Zuiderdam Review 11/11-11/18 Long

Zuiderdam 11/11/2006-11/18/2006

Grand Turk, Tortola, St Thomas, & Half Moon Cay

This review is my opinion of what we thought of this cruise and ship. Any thing we might not like is our opinion. Only. We have cruise a lot and found totally different opinions with in our own group.

We live in Florida, so we drove to the pier and arrived around 11:30 am.

There were 6 of us, my parents who are in there 70’s, my wife and myself and our 2 daughters 17 & 19

Embarkation was the best of all our 18 cruises, I dropped our bags at 11:30, and I parked right across the street. We printed out the paper work from home. We were in the Lido having Lunch at 12,

Cabin

Our Cabin was 6132 and was very nice. I had read that the cabins seemed smaller than others that people have sailed, Our opinion was they seemed just as big as any Balcony cabins we have had in the past on various lines. There was ample storage. Also there are drawls under the bed for extra storage. The bathroom was big and the tub was a nice feature although we never used it. (The girls had a inside cabin across the hall with shower only) Wow the beds were amazing, we asked our room steward for an egg crate to get rid of the crack between the beds and it worked out great. My wife loved the beds and I kept telling her it was only because she was on Vacation, Man when we got home and tried our bed, wow was I wrong. My bed (#@$$#@) Guess new beds are in the future budget. Thanks Hal!!!

My parents had Cabin 5067 and although there room was the same size there balcony seemed to be a couple feet smaller, depth wise. They were very happy though. Our cabin steward was efficient and did a good job but nothing that wowed us; the little fridge only gets stocked at the beginning of the cruise. I ask our steward about more stuff and he said room service was the only way to restock it. It was a small thing I found weird.

Ship

The ship was very nice and very easy to navigate; at the end of the first day I pretty much knew where every thing was. You need to investigate due to the fact there are little room (shops, lounges, ect.) Tucked away. A very nice atmosphere. I’m not sure if it because of low kid count but the elevators were very fast. The gym had a nice selection of equipment and free weights. The crows nest is a awesome place, its to bad they reserve this room for lots of private gatherings, We tried several times to go there with signs posted private party. The secondary show lounge (The Queens Lounge) is kind of small to have some of the events there that they tried to have. Bingo, Not so Newlywed game. There was standing room only a few times, I feel the main show lounge (The Vista Lounge) would have been better. You can walk all the way around the ship on deck 3 (the Promenade Deck) 3 times around equal a mile. Overall the ship is great. It never seemed to crowded at all. There was only a few times where it seemed a little crowded.

Out side the dining room before dinner, the first day in the Lido and as mentioned before, the Queens Lounge. Other than that it seemed at times we had the ship to our self.

(Note) At the pool Hal puts a rolled towel on every lounge chair in the morning, so you can make the mistake that the chairs are all taken. If the towel is rolled the chair is most likely free. Many people made this mistake. The Casino dealers and pit bosses were friendly and talked to the players. That adds so much to the experience. My 19 year old played for the first time and got 4 of a kind on Caribbean stud and won $700, I hope I didn’t create a monster. LOL the shows were ok, not anything special but we did enjoy them.

The Ports

This is going be brief do to the fact that everyone does such different things while at port.

Grand Turk:

This was our favorite stop. The beach, Margarita Ville, and the Pier was all right together. There was a huge pool with drinks and a DJ that provided fun entertainment. The beach was nice. The rocks you read about are about 15 feet out in the water, not on the beach. They are very large rocks so you cant miss them. The rock only go about 30 feet out and then there is no more. It’s only like a little ledge and the are not sharp at all.

Tortola.

This was our least favorite island and I might not being fair. By the time you dock it was dark in 21/2 hours. They offer a island tour on the ship for $59. They offer the same tour at the pier for $20; we were riding with people who paid the ship. They were going to complain but I don’t know how that worked out.

