Back from Zuiderdam-Eastern-Nov 13 to 20

[LetsGoAgain]

Hello All,
I am new to this board, but read it everyday before we left on our cruise. I found the information very helpful as we had not cruised on the Zuiderdam before. I have information from all of the daily programs if you would like, as well as Half Moon Cay(the two canvas cabanas were not available during our visit), as well as info on Club HAL for teens. We were very lucky in that we had won this cruise playing Bingo on the Volendam in Alaska. We were also very lucky in obtaining an upgrade at the pier from an A to an SS. Everything was incredible, right from the short embarkation lines, to the wonderful food, entertainment and places we visited. The staff were great and went the extra distance to make our vacation enjoyable. We found the food in the Vista Dining Room very tasty, especially enjoyed the soups. Our steward Tri and his helper Dodo were very friendly and helpful. All of the staff on the ship made an effort to get to know my teenaged son(or it sure seemed that way! as they were always wondering where he was if he missed dinner, or the Club HAL activities, or Bingo......). The ship was nice and clean, never seemed crowded, and we found we always had lots to go do(just not enough time to do it in). If you have questions I'll try to answer them.

[localady]

Letsgoagain-

Great to hear you had a nice cruise on the Z.:D

I would be interested in information on the Teen program as we have our teen boys joining us on the other Z (Zaandam) over Easter break. Any information you can provide would be appreciated greatly! Thanks again!:cool:

[mattR]

LetsGoAgain Hello glad to hear that you had a good cruise:) Would love to see the daily activites if you are able to post them or e-mail them to me.

[flamingogal]

Good for you. Isn't it great to have a really good cruise and your kids enjoyed it too! :D

My kids ( 13, 15, 16 ) had a great time. The staff really made them feel welcome (probably more than the adults). Everyone remembered their names and talked to them especially. That made a difference.

It is most uncomfortable at our house to talk about cruises. The kids think we are the worst parents around because they don't go on "all the cruises you do". :mad:

Tough! :p

[LetsGoAgain]

Here are the Teens activities that my son received in his blue plastic CD type cover. He did not attend all of them as he was busy hangin out with us, and a few of them were cancelled because the space was taken by one of the 2 large conference groups that were on our cruise:



Saturday-FLL
10PM Welcome Aboard Meeting, 10:15PM Chillin' with Friends, 10:45PM Scavenger Hunt
Sunday-Half Moon Cay
11:30PM Island Volleyball, 5PM Capture The Flag, 10PM Maffia, 10:30PM Adverteasers, 11PM Movie Time
Monday-At Sea
11AM Funky Hunt, 2PM Caribbean Cards, 3PM Arcade Raid, 4PM Brain Freeze, 5PM Name That Tune, 10PM Casino Night, 11PM Teen Karaoke
Tuesday-St. Thomas
5PM DDR Dancing, 9PM The Match Game, 10:15 Show Time, 11:30PM Psychiatrist
Wednesday-Tortola
5PM Movie Trivia, 5:30PM Catch Phrase, 9PM Guesstures, 10PM What would you do for a buck?, 11PM DDRA Dance Competition
Thursday-Sea Day
11AM Ping Pong Tournament, 11:30AM Art Attack, 2PM Basketball Around The World, 3PM Pictionary Challenge, 4PM Cryptic Clue Hunt, 5PM Celebrity Heads, 10PM Face Your Fears, 10:45PM Pool Party
Friday-Nassau
5PM The Zuiderdam Challenge, 10PM The Newly Met Game, 10:30PM T-Shirt Grafitti, 11:30PM Teen Disco

Most activities were held in the WaveRunner Room, Arcade, Queen's Lounge, Crow's Nest, Vista Lounge, Pool, Lido. My son was disappointed that there did not seem to be the same number of "prizes" handed out for the games as he had received previously on the Volendam.

We had booked a Cabana, but like many others we did not actually get to use it, as it was given to someone else who had booked earlier than us. We were not able to get any "freebies" from the ShoreEx folks either in it's place. We had also booked the Sea Kayak excursion on Half Moon Cay, and even though there were 12 people booked for it, they told us it was cancelled only when we got to the meeting point, kind of disappointing as we may have booked something else if we had known.

