Anyone Back from the Zuidy??

[Lcar66]

That would like to share their recent cruise experience? Waiting patiently to hear about the dry dock updates!

[NYCATC]

Yes, I am back from the Zuiderdam after the first cruise after dry dock. This was an 11-night Panama Canal Cruise. GREAT destinations!

 

On the first day, the ship was late to arrive in Fort Lauderdale from dry dock in Freeport. This caused a delayed boarding. Once we did board, we had to proceed to the Lido deck to eat as the cabins were not ready yet. Once I finally got to my cabin, the balcony was really dirty. Visible dirt all over it (suite in the aft section). Many passengers complained about the dirt.

 

The air throughout the public spaces was stale and smelled like a cafeteria. Food smells were prevalent in non-food areas. Some of the walls and columns were worn and clearly not maintained.

 

There were 3 blackouts on the cruise - two of which were at sea. And they were complete blackouts - no power, no water and the ship stopped dead at sea. There was also one small fire that was quickly extinguished towards the end of the cruise. Alarms went off while at sea.

 

The ship clearly shows its age. Nothing has been done to make it look brand new.

[NYCATC]

Oh, I forgot to mention that the sports deck was absolutely filthy and many elevators were out of service and, at times, the toilets would not flush.

[sapper1]

The food smells and the uncleaned areas can be put down to the usual inconveniences of being on the first cruise post dry dock.

 

The power losses are a different matter. That is serious stuff. We have a year to follow reviews to see if we make final payment on the cruise we have booked on her. We loved our last cruise in April but there were some AC and tolet issues then.

[hoophome]

Hi.

 

I am boarding the Zuierdam on the 28th, and am a little concerned to hear about the blackouts.

 

I have been on a couple cruises and never experienced a blackout. Are they a fairly common experience that I have just avoided thus far or something rarer I should be concerned about after reading there were 3 of them on this ship so recently?

 

Can you tell me were these 3 outages a recurring problem (spread out over the entire cruise) or something that happened in a tighter timeframe that once it was fixed you got the sense it was no longer a concern?

 

When a ship has "no power" is there some kind of emergency backup lighting to get back to my room where I can just wait it out and avoid the chaos?

[NYCATC]

Blackouts, as far as I know, are not common. It's a very rare experience. It probably had to do with problems from the dry dock the week prior. I have never experienced this on a cruise. 2 of the 3 blackouts occurred overnight the same night. One of them was at sea at around 2:45am. I was asleep and only knew there was a blackout because I heard sounds coming from what seemed like the engine area (my cabin was aft on deck 6). It sounded like they were trying to restart the engines. I'm sure most people slept through this but I was aware because of the aft noises. The second blackout occurred about 4 hours later, once the sun was up. For this blackout, the captain made an announcement that we were experiencing a blackout. He was very professional in his announcements - very informative and very on top of things. Each blackout lasted about 30-40 minutes. The 3rd blackout occured while at the dock in Aruba. I think this was the same or next day and it occurred at around 6pm. It only lasted a few minutes and no announcements were made. The cruise was still pleasurable despite this. Very helpful, informative, and friendly staff.:)

 

There is a small emergency light in the cabin which was illuminated during the blackout. There is also emergency lighting in the public areas. For example, there is low-level lighting in the halls and stairs.

[legalbeagle2]

We were also on the first cruise post dry dock. We noticed the first blackout in the middle of the night when our a/c stopped working. So we looked out our balcony and saw that the ship was dead in the water. No announcement was made but then like NYCATC mentioned a few hours later, the captain made an announcement during the 2nd blackout at which time emergency lights were turned on. During the 3rd blackout, it was when they had a BBQ on the top deck in Aruba during dinner hours. Lots of people around with no power, but at least we were not dead in the water. Very scary to experience a blackout while the ship is at sea. One older lady we spoke with said she was so scared during the 2nd blackout that she almost cried since her husband was in a wheelchair upstairs and had mobility issues.

