divinggirl
August 30th, 2004, 08:34 AM
Posted this initially on the "Is Tatka on the Zui" thread but thought I would give it its own thread, as I"d like to hear others thoughts on that same sailing!!
I had the same experience with the A/C...I loved it, but I think the thermostat MAY have been broken, it was hard to tell but I can say for sure that the warmest setting still had my mom and sister complaining they were freezing. We called and our power went out for a while, so we assumed it was being fixed. The room warmed up after that, but I think it was just because there had been no A/C while the power was off.
My overall impression of the Z is really great. I loved the layout and erven though the decor was a bit crazy in spots, the glass elevators were a wonderful touch. I recommend taking the stairs when you can, though, those elevators take FOREVER sometimes.
The service was second to none. I have never met so many friendly and accomodating people in my life, and they took so much crap from people and still managed to remain friendly. I witnessed some incidents that made me embarassed for all pax, people are so rude sometimes it's unbelievable. Hunky-Dory (Imam) got my name wrong every day, but he tried and by Friday he followed me around the Lido saying, Hi Nikki, how are you Nikki, can I get you anything Nikki...etc. He is so cute and sweet, and made my breakfast each morning even if he couldn't remember my name!!
I spent alot of time in the Sports Bar with Eduardo and Eugene, and learned that they have to work one year and then get two months off. They are the hardest workers, and always with a smile.
I did not notice when our room was made up, but can tell you that Sigit, our room steward, did a fantastic job, as three people in one room can get a little messy!
The CC meeting Monday was nice, and I kept bumping into people as the week went on, especially LouDBMW and his lovely wife, who were on almost every tender I was! Natasha, Shannon, and I had chairs and clamshells right next to each other at HMC.
Slots were very tight, although my mom, who spent LOTS of time at the 3 card poker table, made several friends who finally won at the end of the week, one winning $800 on a $5 machine!
Didn't go to many shows, not really my thing and I had trouble staying up really late after doing 2 dives in one day.
I found that the channel on the TV that has the port and disembarkation talks were very helpful, and it was nice to have in case you missed the live talk.
The ports were varied. I think Key West is just like any Caribbean port, except everything is OVER-taxed instead of being duty free. My opinion is any souveniers or knick knacks you want to buy there can be found anywhere else but dutyfree instead of the 12% plus tax they put on in KW. That is, unless it is important that what you buy says Key West on it.
Didn't really get to see too much of Coz, dives took up most of the day. But cabs are ubiquitous and it was nice that there was only 1 other ship there with us.
Grand Cayman, the diving was absolutely spectacular, for anyone who is interested. Shopping, IMHO, is no better than retail for most of the fancy stuff, and deals are hard to come by except liquor and cigarettes, which are too cheap to be believed. It's nice that Tortuga Duty free sends your purchases directly to the ship, keeps you from having to carries lots of bottles on the tender.
The tender services were great, although I was always on the first tender and back on the last. No real wait that I experienced, although some have said otherwise.
HMC is, as we all know, perfect. Love the sand there, and the water is so warm and clear. They ran out of floats before 10 AM, so maybe bringing your own foldable and inflatable one if you can fit it wouldn't be a bad idea. Rain came in the late afternoon, as Natasha said, but most people were probably fried by then anyway.
I met a guy who was living on HMC for a month as he studied marine biodiversity for his PhD at Stanford. He was on my second dive at HMC and I told him how lucky he was. The divemasters on HMC are so great, and everything HAL uses there is first class all the way.
The one area that I thought needed improvement was the food. The formal nights were good, the second better than the first, and the brie, and escargots and lobster were fantastic. Dutch night either needs to go or something, that was not a good dinner. I hesitate to go into more specifics because I know opinions about cuisine are so subjective, but generally their fish dishes were too fishy and their sauces were not very flavorful. I heard the same opinions from some, and our tablemates loved some of the fish dishes. Dennis, I am interested in your opinions on the food, we didn't get to chat about that too much. (BTW, your son, who was there when I picked up my towel at your clamshell, is gonna be a heartbreaker... )
Lido was nice-- breakfast was awesome every morning, lunch was good, the asian dishes were usually reliable and the sushi rolls were good. Everything was always stocked and the bistro sandwiches were so very delicious! Never had dinner there.
I was initially surprised when we ordered room service and our shrimp cocktail came with itty bitty shrimp, but then I thought about the costs involved in having that much large shrimp. I don't know if it would be feasible, but the small shrimp were flavorless and we didn't get it again the rest of the week, which is unfortunate because I LOVE shrimp cocktail and was really looking forward to it. The triple decker club from room service is the best thing on the menu, IMHO. Breakfast was always delivered on time and exactly as we ordered, even if it was written in.
I'll write more later, but this pretty much covers all my thoughts. Overall, a great vacation that was blessed by (almost) perfect weather, great company and fantastic service. Woudl go back in a heartbeat, although I would like to try the smaller ships next time to compare.
