Lucyt1207
February 28th, 2005, 01:53 PM
We returned to New York on Saturday evening from our cruise on the Zaandam. We were very fortunate to have met karensj(another contributor to this forum) and her family and had a great time with them. As she has stated in her review, the cruise was good but there were several areas that could be a lot better. Someone said that HAL has been bought by Carnival and since then things have gone downhill.
We chose to fly down to Orlando on Friday night ( we being myself, DH and DS age 15). The flight was uneventful and arrived early. We took the shuttle to the Marriott and spent the night. Saturday morning we were told our bags were to be ready at 10AM for the bus to the pier. It was due to arrive at 12 noon but was 45 minutes late. We arrived at the pier Port Canaveral at out 1:35 and joined the long line. We were handed at the end of the bus ride another form that needed to be filled out for Tortola. The line moved quickly and we were onboard by about 2:10. Our cabin was ready (7062). Our bags arrived about 15 minutes later. Our cabin steward introduced himself to us and I asked that we have a full ice bucket every night (we like cold water by our beds). This was the first and last time we saw him and the ice was there about 4 of the 7 nights. The room was always clean and the beds were turned down each night.
We sat at a table for 10...the 3 of us karensj and her family of 5 and another couple, Mary and John. We had the early downstairs seating (6:15). The timing of dinner was fine for us except on the night dinner was very late for our table and for the other nights where orders were wrong or not delivered. It appears that there was a shortage of wait staff and many folks were agreeing that there were several problems with the evening meal service. I can only vouch for our table where my husband's file mignon was served 10 minutes after everyone else, where an order of strawberry ice cream was delivered as chocolate, where the wrong soup was delivered and where poor John's order of meatloaf (his favorite) was forgotten altogether. On several occasions we had to ask for our water glasses to be filled and getting ice in that water was hit and miss. The waiter and his assistant seemed nice enough but were very busy tending to all their tables.
The entertainment on board was varied. I enjoyed the energy of the Zaandam singers/dancers...the magician and his monkey were good as was the comedian/ventriloquist, Bill Robinson. The singer, Paul Tanner, was okay, but appealed to a large number of our fellow travelers. We even heard that many folks could not get into see him because the first seating didin't leave the first show because they wanted to see him again.
Our son enjoyed the new teen area, the Loft and the Oasis. Unfortunately, there were those on board who felt that the "Teens Only" sign wasn't meant for them...I understand from the Cruise Director that the "Teens Only" policy for that tiny piece of the ship will be more strictly enforced on future voyages. Parents/guardians are encouraged to take a peek at the areas, but it is expected that those not in their teen years will find another part of the ship in which to roost. There was always supervision there by a member of the activities staff and there were a few activities planned throughout the day.
The Casino was quite busy most of the time and we did fairly well there...especially with the Poker Slots. Bingo was popular, as always, and the Snow Ball Jackpot was over $4000.00!
Most of the lines moved rather quickly. The only one that seemed to drag was by the pool where the hamburgers and hot dogs were cooked. There, you could wait 20 minutes for a burger, even if you were 3rd or 4th on line. The sandwich area of the Lido was very popular at lunch time.
We had signed up for 2 shore excursions. The one in Tortola (Sea and See) was very informative and we all enjoyed it. However, the on in St. Thomas (mountaintop and Blackbeard's Castle) was terrible. The guide told us next to nothing, and when he did speak no one could understand what he was saying. We, as well as several others on the same tour, lodged a written complaint about this particular tour/guide. Ofcourse, we did some shopping in St. Thomas. My DH was looking for a new Digital Camera. He went looking for a specific model which no one had anymore so he bought a different model but same make. When we arrived home, he looked it up and we saved some money, but not nearly as much as they would like you to believe in St. Thomas. So, word to the wise, do your homework so you know prices before you get there.
Our disembarkation was fairly uneventful. We were #1 but never heard #1 called. We heard letters and then 7-10...so we scrambled off the ship and on to a Mears bus to the airport. We were still several hours early for our 2pm flight back to New York.
