ndavis7515
February 18th, 2009, 08:00 PM
HAL ZUIDERDAM 2/7/2009-2/17/2009
DAY ONE
Since we live in Florida we drove south and parked the car in Park N Fly. We got to the port around 11:30am. We were escorted to check in since we were in a Penthouse Suite. After we checked in (12n), our escort brought us to a seating area and told us the ship is not boarding until 1:00pm. We found out later that there had been a case of the norovirus from the previous cruise. Our escort came for us about 12:30pm and brought us on board where we met the Hotel Manager, Stan Kubbins, who brought us to the Neptune Lounge to wait for our stateroom to be ready. The wait wasn’t very long and we had some finger sandwiches and coffee while we waited. We met Bong & May, our concierges. May brought us to our suite when it was ready, and boy we were impressed. I will try to post photos later when I get organized. We met Sakti & Yanto, our cabin stewards. I always bring something from my home state (which is MA though we winter in FL) to give to our cabin stewards. This time I gave them a Patriots shirt and red sox hats. They were very thankful for the gifts. I then went up to the Spa/Gym and toured the thermal suite and the gym. I registered for the Abs & Back seminar for Day Two and bought a pass to the suite/hydro pool for $150. They charge $40 for a day pass. Not to be greedy, but the one thing that Celebrity does that HAL doesn’t is include the thermal suite pass with the purchase of a suite. HAL should consider this, especially in the Penthouse for the price that is paid. At this time I went to the casino and registered my key card so I could play the slots. (The machines don’t disperse money, so you need to register the card to receive any credits you earn.) The lifeboat drill was at 4:15pm and it was tedious as usual (they all are). Though Princess & Celebrity bring you to lounges and explain the procedure instead of making you stand outside on the deck under the lifeboats as HAL did. During our sail away it was announced that we had to turn back to Fort Lauderdale because of a medical emergency. Later on I found out a crew member had a heart attack and the ship medical facility wasn’t adequate to treat him. I think he is ok. Instead of trying to decide on dinner, we went up to the Lido and ate there, since we had a reception in the Neptune Lounge at 7:30pm. We went to the reception and met Captain Werner Timmers, Hotel Manager Stan Kubbins, other officers, Matt Capp, the Cruise Director, Richard Dietrich, the port lecturer, & Michel Gardner, Future Cruise Consultant. Michel and Jon (my husband) hit it off and we enjoyed talking with him. After this (8:15pm) we went to the casino and then I went to the 10pm show “Let Us Entertain You.” Matt hosted the show and introduced the singers & dancers (who previewed), Richard the lecturer, Kelly, the Party Planner, & Travis the DJ/Bingo Host. And at 11pm, I was off to bed. All and all, the first day was great.
DAY TWO – HALF MOON CAY
We got up around 8am and maintenance showed up at our door to fix our refrigerator which we didn’t even know was broken, since we hadn’t even used the pantry yet. It was a regular size fridge and the freezer had to be defrosted. They were using a hair dryer to do this and they set off the alarm. We went up to the Lido for breakfast. Afterwards we went to the gym to do our therapy machines (mine for back, Jon for knee). Then I went to the thermal suite/hydro pool. Unfortunately, when I got back to the room, the suite hadn’t been made up yet. We sat on the veranda for a while and they finally showed up around Noon. Apparently, they have 26 rooms that they are responsible for. Jon spoke with them and after that, our room was always made up earlier and if it wasn’t, they immediately apologized for it. We left and toured the ship. The slots were opened, but the stores weren’t because we were at Half Moon Cay (we’ve been there twice before and didn’t care to get off the ship). At 1:30pm we headed to the Neptune for lunch and asked the concierge to book our dining reservation. It appears, if you are in the penthouse you can go to dinner whenever and at any table you request, because that process was painless. I broke one of my “fake” nails and went to the spa to make any appointment to have it fixed at 3pm. She fixed it but it took her an hour to do it. They don’t have a full set up so my nail was a little different, but it looked ok. (Later in the week I broke two more and didn’t bother to fix them because it took so long.) While I was there, Jon went to Richard’s lecture on Aruba & Curacao. At 4 was my abs… seminar and then at 5 there was the spa raffle. I didn’t win anything. But, I didn’t really care since the majority of the prizes gave you a discount or something when you purchased something. We went to dinner for 6 but they had our reservation for 7:45. They gave us a table anyway. We were at a table for four that they made into a table for 2, Table 185. Daeno & Putu were our dining room stewards and they were wonderful. Louie was our wine steward and he was also great. We asked for them all week and were lucky enough to have the table and they guys (as mentioned above the penthouse has clout!!). I had French onion soup (always available), Santa Fe salad, & strawberry pavlova for dessert. Jon had beet & chili quesidilla, pasta fagioli soup, jerk chicken, & key lime pie. All were good. We then went to the Paul Tanner show. He was a singer impressionist and was good. We went to the room after that and set our clocks forward one hour and went to bed.