I had the same experience with the A/C...I loved it, but I think the thermostat MAY have been broken, it was hard to tell but I can say for sure that the warmest setting still had my mom and sister complaining they were freezing. We called and our power went out for a while, so we assumed it was being fixed. The room warmed up after that, but I think it was just because there had been no A/C while the power was off.
My overall impression of the Z is really great. I loved the layout and erven though the decor was a bit crazy in spots, the glass elevators were a wonderful touch. I recommend taking the stairs when you can, though, those elevators take FOREVER sometimes.
The service was second to none. I have never met so many friendly and accomodating people in my life, and they took so much crap from people and still managed to remain friendly. I witnessed some incidents that made me embarassed for all pax, people are so rude sometimes it's unbelievable. Hunky-Dory (Imam) got my name wrong every day, but he tried and by Friday he followed me around the Lido saying, Hi Nikki, how are you Nikki, can I get you anything Nikki...etc. He is so cute and sweet, and made my breakfast each morning even if he couldn't remember my name!!
I spent alot of time in the Sports Bar with Eduardo and Eugene, and learned that they have to work one year and then get two months off. They are the hardest workers, and always with a smile.
I did not notice when our room was made up, but can tell you that Sigit, our room steward, did a fantastic job, as three people in one room can get a little messy!
The CC meeting Monday was nice, and I kept bumping into people as the week went on, especially LouDBMW and his lovely wife, who were on almost every tender I was! Natasha, Shannon, and I had chairs and clamshells right next to each other at HMC.
Slots were very tight, although my mom, who spent LOTS of time at the 3 card poker table, made several friends who finally won at the end of the week, one winning $800 on a $5 machine!
Didn't go to many shows, not really my thing and I had trouble staying up really late after doing 2 dives in one day.
I found that the channel on the TV that has the port and disembarkation talks were very helpful, and it was nice to have in case you missed the live talk.
The ports were varied. I think Key West is just like any Caribbean port, except everything is OVER-taxed instead of being duty free. My opinion is any souveniers or knick knacks you want to buy there can be found anywhere else but dutyfree instead of the 12% plus tax they put on in KW. That is, unless it is important that what you buy says Key West on it.
Didn't really get to see too much of Coz, dives took up most of the day. But cabs are ubiquitous and it was nice that there was only 1 other ship there with us.
Grand Cayman, the diving was absolutely spectacular, for anyone who is interested. Shopping, IMHO, is no better than retail for most of the fancy stuff, and deals are hard to come by except liquor and cigarettes, which are too cheap to be believed. It's nice that Tortuga Duty free sends your purchases directly to the ship, keeps you from having to carries lots of bottles on the tender.
The tender services were great, although I was always on the first tender and back on the last. No real wait that I experienced, although some have said otherwise.
HMC is, as we all know, perfect. Love the sand there, and the water is so warm and clear. They ran out of floats before 10 AM, so maybe bringing your own foldable and inflatable one if you can fit it wouldn't be a bad idea. Rain came in the late afternoon, as Natasha said, but most people were probably fried by then anyway.
I met a guy who was living on HMC for a month as he studied marine biodiversity for his PhD at Stanford. He was on my second dive at HMC and I told him how lucky he was. The divemasters on HMC are so great, and everything HAL uses there is first class all the way.
The one area that I thought needed improvement was the food. The formal nights were good, the second better than the first, and the brie, and escargots and lobster were fantastic. Dutch night either needs to go or something, that was not a good dinner. I hesitate to go into more specifics because I know opinions about cuisine are so subjective, but generally their fish dishes were too fishy and their sauces were not very flavorful. I heard the same opinions from some, and our tablemates loved some of the fish dishes. Dennis, I am interested in your opinions on the food, we didn't get to chat about that too much. (BTW, your son, who was there when I picked up my towel at your clamshell, is gonna be a heartbreaker... )
Lido was nice-- breakfast was awesome every morning, lunch was good, the asian dishes were usually reliable and the sushi rolls were good. Everything was always stocked and the bistro sandwiches were so very delicious! Never had dinner there.
I was initially surprised when we ordered room service and our shrimp cocktail came with itty bitty shrimp, but then I thought about the costs involved in having that much large shrimp. I don't know if it would be feasible, but the small shrimp were flavorless and we didn't get it again the rest of the week, which is unfortunate because I LOVE shrimp cocktail and was really looking forward to it. The triple decker club from room service is the best thing on the menu, IMHO. Breakfast was always delivered on time and exactly as we ordered, even if it was written in.
I'll write more later, but this pretty much covers all my thoughts. Overall, a great vacation that was blessed by (almost) perfect weather, great company and fantastic service. Woudl go back in a heartbeat, although I would like to try the smaller ships next time to compare.