Zuiderdam 11/6 Review

[kelelmel]

Embarkation

Smooth, quick and easy

 

Cabin Accommodations

Great! We were in Cat. SS. Spacious, plenty of storage, nice balcony and clean.

 

Ship Décor

Tasteful, but looked older (worn) than it’s age.

 

Ship Layout

Totally confusing (IMO). Not enough open space and not enough outside deck space.

 

Overall cleanliness

Fair. The ship was probably immaculate, however, it didn’t appear to be due to it’s premature wear.

 

Crew

Everyone I encountered was friendly and helpful. Crew always had a smile and a pleasant greeting for us.

 

Lido

I especially liked the layout, although others were complaining there food got cold before they finished visiting every station. This was not a problem for me and, as a matter of fact, was better for me because I usually would only visit one or two stations and not over eat. Seems to me that when all of the food is in one large station together you tend to grab a little of everything because it is in front of you and end up with a mountain of food. I thought the quality of food in the Lido was average and I never had any difficulty finding a seat. My favorite food in the Lido was the pizza, it always smelt so good and usually tasted pretty good but was a little spicy (which I liked).

 

Dining Room

I ate at 8:00pm in the upper dining room. I am confirming that there is, most certainly, a vibration in the dining room. Water and such was NOT splashing out of our glasses, however, it was quite obvious to myself and my table mates. It was not obnoxious and truly did not even bother me or anyone else, from what I could tell. Service was good, it was slow and I kind of prefer it that way, so I don’t feel rushed. Waiter, Asst. Waiter and Head Waiter all worked very hard every night. I have never before seen a Head Waiter work as hard as ours did. They all did an excellent job. I found the menu selections to be somewhat obscure, however, food was fair to good. Some people on the boards had said the food was bland, I did not find that to be the case and I like spicy food.

 

Room Service

Good and timely. We ate breakfast on our balcony on multiple occasions and lunch once. Food and selection was pretty good. They even brought us home fries, at our request, for breakfast. OJ was very fresh. For lunch I ordered the Thai Vegetarian Wrap which was very good but *WARNING* very spicy.

 

Pinnacle Grill

EXCELLENT. Dined there the first and last evening of the cruise and thoroughly enjoyed it both times. Very intimate atmosphere and very good service. Our steaks were cooked perfectly and all accompanying food was delicious. The Volcano was everything I hoped it would be. I don’t think people hyped this restaurant up too much, I felt it lived up to all of my expectations.

 

Windstar Café

Excellent. Price was very reasonable, selection was good and coffee was great. They also have a card that entitles you to a free drink of your choice after you purchase four, which we used on our final morning instead of paying cash (since your onboard account is closed). Unfortunately they did not offer this card to us until we were three days into our trip and had already purchased half a dozen cups of coffee.

 

Gym/Spa

Gym was well equipped and empty every time I was there. We only purchased one spa service, the couples massage for $220.00. I found it relaxing, however, my fiancée has back problems which they were aware of and offered to do a deep tissue massage, and they did the same thing to him as they did to me. It was a lot of rubbing oil around and not a lot of massaging. It was ok but definitely not worth the price and tip.

 

Shows

I enjoyed most of the shows and felt they offered a nice variety. Joel Mason was absolutely fabulous. So glad I had the opportunity to see his show, as that was his last one for a couple of months. Julie Barr (I think that was her name) was quite amusing. Edge the juggler and the magician were both enjoyable. The Showtime cast of singers and dancers were good. It was a very emotional final show, as a lot of the dancers and singers had completed their contracts and were leaving. Lots of tears. Dane, our cruise director, did a fine job. He did not, however, stop crying. It made me realize how much like family many of them become to each other and how difficult it must be to say good bye.

 

CONTINUED...

[kelelmel]

Itinerary

Half Moon Cay was beautiful as promised. We slept in and did not get on the island till almost noon, so we did not do a great deal, however, the island was very pretty.

