Just Back From Zuiderdam (Quick Review)

[Megsie1000]

Figured I would do a quick and dirty review since otherwise I will not do one at all. :D

 

For the most part our experience was very positive and we had a great time. This was a 10-day partial Panama Canal on the Zuiderdam (Jan 15-25).

 

Most of the problems we experienced were at the very beginning of the cruise. And most of the them were little things, but added up to aggravation when added all together. Thankfully the rest of the cruise more than made up for it.

 

We were given an upgrade offer on Monday and took it because the price was so good. We upgraded from an inside to a verandah cabin. We lost proximity to my mother and our girls doing this (their cabin was to be next to ours but they ended up 4 decks up), but thought it would be worth it to have the verandah cabins.

 

Embarkation went pretty smoothly except the man checking us in did not understand how the bracelets for the kids work. They are required to have plastic bracelets with their lifeboat stations on them in case of emergency. He checked us in but did not get one for Jack. They would not let us on the ship without it so we had to go back and get that.

 

We got to go to our cabins immediately, which was really nice. I will talk about the cabin(s) later.

 

I already talked about this on another thread, but the lifeboat muster drill was a complete disaster. Nobody could hear the announcements because there were so many people clustered in the public areas trying to avoid the rain. We went out on deck with Jack because we thought we were supposed to be out there. The rain was coming in buckets and sideways. Several staff members were out there watching us get soaked. Jack was so cold he was shivering. We waited and waited until finally my husband asked someone and they said "oh you don't need to be out here yet." It was obvious we were standing there for the drill and you just watch us and don't say anything? Yes it is our fault we did not hear clearly or whatever, but seriously? That was so odd and did not leave us with a good impresssion. In the end they ended up just scanning everyone's card and sending them back inside. I see no reason they could not do that for every lifeboat muster drill like they do on RCI. Scan the cards at the lifeboat station and then gather in a public room for the demonstration of the life jackets, etc.

 

We were in cabin 6003, which is all the way forward. It is a wheelchair accessible room. The extra space was nice and it was well laid-out. I would not have booked that room, obviously, but it was assigned to us with the upgrade, I assume because nobody else had booked it 5 days before we were due to sail.

 

My mom and the girls were in room 10001 way up by the Crow's Nest. It is one of the new cabins. Tiniest cabin I have ever seen in my life. Obviously we were in a wheelchair accessible room, so ours was much larger. But my aunt and uncle also had a verandah room on deck 5 and we compared and the new rooms on 10 are TINY. So just know that if you are thinking about booking one. It was supposed to sleep 4 but I cannot imagine 4 people in there (and I have shared with 4 before on inside cabins). Tiny tiny tiny. Mom liked the proximity to the Crow's Nest and the Explorations Cafe (and the Lido), though. '

 

After checking out my Mom's room, I ventured up to the Retreat to look at our Family Cabana we had booked months ago and meet the staff up there. D'oh. No record of our reservation. I am beside myself at this point because not only had I paid for this cabana ($600), but i had also called at least twice to confirm that the reservation existed because I got no email with any confirmation numbers or anything. Had to venture down to the front office and wait in a mammoth line to find out what in the heck was going on. They have no record of it. Seems like maybe our upgrade on Monday had somehow screwed up the reservation. For some reason they cannot just call ship services and find out. Why would my cabana reservation be linked to my cabin and not just to me? Call my credit card company to see if there has been a refund on the cabana. Nope. Get back in mammoth line. Finally the guy takes pity on me and just books the cabana for me for the rest of the cruise. But as far as I am aware he has no verification that I ever booked it and was taking my word for it. I have no idea. Thank God there was one family cabana left. Lost a day. No explanation was ever given. Something has to change with that whole thing. They cannot just be losing people's reservations.

 

We also had some snafus with our phone not working but they were resolved quickly.

 

Now on to the good! The food was AMAZING. I have zero complaints. Every single thing I ate was absolutely delicious. Strangely the "Gala nights" were my least favorite menu items but were still delicious. The Pinnacle Grill lived up to its reputation and was better than the last time I ate there.

