Rep. rting In From the Zuiderdam

Sitting on my balcony in Grand Turk, hooked up to free email from the village on the beach....

Generally, the ship is in great shape, very clean though some worn areas. The carpet on the aft staircase to the MDR needs replacing, and some loungers need to be tossed. But overall, no complaints. Toilet flushes when it feels like it, you have to be patient!

Awhile ago there was a thread about the front office staff - I'm afraid I have to agree, just from watching the interaction with passengers who have experienced problems. And it took me 3 days to get the beverage cards I had purchased online. Sapper1 told me they had a problem with the printer.... the front office staff offered no explanation other than "we will look into it". Not friendly at all.

MDR service is slow, they have cut back way too much and the servers are run off their feet.

And - no days of the week carpets in the elevators:eek: - I have no idea what day it is:D

But, I'm on a cruise, having a heck of a good time and making the most of it.

Nice to hear from you and delighted you took a moment to post:)

Seriously? no days of the week in the elevator:eek: Unheard of. When you have nothing to do ;) check out every single one - I did notice that the NA kept missing one elevator for at least 4 days:eek:

enjoy your cruise despite the challenges you face:)

I do hope that the items you mentioned aren't affecting yours or Sapper1's cruise!

Thanks for checking in.

Sure wish I was at Grand Turk today. We like it there. :)

Enjoy!

startwin,

Thank you for reporting from the Zuiderdam.

We saw you waving from your balcony at sail away.

Hope you have no futher problems during your cruise.

Have a fabulous journey.

Thanks for keeping us posted about your cruise. Good to hear from you.

Thanks for checking in, Annette. I'm sorry to hear that some of the negatives about the Zuiderdam may well be true...I, for one, would trust what you and sapper have to say about her. :eek: But, I hope it doesn't impede your enjoyment of being on a cruise!

Thanks for checking.

Not good about the Beverage cards.

Hi startwin, thanks for checking in :)

Actually up till recently none of the Vista Class ships had the "Day of the Week" inside of the elevator. It was not till the Oosterdam started to replace all of the carpeting thru out the whole ship that at the end they placed the day of the week in all of her elevators. Zuiderdam is set to get new carpeting when she goes to Dry Dock December 1st this year. Although if it is similiar to how they did it for the Oosterdam it will be another 4 weeks after Dry Dock they are still on board installing the new carpeting. Although that would take it thru the Holidays and I will tend to think that will be a priority so hopefully it will be done during Dry Dock:)

Looking forward to hearing about the massive Big Meet and Greet in the Crow's Nest tomorrow. With the expected attendence to be 170+

I am sorry to hear about some of the problems at the front desk but you have a Excellent Hotel Manager that enjoys talking to CC Members that just came on a few days ago that can hopefully get everything running very smooth in the next few days ;)

Thanks for keeping us posted. Looking forward to the next installment.

THANKS for posting! Sad to hear about your beverage card issue. Hope that the rest of your cruise is enjoyable!

Don't take it wrong, guys - I have no complaints about the ship, just making observations. The crew is cleaning and polishing and repairing constantly. They shut down the air conditioning today to do a big maintenance job - I guess because of earlier complaints. It was an ugly evening with the heat, but it's getting up to par again now in most of the ship.

Watched the Canucks game tonight - one of our roll call guys streamed it live through his laptop in the Sports Bar. Not a good result, though.

Will report in again when I get some free wifi!!!

Don't take it wrong, guys - I have no complaints about the ship, just making observations. The crew is cleaning and polishing and repairing constantly. They shut down the air conditioning today to do a big maintenance job - I guess because of earlier complaints. It was an ugly evening with the heat, but it's getting up to par again now in most of the ship.

Watched the Canucks game tonight - one of our roll call guys streamed it live through his laptop in the Sports Bar. Not a good result, though.

Will report in again when I get some free wifi!!!

Too bad the Canucks lost but my first thought was Oh My that will use up a few Internet minutes. Hope he bought the $100 package :D

Looking forward to hearing about the massive Big Meet and Greet in the Crow's Nest tomorrow. With the expected attendence to be 170+

Have fun on one of my favorite ships!

Thanks for taking the time to post. Your M and G with 170 people sounds great. Please let us know how it works out.

Don't take it wrong, guys - I have no complaints about the ship, just making observations. The crew is cleaning and polishing and repairing constantly. They shut down the air conditioning today to do a big maintenance job - I guess because of earlier complaints. It was an ugly evening with the heat, but it's getting up to par again now in most of the ship.

Watched the Canucks game tonight - one of our roll call guys streamed it live through his laptop in the Sports Bar. Not a good result, though.

Will report in again when I get some free wifi!!!

Sure hope that they have gotten the air coniditioning problems straightened out.

Glad you found some free wifi Startwin! I'm sure all the Canadian men that were cheering for the Canucks are sort of happy-now they don't have to stress about missing any games! (the only way to look at the disappointment).

And how are you liking your HUGE balcony? It is a shame about the MDR and the cutbacks-I feel sorry for the staff having to deal with it and the guests that are used to such great service.

