Zuiderdam 6/11 (Wonderful)

Hello All,

After more trepidation than I care to remember we sailed on the Zuiderdam on 6/11. I had read so many conflicting reports, I almost cancelled.

We have sailed over 12+ cruises with Celebrity. I had priced, the same cruise, same category, same dates to Bermuda as June 05, the price was almost doubled. That was our impetus to jump lines. I am so glad we did.

I have to give Celebrity a slight thumbs up in the dinner category. I found breakfast, lunch, entertainment, cabins, and attitudes to be way ahead of Celebrity. Celebrity will have to offer something very special to get us back.

We were in SS 8048 on the Navigation deck. Loved the cabin and balcony!

I take these boards very seriously. THey are a wealth of information.I truly shake my head at some of the reviews that I have read. It is not that I doubt the experiences of others, but are expectations that out of whack? In our case, we were looking for a product similar to Celebrity. We have found it and will be back.

I would be happy to answer any specific questions.

Happy Sails,

Bella

Bella, Glad to hear you enjoyed the Zuiderdam! My first "real" cruise was with her and is one I will never forget (you know what they say about your firsts!!)

I was so happy with our cruise aboard her that I'm a bit reticent about trying any other cruise lines...We'll be boarding her again in a few months and I'm giddy with anticipation!! Please post a more detailed review.....I'd love to read it! Nancy:)

P.S. We were in cabin SS 8059 and loved the cabin & location of the deck!! Consequently we have the exact same cabin booked. Nancy

BellaBaci4 -

Thanks! I have a Zuiderdam cruise coming up and your review is encouraging. I also considered canceling at one point. Over the last few weeks though I have decided to just go and have fun.

Having never sailed on Celebrity can't compare dinner. What did you dislike about HAL's dinner?

I was on the same cruise as you and also previously sailed Celebrity. I agree with everything you said. I never thought that I would find find a cruise line comparable to Celebrity but I definitely have in HAL!

DH and I are looking forward to our voyage on the "Z" Sept. 17th. Did you do any of the excursions? Phyllis

Hello again,

In reference to the dinners on our Zuiderdam cruise verses Celebrity, it was difficult to make a choice on a couple of nights. We never experienced that with Celebrity. It was not major, just a point of comparison. For example, I have no interest in eating comfort food on a cruise, ie..... meatloaf, ham steak, pot roast. I found the comfort category a waste of an entree. Just my opinion.

I also don't often order fish when it is prepared in mass quantity. The exception was the lobster tail on the Captains night. That was exceptional. There is always the option of ordering a steak or chicken breast if you don't like any of the offerings. My husband ordered the chicken breast one night. He did not care for it, it was very dry.

We did eat at the Pinnacle Grill. The clam chowder and rib eye steak are to die for! I tried unsuccessfully to get a reservation for a second night. They said they were full, yet when we passed the restaurant on the requested night, it did not appear that way to us.

We did not do any excursions through the ship. We sailed to Virgin Gorda with Patouche Charters in Tortola. I highly reccommend them. It was a highlight of our vacation. I had tried to find someone to split the cost of a room at Comfort Suites in Paradise Island, but was unsuccessful. As it turned out, it was a little cloudy, and did rain a bit, so everything happens for a reason.

There was a Buffy the Vampire Convention going on during our cruise. This was a major point of concern for us (mainly me) pre cruise. While we did not have much interaction with the group,there were a few wierd ones with this group. I think they would have been better suited to Carnival. (Go ahead and yell, again, my opinion)

Overall, the crusie was so much more than I expected, It was a very pleasant suprise. I had based my expectations on the various reviews that I had read. We did not have any plumbing problems that I had read about. I would not have handled that well.

For us, our future cruises will be Hal and Celebrity, based on destinations and price combined. Hal certainly did win us over.

Still happy to answer any specific questions.

Ciao,

Bella

Thank you, Bella. We will be in Cabin #8042 soon so your positive comments are appreciated. I, too, would become cantankerous if there were plumbing problems on a cruise I saved long and hard for. Any other comments you can make about the cabin would be appreciated. We will have our six year old with us. I have heard it is plenty big for the three of us. I suppose there is no way for any real privacy though is there? Also, how about the noise above that some have mentioned? I assume it didn't bother you or you would have mentioned it.

Phyldunc - please join our thread on the roll call for the 9/17 Z - we don't have anyone from Texas yet and would love to hear from you.

Peggy

I'm so glad to hear about someone else who was on the Z June11-18th. We had a fabulous time with our first HAL cruise. I posted a rather lengthy post on the rollcall site for that week after we got back. We did 3 HAL sponsored excursions which I wrote about. Loved HMC, Tortola and St. Thomas. Nassau would have been a bust if not for Senor Frogs. What a way to spend a day LOL.

Loved the Zuiderdam. Everyone (cruise that is) was fabulous. I don't know why but it seemed to me that most passengers on the ship were nice except for a few elderly who were downright rude on more than one occation. We were also a little worried about the Buffy people and didn't have any personal bad experiences but the couple who was traveling with us were up on the observation deck when we pulled away from the pier in Nassau. There was a Carnival ship parked on the other side of the pier from us which made their pool deck very close to ours. As we pulled away, 3 Buffy fans (teenagers he thought) were standing next to him yelling expletives at the other ship. He knew they were Buffy people because he said they were dressed up like "satanic trekkies". Evidently they had a party they had been to.

Wanting to go back to the Z.....

~Chris:D

Phyldunc - please join our thread on the roll call for the 9/17 Z - we don't have anyone from Texas yet and would love to hear from you.

Peggy

Hi Judy, I just read your other note on another thread. I couldn't remember there being a roll call on the ship and wandered if there was a thread entitled roll call. As I just found this board this weekend and am still tryng to find my way around, is there a way to search for the roll call thread? Phyllis

Hi, Phyllis... I was just about to post this link to jump to your Zuiderdam 9/17/05 Roll Call, and I noticed you found it on your own! It's a really active thread.... 422 posts already! It should be a really fun group!

Have fun...

Candy <-- think it's so much fun, I might join you!

Hi Judy, I just read your other note on another thread. I couldn't remember there being a roll call on the ship and wandered if there was a thread entitled roll call. As I just found this board this weekend and am still tryng to find my way around, is there a way to search for the roll call thread? Phyllis