DAY THREE
Today we were at sea. According to crew, last cruise had awful weather during the whole 10 days. So far we are doing well. Fort Lauderdale was chilly, but yesterday and today were great.
Well, we were up @ 7am. Our toilet clogged, but our guest toilet worked for a little while and then when we returned to our room after breakfast that didn’t work either. But, it was fixed reasonably quickly. We went to breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill (offered to suite quests). Jon had French toast, Danish, oj, & coffee. I had cranberry juice, Swiss muesli, & eggs benedict. After breakfast we went to play slots for ½ an hour and then returned to the room and sat on the veranda in the wonderful sunshine until 10:30am when we left to go to the CC Meet & Greet. We had a great turn out (37). It was too bad that some of the people that said they were going to attend didn’t. Matt the CD, Michel the FCC, & Anthony the Crew Purser came to our M&G. Michel remembered Jon from the suite cocktail party the first day, but called him Ralph by mistake. After that to Michel, Jon was Ralph Kramden. We had a fun week with him. We had drinks & pastries in the Crow’s Nest. Matt said that they would like to host a cocktail party for us on a sail away day. I went to him to suggest that we have it in our penthouse and said that was a great idea. I had wanted to have one anyway, but this way HAL organized the whole thing. We went to the slot tournament qualification in the casino, but didn’t make it. We had lunch in the lido and then I went to watch the pool games. We dressed for dinner (formal night). We had a 7:00pm reservation for Table 185 again and our servers were the same guys. And, they were as good as they were the night before. Jon had fruit medley, Caribbean chicken soup, beef Wellington, & crepe suzette. I had shrimp cocktail (always available), French onion soup, and Coos Coos Florentine & crepe suzette. After dinner we had our formal pictures taken and then I went to the Captain’s Champagne toast and stayed for part of the show. Afterwards, I played black jack and then went to bed around 11:30am.
DAY FOUR-ARUBA
We woke @ 8am. We went to the Neptune Lounge for continental breakfast. I wanted to hear Richard’s talk at 10:30am, but I missed it. So, I went back to the room and watched our docking. It is unfortunate that HAL has the lousy spot at the pier. It is a walk to get out of the pier area anyway, but where HAL docks, you have to walk twice as far. Adventure of the Seas was parked in the good spot. We went on our tour “Ticket to Paradise” @ 12:35pm. If you enjoy water sports, I highly recommend this tour. We took a bus ride to the ferry that brought us to DePalm Island. Once there everything is included except for snuba and one other thing. They had a buffet lunch, an open bar, which also had burgers & fries. There was snorkeling and a beach to just sun bathe if wanted. There was also a great Water Park and a gift shop. If you plan on swimming, wear water shoes, because there are a lot of rocks. We stayed there until 4:15pm and then went back to the ship. We have been to Aruba many times, so we didn’t walk back out to the town. We made a reservations for 6:30 dinner, but when we got there they said they didn’t make 6:30 ones. At that point, I said our room number and name and they were all apologetic and sat us immediately at our Table 185. I had chicken & mushroom ragout, chilled cucumber soup (didn’t like it), & pan fried cod, which was very good, & bossche bol for dessert. Jon had summer fruit salad, French onion soup, & chicken with diced cranberries & boeren jongers sundae for dessert. I bought ($19.95) an entry earlier in the day for the pub-crawl for that night, which started at 9pm. You could pay an extra $10 and you got a blinking HAL cup that was good for unlimited Pina Coladas at the Pool Party. This was hosted by Matt, Travis, & Anthony (Crew Purser). There were about 50 people. We started at Northern Lights (wang wang was the drink), and then we went to the Queen’s Lounge (lemon drop was the drink), then the Piano Bar (I don’t remember the drink), then the Crow’s Nest (chocolate martini), and then the Pool Party at the Lido Pool (shot of tequila or jaegermeister). They had all sorts of fruit, cupcakes, etc. and chocolate fondue fountains at the pool party. I had one Pina Colada and went to bed. Not as young as I used to be I guess. At 11:15 there was the Indonesian Crew show. I didn’t go but it got replayed on the TV in the room for a few days afterwards, & I wish I had gone.
