djhsolara
-
Posts
3,579 -
Joined
Content Type
Forums
Store
Blogs
Downloads
Events
Gallery
Posts posted by djhsolara
-
-
janmcn, We cruised three different Carnival ships. They were all in better condition, glitzier (if you will), excellent food, great service, from room stewards and wait staff, and just as good ports of call. We had some of the same complaints on these cruises as this one with HAL. Expensive wine, shops, and spa. We weren't thrilled with the demographic of the other cruisers (opposite demographic as this cruise). I agree that the beds on this cruise were great. We chose this cruise mostly for the Panama Canal transit, and we loved that aspect.
Sorry you didn't enjoy aspects of your cruise, but also glad that you took the time to come back and say what you did like.
We love HAL (and have sailed on Westerdam three wonderful times), but we often try other lines/ships. With each additional cruise on another line, we're always looking forward to coming back to HAL. To each their own. We've seen the glitzy and all on other lines but love the understated elegance on HAL...reminds me of what I believe cruising would have been in the past. We just love returning to HAL because it feels so familiar...like we've come "home" to our vacation.
We just did the partial Panama Canal on Zuiderdam (had issues with the ship, so we'll be back to HAL but not again to Zuiderdam) and we were told by several staff members that Panama Canal is often considered a "bucket list" cruise and there are often more mature folks on these cruises because they are completing their lists (we were also told by the Club HAL staff that my nephew was one of four guests under 18 on this cruise). I guess we just got a head start on our bucket list. :) I know the general HAL demographic is usually more mature, but when we were on Eurodam last March we never saw such a young crowd. I guess sometimes it depends on the time of year and the itinerary.
Sent from my iPad
-
We were on this same cruise as the OP and you can read about our issues on the thread that I wrote. I said it on there, but I still love HAL but find no reason to ever return to Zuiderdam...ever!! The AC is not the only issue with this ship.
Sent from my iPad
-
Question: Is the midship pool (under the retractable roof) heated? Are you able to use it with the roof closed while you are still in the cold weather?
Thank you!!
Sent from my iPad
-
Thank you for the replies. We're going up a day prior to see a show and just wanted to be sure that the piers used are the ones near the theatre district. We'll be fine.
Sent from my iPad
-
Does anyone know which pier is used for Splendor in NYC? Thank you!!
Sent from my iPad
-
74 post thread on ice buckets. Don't we have something better to do?
DON
Apparently you don't have anything better to do because you are posting on here just like the rest of us.
Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
We have flown in the day of a few times and I would only do it with a direct flight...and I wasn't relaxed at all until we walked off the plane in FLL. Now we fly in the day/night before and I'm relaxed and my vacation starts as soon as I'm in my seat on the plane at BWI (Baltimore).
Sent from my iPad
-
I ate dinner in the PG on the Zuiderdam our first of two weeks in May 2013. The meal took nearly two hours with my water glass being filled only once. I expressed my dissatisfaction to the Manager and how the service did not meet my PG standards. When I told him that I would be returning the next week and expected to be fed in less than one hour, he vowed to meet my standard. Having a rookie server was the issue. He insisted that I would not be charged for the meal.
On the second of two embarkation days, I was seated at the table of my choice and assured that a different server would do a much better job. For the meal, I had two servers who met my one hour limit. I thanked the Manager and he thanked me for giving him another chance to show how good his PG could be.
Stimulating the competition for PG reputations seemed to work. Try it.
I agree with what you say, but we, as the paying customer, should not have to stimulate the competition for their reputation. There is too much "come back and let me fix it" going on in the PG on Z. Let's start getting it right the first time.
Sent from my iPad
-
We just returned on November 8th from a Panama Canal cruise on MS Zuiderdam. We were in Suite 7065, right across from the Neptune Lounge and had minimal air conditioning the entire cruise. What should've been an awesome cruise was diminished quite a bit by the discomfort we experienced. The concierge ladies were quite sympathetic but said that the engineers had told them that there was nothing that could be done, that the a/c was operating at full capacity. Since there was barely a whisper of air coming out of either of the vents, we found that awfully hard to believe. Tests were performed three times daily that indicated that our room was two degrees less than the "Acceptable Range". The solution was to give us an oscillating fan which effectively did nothing except keep the air moving. When we showered, the cabin was almost unbearably warm and we started perspiring as soon as we got out of the shower. And this was showering with cool water!!
We were interested to learn that many others were experiencing a/c problems; DH saw the concierge's list and it seemed as though there were at least 10 suites having problems and were being checked several times each day. Since this was not a new problem to the ship, why has it not been taken care of?? How can HAL allow this sort of situation to continue, especially in light of what we and others paid to go on this cruise?
Additionally, we too were underwhelmed by the Pinnacle Grill service. The food was delicious but the service was incredibly slow. Near the end of our meal (with friends), all of us had nearly empty water glasses. When we asked for more water, the server filled one of the four glasses and walked away! We had to call him back to specifically ask him to fill the rest of the glasses! What is that about? And when we went to leave, not one staff member spoke to us; in fact, there wasn't really anyone around that seemed to care whether we enjoyed our meal or wished us an enjoyable evening. Not at all what we've come to expect from Holland America.