 

St. Thomas seemed to be nice, however, very busy. We went to Coki Beach and did some snorkeling. Beach was pretty busy, as there were half a dozen ships in port, but it was fun. Purchased some liquor for a good price.

 

Tortola also seemed to be pretty nice. We did the Virgin Gorda and Baths excursion, which was beautiful. Highly recommend it. We encountered some bad weather but we still thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Nassau , too, was very busy but we enjoyed it. The stingray snorkel excursion was not available (due to hurricane??) so we opted for the Snorkel Bahamas excursion. This was one of the best excursions we have ever done. It took quite some time before we got to our final snorkel site but once there it was well worth it. We had the opportunity to swim with Caribbean Reef Shark and everyone did it. It was incredible. Hope my pictures came out good. The trip back was long due to all of the traffic but, again, definitely worth it. Would also highly recommend this excursion, maybe not in November though because the water was cold!!

 

Ooops, almost forgot the absolute best site we saw while in Nassau was the Octopus, the largest privately owned yacht in the world. The Octopus, as I am sure many of you know is owned by Paul Allen and what a site to behold. I did not take a picture, because I am a fool, but won’t soon forget what she looked like. She was docked right in front of us and did NOT pale in comparison to the cruise ships. It seemed everyone was absorbed with the size and beauty of her. Bet they could set up a tour of the Octopus as an excursion and charge a small fortune and generate a great turn out!

 

Fellow Cruisers

Very diverse. We were joined by people our parent’s age at our table and they were great company. Most everyone was very friendly and we met a lot of great people. There were others our age (30ish), not a lot, but age did not seem to matter everyone had a great time. On 70’s night the club (Northern Lights) was packed and people of all ages came out and danced. There were very few children, hardly saw any. Did not see much pushing and shoving or complaining amongst fellow PAX.

 

Weather, Seas and Travel Experience

I don’t think I will travel in November (or other cold months) again. Trip to Ft. Lauderdale was uneventful and the first couple of days on the ship were smooth sailing. Toward the later part of the week, however, things got a bit rough. Hit some high seas and winds and ambulating around the ship became a difficult task. Wound up getting up in the middle of the night, while at sea, to secure some items in my cabin because everything was thrashing around. Pools were closed for the day while at sea and although I attempted to finally take in some sun on the Lido deck was unable to tolerate the winds. Everything kept flying away and it was a bit too cold for me. They switched around the show schedule since the final dancing show was a dance intensive one and they didn’t want to have to alter it due to the rough seas. Our flight back was delayed on the ground due to winds and in the air they kept us in holding patterns. But we made it home safely approximately 8:30 last night.

 

Disembarkation

Terrible, I absolutely hated getting off the ship but that, of course, was not the cruise lines fault. Honestly, it was pretty good. This was the first time we were allowed to stay in our cabin and that was great. It was very relaxing and was easy to get off of the ship. Once out of the ship it was a bit more chaotic getting everyone out of the port. We were one of the last off and finding our luggage was a snap.

 

Overall Experience

Good. I would cruise HAL again as soon as I would RCCL or Carnival. I don’t think HAL has set them self apart from the other major lines (at least not on the Zuiderdam) but I had a great time. I think, however, I am going to try Celebrity next time, expand my horizons!

 

I can also confirm that there are some hot and cold spots on the Zuiderdam. Our cabin was cool and comfortable the whole time except for one evening (during rough seas) where they may have been experiencing a/c difficulties. We also busted a fan belt and had to evacuate a portion of deck five due to smoke but the problem was quickly resolved and forgotten about within minutes. This ship also creaked more than any other ship I have been on. I thought it was my imagination (or me being picky) till others said the same thing to me unprompted.

 

Lois, you will be happy to hear that there was a sole cruiser who’s table was empty one evening and the waiter moved her to our table. It was a pleasure dining with her.