DAY FIVE – CURACAO
Got up at 7am and we were already docked. We went to the Neptune for breakfast again. We then met the tour at 8:50am on the pier. We went first to the Museum. It was set up like a home but had all different types of art and furniture. Outside there was another building too. After that we went to the Curacao Distillery. GOOD STUFF! We had a tasting and they also let us test the spray they make for aches and pains. After that we were off to the folkloric show, which was in a building directly opposite where the ship docked. It consisted of 4 people displaying their local dances and then at the end they went into the audience and pulled ½ people on stage to dance too. It was entertaining and they gave you fruit punch after the show. We went back to the ship and dropped off our packages and then went out to shop. There was a floating bridge that we could of walked across, but didn’t. We walked through the tents (flea market style) and then went into a Fort that has been redesigned as a shopping mall. We bought a beer at Soprano’s and then got some other things, including Dutch cheese to take home. We had a much better docking spot here. So the walk wasn’t bad. At this point we headed back to the ship for burgers & fries because that was all that was open except for the Italian area with pizza and pasta. Now, it is naptime. At 7:30pm we went to a cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest, which I assume was for suite guests. They had tid bits to eat and the usual champagne, white wine, OJ. After that we went to dinner for 8:30pm. Louie our wine steward is from the Philippines and he told us that they alternate Crew shows, so that this current cruise (2/17-2/27) will be the Philippines Crew Show. I had supreme of fruit Galliano, chilled coconut nutmeg soup, veal medallions w/bourbon green pepper sauce (I only got this because I love HAL’s risotto), & wild berries bread & butter pudding, which was very good. Jon had chicken brochettes, with rum & lime, dos frijoles soup, & Master Chef’s Italian Meatloaf, & cherries jubilee. We went to the show that was Island Magic (steel drums but they play Broadway show tunes and more) and they were very good. At 11pm they had Round 1 of Zuiderdam Superstar. It was really funny. The contestants make the show, but Matt was an awesome host and the judges were Gene (singer), Jalynn (singer of the HALcats), & Travis (DJ). They were very entertaining. After that I went to play black jack for a while and then off to bed.
DAY SIX
I got up at 8:30am and went to the Lido for breakfast and sat at a table so that I could watch Hunky Dory at work. He was “excellent” as usual. Went to the casino and then got Jon for lunch in the Lido. Well, today was the qualification round for black jack, but I didn’t qualify. Jon went to Richard’s talk about coffee at 3pm. After playing slots for a while we went to the room to get ready for another formal dinner. Our reservation was at 7pm. I had seasonal fruit kabob, watermelon gazpacho, prime rib, & toffee pear William for dessert. Jon had the fruit too, Caesar salad (always available), & rigatoni with roaster garlic and cassata Sicilian for dessert. We went to the show, played some slots. I went to the Marriage Game (similar to Not So Newlywed Game). Then it was off to bed. We set our clocks back one hour.
DAY SEVEN
Today is my birthday. We got up @ 4:30am. Jon attempted to get out on the bow around 6am and it was already too late. I went down and got some panama rolls & mimosas and walked around a little. I saw that there were people on the levels above. There was no food or drink there but they could see so I went up to deck seven and walked through for the crew only door and took a couple of pictures heading to the canal. After that I went to the aft of the ship and took a picture of the next cruise ship that was coming in after us. I went back to the stateroom and watched the rest for our verandah. They were broadcasting it on the TV as well, so we could hear the local expert that came on board to narrate the trip through. The concierge had panama rolls delivered to our room. Our room stewards sang Happy Birthday to me. There were balloons on our stateroom door all week. We went to the Vista Lounge to take our tour. The place was mobbed. They called the dome railway car trip third. We got on the tender and then onto the bus. The bus brought us to the train. The dome car was ok. The dome wasn’t completely clear. There was a bar piece in the middle. The AC worked too well. We had a nice guide, Doris. The train ride was really boring (1 hour of seeing just water). We saw the other set of locks, which was only a single lane, and then we got to the end of the tracks and got onto another bus. The bus took us to the Pacific Ocean to take a picture of the ocean and the Panama City skyline. I would have liked to have seen more, but we headed then to the Miraflores Locks. We toured the facility, which had photos and replicas from the building of the canal. We then watched a 10-minute movie. Then we went back to the train and took the same boring ride back. They fed us both ways, a snack box on the way and a subway turkey sub (roll with 2 pieces of sliced turkey) and fruit punch. They had other things for sale by the train attendants (beer & chips). We got back to the station and were then brought to the Cristobal pier. The ship was just getting there, so we watched it dock. There were lots of shops and even the Embrera Indians had tables set up there. We found a guy that painted pictures of feathers and they were in cardboard frames and they were only $5 for a 3x5 size. He had bigger ones too. They were very beautiful. There was a long line to get back on the ship but once they were docked it didn’t take too long to board. When we got back to the room there was a bouquet of flowers from the Captain & Crew and a nice plate of chocolates from the Bong & May. We had dinner reservations for the Pinnacle for 6pm. I got French onion soup, land & sea (filet & shrimp), & crème Brule for dessert. The chef sent a small sample of lobster flan before we started. Jon doesn’t eat seafood, so I had 2. They were delicious. Jon had vine ripened tomato salad, & filet. I forget what he had for dessert. We went to the casino and I played black jack until my birthday was over. I then went to bed about 1am. We set our clocks back again before we went to bed.