 

In the dining room we ended up trying to get the same table every night and made a 5:30 reservation for a table of 8. While the time was a bit early for me, I get that they need to try and keep certain times open for walk-ups. Our waiter was so wonderful with the kids. He made them little origami animals that they kept and took home with great care. We had him most nights except one where they gave our table away to someone else by accident. :confused: When we returned the next night he seemed devastated we had not been there the night before. :) We gave him a nice extra tip at the end of the cruise.

 

The Retreat area of the Zuiderdam is really nice and the family cabanas are huge and comfortable. Unfortunately the weather did not cooperate and we did not end up using it as much as we would have liked. But when we were there the stewards were amazing. They would get you anything your heart desired. They even went and got us popcorn one afternoon before a movie because he heard us complaining that the popcorn was always gone when we went to the movie theater. Hardly any of the cabanas were rented. Not sure if that was the weather or just that nobody knows about them.

 

The service on the ship overall was absolutely wonderful. Everyone smiled and the whole atmosphere was so positive.

 

There were the usual riots over movie theater seats. Some poor staff member had to keep telling people to leave who wanted to drag in chairs and sit on them. Apparently it was a fire code thing. But they got very mad and were not nice to him. You had to go at least 30-45 minutes early if you wanted a seat for a movie. HAL needs to do better on this. Either show some films in the Vista or do something else. Obviously this demographic likes movies and there are not nearly enough seats. We ended up with an extra sea day due to not being able to dock at Grand Cayman and that day was the worst as far as people freaking over the movie seats.

 

The entertainment was pretty good. I am picky because I am a musician, but overall it was pretty good. I don't see why the singers and dancers have to work with tracks all the time instead of just singing, but I guess that is probably what people want. It just leaves me cold. I am sure it is the same on other ships. Adagio was good but I would like to see string quartets again. A solo violinist can only do so much.

 

 

We got the signature beverage package complimentary with the Explore 4 package. I drank probably fifty bazillion Hendrick's and Tonics and probably still did not drink enough to justify buying the package. But we still enjoyed it. It is nice to be able to order drinks without worrying about the cost and to try new things. I would still probably not buy the package because it would never add up for me.

 

My 12-year old lost her card and had to get a new one. We ended up with a strange charge on her card for the explorations cafe for 12 diet cokes (at once) and an iced coffee. Obviously that was not her. Some ******* took her card and bought $27 worth of drinks on it. She does not drink coke (never mind diet) and obviously not coffee. And she had the signature beverage package so it would not make sense for her to do that even if she liked those things. Thankfully they took the charge off no questions asked but it made me mad re our fellow passengers. Who does that?

 

The Panama Canal was so cool. Really enjoyed that. In Aruba we took a cab to Eagle Beach. Beautiful. Only snafu came when trying to get home. Aruba cabs do not want to take you home if you are wet or even appear to get wet. We heard that and brought changes of clothes but even then we had trouble getting someone to stop and take us to the ship. Finally we found someone.

 

Half Moon Cay was amazing as always. The 8 of us rented a Villa. It was a bit chilly so the hot tub was a godsend. Having the bathroom right there was also really nice for the mobility-challenged in our group and the kids. We skipped the BBQ to concentrate on our limited hours in the villa and just snacked on the chips, veggies and fruits in the villa, which was more than enough to satisfy us until we got back on the ship. I wish the ships would stay a bit longer in the afternoon. I am not sure what the hurry is to leave at 3? It would make the villa rentals a lot more attractive if there were a few more hours there.

 

In Puerto Limon we did the 6-in-1 tour with Your Lucky Tour. Our guide was great and the tour was informative and fun.

 

Did I say this would be quick? Ok so not so quick. I will try and post some pics of the cabana if I get around to it.

Edited January 26, 2016 by Megsie1000

[elycelynne]

Thanks for your review -- I'm going to be on the 2/15 11-day sailing. Do you happen to remember the name of your cruise director? I know that the previous one had just retired.

