Zuiderdam Panama Canal Sunfarer review published. Four stars, not five

[whogo]

"Finally, we went to the late Captain's welcome and production show." There has to be a better way to phrase that, but I can't come up with it.

[Himself]

Thanks for the review. The Zuiderdam was the 1st of the Vista ships. the mistakes of the Zuiderdam were corrected in later versions of the Vista class.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[pepsigirl64]

:D Thank you for the review, I have been reading everything I can about the Zuiderdam and her Panama Canal trips. We board her on April 19 for a full transit, 17 days to San Diego. It is our first time and I am debating tours or "winging it". I will be using a scooter to get around easily, do you think that I can see alot if we "walk" around the surroundings?? We are going to Aruba, Curacao, Cartenga, and a few other places on the Pacific side. I wish we were stopping at Half Moon Cay but that will have to be another trip. We aren't beach dwellers, but I would still love to put my toes into the beautiful water. Thank you for any information.....

[Himself]

Your report was very good. If you want to try another HAL ship, try the Nieuw Amsterdam!

[CruiseTee]

Thanks for the great review! We board her next month and I enjoyed your very in-depth comments! We haven't sailed on HAL for a year, do they still have their chocolate buffet once per cruise??

[sail7seas]

Thanks for your review. Appreciate you going to the trouble to share with us.

Welcome Back. :)

[Laminator]

On our December cruise, there was an evening BBQ on the aft deck area. As a recall (and I've just checked the Explorations), it wasn't even announced other than the "Lido casual dining" note. Chicken and (seriously rare) steak, along with some vegetables, were served. It was actually one of the poorer meals we had.

 

These were whole pigs that they cut the pork from. It was delicious. Come to think of it the event did not seem as well attended as I thought it would be. We went upstairs to the SeaView bar to have a drink and lucked into it. Other than that we would not have known.

[StartrainDD]

:D Thank you for the review, I have been reading everything I can about the Zuiderdam and her Panama Canal trips. We board her on April 19 for a full transit, 17 days to San Diego. It is our first time and I am debating tours or "winging it". I will be using a scooter to get around easily, do you think that I can see alot if we "walk" around the surroundings?? We are going to Aruba, Curacao, Cartenga, and a few other places on the Pacific side. I wish we were stopping at Half Moon Cay but that will have to be another trip. We aren't beach dwellers, but I would still love to put my toes into the beautiful water. Thank you for any information.....

 

Teri, I can share a little info and we have also done the full transit. I looked at your itinerary. My Mom uses a scooter sometimes so I kind of know what you are dealing with.

 

CURACAO: You can scoot to your heart's content all around town, over the swinging bridge, etc. No beaches within scooting distance. You could likely have a very nice day just scooting!

 

ARUBA - There is little to see within walking (scooter) distance of the ship's dock, unless you like "Diamonds International" and shops like that. However, there are abudant cabs, some of them are Minivan/SUV types. One of those could certainly take you out to the beach where we went and your scooter would get you right up to the sand. A ship's tour (or private tour) could take you to see other attractions if you are interested.

 

Cartagena - Do a ship's tour if you want to see the fortress and/or the town. There is nothing within scooting distance as the ship docks within a commercial type of port. Street vendors are extremely agressive and make the vendors in Mexico seem like amateurs.

 

Puerto Caldera - Lots to see in this area but you need a tour. See what the ship offers or try Okey Dokey Tours (Charlie Soto). We used Charlie for a full day tour and got to play with Monkeys, taste fresh pineapple, see how sugar cane was processed, took us to a beach, and finally a rain forest canopy ride (which was the only dissapointing part of the day). www.okeydokeytours.com

Corinto - Haven't been there but in this country I would surely stick with a ship's tour.

Of the three ports in Mexico, we only stopped at Huatulco. We loved Huatulco. You might be perfectly happy just scooting off the ship, browsing the many shops and vendors by the port, and enoying drink or two at one of the many bars/restaurants lining the beach adjecent to the dock. You could also find a cab to take you for a tour to the nearby village, or tour the many scenic bays in the area, if interested.

Have a wonderful time on your cruise!

[StartrainDD]

Thanks for the great review! We board her next month and I enjoyed your very in-depth comments! We haven't sailed on HAL for a year, do they still have their chocolate buffet once per cruise??

 

Yes, the last formal night at 10:30 (opens for photos at 10:15).

[desertr0se]

Our review of our recent (Jan 25 sailing) Zuiderdam Sunfarer cruise has been published. We did not experience any of the issues reported in recent reviews, yet we still found the overall cruise experience to be not up to what we have come to expect as HAL's "Standard of excellence."

 

Here's the link: http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=115180

 

I will try to check back to answer any questions.

 

Hope you have a good time. We rode the Jet Skies on Half Moon Cay last cruise. We really had a good time.