DAY EIGHT – COSTA RICA
Happy Valentine’s Day. We didn’t get off the ship until it was time for our tour. I wish we had because we wanted to buy coffee and didn’t get a chance to after we returned from our tour. We did the Tortuguero Canal tour. We did the second of the day. The bus got stuck in road construction on the return from the morning tour, so we didn't get started until 11:35 instead of 11:15. We were supposed to be all aboard at 3:30 and we didn't get back until 3:50. The boat didn't leave but it was still stressful because that was the night of the party in our suite at 4:30. They took us to a banana plantation (that we went to the last time and it was Sunday and it was closed) that was closed because it was Saturday. Not worth the stop. Once we got to the canal they gave us beer & fruit & water & juice. And played some music. We then went on their pontoon boat and rode up the canal. We saw a lot of birds and a boy named Jason showed us his Cayman and his tortoise. The birds were nice but they stopped at every single heron or egret they saw. They weren't very different. The driver stopped and got out to look for a poisonous frog to show us. It took him 15 minutes and didn't find the frog. We ended up not seeing the whole canal because of us wanting to get back to the ship. As far as I was concerned Jason was the star of the tour. We practically ran to our suite and got there just in time for the servers to set up. They served us hors d'oeurves, and the wine, champagne, oj. The Captain, Hotel Manager, Matt, & Michel the FCC all came. It was really nice to have them at our party. It was a formal night and it was a rush to get ready for dinner.
We went to dinner for 8pm. I had Alaskan King Crab Legs (1 split in ½), Love Bugs (escargot), chilled strawberry bisque, & lobster thermidor. Jon had soup, salad, & puttanesca. I went to take pictures of the Valentine’s Day Chocolate Extravaganza and the to the Red & White Officers Ball.
DAY NINE
I felt lousy all day. The seas were rough in the night. They calmed down but I just didn’t feel right for most of the day. Jon went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. I made it to the mariners’ luncheon for noon. They had 2 luncheons because there were 1100 mariners onboard. I had seafood cocktail, salad, sirloin steak, & banana foster streusel for dessert with wine. I went back to the room and fell asleep. We went to dinner and I had chilled grape & cranberry soup & pork loin. Jon had fruit w/Peach Schnapps, Caesar salad, sirloin steak, pineapple sorbet. Daeno also brought him the Sweet & Sour Tofu, which Jon said was wonderful. It reminded him of the Indian food that he enjoys. Daeno also brought him lichees to try but he didn’t like them. Jon went to the show and I went back up to bed. The stage malfunctioned so the show did run all the way through. We set the clocks forward before we went to bed.
DAY TEN
I woke up feeling much better. We went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Afterwards we went to the Sea Quest game, which preceded the disembarkation talk. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt, but you had to have things there with you (i.e. another daily program other than that days or a picture of the white house – think twenty dollar bills). Matt continued with the disembarkation talk and then the crew came in and sang to us. I got a picture of Hunky Dory. They really hype him. Afterwards, we went to the suite luncheon buffet in the Crow’s Nest. We tried to qualify for the slot tourney again but it didn’t happen. I went to the finals for Superstar at 4pm. We went to dinner at 7pm. I went to the Liar’s Club. That was good. Kelly hosted it and the panel was Matt, Gene, & Anthony. They had a reunion of the pub-crawl, which they charged 19.95. It happened at 10pm and it was ok, but not as much fun as the first one. I played black jack and went to bed. Today you have to remember to cash out your casino credits on your card before the casino closes. They are not the same as the shipboard account.
DAY ELEVEN
Once they started calling numbers, we were able to disembark any time between 8:30 & 10. We stayed in our room until 9am and then headed out. There was no line and we were at the curb waiting for Park N Fly at 9:30am and home by 1pm.
In summary of a very long review, we had a wonderful time and met some great people. I want to stress how personable the Captain was and was very visible all 10 days. Also, Matt was one of the best cruise directors I have seen on any of my 26 cruises. Our dining room steward, Daeno and wine steward. Louie were so good we will rate future stewards according to how they rate with these two great guys.
This was our second cruise on the Zuiderdam and we would definitely go again if the opportunity arises.
I will try to post my photo link as soon as it is available. We have over 700 pictures. My husband went nuts taking photos of the ship.