We also found that a lot of the crew took the time to get to know my son's name, which we thought was pretty cool. Our son is pretty well-behaved and quite responsible, so he spent some time each day wandering around the ship on his own, playing at the arcade, cruising thru the shops and eating ice cream. Since the teen activities tended to be quite late in the evening, it was nice for us as we had the 8:30 seating and could then go to the show, lounge, or casino.

[LetsGoAgain]

LetsGoAgain Hello glad to hear that you had a good cruise:) Would love to see the daily activites if you are able to post them or e-mail them to me.
I'll see what I can do about the daily bulletings. I am not that technologically advanced in my computer system, so will see what I can do to get them scanned and sent to you.

[mattR]

Thanks if you have access to a fax you could fax them to me in Edmonton or e-mail them if you want:)

[DoctorFeelgood]

Lately the Z seems to have had a lot of people saying "it's not the way it used to be". Do you have any thoughts about that?

I'm going on the New Year's Cruise.

[spcl4cs_gal]

You mentioned that the two canvass cabanas were not available when you were at HMC...was the green cabana up and running? That is the one I am waitlisted on for March.

[lyndamr]

Hello,

So glad you had a great cruise. We are reading many other boards on Zuiderdam reviews talking about the cabins and the public areas are too warm and on some decks people smell sewage in their cabins in the bathroom, have you experienced this?

We booked our first balcony cabin, did you have a balcony (we booked 5006) and wondering how the room was regarding balcony size, we are the third cabin forward heard its too windy to sit outside when the ship is moving and that the ship gets way quiet after the main show, can you answer any of these questions if you felt the same way?

Do they have soda cards for the kids? I heard they have a gameroom for kids (mine will be 13 and 16) was it large enough for all the kids and did they have a decent assortment of games for them to occupy themselves? Can we purchase "play cards" (Princess had these where you purchase a specific $ amount for the children to play with).

I thank you very much. Lynda

[sail7seas]

Lately the Z seems to have had a lot of people saying "it's not the way it used to be". Do you have any thoughts about that?

I'm going on the New Year's Cruise.
If by "Z" you mean Zuiderdam (rather than Zaandam), I think that vast majority of folks are saying they had a wonderful time on that ship. When she first debuted, there were a number of complaints about all sorts of things. In the last many months, most folks are saying they think her a great ship. We have loved five cruises on her; the most recent being last month.

[tommy]

If by "Z" you mean Zuiderdam (rather than Zaandam), I think that vast majority of folks are saying they had a wonderful time on that ship. When she first debuted, there were a number of complaints about all sorts of things. In the last many months, most folks are saying they think her a great ship. We have loved five cruises on her; the most recent being last month.
Not necessarily true.If you read and I know you do many recent post there have been problems.And AS I posted in a reply from customer relations they even stated that they have had many simular complaints that I had,and they were working to rectify them. TOM

[sail7seas]

:D Which means all will be 'Hunky Dory"!!! ;)

[localady]

Thanks to you Letsgoagain!!! You very much alleviated my fears of potentially bored teens. Especially in the evening, it seems there are things going on that the kids would enjoy!:D The fact is bored kids cause problems........:eek:

Flamingogal- We hear the same stuff from our teens.....why can't we go everytime????? My answer is the same....tough:p Sometimes I add a "when you retire like DH has then you too can travel !":cool:

[LetsGoAgain]

Hello,

So glad you had a great cruise. We are reading many other boards on Zuiderdam reviews talking about the cabins and the public areas are too warm and on some decks people smell sewage in their cabins in the bathroom, have you experienced this?

We booked our first balcony cabin, did you have a balcony (we booked 5006) and wondering how the room was regarding balcony size, we are the third cabin forward heard its too windy to sit outside when the ship is moving and that the ship gets way quiet after the main show, can you answer any of these questions if you felt the same way?

Do they have soda cards for the kids? I heard they have a gameroom for kids (mine will be 13 and 16) was it large enough for all the kids and did they have a decent assortment of games for them to occupy themselves? Can we purchase "play cards" (Princess had these where you purchase a specific $ amount for the children to play with).