[cruz chic]

I had the same issue with my cabana on the eurodam. When I booked I asked for a confirmation email because I know that Hal can screw up. When I got to the cabanas they had no record of it. Luckily I had the confirmation so it got fixed for week one.

 

The second week they gave my cabana away to someone else. My friend came over and told me I better get back to the cabana because someone was complaining that there was stuff in their cabana. After complaining to a few people it got fixed.

 

Hal clearly has issues with communications on the cabanas that they need to get sorted out. I urge you to contact Hal regarding this so they can see that this is a pattern they need to fix.

[kftw]

Thank you for your review.

[maxie99]

www --

Edited January 26, 2016 by maxie99
---www

[vicd1969]

There were the usual riots over movie theater seats. Some poor staff member had to keep telling people to leave who wanted to drag in chairs and sit on them. Apparently it was a fire code thing. But they got very mad and were not nice to him. You had to go at least 30-45 minutes early if you wanted a seat for a movie. HAL needs to do better on this. Either show some films in the Vista or do something else. Obviously this demographic likes movies and there are not nearly enough seats. We ended up with an extra sea day due to not being able to dock at Grand Cayman and that day was the worst as far as people freaking over the movie seats.

 

 

You are right about the chairs in the movie theater. There needs to be big signs warning passengers not to move chairs from other rooms into the theater. That way it won't be a surprise when the crew starts enforcing the policy. The chairs are also too big, HAL could easily accommodate 50% more audience if they used smaller yet still spacious seats.

 

Or be like Princess....

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

Sorry you had such a terrible time over a few items.

As to shorten times in ports. HAL started to cut back on the amount of time in all ports a few years ago. Reason -- go slower and save fuel.

[Krazy Kruizers]

You are right about the chairs in the movie theater. There needs to be big signs warning passengers not to move chairs from other rooms into the theater. That way it won't be a surprise when the crew starts enforcing the policy. The chairs are also too big, HAL could easily accommodate 50% more audience if they used smaller yet still spacious seats.

 

Or be like Princess....

 

 

 

Please -- no MUTS on HAL.

We booked a cruise on the Emerald Princess a number of years ago. We were on a HAL ship when the Emerald docked across from us at Crown Bay. All we could hear all morning and afternoon on our HAL verandah was MUTS!!! We knew where our cabin was located -- just 2 decks below MUTS. When we were walking around the pier area we ran into a couple whom we got to talking to. Their cabin was in the same area where we were booked. They had had very little sleep -- MUTS all night and all day.

We cancelled that cruise when we got home.

[Caribbean Chris]

Thank you so much for your review. So sorry for those hassles!

 

I'm grateful to you for providing that info about the tiny, tiny, tiny 10001 cabin. We had booked one of those originally before they were built and the price was rather steep. I thought that deck high up would be great for canal-viewing on our April cruise coming up, and I liked the idea of being close to Explorations Cafe. But then read that those balconies were quite small as built on the other ships.

 

As it turned out, we switched to a Signature Suite for almost the same price. So I'm feeling grateful for having dodged a bullet.

 

Glad to hear there were lots of smiles from the staff and that the food was great!

[lvz2cruz]

Thank you for taking the time to review.

We will be doing the same itinerary in March.

How was disembarkation? We got off Eurodam on a Sunday a few weeks ago with 6 other ships in port and we only had 2 immigration guys so it took really long once you got your luggage.

I'm hoping a Monday with only another ship or two there will be more agents??

Did you notice how many?

[Stratheden]

Please -- no MUTS on HAL.

We booked a cruise on the Emerald Princess a number of years ago. We were on a HAL ship when the Emerald docked across from us at Crown Bay. All we could hear all morning and afternoon on our HAL verandah was MUTS!!! We knew where our cabin was located -- just 2 decks below MUTS. When we were walking around the pier area we ran into a couple whom we got to talking to. Their cabin was in the same area where we were booked. They had had very little sleep -- MUTS all night and all day.

We cancelled that cruise when we got home.

 

What is MUTS please?

[RuthC]

What is MUTS please?

Movies Under The Stars.

It's like a big drive-in theatre without the cars.

[donh1]

Thank you for your review.