DAY ONE
Since we live in Florida we drove south and parked the car in Park N Fly. We got to the port around 11:30am. We were escorted to check in since we were in a Penthouse Suite. After we checked in (12n), our escort brought us to a seating area and told us the ship is not boarding until 1:00pm. We found out later that there had been a case of the norovirus from the previous cruise. Our escort came for us about 12:30pm and brought us on board where we met the Hotel Manager, Stan Kubbins, who brought us to the Neptune Lounge to wait for our stateroom to be ready. The wait wasn’t very long and we had some finger sandwiches and coffee while we waited. We met Bong & May, our concierges. May brought us to our suite when it was ready, and boy we were impressed. I will try to post photos later when I get organized. We met Sakti & Yanto, our cabin stewards. I always bring something from my home state (which is MA though we winter in FL) to give to our cabin stewards. This time I gave them a Patriots shirt and red sox hats. They were very thankful for the gifts. I then went up to the Spa/Gym and toured the thermal suite and the gym. I registered for the Abs & Back seminar for Day Two and bought a pass to the suite/hydro pool for $150. They charge $40 for a day pass. Not to be greedy, but the one thing that Celebrity does that HAL doesn’t is include the thermal suite pass with the purchase of a suite. HAL should consider this, especially in the Penthouse for the price that is paid. At this time I went to the casino and registered my key card so I could play the slots. (The machines don’t disperse money, so you need to register the card to receive any credits you earn.) The lifeboat drill was at 4:15pm and it was tedious as usual (they all are). Though Princess & Celebrity bring you to lounges and explain the procedure instead of making you stand outside on the deck under the lifeboats as HAL did. During our sail away it was announced that we had to turn back to Fort Lauderdale because of a medical emergency. Later on I found out a crew member had a heart attack and the ship medical facility wasn’t adequate to treat him. I think he is ok. Instead of trying to decide on dinner, we went up to the Lido and ate there, since we had a reception in the Neptune Lounge at 7:30pm. We went to the reception and met Captain Werner Timmers, Hotel Manager Stan Kubbins, other officers, Matt Capp, the Cruise Director, Richard Dietrich, the port lecturer, & Michel Gardner, Future Cruise Consultant. Michel and Jon (my husband) hit it off and we enjoyed talking with him. After this (8:15pm) we went to the casino and then I went to the 10pm show “Let Us Entertain You.” Matt hosted the show and introduced the singers & dancers (who previewed), Richard the lecturer, Kelly, the Party Planner, & Travis the DJ/Bingo Host. And at 11pm, I was off to bed. All and all, the first day was great.
DAY TWO – HALF MOON CAY
We got up around 8am and maintenance showed up at our door to fix our refrigerator which we didn’t even know was broken, since we hadn’t even used the pantry yet. It was a regular size fridge and the freezer had to be defrosted. They were using a hair dryer to do this and they set off the alarm. We went up to the Lido for breakfast. Afterwards we went to the gym to do our therapy machines (mine for back, Jon for knee). Then I went to the thermal suite/hydro pool. Unfortunately, when I got back to the room, the suite hadn’t been made up yet. We sat on the veranda for a while and they finally showed up around Noon. Apparently, they have 26 rooms that they are responsible for. Jon spoke with them and after that, our room was always made up earlier and if it wasn’t, they immediately apologized for it. We left and toured the ship. The slots were opened, but the stores weren’t because we were at Half Moon Cay (we’ve been there twice before and didn’t care to get off the ship). At 1:30pm we headed to the Neptune for lunch and asked the concierge to book our dining reservation. It appears, if you are in the penthouse you can go to dinner whenever and at any table you request, because that process was painless. I broke one of my “fake” nails and went to the spa to make any appointment to have it fixed at 3pm. She fixed it but it took her an hour to do it. They don’t have a full set up so my nail was a little different, but it looked ok. (Later in the week I broke two more and didn’t bother to fix them because it took so long.) While I was there, Jon went to Richard’s lecture on Aruba & Curacao. At 4 was my abs… seminar and then at 5 there was the spa raffle. I didn’t win anything. But, I didn’t really care since the majority of the prizes gave you a discount or something when you purchased something. We went to dinner for 6 but they had our reservation for 7:45. They gave us a table anyway. We were at a table for four that they made into a table for 2, Table 185. Daeno & Putu were our dining room stewards and they were wonderful. Louie was our wine steward and he was also great. We asked for them all week and were lucky enough to have the table and they guys (as mentioned above the penthouse has clout!!). I had French onion soup (always available), Santa Fe salad, & strawberry pavlova for dessert. Jon had beet & chili quesidilla, pasta fagioli soup, jerk chicken, & key lime pie. All were good. We then went to the Paul Tanner show. He was a singer impressionist and was good. We went to the room after that and set our clocks forward one hour and went to bed.