I love the days of the weeks in the elevators and would miss them if they aren't there. Hopefully by next year when we go they will be in the elevators-I will have to bring a calendar just in case:)

Hope you all enjoy the M&G today-that's a lot of people attending.:eek:

Nice to hear from you and delighted you took a moment to post:)

 

Seriously? no days of the week in the elevator:eek: Unheard of. When you have nothing to do ;) check out every single one - I did notice that the NA kept missing one elevator for at least 4 days:eek:

 

enjoy your cruise despite the challenges you face:)

 

I do hope that the items you mentioned aren't affecting yours or Sapper1's cruise!

No "Day of the Week" carpets on Oosterdam my past2 cruises in 2010 & 2011. Perhaps they don't have them on Vista class ships.:confused:

No "Day of the Week" carpets on Oosterdam my past2 cruises in 2010 & 2011. Perhaps they don't have them on Vista class ships.:confused:

Up until a few months ago none of the Vista Class ships had the days of the week in the elevator until they replace all the carpet on the Oosterdam. This process started in late October and was reporting they were still replacing carpeting into December. It was about that time they reported that they did finally hadd this feature to the Oosterdam. It is my understanding the other three do not have this but when they do start to replace thei carpeting I am sure it will be added as well ;)

Hello from Aruba!! Having a fantastic time and made many new friends. we hook up with Sapper and her DH in the evenings, and all our roll call members are a great crowd too.

So - plumbing problems on the Zuiderdam - previous complaints are valid:( After 4 days of "delayed flush" - up to an hour - we got into "no flush" mode. Not nice when we had to go downstairs to use a toilet! So finally I said if the toilet is not fixed immediately I am coming down to the lobby and I will scream blue bloody murder.... the plumber was at the door within minutes. It worked great last night, but now we are back to delayed flush......

Off for my tour. Will report back in later.

Hello from Aruba!! Having a fantastic time and made many new friends. we hook up with Sapper and her DH in the evenings, and all our roll call members are a great crowd too.

 

So - plumbing problems on the Zuiderdam - previous complaints are valid:( After 4 days of "delayed flush" - up to an hour - we got into "no flush" mode. Not nice when we had to go downstairs to use a toilet! So finally I said if the toilet is not fixed immediately I am coming down to the lobby and I will scream blue bloody murder.... the plumber was at the door within minutes. It worked great last night, but now we are back to delayed flush......

 

Off for my tour. Will report back in later.

I just don't get why there are so many toilet issues on the Z and has been for many months. It truly would be a deal breaker for me-I can put up with pretty much anything but not if the toilet doesn't work properly. Good for you for "threatening" because obviously that is what is needed-they probably didn't realize that you knew about the previous issues and figured you would just go away! hope they get it fixed properly for the rest of your cruise.

Enjoy Aruba! Can hardly wait to meet everyone and see what ports and excursions they loved.

So sorry to hear that you are having plumbing problems.

Hope they get it fixed properly --and soon.

Toilet flushing issues are as much as function of careless passengers as they are of the ship's condition.

Ships that carry more first-timers have far more plumbing issues than ships that carry frequent cruisers.

People just do not read anymore.

Those large signs warning you not to flush strange items down your toilet are simply ignored by many people.

So they flush underwear, kleenex, cloth towels, pizza, hand wipes, plush toilet paper from home, waste paper,aluminum foil, plastic, cans, bottles, and many more disgusting objects down the toilet, clogging the vacuum line for dozens of cabins.

Then the passengers blame the cruise line for not repairing it quickly enough.

Meanwhile, the engineers are below decks hacksawing the pipes, with raw sewage dripping all over them, trying to find the clogs.

Not very nice.

Caribbean cruises always have far more toilet problems than Alaska Cruises.

Alaska cruises always have more toilet problems than European cruises.

European cruises always have more toilet problems than World cruises.

World cruises rarely have toilet problems. The passengers are well travelled, and know what they are doing on a ship.

I think it's safe to say HAL doesn't have many first timers on board. Regardless of which line is in question or how much you like them the basics like AC and plumbing should work well. I think it's unfair to put the blame on the pass as all ships have them and not all ships have this problem over and over. When I was abroad the bathroom worked well with no delayed flush or clog however I heard a pass at the front desk going nuts cause his didn't work for three days.

Up until a few months ago none of the Vista Class ships had the days of the week in the elevator until they replace all the carpet on the Oosterdam. This process started in late October and was reporting they were still replacing carpeting into December. It was about that time they reported that they did finally hadd this feature to the Oosterdam. It is my understanding the other three do not have this but when they do start to replace thei carpeting I am sure it will be added as well ;)

The "R" Class and "Signature" Class have always had this feature. I am glad they are finally doing it on the Vista Class. Now if they would only put in Self-Service Laundrys!

Thanks for the updates....I am booked on the Zuidy for next year to Alaska and sure hope we don't have toilet troubles..my DH would be most unhappy about that....seems like it has gone on for awhile now and hopefully they will address more fully during dry dock.... cant' wait to hear how that mega meet and greet went.....for those hockey fans out there I have to give a shout out to my Nashville Predators.....in the second round of the Stanley Cup Finals!! WOOHOO!!!! :)