On one port day workers actually spent the day painting her hull. Our veranda furniture was new and the cabin furnishings were all in good condition. I also found public areas to be in good condition. At one point I told my wife about complaints people have about the decor and she didn’t get it and she is in the interior design industry. In my opinion those booked on her pre dry-dock sailings have nothing to be concerned about, so long as you don’t expect perfection, or for her to be in excellent, or new, condition.

 

Vista Dining Room:

Great food and service! Our steward was Eka and he was fantastic. At first we didn’t like our wine steward at all, feeling that he was a bit scammy, but our table mates loved him and he grew on us a bit with time! We had planned on visiting the Pinnacle Grill at least once, but ended up happily having all of our dinners in the VDR. Our time and table were exactly as requested, 8:00pm table for 8. Unfortunately one couple was only with us two nights due to seasickness and only 7 had been assigned to the table, so there were usually just five of us at the table, but we all got on great and have three new friends. I even got a dear 75 year old woman named Mary to try escargot for the first time in her life and she loved it, saying that she will never be afraid to order it again!

 

Lido Restaurant:

Great breakfasts but for us, lunches were nothing to write home about. There was a lot of selection, but lines were long and most selections weren’t worth waiting in line after line for. By way of example: on two occasions I opted for the sandwich station and asked for my sandwich to be grilled. On both occasions, after grilling, the bread was toasted, almost burned, but the meat and cheese in the middle were still cold. Clearly the heat on the grill was turned too high so they could make them very fast. That said, we never went to the VDR for lunch, so clearly Lido wasn’t so bad that we skipped it entirely.

 

Room Service

We had one room service breakfast and my wife ordered a turkey sandwich once after a workout. Unfortunately, both times they messed up her orders, with the turkey sandwich turning into a club sandwich full of bacon and lots of mayo and her omelet ordered with just tomatoes having cheese and ham as well, so room service was limited to those two attempts. My room service breakfast was great! So, I guess if, like me, you have no special orders, you’re in the clear!

 

Crow's Nest:

What a great open space. I am an early riser, and am usually up to see the sun rise. I usually spent my early mornings bouncing between the Crow’s Nest and the Oak Room and I became very comfortable in these rooms. Being in the Oak Room was like being at home for me.

 

Internet:

Due to our location across from the Neptune Lounge we had a great wireless signal and were actually able to make VOIP phone calls to our kids from our cabin using Yahoo Voice. Thanks to the CC member who suggested it. We never tried Skype, so I don’t know if it will work. I also had great signals in the Oak Room and Crow’s Nest.

 

Excursions:

Grand Turk – Power Snorkel Adventure: This was so much fun. I am an avid scuba diver, so I was a little hesitant, thinking that it might be hokey, but my concerns were for naught. The power unit really makes it possible to dive deeper than you normally would be able to and more importantly stay down longer and go farther under water as you are not consuming your oxygen getting down. The only hard part is being able to equalize your ears (pinch nose and blow with mouth closed) while still holding the unit in both hands. I was descending rapidly, so my ears needed almost continual equalization. My solution was to hold on to the power unit with my left hand and wedge it between my right elbow and chest while holding my nose with my right hand. I’m sure others figured out other methods.

 

Tortola – Private scuba diving with awesome CC member Scuba Dad (Jim) and his son Matt: Unfortunately the ship was late getting into Tortola, so we were limited to one dive. But that dive was a 10 out of 10! All I can say is Wow, what a great dive! The corals were vibrant, colorful and teaming with life! Jim had set up the private tour in advance with scubabvi.com and they did a great job!

 

St. Thomas – Kayak, Snorkel and Hike Cas Cay:

This is a great Eco Tour of the mangrove habitat and we loved it. You start by kayaking through the inlets in the mangroves, then you snorkel around the bay created by the mangroves and finish off with a light hike around a small island learning of the flora. It was truly educational and fun!

 

Half-Moon Cay – Peach Cabana:

We love HMC and would have cabana or not, but having it was great. Our cabana boy went and got our lunch for us, which was great by allowing us to enjoy our time rather than standing in line. We hiked to the western point, swam, read books, and simply enjoyed every minute of it! The day went by all too fast and we were on the last tender back. According to our cabin boy HAL is trying to get approvals to build a hotel there, but who knows the validity of the statement. We could spend a week at HMC!

 

Spa and Gym:

I did one pilates class with my wife, but it wasn’t for me. She did all three and loved them. Scuba Dad filled in for me on the last class. I also had a hot stone massage before diving on Tortola. It was great! With the nitrogen from diving and the relaxation from the massage I have never slept so well as that night!

 

Hydropool and Thermal Suite:

I signed us up for the week pass and we loved it! The hydropool was okay, but the Thermal Suite is amazing! I was told by Scuba Dad (Jim) that his wife came in and I was snoring my life away! My wife confirmed this, but said she didn’t have the heart to wake me! Sorry for the noise!