 

Here’s a couple of my favorite things:

Iced Tea in the Lido

Honky Dory (although he, initially, didn’t remember our names, we forgave him)

Pizza in the Lido

Salad bar in the Lido (especially the Greek Salad, yummy)

Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Sugar cookies (never tried them but my fiancée swore they were the best)Sushi

Volcano in the Pinnacle

Automatic doors on public restrooms (cool)

Real hand towels in the public restrooms

Pinnacle Grill

Yum Yum Joe

Martini of the day

Octopus

Breakfast on our balcony

DVD player

Caramel Latte from the Windstar Café

Our cabin & cabin steward, Buddy

Motion sensing lights in Northern Lights

Joel Mason

 

Ok enough already. Sorry this is so long, but there was a lot I wanted to share and I am sure I still missed stuff. I would be happy to try to answer any questions or comments.

 

~Kelly

 

PS - for those wondering, no Splenda on the ship. Glad I brought my own.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home.

Thanks for the wonderful report. Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

You seemed to have enjoyed so many of the things that most of us enjoy on the HAL ships.

[x lindsay x]

Automatic doors on public restrooms (cool)

The first time I encountered those automatic doors I got really freaked out because I thought someone was opening the door for me from inside and then there was no one there.

[Tak8]

Glad to hear the many positive items. Do you remember the times you were in each port?

[RuthC]

Wow! That was a fast report! Thank you for a thorough one, too.

Now it's time to get back to real life. :(

And plan the next voyage! :)

[OCruisers]

kelelmel .... Loved the "lay-out" of your review -- very informative and easy to read!!! Thanks so much for your time to tell us all about it!

 

Happy Sailing! OCruisers :)

[kelelmel]

Lindsay, that is the same thing that happened to me. Freaked me out.

 

Tak8, when we got aboard there was a notice waiting for us informing us of a slight itinerary change. They swapped Tortola and St. Thomas due to port congestion. I took the notice with me because it had the port times on it and I like to keep all of that stuff. Now I believe the times below reflect when the ship departs, however, I think we had to be on board approx. 1/2 hour prior to departure. Here it is:

 

Sun.) HMC 8a - 4p

Tue.) St. Thomas 8a - 9p

Wed) Tortola 7a - 5p

Fri.) Nassau 12p - 7p

 

RuthC, I wanted to do it quick before I started forgetting little details.

 

OCruisers and everyone else, can't wait to start planning my next one, however, will likely wait till after the holidays. Thanks for your kind remarks and for all the information you provided prior to my departure. Now that I am back, I hope I can do the same.

 

~Kelly :)

[Lokalona]

I was on the Zuiderdam cruise Nov. 6-13....I can tell you now I'd never set foot on it again, it was like a creaking old lady in need of an extreme makeover!

 

I felt the service on HAL was quite possibly the worst I have ever expierenced on a cruise. With the exception of Hunky Dory, a wonderful guy who makes it a point to remember your name and greet you daily, and a few others I felt like I was on a "do it yourself" cruise line. Food was mediocre most nights in the dining room, good at Lido and the cafe. My table was on the lower Vista dining level and the vibration was so bad no one could carry on a conversation at our table.

 

The shows were average at best with the exception of the finale show and the juggler. Judy (Julie?) Barr the comedian told widespread interent jokes that anyone with internet access has been forwarding onward for a year. She tried hard and I laughed when she did her own routine and left the used up jokes out. She is better doing her own stuff. I felt Dane the cruise director lacked any kind of direction and he was panicked in his announcement of the fire on board the first full day at sea. Yes people, there was a fire and the fire response team did a quick job of handling the emergancy, which was caused by an A/C fan belt. Routing the passengers was not efficient and there were many confused people stuck in the corridors while the panicked cruise director kept us all posted via PA system. I felt this was a lesson only learned in the actual process of an emergancy and now they may have a better idea what to do next time.

 

They switched the Tortola and St. Thomas days true, but that was not really a problem for anyone that I noticed.