I thank you very much. Lynda
Hello,
We did not encounter any sewage smells anywhere around the ship or in our cabin, even when the porcelain cracked on the toilet in our bathroom(the whole toilet was replaced very quickly when we were in St. Thomas). I did find that the smell of garlic was quite overpowering some days as we came off the elevators-midship-deck 8(drifting down from the lido). I personally found that the Lido buffett was quite warm some days, most noticeable on embarkation day, but that makes sense I suppose considering all the cooking that goes on there! We also tended to avoid the lido pool as we found it to be quite stuffy and smoky, but that was our choice. We had cabin 8047 and were more midship. The balcony was a lovely size, with 2 chairs, a table, 2 wicker-type chairs with ottomans and a small side table. Did not find a problem with it being windy out there, but a couple of times the chairs were covered with a fine coating of sea salt(must of been windy during the night). I enjoyed taking afternoon naps out on the balcony as it was usually shady and a nice temperature.
Since I am a person that is more "fluffy" the others I did not find any of the rooms too cold, but I did hear a few remarks from fellow passengers that they found the dining room and lounge a little chilly.
We did purchase a soda card for our son on the first day, I believe it cost $35 and came with a coke themed drink container. He is not a huge soft drink person, but at $1.75 a drink he did get his money's worth.
As for the games room, I must confess that I never actually entered the WaveRunner room, but it did seem to be a good size. I know that my son spoke to some of the Club Hall directors about the upcoming Thanksgiving week cruise, and they indicated that they expected almost 300 kids to be onboard, and would have to spread some of the activities and groups around the ship. The arcades were not spectacular but he found enough to play, but there were no play cards that we saw. There were board games in the library that you could borrow, but we just didn't have time. Since the TV channels are limited, he did use the DVD player in our cabin a bit, but suprisingly since he is a computer nut at home, he had no interest in accessing the computer on the ship. There was also ping pong tables at the lido pool, a huge chess board at the aft pool, the basketbal court and tennis court that he spent time at.
I do know that some evenings on the sports deck it was really really windy, so it would make sense that the cabins at the forward would also experience a bit more wind. We were supposed to be in Cabin 8029, and when we went to collect our shore excursion info from the cabin the first day, it seemed to be a nice size for the 3 of us, and the balcony was alright too. I like having a balcony of my own simply because I enjoy being able to experience the fresh air and the sights in quite and privacy. I am sure you will enjoy yours as well. Hope this helps you.

[LetsGoAgain]

You mentioned that the two canvass cabanas were not available when you were at HMC...was the green cabana up and running? That is the one I am waitlisted on for March.
I know that the information we received stated that 7 of the 9 cabanas were operational, and I believe that the orange a dark blue were the canvas, then yours should be OK. I did not look at them too closely as I was too sad about not getting our cabana. I see that you are heading out on the Volendam in Alaska in 2005, I am soooooo envious. Our first cruise was on the Volendam in Alaska and it is still my favorite ship, I keep trying to convince my family it's time to go to Alaska again, so hopefully I will be able to.

[LetsGoAgain]

Lately the Z seems to have had a lot of people saying "it's not the way it used to be". Do you have any thoughts about that?