 

There were definitely a lot of upset people onboard this cruise. It got off to a bad start since they delayed embarkation and it was somewhat chaotic. When we entered our balcony room, we immediately noticed it was very dirty. Carpets were not vacuumed, debris on the floor, there was even a screw on the floor. Our neighbor had cigarette litter in their stateroom and balcony. The balcony was extremely dirty. When we asked our room steward about this, he apologized and simply stated that they had no time to clean. The staff knew about this problem and they sent a letter two days later stating that the balcony would be cleaned the following day. It still wasn't cleaned to satisfaction. Like NYCATC mentioned, the top deck was just FILTY. Dirt everywhere even the shower areas- I've never seen or been on a cruise ship like this. Just unacceptable. But the next day, my husband saw crew members scrubbing the decks up there. It appeared they didn't have enough time during drydock and they were rushing everything towards the end. One bartender told us that on the way back from Freeport, the workers were still in the cabins doing work and that is why the room stewards didn't have time to clean them.

 

Our toilet did stop working one day and we called to report the problem. Someone came to look at it and tried to flush it but it wouldn't work. So he left and we thought he'd be back to fix it. Well more than an hour went by and no one did anything about it. So we called a second time and again no one showed up. So finally we told the room steward and he got the repair man to fix it.

 

We were extremely displeased with the service we received with dialing 90 from our phone. For instance when we called to request ice to be delivered to our room, close to an hour would go by and no one showed up so we had to call again. Also the Ship Flicks delivered took way too long. Sometimes when we called, we'd be put on hold and then hung up. We've never experienced this with other cruise lines.

 

We also had a problem with our ceiling creaking which kept us up in the middle of the night. Strange but it was just concentrated in one area, like something was loose up there.

 

Despite the initial couple of days of problems, I will say the cruise got better as it went along. The food was quite good and restaurant wait staff was excellent. Room stewards were friendly as well.

[legalbeagle2]

Also wanted to mention that a few people we spoke with onboard didn't have working a/c in their cabin. One person in a suite told us he was offered a huge fan to use in his stateroom which he said helped him with the heat at night. This was like the 4th day when we spoke with this person so I don't know if or when his a/c problem ever resolved.

 

Also with regard to toilet problems, a few times, we noticed public restrooms had out of order signs. Luckily for us, we had one problem with our toilet in the stateroom on the second day, but then had it fixed and didn't experience any further issues.

[Lcar66]

the information. We are set to sail on her January 25 - Panama Canal - hopefully things will ge resolved.

 

So looking forward to the cruise - hopefully there will not be any issues.

 

Have a great Holiday everyone!

[irvington]

This is a bummer to hear. We had a problem free cruise on her in June and are planning on returning in March.

[DSLibrarian]

We also just left the Zuiderdam on Friday, Dec 21. Our cruise was great, and while I can't speak to the problems others experienced, I must say that our AC worked fine, our toilet flushed as expected, wifi in our suite (5190) and even while on our balcony had a really strong signal, food was usually excellent, cabin steward was great, and our room service meals were always on time. We especially loved the Island Magic Steel Band shows.

 

We felt that we were adequately kept informed during the brief power outages and the fire alarms. We did find that running out of coffee cups and glasses on a couple of occasions in the lido was somewhat annoying but didn't bother us too much. One afternoon our corner aft wrap balcony flooded when crew were cleaning balconies forward of us but a mention of it to the concierge had it cleaned up within a couple of hours.

 

We would not hesitate to sail on the Zuiderdam again.

[Lcar66]

We also just left the Zuiderdam on Friday, Dec 21. Our cruise was great, and while I can't speak to the problems others experienced, I must say that our AC worked fine, our toilet flushed as expected, wifi in our suite (5190) and even while on our balcony had a really strong signal, food was usually excellent, cabin steward was great, and our room service meals were always on time. We especially loved the Island Magic Steel Band shows.

 

We felt that we were adequately kept informed during the brief power outages and the fire alarms. We did find that running out of coffee cups and glasses on a couple of occasions in the lido was somewhat annoying but didn't bother us too much. One afternoon our corner aft wrap balcony flooded when crew were cleaning balconies forward of us but a mention of it to the concierge had it cleaned up within a couple of hours.

