Home for the Holidays: Christmas on ms Zuiderdam

Day 4: Philipsburg, NA/Art Around the Island continued

Our last stop of the tour was the best in terms of art and location. It was the home/studio of Antoine Chapon. We were asked not to take pictures of the art at any stop, but in this case the house and location were as outstanding as the art.

Most of the living area in Caribbean houses is outside.

A small, homemade jacuzzi graced the deck.

Closeup of the shutters that provide shade and some protection from the elements.

Back at the port there was a low key shopping area, which we had passed on the long trek down the pier to our tour mini-bus. It was an interesting mix of local merchants and the usual cruise port jewelry stores. I bought a nice Larimar pendant at one of the stands.

The sounds of a steel band helped the shopping mood.

Day 4: Philipsburg, NA/No room at the pier, aka Christmas Eve

I found it ironic on Christmas Eve to have 6 ships in port. No room in the inn indeed. The morning docking dance was entertaining. What wasn't entertaining was the looooooooong walk down the pier from our position behind Celebrity Eclipse.

I've titled this photograph "Study in Sterns and Fake Rocks."

The loooooooooong walk. Yes we're someplace behind Eclipse on the left.

Looking back towards land from our home on the seas. We had ships from RCI, NCL, Tui's Mein Schiff 2 (the former Celebrity Mercury), MSC Divina and, of course Zuidy.

Our Christmas Eve plans were grand. After dinner we would attend the crew carol sing and the midnight mass. We made neither event, hitting our heavenly bed at an early hour. It might have had something to do with a "Snowflaketini" that I ordered at dinner. It was quite good. Here's the official recipe. http://www.hollandamericablog.com/2012/12/26/holiday-cocktail-snowflaketini/ Mine was happily minus the cocoanut flakes.

We had finally gotten the flap opened between our verandas, so the highlight of Christmas Eve was enjoying the almost-Neptune size balcony.

Thanks for the update. Loving your photos!

Great photos.

Thanks for the update.

Thanks for the kind comments and for still reading. I need to get this done before I go on almost the same cruise Feb. 23 on Celebrity Century with our Veendam "family."

Day 5: Christmas at Sea

After our failure to properly celebrate Christmas Eve, we did manage 2 aspects of a normal Christmas day. I played some Christmas music on our iPad and we ATE. I had hung some snowflake ornaments on our window with little suction cup hooks, but that's all the decorating we did. I'm glad we chose a cruise which had Christmas Day at sea. I cannot imagine being in a port. I'm not sure I could have handled the stores being open on a day that should be spent with family. While our day may not have been Christmasy, it was at least quiet.

We attended the Mariner's Brunch together and were seated with two other couples, who were a lot of fun. (They were the ones that told us about the cabin with the AC problem at the beginning of the trip.) We picked up our "tile" on the way out. Not at all sure what happened between brunch and dinner. It may have involved snoozing in a deck chair or taking a nap.

MDR after Mariners Brunch

Dinner was another matter. I had managed to snag a Pinnacle Grill reservation for Christmas night. In a nutshell. Waiter -- Excellent. Food -- Very Good. Decor -- Abysmal. It's hard to know where to start on the latter. With the chairs that looked like medieval torture devices according to our traveling companion?

With the faded, lit from behind, classical paintings of food excess? The chopped up space? Or the ceiling, which, by itself was interesting, looking like sea anenomes with color changing veins?

Or all together as another example of Zuidy's decorative dysfunction at work. I longed for the simpler, classic space on Veendam. There was a clear pecking order on who sat where. The folks by the windows, blocked from our view by the photo mural, were spared the worst of the decor, as well as the sight of the commoners. We were close to the entrance as befitted our lower status, which was actually not a problem as people watching is one of my favorite indoor sports.

Our waiter, Yudy, was fantastic. He was full of good energy, helpful and a friendly filler of bread baskets.

No snoot at all. The food was good to very good. Flavors were more interesting and intense than the MDR. We were on the new menu. I enjoyed the tomato broth. It was a lovely light introduction. We all had the lamb with the amazing fruit chutney.

I had the dark chocolate soufflé for dessert. Our companion had the vanilla. DH had something else that escapes me. Apologies for not turning the plate around so you could actually see the soufflé!

Day 6: The Last Day: Half Moon Cay

I stayed on the ship while DH and our friend tendered off to HMC. I'm not a beach bunny to begin with, but mostly I just wanted a day for myself. They reported that the sand was exquisite, the tropical drinks good and the clamshells the best idea since sliced bread. I had ordered 2, so they each had one to themselves.

I contented myself with taking pictures from the ship, having my last acupuncture with Lisa and generally wandering the ship taking pictures here and there. I even got started on packing, although on the way back it's not as time consuming because you are basically tossing stuff back into the suitcase.

We anchored fairly far out. This picture shows a tender heading for the island.

Almost as soon as the first passengers hit the beach we had a tropical shower. At this juncture I was happy to be on Zuidy.

Another shot from the Observation Deck Terrace, one of my favorite places on the ship.

A telephoto image showing the sand and beautiful water at HMC.

Our last "sail away." As you can see it was exciting, not!

Shrimp, again - wonderful photos, and a great report. Thank you.:)

Awsome pics Shrimpie!

This is such a fabulous review.

Thank you.