I know this is a fairly short review but if anyone has specific questions, I will certainly try to answer them.
We chose to fly down to Orlando on Friday night ( we being myself, DH and DS age 15). The flight was uneventful and arrived early. We took the shuttle to the Marriott and spent the night. Saturday morning we were told our bags were to be ready at 10AM for the bus to the pier. It was due to arrive at 12 noon but was 45 minutes late. We arrived at the pier Port Canaveral at out 1:35 and joined the long line. We were handed at the end of the bus ride another form that needed to be filled out for Tortola. The line moved quickly and we were onboard by about 2:10. Our cabin was ready (7062). Our bags arrived about 15 minutes later. Our cabin steward introduced himself to us and I asked that we have a full ice bucket every night (we like cold water by our beds). This was the first and last time we saw him and the ice was there about 4 of the 7 nights. The room was always clean and the beds were turned down each night.
We sat at a table for 10...the 3 of us karensj and her family of 5 and another couple, Mary and John. We had the early downstairs seating (6:15). The timing of dinner was fine for us except on the night dinner was very late for our table and for the other nights where orders were wrong or not delivered. It appears that there was a shortage of wait staff and many folks were agreeing that there were several problems with the evening meal service. I can only vouch for our table where my husband's file mignon was served 10 minutes after everyone else, where an order of strawberry ice cream was delivered as chocolate, where the wrong soup was delivered and where poor John's order of meatloaf (his favorite) was forgotten altogether. On several occasions we had to ask for our water glasses to be filled and getting ice in that water was hit and miss. The waiter and his assistant seemed nice enough but were very busy tending to all their tables.
The entertainment on board was varied. I enjoyed the energy of the Zaandam singers/dancers...the magician and his monkey were good as was the comedian/ventriloquist, Bill Robinson. The singer, Paul Tanner, was okay, but appealed to a large number of our fellow travelers. We even heard that many folks could not get into see him because the first seating didin't leave the first show because they wanted to see him again.
Our son enjoyed the new teen area, the Loft and the Oasis. Unfortunately, there were those on board who felt that the "Teens Only" sign wasn't meant for them...I understand from the Cruise Director that the "Teens Only" policy for that tiny piece of the ship will be more strictly enforced on future voyages. Parents/guardians are encouraged to take a peek at the areas, but it is expected that those not in their teen years will find another part of the ship in which to roost. There was always supervision there by a member of the activities staff and there were a few activities planned throughout the day.
The Casino was quite busy most of the time and we did fairly well there...especially with the Poker Slots. Bingo was popular, as always, and the Snow Ball Jackpot was over $4000.00!
Most of the lines moved rather quickly. The only one that seemed to drag was by the pool where the hamburgers and hot dogs were cooked. There, you could wait 20 minutes for a burger, even if you were 3rd or 4th on line. The sandwich area of the Lido was very popular at lunch time.
We had signed up for 2 shore excursions. The one in Tortola (Sea and See) was very informative and we all enjoyed it. However, the on in St. Thomas (mountaintop and Blackbeard's Castle) was terrible. The guide told us next to nothing, and when he did speak no one could understand what he was saying. We, as well as several others on the same tour, lodged a written complaint about this particular tour/guide. Ofcourse, we did some shopping in St. Thomas. My DH was looking for a new Digital Camera. He went looking for a specific model which no one had anymore so he bought a different model but same make. When we arrived home, he looked it up and we saved some money, but not nearly as much as they would like you to believe in St. Thomas. So, word to the wise, do your homework so you know prices before you get there.
Our disembarkation was fairly uneventful. We were #1 but never heard #1 called. We heard letters and then 7-10...so we scrambled off the ship and on to a Mears bus to the airport. We were still several hours early for our 2pm flight back to New York.
I know this is a fairly short review but if anyone has specific questions, I will certainly try to answer them.