I'm going on the New Year's Cruise.
Having never been on the Zuiderdam before I can't really say what it was like before. I do know that on HAL in general things are not as they used to be. We only received one canvas bag this time instead of one per person like we have in the past. I have already mentioned about the reduction in children's prizes. On the other hand this was the first cruise where I have seen sooo many giveaways during bingo. By attending Bingo, The Great Zuiderdam Giveaway, Game Show Mania, The Shipbuilding Contest, we came home with $1,000 worth of free art, free cruise ship cronicle video, free film developing, 2 HAL picture frames, 1 bottle of champagne, luggage tags and belts. I found that the staff in the dining room were outstanding(we had table 149 main lower dining) We met a couple of great cooks in the lido and the tables were always cleaned up promptly and the rest of the folks working there were quite friendly. This was the same as we experienced on the Volendam in the past, and to some extent the Zaandam. Our cabin steward was wonderful, we would only see him briefly once a day, but he worked very hard. Things were quite after the late show at night, but that's what I like about HAL(even though we were "kicked" out of the casino a couple of times because they were closing). We are not interested in partying and drinking to all hours. As it was we were usually out and about until 1 or 2AM each night. The ShoreEx folks could have been more helpful, but oh well. The cruise director Dane was great, quite funny and kept things entertaining. Julie Barr provided the late night comedy act in the Queens Lounge, and I have not laughed so much or so hard in a long time as I did that night. We also saw Scotty one of the Asst. Cruise Directors who we have run into twice on the Volendam, and he remembered my husband as they performed on the Rockin Oldies together. The food was as plentiful as in previous cruises, and I do find that the individual food stations are very efficient and did not experience any problems with lines or getting a table to sit at. The Captain of the ship did a great job, everyone seems to be happy. We experienced a few nights of quite a bit of motion, and the TV said it was only "moderate" seas, but the Captain confessed at the coctail party the next night that they were actually about 11 foot waves. Considering how easily I experience motion sickness, I only had to take Sea Calm this one evening, and the next sea day when we felt this again, I had no problems(except once you hit land you can't seem to walk straight-keep wanting to bounce of the walls!) Overall I found the cruise to be on par with previous ones, just a bit different.

[spcl4cs_gal]

I know that the information we received stated that 7 of the 9 cabanas were operational, and I believe that the orange a dark blue were the canvas, then yours should be OK. I did not look at them too closely as I was too sad about not getting our cabana. I see that you are heading out on the Volendam in Alaska in 2005, I am soooooo envious. Our first cruise was on the Volendam in Alaska and it is still my favorite ship, I keep trying to convince my family it's time to go to Alaska again, so hopefully I will be able to.

Well actually you might get to go before I do. :( That cruise in August might be on hold for me right now due to family obligations but, on the positive side, I am also looking in a cruise for Christmas '05 in the Caribbean so one way or another I will be sailing again. Good luck convincing your family. :)

My TA keeps telling me that I should be ok with the green cabana even though it is waitlisted...I just wish they would verify it so that when I get there I know for a fact it belongs to me that day.

[Krazy Kruizers]

LetsGoAgain

So glad you had a wonderful cruise and enjoyed the Zuiderdam.

Canvas Bags - we have cruised many years on HAL and only ever received 1 bag per cabin. How did you manage to get 2 in the past?

[sail7seas]

Same for us. On all of our (many) HAL cruises, we have always been given one tote bag for the cabin.

[LetsGoAgain]

Same for us. On all of our (many) HAL cruises, we have always been given one tote bag for the cabin.
Wow, I guess I was really lucky then. This was our fifth cruise with HAL and I have at least 10 bags at home and I know I gave away a couple. These were from the Volendam and Zaandam over the past 2 years going to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest. So we just lucked out I guess. On the other hand we never received any Mariner tiles from the Zaandam, and I have not had any luck obtaining them, so oh well.

[szdiver]

We have always received two bags in our cabin. Also, one tile for each person. We have collected these for use in our fireplace, after we get enough. We only have 16 so far.

[sail7seas]

We always get two tiles and we have a very large collection of them but we only get one tote bag......have a huge collection of them, too. :)

I know that if for whatever reason we wanted a second one on a particular cruise, it is likely the steward would give us another but we have never needed/wanted a second one.

[Krazy Kruizers]

We have always gotten 2 tiles per cabin, even once on the Ryndam we had to explain to our concierge that we have 2 different mariner numbers and are entitled to 2 tiles. We got the 2nd one.


And we have been on the Zaandam more than 5 times and always got our tiles.

[mythreehearts]

HELLO : )

I have read that the HMC day is always cut short??? We were hoping to rent a cabana there, any suggestions on which one might have a better location? Someone mentioned a wait list.

Thanks!

[spcl4cs_gal]

My cabana for March is waitlisted but that was all HAL's doing, not mine. I think I will be getting my TA to change the colour of the cabana to see if I can get a more firm confirmation.