 

On-Board Shopping:

We bought many gifts for our kids and family members who watched them. The staff was great, it was convenient, selection was pretty good and prices weren’t bad.

 

Entertainment:

With our late dining time we missed all the shows except the karaoke on the last night which was fun, but we really have no clue about the quality of the shows.

 

We went to the cooking demonstration by guest Chef Seis Kamimura in the queen’s lounge. He did a great job and his Conch Chowder was incredible. Seis was on board with his wife and three kids and, unlike us, was incredibly busy with his kids! We had the pleasure of running into him several times throughout the cruise as well as chatting with him for an extended period in the NL on our last day. Yet another new friend! His three year old son King is as busy as our son Oliver and is adorable!

 

Debarkation:

I had read on CC that suite guests can wait till 6:00am to put their bags out, but fortunately asked in the NL if this was the case, finding out it was not. So we had them out before bed the last night. The next morning we waited until 9:30 to leave the ship easily finding our bags and getting a cab. Unfortunately I took a wrong bag, but figured it out at the curbside and with only a little difficulty made it back inside to exchange it for the right one. Fortunately the owner of the bag never knew it was missing! It was painful to be leaving the ship, but debarkation was painless.

 

CC Meet & Greet:

We met some wonderful people who we again ran into over and over during the cruise. We even had the opportunity to “Walk For The Cure” and be HMC next door neighbors with Lynn and Barry. It was great meeting each and every one of you at the meet and greet and throughout the cruise. We hope to run into you again on future cruises!

 

Conclusion:

Clearly, we had a great time! As most HAL CCers say, the crew is incredible! Fortunately for me my wife saw standard veranda cabins and said they would be acceptable for cruises with our kids, so while the suite was wonderful, we will be able to cruise again before 10 more years pass. She has her eye on a Disney cruise in the upcoming year or two, but I don’t doubt we’ll be back on HAL again.

 

Thank you to all the HAL CCers for the great information in advance of our cruise! It really made the difference!

 

With warmest regards,

 

Jim

[cccole]

What a great review. I will be in an SA suite in February with our teens. Wine mistress also had nothing but praise for the ship's crew.

 

Was the sail-away party festive and fun?

 

On Grand Turk - did you have beach time after the power snorkel? My son will be diving on Grand Turk and St. Thomas and the girls and I will be snorkeling.

 

Did you hear of them running out of passes for the thermal suite and pool? I know we will enjoy that. And I was hoping they would have the hot stone massage. My son really enjoys that after diving also.

 

We are from the L.A. area and are looking forward to the ports and activities offered on this ship and itinerary. I will show the kids your review so that they know what to look forward to. THANK YOU!

[diveoz]

What a great review. I will be in an SA suite in February with our teens. Wine mistress also had nothing but praise for the ship's crew.

 

Was the sail-away party festive and fun?

 

On Grand Turk - did you have beach time after the power snorkel? My son will be diving on Grand Turk and St. Thomas and the girls and I will be snorkeling.

 

Did you hear of them running out of passes for the thermal suite and pool? I know we will enjoy that. And I was hoping they would have the hot stone massage. My son really enjoys that after diving also.

 

We are from the L.A. area and are looking forward to the ports and activities offered on this ship and itinerary. I will show the kids your review so that they know what to look forward to. THANK YOU!

 

It was clearly my pleasure writing it! :D

 

Grand Turk - After the power snorkel we headed back to the ship and stayed. If I remember correctly, we would have had about an hour and a half to do something, but we were ready for lunch and a nap... remember, no kids with us! ;)

 

I really enjoyed the sail away on the Lido and found it to be quite festive.

 

I bought the thermal suite passes in the morning the day after embarkation. I don't know if they ran out after that, but it was at times tough to find a lounger.

 

The stone massage was great! Maybe after dive would have been better, but I took the slot available as I waited a little to long to book it. I loved it and wouldn't hesitate to do it again. BTW, it was my first massage and I'm hooked!

 

Thank you for the nice comments regarding my review!

 

Feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

 

Jim

[CTBob]

I enjoyed reading your chronicles leading up to the cruise and am glad that you had the wonderful time that you put so much effort into.

 

Bob

[diveoz]

I enjoyed reading your chronicles leading up to the cruise and am glad that you had the wonderful time that you put so much effort into.

 

Bob

 

Thank you Bob! The buildup was almost as great as the actual cruise!

[diveoz]

Maxout, Lisa and Starysacz, I just saw your responses to the thread I posted yesterday. Rather than bring the thread back to the top, I will say thank you here!

 

Lisa, I find myself fortunate that my DW can envision a standard verandah after the suite life!