bigredcrusier
February 11th, 2007, 01:09 AM
I am booked on the Zuiderdam Mar 3rd and can’t wait to go. This is my 2nd cruise and am wondering if the Zuiderdam will hold up the high expectations I have from cruising on the Westerdam Feb 2005.
voyeurism26
February 11th, 2007, 02:13 PM
Your question regarding the two ships is great! We have been on both the Westerdam and the Zuirderdam many times and loved both ships. First and foremost HAL has some of the best food entertainment and service on the open seas. Both ships have the same layout and are the larger of the HAL ships...the Zuirderdam, Westerdam and the Oosterdam have the same layout and are considered sister ships. Since the ship is larger, expect more people onboard and sometimes we find that service suffers a bit on the larger HAL ships. For example, during dinner the waiter is great and nice but he rushes and basically on the go due to the fact he has many more tables to service and the waitstaff seems more stressed out. On the smaller or mid-size HAL ships the waitstaff takes time to chat with you and get to know you more and they seem to have more opportunity to give you better service. The smaller/mid-size HAL ships have less people and so the staff has time to cater to you and provide you with better service.
This is not saying that the Westerdam and the Zuiderdam offer bad service, the service is still good but when compared to the smaller HAL ships the service is noticable better. Both the Westerdam and the Zuiderdam are great ships and you will have a great time on either ship and in my opinion there is no bad day at sea!
Have fun!!!