Needless to say, we'll be contacting the home office about this. In the meantime, we hope that those of you cruising now and in the future on MS Zuiderdam have a more positive experience than we did.
I am the OP and I'm sorry to hear that there were still AC issues on your cruise. We were told by the COM that there were technicians getting onboard on November 1 to fix the issue.
Sent from my iPad
-
I would rather do that --- but last I checked, there isn't an ice machine down the hall.
Staying at a pre-cruise hotel, we've done that morning, noon and night.
I've paid enough without "ice duty" of locating a bar tender who doesn't mind filling my ice bucket.
No need to look...just call.
Sent from my iPad
-
I mentioned on this last cruise that the ice never stayed. We always had it in the am and again after turndown, but if we had room service delivered for cocktails before dinner we usually asked the delivery steward if he could fill the ice and he always obliged. We often needed to call to have it refilled at night as well.
I, like Ruth, often like to drink the water from the ice bucket. I like "ultra cold" water and that works. At home I keep a glass of ice water in the fridge so it is very cold and I like it that way on the cruise too, but it is just harder to get it that way when the ice is always melting.
Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
I didn't like the CC app from the start. I deleted it the day after I downloaded it. Tapatalk has worked well for me.
Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
We never leave the ship without passports. If there would be any kind of emergency that would keep us off the ship, the last thing that I want to be worried about is having to return to the ship to get the passports. We always travel with some sort of bag that we keep the passports in for safety.
Sent from my iPad
-
Just purchased some nice bottles of wine for my cruise. Was thinking that I may leave a glass in the bottle so that my server can enjoy it. Are they allowed to do so? Has anyone done this before in the past and have they appreciated it?
I think you have a very nice idea, but seeing that wine is so very subjective you have no idea if your server would like the same kind that you enjoy.
Sent from my iPad
-
I'm going to put in my two cents regarding the cash tips...
I work in a bank and I so often have customers that come in to get $2 bills or gold $1 coins to give as tips on cruises. To me, this is an awful idea. We shouldn't be giving cash/coins that we have a hard time spending ourselves right here at home in the US. While I know it all "spends the same" (and maybe I'm just being overly critical), I think we should be giving tips that are easy for people to use, not something that we don't use as everyday currency.
Sent from my iPad
-
Last week disembarkation off of Zuiderdam was seamless, smooth and quick once we got off the ship. Everything was running about 30 minutes late due to a fall in the gangway.
Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
Go with positive thoughts! You'll have a great time. I managed to, in spite of issues with plumbing - great cruise.:D
Even though sometimes our glass was half empty, we always looked at it as half full. You make the best of any situation and you'll have a great time.
Douglas...Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
-
It is so fun to come back to your stateroom and find these goodies, especially when you are so full from a wonderful dinner:D Save for the next day or until you get home.....
We didn't eat them until a few days later...but the funny thing is that they are are same chocolate and white chocolate truffles that were in the Neptune Lounge.
Sent from my iPad
-
Sorry you had issues. We just sailed 37 days on the Zuiderdam getting off October 28, and we had a terrific time. We noticed some decline in food quality in the Lido, but nothing to stop us from returning to her. I do know on other times we have sailed on her others have not had an enjoyable time while we were extremely happy with our time on her. Luck of the draw I guess. I would still recommend her.
So we were on the last leg of your cruise with you.
Sent from my iPad
-
Thank you. We didn't know if everyone receives it or if we received it because we had talked with the Culinary Operations Manager prior to that night (because the attached note was from him).
Sent from my iPad
-
So I wouldn't be doing HAL justice if I didn't return and say that in the end and throughout even though we had issues we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. As I said before, we feel that we have no reason to return to Zuiderdam (we'll stick with Westerdam, Eurodam or NA when we have the chance...and perhaps that "Newdam" when it is built) but this experience hasn't changed how much we like HAL.
We're going on Carnival in January (such a great deal we couldn't pass it up) and I'll be anxious to see if we do our normal of saying "we can't wait to get back to HAL".
Sent from my iPad
-
We just wondered if it is normal to receive this on your bed after LeCirque...
Sent from my iPad
-
I must say, though, that I do not care for the new laundry tags. They are more like a dry cleaning tag at home and usually must be removed before wearing the garment. I still have tags from two cruises ago on some of my shorts/shirts but these new ones won't work the same.
Sent from my iPad
-
Can anyone tell me who the current cruise director is, on The Zuiderdam?
We did the 22-day Panama Canal cruise in April 2012, and JT Watters was the CD then, but heard he was on The Eurodam a while back
We are doing this same cruise again, April 2014 -- just curious
Thanks :)
It is someone new to Zuiderdam just this past Monday. Ross was the CD, but he was getting off the ship in Ft Lauderdale when we did last Monday.
Sent from my iPad
Did you have AC issues on Zuiderdam?
in Holland America Line
Posted
My SIL and family were not in an aft stateroom, but were in an OV on 1. After the ceiling a/c unit was leaking because it was frozen over, they were moved to another OV more toward the front of the ship. After not being able to sleep that night due to temperatures that were confirmed by a few visits from a supervisor at the front office (named Michelle) to be over 80 degrees they were moved to their third stateroom...which remained cool for them for the rest of the cruise.
Sent from my iPad