Back from the zuiderdam!!

What a GREAT first cruise with HAL on the Zuiderdam Panama Canal cruise!!

Great ship...Great staff...Great itinerary...Great food...Great entertainment!

I wont have time to write up a big trip report this week, but if anyone has any questions about the Zuiderdam or this itinerary, I will make it a point to check back and provide the best answers I can!

Looking forward to sailing with HAL again in the future!

:D

(y)(y)(y) Thanks for your comments on Zuiderdam - she is our second favorite ship, and we'll be doing our third Panama Canal cruise on her early next year. Glad you had a great first experience on HAL/Zuiderdam and hope you'll be back again soon and often!

Glad you liked the cruise. Hope you write a good review about your observations and experiences.

Glad you enjoyed your first cruise on HAL, the Zuiderdam, staff, food and the partial Panama Canal experience.

We enjoyed our cruise on her a month ago as well.

Welcome back.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

We are on the Zuiderdam in Dec. for the Panama Canal Cruise. I'm curious as to what shore excersions that you enjoyed.

Thanks

Glad you had such a good cruise.

Welcome home.

Glad you enjoyed your cruise.

Thanks all! We were all very pleasantly surprised with everything! Best balconies we’ve ever had helped make this one of the most relaxing vacations too! Looking for another HAL trip in the future!

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We are on the Zuiderdam in Dec. for the Panama Canal Cruise. I'm curious as to what shore excersions that you enjoyed.

 

Thanks

Hi Larry!

We had previously been to Bonaire and Curaçao, so we made our way around those ports on our own this time.

Bonaire is known for their great snorkeling, though!

We really like just walking around the downtown and fort areas of Curaçao, which are just an easy walk from the ship (with a Casino along the route! [emoji6])

We did the “Panama Canal Experience” tour that goes the rest of the way to the Pacific Ocean. A LONG (12 hour) Day, but great experience. That’s why we chose this trip to begin with - to see and travel the Canal!

In Costa Rica, we walked to the park and beach areas not far into town for some pics, then walked through the “street market” to the Cathedral. We saw some sloths in the trees along the way, which was fun!

All in all, only one real excursion (Panama) through the ship this time.

In all ports there were plenty of vendors right at the Pier looking to fill their tour vans for a very good price! Lots of folks took advantage of those from what we observed.

You’ll have a GREAT relaxing vacation on the Zuiderdam! ENJOY!

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Hi Larry!

We had previously been to Bonaire and Curaçao, so we made our way around those ports on our own this time.

 

Bonaire is known for their great snorkeling, though!

We really like just walking around the downtown and fort areas of Curaçao, which are just an easy walk from the ship (with a Casino along the route! [emoji6])

 

We did the “Panama Canal Experience” tour that goes the rest of the way to the Pacific Ocean. A LONG (12 hour) Day, but great experience. That’s why we chose this trip to begin with - to see and travel the Canal!

 

In Costa Rica, we walked to the park and beach areas not far into town for some pics, then walked through the “street market” to the Cathedral. We saw some sloths in the trees along the way, which was fun!

 

All in all, only one real excursion (Panama) through the ship this time.

 

In all ports there were plenty of vendors right at the Pier looking to fill their tour vans for a very good price! Lots of folks took advantage of those from what we observed.

 

You’ll have a GREAT relaxing vacation on the Zuiderdam! ENJOY!

 

 

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We are looking at the “Panama Canal Experience”. The last time we were there we took the train trip and really enjoyed it, but wanted something different. Cruising the whole length of the canal really sounds interesting. Was the excursion very crowded? Were you able to get to the side of the boat easily for pics, ect..?

Do you recall what times the dinner dining service started? We are currently booked on this cruise in February for early seating, but depending on how early it is, may want to change.

We are looking at the “Panama Canal Experience”. The last time we were there we took the train trip and really enjoyed it, but wanted something different. Cruising the whole length of the canal really sounds interesting. Was the excursion very crowded? Were you able to get to the side of the boat easily for pics, ect..?

I thought it was a fun day!

Our excursion boat was nearly full, but not crowded. I think there were 4-5 busses from our ship that did the tour, so about 200 people maybe? There was lots of room to walk around on two decks - inside and out.

They served lunch by calling one section at a time and there was plenty of food, and it moved orderly. Water and soda was available all day in coolers around the boat. We always had room to get great pictures from all around the boat.

We even got some fun pics of each of us touching the wall of the canal!

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Do you recall what times the dinner dining service started? We are currently booked on this cruise in February for early seating, but depending on how early it is, may want to change.

1st Seating is 5:30-5:45 - 3rd Floor

2nd Seating 8:00-8:15 - 3rd Floor

Just wanted to add....

We did “open seating” on the 2nd Floor, which the Zuiderdam does great!

We like to dine early like we do at home, so we were down there when the doors opened at 5:15.

We were offered the same table/time/servers for the length of the cruise when we dined the first night, which we took! With these “reservations” we did not have to wait in line....but go right to our table each night at 5:15.

This gave us time for a leisurely dinner and plenty of time to get ready for the evening festivities!

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Booked ABC tour on Zuidey Dec. 2019. First cruise on this ship. Looking forward to your review. Glad you had a good time!