DAY THREE
Today we were at sea. According to crew, last cruise had awful weather during the whole 10 days. So far we are doing well. Fort Lauderdale was chilly, but yesterday and today were great.
Well, we were up @ 7am. Our toilet clogged, but our guest toilet worked for a little while and then when we returned to our room after breakfast that didn’t work either. But, it was fixed reasonably quickly. We went to breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill (offered to suite quests). Jon had French toast, Danish, oj, & coffee. I had cranberry juice, Swiss muesli, & eggs benedict. After breakfast we went to play slots for ½ an hour and then returned to the room and sat on the veranda in the wonderful sunshine until 10:30am when we left to go to the CC Meet & Greet. We had a great turn out (37). It was too bad that some of the people that said they were going to attend didn’t. Matt the CD, Michel the FCC, & Anthony the Crew Purser came to our M&G. Michel remembered Jon from the suite cocktail party the first day, but called him Ralph by mistake. After that to Michel, Jon was Ralph Kramden. We had a fun week with him. We had drinks & pastries in the Crow’s Nest. Matt said that they would like to host a cocktail party for us on a sail away day. I went to him to suggest that we have it in our penthouse and said that was a great idea. I had wanted to have one anyway, but this way HAL organized the whole thing. We went to the slot tournament qualification in the casino, but didn’t make it. We had lunch in the lido and then I went to watch the pool games. We dressed for dinner (formal night). We had a 7:00pm reservation for Table 185 again and our servers were the same guys. And, they were as good as they were the night before. Jon had fruit medley, Caribbean chicken soup, beef Wellington, & crepe suzette. I had shrimp cocktail (always available), French onion soup, and Coos Coos Florentine & crepe suzette. After dinner we had our formal pictures taken and then I went to the Captain’s Champagne toast and stayed for part of the show. Afterwards, I played black jack and then went to bed around 11:30am.
DAY FOUR-ARUBA
We woke @ 8am. We went to the Neptune Lounge for continental breakfast. I wanted to hear Richard’s talk at 10:30am, but I missed it. So, I went back to the room and watched our docking. It is unfortunate that HAL has the lousy spot at the pier. It is a walk to get out of the pier area anyway, but where HAL docks, you have to walk twice as far. Adventure of the Seas was parked in the good spot. We went on our tour “Ticket to Paradise” @ 12:35pm. If you enjoy water sports, I highly recommend this tour. We took a bus ride to the ferry that brought us to DePalm Island. Once there everything is included except for snuba and one other thing. They had a buffet lunch, an open bar, which also had burgers & fries. There was snorkeling and a beach to just sun bathe if wanted. There was also a great Water Park and a gift shop. If you plan on swimming, wear water shoes, because there are a lot of rocks. We stayed there until 4:15pm and then went back to the ship. We have been to Aruba many times, so we didn’t walk back out to the town. We made a reservations for 6:30 dinner, but when we got there they said they didn’t make 6:30 ones. At that point, I said our room number and name and they were all apologetic and sat us immediately at our Table 185. I had chicken & mushroom ragout, chilled cucumber soup (didn’t like it), & pan fried cod, which was very good, & bossche bol for dessert. Jon had summer fruit salad, French onion soup, & chicken with diced cranberries & boeren jongers sundae for dessert. I bought ($19.95) an entry earlier in the day for the pub-crawl for that night, which started at 9pm. You could pay an extra $10 and you got a blinking HAL cup that was good for unlimited Pina Coladas at the Pool Party. This was hosted by Matt, Travis, & Anthony (Crew Purser). There were about 50 people. We started at Northern Lights (wang wang was the drink), and then we went to the Queen’s Lounge (lemon drop was the drink), then the Piano Bar (I don’t remember the drink), then the Crow’s Nest (chocolate martini), and then the Pool Party at the Lido Pool (shot of tequila or jaegermeister). They had all sorts of fruit, cupcakes, etc. and chocolate fondue fountains at the pool party. I had one Pina Colada and went to bed. Not as young as I used to be I guess. At 11:15 there was the Indonesian Crew show. I didn’t go but it got replayed on the TV in the room for a few days afterwards, & I wish I had gone.