 

We would not hesitate to sail on the Zuiderdam again.

 

 

Thanks for sharing - I realize everyone has different views of their experience - thanks again for sharing your view point - greatly appreciated.

[RetiredNow]

We also just disembarked on Dec 21 from the Zuiderdam. Having read all the replies listed, we agree with the overall sentiments. Clearly, too much was scheduled for the dry dock time. The condition of the ship upon boarding (finally) was the worst we have even seen. The good news is that it continuously got better. Crew and staff seemed to work their butts off to get the ship back to acceptable status. Still, some things were disappointing, and not due to dry dock. (Running out of coffee for breakfast in the dining room, running out of water glasses in the lido, running out of coffee cups in the lido, popcorn not delivered to the movie theater until well after the movie started...etc.) Got the feeling that that some just gave up. Best of all, it was a safe trip. And things really did get better. Would sail on her again.

[profteedee]

Thanks so much for posting these updates about the Zuiderdam. Hopefully reports will continue to be more and more positive. We have never sailed HAL and will hopefully have a problem-free cruise when we board her in March. Good luck to all who are sailing before then.

[bobpell]

Was the dark blue hull painted during drydock as she was faded and the waterline streaked with rust on the cruise just prior to her facelift?

Bobpell

[kcscrapper]

There was a lot of hull painting going on while we were in a couple ports. It was making a really noticeable difference!

[cruisemom43]

I too returned from the Zuiderdam on 12/21/12. Even with the power outages, of which I counted 2, and fire alarms of which I observed two also (which all had to do with electrical issues), the trip was enjoyable. From what I heard, the ship had experienced servere weather the cruise before it went into dry dock and that dry dock was not a refurbishment but for repairs suffered during a storm in Panama. Many people spent their vacation complaining while others, like myself, oversaw the difficulties and had a great time. The food was outstanding as well as the service by the room stewards and food servers.:)

[tandkquinn]

Thanks for posting, all. Any word of what HAL intends to do in terms of compensation for the various inconveniences?

[btoohill]

We had a fantastic time. I was impressed with how the Captain handled the various problems such as the black out and felt that he was very communicative and a capable leader. None of the problems inconvenienced us in the least. And frankly, when I go on a cruise, I'm going on vacation, I'm planning on having a good time, and it's with that mindset that I look at everything. I thought the ship looked pretty good with new carpeting and they definitely were continuing to spruce her up and we went along. I much prefer to be on an older ship which is smaller than one of those huge, glitzy numbers that seem to be the new ships of today. So I'm very willing to accept the small flaws that come with age and character. We had some problems with our toilet, but when we politely requested help, it was sent and it got fixed. Our stewards were super. The food was very good, there were some really great shows -- especially the steel drum band. One of the things I really love about HAL ships is the wrap-around promenade deck. I love walking around it, enjoying the ocean, the breezes, getting exercise, and people watching. I'd cruise on the Zuiderdam again in a heartbeat and am looking forward to my next cruise with HAL. I had the sense that there were some people on this cruise who were looking for things to be wrong so they could complain and hopefully get some form of compensation. When I ran across these people, I looked for the first opportunity to move on. Wallowing in misery, is a waste of time. For me, life's too short. I treasure each day and if it's a day at sea, it's extra remarkable!

[profteedee]

Love your spirit, bthill! Thanks so much for your positive remarks. They are truly appreciated. We're sailing the Z in March and are hoping for the best!:)

[kcscrapper]

We had a good time vacationing as well -- but that doesn't eliminate our ability to critically assess and accurately report conditions as we experienced them. And it seemed to me that "conditions" have been the concern of all of the current queries as to the Zuiderdam.

 

In the current reports as to the condition of this ship, I have seen only one where the reporter stated that they wouldn't consider it again. The member reviews haven't been as generous.

[cruisemom43]

I personally hope nothing. Some people just gripe and can't enjoy themselves no matter what. And sometimes the squeaky wheel gets the attention. We were all inconvenienced in one way or another however it beats sitting home and not being on vacation. I think HAL did the best they could under the circumstances and if one person gets some sort of compensation then I believe all of us should!