Day 6: The Last Evening and Leaving Zuidy :(

After one last sunset in "The Crowbar" we proceeded to The MDR for the international dinner, with the usual menu and no memory of what I ate.

Odhe and Wartam were wonderful waiters, learning very quickly what our quirks were. Actually others in the area pitched in at times. I guess they saw how much fun we were having with them and wanted some of the happiness. (There were some real complainers near us, so I guess we were a "safe haven" for some of the staff.)

All gussied up in chef's hats

Fresh flowers are a Holland America tradition, especially the orchids in The Lido Restaurant and in the Ladies Rooms. It just makes the whole ship seem more alive and vibrant.

We had great towel animals. Here's my favorite, the HALephant

And a final look at where we've been.

+ + + + +

Disembarkation went slowly at the customs bottleneck, but the HAL transfer to the airport went smoothly. It was the first time we'd used their transfer (on the way to the ship we used the hotel transfer), but given the layout of Port Everglades, it seemed wise both times.

Our pre-cruise hotel was Crowne Plaza Fort Lauderdale Airport-Cruise Port. It wasn't exceptional, but they had a good transfer system. Our bus was for Zuidy and Celebrity passengers. I thought the bus setup was much better at the Celebrity dock. Interestingly we did not have a document check on the way into the port.

Thus ends the formal report. A summary will follow shortly I promise.

Thanks shrimp for such a great review. I enjoyed your pictures and commentary very much. We will be taking our first HAL cruise in May on Zuidy and I have enjoyed a preview of what to expect!

Thanks for your fine photo review...though I see you marked your Zuiderdam album -smaller. I'm guessing you are concerned with the cost of having too much photo traffic. Really enjoyed your photos and informative review. :):):):)

Thanks for your fine photo review...though I see you marked your Zuiderdam album -smaller. I'm guessing you are concerned with the cost of having too much photo traffic. Really enjoyed your photos and informative review. :):):):)

Actually I just wanted the pictures to be a reasonable size in the report, but, obviously I missed a few LOL. I pay $25. a year to have the bandwidth to post here and elsewhere. Looking forward to our June cruise on Zuidy's younger sister, Noordam.

I'm so happy someone brought your thread to the fore - I guess I was away when it was on page 1 before! I really enjoyed all your vivid descriptions. We will be in San Juan and Philipsburg in the autumn, so I was thrilled with your descriptions. Also, HMC, do you think it was a good idea to have clamshells? I haven't booked one yet, thought we would just wander around, maybe swim, and go back to the ship. Decisions, decisions....

I'm so happy someone brought your thread to the fore - I guess I was away when it was on page 1 before! I really enjoyed all your vivid descriptions. We will be in San Juan and Philipsburg in the autumn, so I was thrilled with your descriptions. Also, HMC, do you think it was a good idea to have clamshells? I haven't booked one yet, thought we would just wander around, maybe swim, and go back to the ship. Decisions, decisions....

Awwwwwwww thank you:) As quirky as Zuidy is, she has a special place in my heart.

On the clamshells. I'd reserve one. It's not so expensive that if you don't use it you'll feel majorly guilty. It's a nice base to have. And if it rains it's VERY nice:)

Awwwwwwww thank you:) As quirky as Zuidy is, she has a special place in my heart.

 

On the clamshells. I'd reserve one. It's not so expensive that if you don't use it you'll feel majorly guilty. It's a nice base to have. And if it rains it's VERY nice:)

LOL, I never found Zuidy quirky - but perhaps it's in the eye of the beholder?!:D

Thanks for the advice about clamshells - good idea - I'll book one.

Thanks for bringing this forward.....I love looking at photos and reading reviews and this just made me long for a cruise, sigh....especially after watching the Zuiderdam leave today.

Great report! Gives me a good idea what to expect next month. Thanks for posting.

Great report! Gives me a good idea what to expect next month. Thanks for posting.

Thank you so much for your kind comment. I hope you have as super a time as we did on Zuidy :)

Lovely review! :)

Help! I keep hearing conflicting reports on the ms Zuiderdam. We love the itinerary that we can't seem to find on any other cruise line but we are worried about the reviews of this ship. We like some decent entertainment, good to great food, and we want a clean ship and room. We don't need fancy but I don't want mildew and bad smells. We have only traveled on Carnival (years ago in the Caribbean) and recently in Europe on Princess and Royal Caribbean.

Will we be disappointed on this ship? This is smaller than we are used to and doesn't have the big screen tv above the pool but we really love the itinerary. Any help or info is greatly appreciated.

Zims post brought your review forward from 2014. Otherwise, I would never have found it. It is the first that I have read about this ship. The decor sure is different. Cant quite make up my mind or not. Thanks for a wonderful review and the fabulous photos.

Zims post brought your review forward from 2014. Otherwise, I would never have found it. It is the first that I have read about this ship. The decor sure is different. Cant quite make up my mind or not. Thanks for a wonderful review and the fabulous photos.

Thanks for pointing out that this review was from 2014. I was on the Zuiderdam this past Christmas and although many of the ports were the same the order was different. Also on Christmas Day we were in Falmouth, Grand Caymen.

Rockfan2

And let me add that Zuidy is now quite an elegant ship. The last drydock muted some of her garishness and I've found my favorite Ocean Bar at last!