DAY FIVE – CURACAO
Got up at 7am and we were already docked. We went to the Neptune for breakfast again. We then met the tour at 8:50am on the pier. We went first to the Museum. It was set up like a home but had all different types of art and furniture. Outside there was another building too. After that we went to the Curacao Distillery. GOOD STUFF! We had a tasting and they also let us test the spray they make for aches and pains. After that we were off to the folkloric show, which was in a building directly opposite where the ship docked. It consisted of 4 people displaying their local dances and then at the end they went into the audience and pulled ½ people on stage to dance too. It was entertaining and they gave you fruit punch after the show. We went back to the ship and dropped off our packages and then went out to shop. There was a floating bridge that we could of walked across, but didn’t. We walked through the tents (flea market style) and then went into a Fort that has been redesigned as a shopping mall. We bought a beer at Soprano’s and then got some other things, including Dutch cheese to take home. We had a much better docking spot here. So the walk wasn’t bad. At this point we headed back to the ship for burgers & fries because that was all that was open except for the Italian area with pizza and pasta. Now, it is naptime. At 7:30pm we went to a cocktail party in the Crow’s Nest, which I assume was for suite guests. They had tid bits to eat and the usual champagne, white wine, OJ. After that we went to dinner for 8:30pm. Louie our wine steward is from the Philippines and he told us that they alternate Crew shows, so that this current cruise (2/17-2/27) will be the Philippines Crew Show. I had supreme of fruit Galliano, chilled coconut nutmeg soup, veal medallions w/bourbon green pepper sauce (I only got this because I love HAL’s risotto), & wild berries bread & butter pudding, which was very good. Jon had chicken brochettes, with rum & lime, dos frijoles soup, & Master Chef’s Italian Meatloaf, & cherries jubilee. We went to the show that was Island Magic (steel drums but they play Broadway show tunes and more) and they were very good. At 11pm they had Round 1 of Zuiderdam Superstar. It was really funny. The contestants make the show, but Matt was an awesome host and the judges were Gene (singer), Jalynn (singer of the HALcats), & Travis (DJ). They were very entertaining. After that I went to play black jack for a while and then off to bed.
DAY SIX
I got up at 8:30am and went to the Lido for breakfast and sat at a table so that I could watch Hunky Dory at work. He was “excellent” as usual. Went to the casino and then got Jon for lunch in the Lido. Well, today was the qualification round for black jack, but I didn’t qualify. Jon went to Richard’s talk about coffee at 3pm. After playing slots for a while we went to the room to get ready for another formal dinner. Our reservation was at 7pm. I had seasonal fruit kabob, watermelon gazpacho, prime rib, & toffee pear William for dessert. Jon had the fruit too, Caesar salad (always available), & rigatoni with roaster garlic and cassata Sicilian for dessert. We went to the show, played some slots. I went to the Marriage Game (similar to Not So Newlywed Game). Then it was off to bed. We set our clocks back one hour.
DAY SEVEN
Today is my birthday. We got up @ 4:30am. Jon attempted to get out on the bow around 6am and it was already too late. I went down and got some panama rolls & mimosas and walked around a little. I saw that there were people on the levels above. There was no food or drink there but they could see so I went up to deck seven and walked through for the crew only door and took a couple of pictures heading to the canal. After that I went to the aft of the ship and took a picture of the next cruise ship that was coming in after us. I went back to the stateroom and watched the rest for our verandah. They were broadcasting it on the TV as well, so we could hear the local expert that came on board to narrate the trip through. The concierge had panama rolls delivered to our room. Our room stewards sang Happy Birthday to me. There were balloons on our stateroom door all week. We went to the Vista Lounge to take our tour. The place was mobbed. They called the dome railway car trip third. We got on the tender and then onto the bus. The bus brought us to the train. The dome car was ok. The dome wasn’t completely clear. There was a bar piece in the middle. The AC worked too well. We had a nice guide, Doris. The train ride was really boring (1 hour of seeing just water). We saw the other set of locks, which was only a single lane, and then we got to the end of the tracks and got onto another bus. The bus took us to the Pacific Ocean to take a picture of the ocean and the Panama City skyline. I would have liked to have seen more, but we headed then to the Miraflores Locks. We toured the facility, which had photos and replicas from the building of the canal. We then watched a 10-minute movie. Then we went back to the train and took the same boring ride back. They fed us both ways, a snack box on the way and a subway turkey sub (roll with 2 pieces of sliced turkey) and fruit punch. They had other things for sale by the train attendants (beer & chips). We got back to the station and were then brought to the Cristobal pier. The ship was just getting there, so we watched it dock. There were lots of shops and even the Embrera Indians had tables set up there. We found a guy that painted pictures of feathers and they were in cardboard frames and they were only $5 for a 3x5 size. He had bigger ones too. They were very beautiful. There was a long line to get back on the ship but once they were docked it didn’t take too long to board. When we got back to the room there was a bouquet of flowers from the Captain & Crew and a nice plate of chocolates from the Bong & May. We had dinner reservations for the Pinnacle for 6pm. I got French onion soup, land & sea (filet & shrimp), & crème Brule for dessert. The chef sent a small sample of lobster flan before we started. Jon doesn’t eat seafood, so I had 2. They were delicious. Jon had vine ripened tomato salad, & filet. I forget what he had for dessert. We went to the casino and I played black jack until my birthday was over. I then went to bed about 1am. We set our clocks back again before we went to bed.