St Thomas

Well after 10 or more times their St Thomas is St Thomas, The morning cost me a bundle and in the after noon we took the sky tram and had some bushwhackers. We also ate lunch at the top of the hill and it was OK, Good bar food.

Half moon Cay

This is just paradise. The only reason it wasn’t our favorite was the fact you had to tender, also a pretty good rainstorm came in about noon that put a damper on the day.

The FOOD

The dinning room food was excellent and the service was awesome.

The pinnacle was slow and the food wasn’t as good as the dinning room, and to think we paid $180 extra dollars for this. No I did not tip extra, the service was so slow. I did take the extra tip and gave it to our main wait staff. I know they pool their tips but it made me feel better. Oh well live and learn.

The Lido was ok It would fill you up.

Room service was great, although a little slow at times.

Over view.

Overall this was a very good cruise (5 star out of 6) and we will defiantly cruise Hal again. At the same time there wasn’t any thing so outstanding that I would only cruise Hal, The youth program might be ok for younger teens but my 17 year old said it was kind of corny, (I don’t think that was her exact word) and there just wasn’t much for her to do. The rest of us had a great time.

When I got home a friend ask me if anything if there was any thing that made Hal better than other cruises we have been on.

I don’t know if any thing made it better, but there were some things that stood out.

1 The bedding was awesome.

2 Cloth hand towels in the public bathroom

3 less crowds around the ship

4 the 12 to 10 room service menu.

4a Being able to order room service from the main menu.

5 staff all seemed friendly and said hi

6 Dinning room staff. The best

7 At the end of your cruise they give you a little journal of your cruise.

8 we like being able to share a soda card.

9 First rate toiletries in the cabin.

10 Different ports than the same ol run of the mill.

Some of these are silly but made our cruise better. If you have any questions fill free to ask.

Ed

Thank you Ed for your great review. We will be on the Zuiderdam the end of Dec. so I really enjoy reading and learning different things.

I wanted to ask you about sharing a soda card. It wasn't silly as I was wondering if you could. I don't drink a lot of soda so I was curious if 2 could share a card.

Thanks,

Thanks for the taking the time for the great review. We are on this exact same cruise in February. Sounds like we will be doing pretty much what you did on the different islands. I was wondering if you rented a cabana at Half Moon Cay? We just don't feel it is necesary as we are going horseback riding, swimming, etc and not sure how much time we would spend in it. I read about all the passengers who do rent the cabana but what do the rest do while there? Just wondering. Again, thanks for the great review.

There are clam shells you can rent $9 for 2 people. there are shaded areas down the beach a little. Thay have cooling rooms up and down the beach. Cabana's Would they be nice to have (yes) Would I pay for one (no) There are plenty of chairs for free, we just draged ours up by some trees when the sun got to hot.

PS we were gonna rent clam shells but they were sold out when we tried.

The drink card is 20 drinks for $18 and they punch holes in it as you use it.

Thanks Ed for taking the time to post your review, I learned some good pointers from it.....

We will be On the Zuiderdam 11/25 sailing same Itinerary.... Can you tell me which formal night was the Captains dinner? 1st formal or 2nd?

Formal nights were Sunday and Thursday. The captain thing was Sunday the first one

Hi Ed.....Thanks for your review. We will be aboard the Zuiderdam this weekend and are looking forward to the cruise. This is our first HAL cruise and reviews like yours tend to raise the comfort levels as we will know what to expect. Thanks again!:)

thanks for the review. i just cancelled our trip to virgin gorda in tortola because you said there was only 2.5 hours of sun. i went to the weather channel and the sun is setting around 5:00!! not worth it for $59 each. cancelled within the 10 day window. we might try the $20 one. you saved us!!

thanks again.

Thanks for the taking the time for the great review. We are on this exact same cruise in February. Sounds like we will be doing pretty much what you did on the different islands. I was wondering if you rented a cabana at Half Moon Cay? We just don't feel it is necesary as we are going horseback riding, swimming, etc and not sure how much time we would spend in it. I read about all the passengers who do rent the cabana but what do the rest do while there? Just wondering. Again, thanks for the great review.