 

My cabin filled with raw sewage as did the ones on both sides of us on the Gale Force wind day. I notified the front desk immediately and no one cleaned it up for 7 hours! My cabin steward was puking in my toilet trying to clean it up and I told him to go lay down! I cleaned it up myself. The very rocky day at sea scared many, as a seasoned cruiser I was not scared but a bit concerned when Capt. John Scott didn't bother to come on the announcement until 9:00am to explain the situation. Surely all were awake as it began at 3:00 am and by 6:30 am the ship was really rocking, people were hangining onto the rails to walk anywhere. Many many were very ill. Not HAL's fault, but it was not appropriate to have the captian not assure people he had the situation under control. This was a very rough day for the crew as well, many of them were ill.

 

I have several other complaints which are on the way to customer relations as we speak. I feel HAL has lost it's service oriented reputation and I was highly dissapointed in this ship and it's staff. Poor management is all I can figure and most of the crew seemed unhappy with their job, and I asked almost all of the ones I came in contact with. I feel the pre-tipping policy has made them less service oriented and they seemed to be "going thru the motions" I understand the reason behind the pre-tipping but feel if the employees don't seem happy then why go the extra mile to make the guest happy...I talked with many passengers, and they felt there really wasn't enough to do on the ship, I am not talking teenagers, because there were few and I felt so sorry for the few of them, they were bored out of their minds!

 

Let me add some good points as I hate to be so negative;

 

.The real hand towels in the restrooms were very nice

.Hunky Dory and Okey Dokey were fun

.Tender service was efficient

.Embarkation and disembarkation went very well

.The Flambe' dessert in the lounge nightly was wonderful

.Jerry the wine steward was great

.The padded loungers were comfy

.The BBQ by the pool was a good idea, but I didn't know about it until too late

.Yes the Octopus was very cool, made you wish you could Jump ship!

 

Most of the passengers we met were also dissapointed but no one was grouchy or pushy with each other, we all had "lived" through the storm so we did have some funny stories to tell about that day. I helped many get across the room as they were elderly and already had trouble getting around. There was a lot of concern for those not handling this day very well, the crew that were not ill were tying to run things as usual on a skeleton staff. So Kudos to them for their service on this day, I can't imagine trying to carry so many hot cups of coffee and trays across the Lido deck that morning (I was up there at 6:30 am)

 

In closing I can say that HAL has not impressed me and I will stick with RCI or one of the other lines in the future.

[dakrewser]

I see that this is your very first post to Cruise Critic, welcome. Perhaps you could tell us a bit about yourself, and your cruising experience, so we can better judge your review.

[super_grover]

I would be particularly interested to know if you were traveling with any teenagers or if this was your observation of others, as I will be traveling with a teenager when I go in Feb.

[tommy]

We also expierienced some of the same problems especially in the dining room,Iam sure its due to the cutbacks in personnel. We still had a good time. TOM

[teencruiser18]

I'm a teenager, and had a blast on the Zuiderdam earlier this year. If you have any specific questions about teenage activities, e-mail me @ genius118899@yahoo.com. Lokalona, I was surprised you said the service was sub-par. After reading these boards, I went on the ship looking for bad service and poor food. I seriously couldn't find any.

Kerry

[Lokalona]

As you may see I joined CC in March 2003...I have not posted in a long time but go ahead and do a search, I do know that this site has been revised and many older posts are gone. I even posted in the roll call for this cruise a long time ago with not but a few responses...As for teenagers I have 5 kids, 22,21,16,15,14...none however were on this cruise as it was a cruise for my mom and mother in law and my DH had a medical conference on board. I am a seasoned cruiser and this was my 10th cruise. I usually cruise RCI, and have done several Carnival and NCL as well. As for the teenagers there were 6 on the entire ship according to the 2 I spoke with. They told me they would actually rather be in school than on this trip! They loved the shore days but sea days were both bad weather and boring for them. They were very well behaved I might add and tried their best to put on a good face. It is always more fun for the teens if it is during school break times then there are plenty, this is an off time. The dinning room vibrations were definately noticeable on the lower level. I guess it is to be expected from the ships rear placement of the dining room. I gave the staff Kudos for the bad day at sea, but felt the captian needed to have someone announce all was under control sooner than he did, there was real fear among a few (there were some that had life vest with them at Lido breakfast) I felt bad for them.

