Zuiderdam - June 25 Cruise

Just back -- had a great cruise, good friends and good times -- I am always happy at sea -- the following are my personal comments

Our cabin steward, Hariyanto, could not do enough for us -- he has been with Holland America since 1992 and he was great. He was always one step ahead of us in anticipating our needs and he did a superb job with our cabin.

Our dining stewards, Budi and his assistant Putra were also just incredible. They often had time to stop and chat, always could recommend the best dessert on the list and the best items on the menu. They truly made dinner the pleasure on board that it should be.

I cannot say enough good things for the service staff on board. Burt Reynolds had my name after first contact, and Donny Walker was also fantastic. The food in both the lido and dining room were as good as I have had on Holland America. The selection of foods was excellent except for the noticable lack of salads as choices.

However, personally, I do not think that I will book a Vista class ship again (those, however, are often famous last words). Things on board this ship were just "different". For the same cost I felt that we were getting less product. The excuse was always "this is a very large ship" -- but it is really only about 400 passengers larger than the Zaandam and the Volendam. Our mini bars were locked 24 hours before the end of the cruise. We had difficulty finding live entertainment in the lounges (yes, even during cocktail hours -- bands were either not there or on break). It was not unusual to find the Ocean bar not even set up for cocktail hour at its onset yet peculairly those days the entertainment was there entertaining. When people did arrive and the cocktail service began, they were on break. Go figure that -- we could not.

Embarkation, we waited in line in the terminal for at least an hour and disembarkation also did not seem to go too smoothly -- it also included lots of lines, not matching my experience with other HAL ships.

Again I emphasize that I had a great time and that the people on board were fantastic -- it was just like the ship didn't quite work at times.

The production shows were not up to the standards that I have experienced on other HAL ships -- more dancers and more complex sets, but the male dancers were on the same stage, but not dancing together. You could almost see them counting their steps. With the exception of one or two, the dancers seldom smiled. James Cielen, the magician on board was excellent -- many of the same tricks, of course, but you could not see or detect the slight of hand. He truly did a great job.

Again Haryanto our cabin steward was excellent. But the cabins are smaller than on other HAL ships, and we were bumping into furniture all of the time as we moved around. The room lacked drawer space (a big loss in my opinion) and had too much furniture for its size. The verandah was nice and its slightly smaller size than the ones on the smaller ships was not really that much of a loss. I did miss the real ceramic tile in the bath (floor and wall were all plastic materials). I do not feel that we paid less to be on this ship, but we did get less.

At the risk of incurring the rath of the regular HAL cruisers, this ship is showing wear and tear above and beyond its actual age. I was on the Zaandam this year both right before and shortly after her SOE dry dock. This ship is a couple of years older than the Zuiderdam but we did not witness the same wear and tear on her that I witnessed this past week on the Zuiderdam.

The plastic "rattan" on the deck furniture on our verandah was unravelling. The deck tables on the verandah had permanent stains. The couch in our cabin had a large stain on it. The soft goods (bed spreads, etc) are well worn. Our cabin door was missing a number. There were many dark smudges on walls around the ship (residential areas mostly, not on the public decks), and some wall gouges that have neither been plastered or painted. And, of course, the floor issues in the cabin hallways and the cracked glass door that have been mentioned on these boards before.

The passengers on board seemed to be primarily first timers on cruising or first timers for HAL. Different demographic. Lots of kids since it is June. (We had about 2200 on board total because of all of the extra berths being occupied). This ship, turning over every week, does receive a lot of wear. Possibly HAL needs to attend to the upkeep of this ship a little more vigilantly than it does to its smaller vessels.

I was travelling with friends and a teen. The teen met a lot of great teens on board but was distressed that there seemed to be little for them to do, and no place for them to go after 1 am. Anyone who has a teen knows that this demographic group, by and large, does not go to bed at 1 am. They needed more to do during the night. Possibly a dedicated teen disco where they could dance, socialize, enjoy cokes and pizza way into the wee hours.

In summary I had a great cruise, and I am anxiously awaiting my next 3 HAL cruises that I have already booked -- but personally, I will probably not book another Vista class ship.

Thank you for the excellent report. Never sailed on the Vista ships. Prefer the smaller HAL ships.: Statendam, Rotterdam, Maasdam, and Ryndam. Booked on the Ryndam in October and the Amsterdam in 2006.:)

The Zuiderdam is scheduled to go into dry dock in December. From what I have heard in talking with the assistant cruise director, the Crows Nest is being completely redone, all cabins will be getting Plasma screen TV's and DVD's and the "new" HAL bedding will be installed in all cabins.

arzz

Thanks for the review.

Do you know why it took an hour to get processed to get on the ship?

And what was wrong with disembarkation?

I hope HAL addresses the problem of something being done about the hallways (some are very bad) when the Zuiderdam goes into dry dock in December.

Embarkation--four groups ahead of us, all sent to different stations, total time about 15 minutes. We arrived about 11:00-11:30. Plenty of tables in the Lido. Easy embarkation. Rooms ready about 1:30.

Rooms--somewhat worn toss pillows, firm, but comfortable beds, plenty of space for me and 2 grandchildren. Excellent cabin service by Nugroho. We did notice the hallways, but not the other things mentioned on this board. Did it ruin our cruise? No way!

Children (11 and 13) enjoyed en suite movies and ROOM SERVICE!)

Food in dining room and service (late seating) was excellent--lots of choices, well presented, extra servings of speciality items for the children to sample--escargot and duck. Pinnacle Grill was great. Children enjoyed it, too.

Did not attend any shows--we were too full and too tired.

Didn't win in the casino or bingo--spent too much $$$$ on each!

Had great excursions except weather cancelled ones on HMC and St. Thomas. Enjoyed the Dolphin Swim on Tortolla--a not to be missed experience, even for a a 70 year old! Did the Virgin Gorda excursion and the Nassau catarraman snorkle. They were both very good.

Disembarkation: We were staying in FLL overnight so we were last to get off the ship--no problem--got taxi to Embassy Suites, enjoyed excursion to Everglades, swimming in the pool, afternoon managers reception and a quite extensive breakfast in the courtyard before our flights in the morning.

Overall assessment: Super--yes, we'd do it again!

I do not know what wasn't working at embarkation. There were a lot of folks there when we arrived -- not exactly sure what time, but close to noon. The lines moved VERY slowly. We switched back and forth many times during the hour before we were first up. I am a peasant who cannot afford a suite, so we had to wait with the other peasants. I have not encountered lines like this on HAL before. There were lines also at disembarkation -- very slow getting off the ship after our number/color was called -- we were not distressed as we had a mid-afternoon flight -- it is merely a different experience from my other HAL adventures.

I find it hard to believe that 400 additional folks caused all that traffic if everything else was properly organized. We often travel at Christmas and spring break so we are always on board with a full ship.

As I said before, however, we still had a great cruise!

Flat screen, probably... I doubt if they're plasma.

The Zuiderdam is scheduled to go into dry dock in December. From what I have heard in talking with the assistant cruise director, the Crows Nest is being completely redone, all cabins will be getting Plasma screen TV's and DVD's and the "new" HAL bedding will be installed in all cabins.

I sure wish they would reconsider and do the drydock in Septermber during hurricane season. The fact that I am sailing in October has no bearing on that thought. :p

Personally, I think 1AM is more than sufficient for teen activities. ( I would never allow my teen to roam the ship until the "wee hours" of the morning. )

Glad you had a great cruise. We look forward to boarding the Zuiderdam in a few days.