DAY EIGHT – COSTA RICA
Happy Valentine’s Day. We didn’t get off the ship until it was time for our tour. I wish we had because we wanted to buy coffee and didn’t get a chance to after we returned from our tour. We did the Tortuguero Canal tour. We did the second of the day. The bus got stuck in road construction on the return from the morning tour, so we didn't get started until 11:35 instead of 11:15. We were supposed to be all aboard at 3:30 and we didn't get back until 3:50. The boat didn't leave but it was still stressful because that was the night of the party in our suite at 4:30. They took us to a banana plantation (that we went to the last time and it was Sunday and it was closed) that was closed because it was Saturday. Not worth the stop. Once we got to the canal they gave us beer & fruit & water & juice. And played some music. We then went on their pontoon boat and rode up the canal. We saw a lot of birds and a boy named Jason showed us his Cayman and his tortoise. The birds were nice but they stopped at every single heron or egret they saw. They weren't very different. The driver stopped and got out to look for a poisonous frog to show us. It took him 15 minutes and didn't find the frog. We ended up not seeing the whole canal because of us wanting to get back to the ship. As far as I was concerned Jason was the star of the tour. We practically ran to our suite and got there just in time for the servers to set up. They served us hors d'oeurves, and the wine, champagne, oj. The Captain, Hotel Manager, Matt, & Michel the FCC all came. It was really nice to have them at our party. It was a formal night and it was a rush to get ready for dinner.
We went to dinner for 8pm. I had Alaskan King Crab Legs (1 split in ½), Love Bugs (escargot), chilled strawberry bisque, & lobster thermidor. Jon had soup, salad, & puttanesca. I went to take pictures of the Valentine’s Day Chocolate Extravaganza and the to the Red & White Officers Ball.
DAY NINE
I felt lousy all day. The seas were rough in the night. They calmed down but I just didn’t feel right for most of the day. Jon went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. I made it to the mariners’ luncheon for noon. They had 2 luncheons because there were 1100 mariners onboard. I had seafood cocktail, salad, sirloin steak, & banana foster streusel for dessert with wine. I went back to the room and fell asleep. We went to dinner and I had chilled grape & cranberry soup & pork loin. Jon had fruit w/Peach Schnapps, Caesar salad, sirloin steak, pineapple sorbet. Daeno also brought him the Sweet & Sour Tofu, which Jon said was wonderful. It reminded him of the Indian food that he enjoys. Daeno also brought him lichees to try but he didn’t like them. Jon went to the show and I went back up to bed. The stage malfunctioned so the show did run all the way through. We set the clocks forward before we went to bed.
DAY TEN
I woke up feeling much better. We went to the Pinnacle Grill for breakfast. Afterwards we went to the Sea Quest game, which preceded the disembarkation talk. It was sort of like a scavenger hunt, but you had to have things there with you (i.e. another daily program other than that days or a picture of the white house – think twenty dollar bills). Matt continued with the disembarkation talk and then the crew came in and sang to us. I got a picture of Hunky Dory. They really hype him. Afterwards, we went to the suite luncheon buffet in the Crow’s Nest. We tried to qualify for the slot tourney again but it didn’t happen. I went to the finals for Superstar at 4pm. We went to dinner at 7pm. I went to the Liar’s Club. That was good. Kelly hosted it and the panel was Matt, Gene, & Anthony. They had a reunion of the pub-crawl, which they charged 19.95. It happened at 10pm and it was ok, but not as much fun as the first one. I played black jack and went to bed. Today you have to remember to cash out your casino credits on your card before the casino closes. They are not the same as the shipboard account.
DAY ELEVEN
Once they started calling numbers, we were able to disembark any time between 8:30 & 10. We stayed in our room until 9am and then headed out. There was no line and we were at the curb waiting for Park N Fly at 9:30am and home by 1pm.
In summary of a very long review, we had a wonderful time and met some great people. I want to stress how personable the Captain was and was very visible all 10 days. Also, Matt was one of the best cruise directors I have seen on any of my 26 cruises. Our dining room steward, Daeno and wine steward. Louie were so good we will rate future stewards according to how they rate with these two great guys.
This was our second cruise on the Zuiderdam and we would definitely go again if the opportunity arises.
I will try to post my photo link as soon as it is available. We have over 700 pictures. My husband went nuts taking photos of the ship.