I have been on quite a few wonderful cruises,one or two not so perfect but still fun and by far Zuiderdam being the worst. I wanted my mother to expierence a wonderful time on her first...I choose HAL for that reason and to have a conference on the ship seemed to work out all the better. If you want a glowing review of the Zuiderdam then it won't come from me...My mom however had fun as she had nothing to compare it to...

[cruise_nut480]

Lokalona

 

I would agree with you 100%. I was also on the 11/6-11/13 cruise. I have been on a number of HAL cruises over the past couple of years ( about 7) I was even on the Zud last year. I can tell you hte I will not be booking any cruises on HAL in the future. I feel that the level of service has gone done. The treand seems to still be in the downard direction. There really is nothing positive i can say about my cruise. Oh I guess I can say the Fire crew did there job. It really was very strange that the captain did not say anyting on the PA about the weather. You would think he should of given everyone a warning about the ruff weather that we were going to run into on Thursday.

The lido deck dining was very poor. The slections were poor. At dinner one night they had a greek salid on the menu. The water asked me what type of dressing I wanted on my salid. I asked him what is the standard dressing that is put on a greek salid. His answer was that they only had the standard dressing. So I had a greek salid with Thousand Islands dressing.

I guess in the future I will go back to sailing on Celiberty Cruises.

I have spoken to a number of other passengers and they all had the same feelings as I have.

As far as the tipping goes or the fourced tipping. I felt that the level of service I received was not up to my standard, I had my tip reduced from $10 per day to $8.00. I beleive this will send a clear message to HAL. If more passangers would do this, Then HAL will fix the problem.

 

 

Larry

[Lokalona]

As for the "fire" this happened on day 2 at sea, it was in my cabin.The 5th floor forward, did HAL do a thing about the putrid smoke that filled my room and the ones on either side??? NOPE, they offered to dry clean 2 days worth of clothing and I had 5 days of vacation left. I wanted moved or all my clothes cleaned, sorry no can do....then raw sewaged fills my cabin 2 days later and another "Sorry" nothing we can do and no one shows up to clean it up. Only after my travel agent, who was aboard, complained I got a bottle of cheap red wine and an "apology letter" that stated on and on about their wonderful water treatment plant and occasional odor is normal...odor OK maybe, but black raw sewage spewing out of the floor drain all over the bathroom!!! This is a health hazzard, not an inconvienence. My steward "Sapto" was getting off ship for holiday on Saturday, he said it is not the first time my cabin and the few next to me have had sewage leaks.... I understand no credit can be handled on board, I have sent my complaints to Seattle and have also read that this is also a customer service nightmare. I have half a mind to call my Visa and dispute my charge...I bet I get a response then!

I hate to be so negative but I really don't want anyone elses vacation totally ruined by their lack of service and the fact that no one seems to care..Vacations are anxiously awaited and the $$ spent is not easy for people to come by. I could see if this was an isolated incident, but it seems the more I talked to the passengers on the ship the more dissapointed people there were....I am glad a few of you had good servers and good food. I am glad the cabins were nice for some of you...my clothes are at a "trusted" cleaner and the bill is going to go to Seattle as well.

[KSCnCA]

Lokalona

 

As far as the tipping goes or the fourced tipping. I felt that the level of service I received was not up to my standard, I had my tip reduced from $10 per day to $8.00. I beleive this will send a clear message to HAL. If more passangers would do this, Then HAL will fix the problem.

 

 

Larry

Unfortunately, this probably will not be enough of a message to HAL, IMO. I would recommend a letter sent via U.S. Mail, preferably sent certified or return receipt. There are thousands of people who cruise HAL and if you want your message to be clear you should state it as directly and clearly as possible to the highest level. That is the only way to get the message to those who are able to FIX THE PROBLEM!