Sorry you had such a terrible time over a few items.

As to shorten times in ports. HAL started to cut back on the amount of time in all ports a few years ago. Reason -- go slower and save fuel.

 

Also when the ship is at sea they have more opportunity to turn you upside down and shake the money out of you. MUTS is Movies Under The Stars

Edited January 27, 2016 by donh1

[Himself]

Thanks for the review.

[Megsie1000]

Thanks for your review -- I'm going to be on the 2/15 11-day sailing. Do you happen to remember the name of your cruise director? I know that the previous one had just retired.

 

No I don't remember his name (I am terrible with names). He was a young Australian guy. Very nice and good at his job. And he was not annoying like some of them are. :D

[Megsie1000]

Thank you for taking the time to review.

We will be doing the same itinerary in March.

How was disembarkation? We got off Eurodam on a Sunday a few weeks ago with 6 other ships in port and we only had 2 immigration guys so it took really long once you got your luggage.

I'm hoping a Monday with only another ship or two there will be more agents??

Did you notice how many?

 

 

Our disembarkation was delayed by some problems with the gangway and then again by long lines at the customs and immigration area. It did not affect us at all since our flight was not until 3:45pm. The only tough thing was that it was hard for my Mom to stand for that long. We probably waited 30-40 minutes after we got off the ship in the line. It is hard to say if the lines would have been shorter if we had stayed on the ship until the last minute. Last year we did that and still ended up with a long line at customs. But if you have a person with mobility or standing issues you may want to consider trying to get them a wheelchair for this part.

[Megsie1000]

You are right about the chairs in the movie theater. There needs to be big signs warning passengers not to move chairs from other rooms into the theater. That way it won't be a surprise when the crew starts enforcing the policy. The chairs are also too big, HAL could easily accommodate 50% more audience if they used smaller yet still spacious seats.

 

Or be like Princess....

 

Yes the chairs are ridiculously large. I wonder why they don't show movies in the Vista Lounge? They showed two NFL games in there on Sunday, so I know they have the capability. I also understand they need the space for rehearsals sometimes. But it still seems like it would work better than the tiny theater.

[Megsie1000]

Thank you so much for your review. So sorry for those hassles!

 

I'm grateful to you for providing that info about the tiny, tiny, tiny 10001 cabin. We had booked one of those originally before they were built and the price was rather steep. I thought that deck high up would be great for canal-viewing on our April cruise coming up, and I liked the idea of being close to Explorations Cafe. But then read that those balconies were quite small as built on the other ships.

 

As it turned out, we switched to a Signature Suite for almost the same price. So I'm feeling grateful for having dodged a bullet.

 

Glad to hear there were lots of smiles from the staff and that the food was great!

 

You can always book a cabana up there in the Retreat and have that fabulous view. We booked one of the family cabanas for the 6 adults and had great views. Obviously you do not have the forward views going through the canal, but on the way back out you have a fabulous view going back through and seeing the ships following you out.

[pbnjrockette]

The Cruise Director was Jeremy Hales from Australia. He recently came off the Prisendam.

[Stratheden]

Movies Under The Stars.

It's like a big drive-in theatre without the cars.

 

Also when the ship is at sea they have more opportunity to turn you upside down and shake the money out of you. MUTS is Movies Under The Stars

 

Thank you Ruth and Don

[Keith1010]

Thank you for your detailed review.

 

Keith

[emaoffive]

I hope you can help with this question: Now that Dancing with the Stars has ended on Holland America, are there any dance lessons on board?

[lvz2cruz]

On our Eurodam cruise earlier this month there were 2 or 3 led by the dancers.

[elycelynne]

The Cruise Director was Jeremy Hales from Australia. He recently came off the Prisendam.

 

Thanks for the info!

[wander]

Or for the movies they could offer them more times in the day, as they used to.

 

Unless the projector is "ill", movies require very little crew time/effort. Get it started and let it run. Come back at the end and start it again. Perhaps a bit of room pick-up needed but if passengers would just pick-up and remove their trash, even that would not be needed.

Edited January 27, 2016 by wander