While it is comfortably warm in the Bahamas (which is where HMC is) in February, it's not terribly hot, so don't worry about the need for a cabana. A few weeks ago when we were in HMC, we found an empty gazebo-like structure, right on the beach, with several lounge chairs in it and a thatched roof for shade... so we sat there and felt very special! There's plenty of shady places.

Thanks so much for the Zui review and glad you had a good time. DH and I will be sailing on the Zui on December 16th and looking forward to our 11th cruise and 2nd on HAL. We were wondering about the sunset in Tortola and how much daylight we'd really have, so glad to hear the real scoop. That will affect our plans, for sure. We have been to Tortola before and plan on drinking some Pain Relievers at Pusser's and shopping.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone and happy cruising to all who are sailing this weekend.

Holland America - 2004, 2006

Carnival - 1995, 1998, 2006, 2006

NCL - 1994, 1996, 1997, 2003

Royal Caribbean - 2002

Bases5,

We shall be on HMC on the 4th December. When I booked our clamshell a couple of months ago I was charged $18.00 for the two of us, i.e. $9:00 each. Could you confirm that if you paid just $9:00 - were you on your own.?? or is their any other reason. If not I'll put my boxing gloves on when I get on the ship.

With regard to a cabana. We had one last year and only really spent time in it when it rained. Quite an expensive umbrella...:D

ONLY A WEEK TO GO ....YIPPEEEEEEEE.

Bob

WOOHOOO!!! We get back on in 2 days for our 2nd time:D We love the Zuiderdam the staff makes the whole experience so speical...great people..food...cabins...aft pool...LOVE IT!:)

WOOHOOO!!! We get back on in 2 days for our 2nd time:D We love the Zuiderdam the staff makes the whole experience so speical...great people..food...cabins...aft pool...LOVE IT!:)

Bases5,

 

We shall be on HMC on the 4th December. When I booked our clamshell a couple of months ago I was charged $18.00 for the two of us, i.e. $9:00 each. Could you confirm that if you paid just $9:00 - were you on your own.?? or is their any other reason. If not I'll put my boxing gloves on when I get on the ship.

 

With regard to a cabana. We had one last year and only really spent time in it when it rained. Quite an expensive umbrella...:D

 

ONLY A WEEK TO GO ....YIPPEEEEEEEE.

 

Bob

Hi Bob, I would be calling for sure. A clamshell is good for 2, I got one last year, nine dollars only!!!!

bye for now, Kalena

Bases5,

 

We shall be on HMC on the 4th December. When I booked our clamshell a couple of months ago I was charged $18.00 for the two of us, i.e. $9:00 each. Could you confirm that if you paid just $9:00 - were you on your own.?? or is their any other reason. If not I'll put my boxing gloves on when I get on the ship.

 

With regard to a cabana. We had one last year and only really spent time in it when it rained. Quite an expensive umbrella...:D

 

ONLY A WEEK TO GO ....YIPPEEEEEEEE.

 

Bob

If you booked online and listed both of your names it's most likely that you rented 2 clamshells, enough for 4 people. The first time I rented one I almost did that.

As other have posted it is $9 for 2 people. 1 claim shell fits 2 people

A couple of other thing i remembered.

Disembarkation was a snap. We were one of the last called due to the fact we were driving. We paid our parking tab @ 9:20 am and we were off.

I'm not sure if I emphasized how great the crews attitude was throughout the ship

Zuiderdam 11/11/2006-11/18/2006

Grand Turk, Tortola, St Thomas, & Half Moon Cay

 

The bathroom was big and the tub was a nice feature although we never used it. Ed

Peeyuw!:eek:

In all seriosity, nice review - thank you.

I went on line last night to reserve clam shell for April 2007 and the price listed was $14. Inflation.