[the2ofus]

Lokalona, what cabin were you in? Since cabins in that area apparently have a history of sewage problems you'd be doing future pax a favor in helping them avoid these cabins.

 

Sorry to hear your were disappointed, but glad your mother, having nothing to compare it to, enjoyed the trip.

 

Hopefully you will get some satisfaction from HAL in Seattle.

[Ziggy7]

kelelmel,

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us :) Glad you had a good time and welcome home :)

[MandyGirl]

Sun.) HMC 8a - 4p

Tue.) St. Thomas 8a - 9p

Wed) Tortola 7a - 5p

Fri.) Nassau 12p - 7p

Kelly -

This is the schedule you ended up having on board? Definitely St Thomas on Tuesday and Tortola on Wednesday?

We go next week and just want to make sure our non-ship excursions are correct for St Thomas and Tortola (one being we ordered another wedding cake to return to our wedding beach on St John - want to make sure I have it on the correct day). The schedule above is what HAL is currently showing for the Nov 20 Zui (five ships total in St Thomas on Tuesday and just us in Tortola on Wednesday).

Many thanks!

~ Mandy

[Lokalona]

Lokalona, what cabin were you in? Since cabins in that area apparently have a history of sewage problems you'd be doing future pax a favor in helping them avoid these cabins.

 

Sorry to hear your were disappointed, but glad your mother, having nothing to compare it to, enjoyed the trip.

 

Hopefully you will get some satisfaction from HAL in Seattle.

 

 

Thanks for your comments, we were in Cabin 5050, this was a convienent location right near the elevator and we picked it for this reason as my mother's cabin was just below and a few down, 4042. We wanted her to have easy access to us and to the elevator. Both were balcony cabins and both were clean upon arrival, my mother's sink didn't drain well, but not a problem for her. She had a great room attendant who made sure she was taken care of since she was alone. We put in a good word for him on our comment card.

The cabins next to us had sewage too and their cabins filled with putrid smoke from the fan belt issue as well. The one time I saw the guest in the other cabin she was also trying to get help cleaning up.

[Chris uk]

Of the two reviews posted in this thread I would agree mainly with Kelelmel's review. The ship was tired. The feelings I got from the crew was that the ship is too big for camaraderie and they were fed up with doing the same trip each week.

 

The storm was bad but we were warned. We caught a fish on our balcony on deck 7!. Both my wife and I slept through it.

 

As I have said in another thread the vibration both in the vista and lido restaurants was very noticable and certainly on the first night deeply unpleasant.

 

We were evacuated due to the smoke incident or should I say that I was. The fire cheif for our deck grabbed me when I opened the door and would have happily left my wife sitting on the balcony if I had not refused to go without her. This whole incident was badly handled by all the officers and staff and made me somewhat wonder how things would have been if it had been a proper fire.

 

There definitely been quite a bit of cost cutting since the last time we cruised HAL (2002 Rotterdam) but here again I paid a lot less per day than then. They have to watch this or their cut above the others will disappear.

 

I think of the acts we saw Ege, the juggler, was by far the best. Joel whilst good made you realise how brilliant Elton John really is.

 

 

How about the Octopus for the next cruise!!!!!!.

 

I am willing to answer other questions if you have any as this is only a quick post and I am suffering from Jetlag having only got home to the UK 2 hours ago.

[peaches from georgia]

Welcome to the Board, Chris. :D Hopefully you will continue to post your observations, both positive and negative. Most of us appreciate having newcomers on here for some fresh air and a new slant on the HAL cruising experience.

[elmorejj]

lknick, what does Sandhurst have to do with a cruise ship?.....jean (another Brit) :cool:

[dakrewser]

Of the two reviews posted in this thread I would agree mainly with Kelelmel's review. The ship was tired. The feelings I got from the crew was that the ship is too big for camaraderie and they were fed up with doing the same trip each week.

Thanks for the well-balanced review. Your idea of the ship seeming "tired" goes well with others' impression that maintenance is being put off or delayed - or simply not being done.

 

-dave