Observations, first time on HAL. Zaandam 23Aug to 03 Sep 2023

[Blackduck59]

On 8/21/2023 at 5:24 AM, Toofarfromthesea said:

I was on an Alaskan 14 day cruise on Zandaam about 5 years ago.  Do they still have the piano bar?  That was our go-to every evening.

There is a piano bar, I think I read on the daily that it starts tomorrow, also there was something about classical music. I don't have it right in front of me now. 

[Ken the cruiser]

I got curious as to where your cruise was taking you. Nice itinerary!

  

 
https://www.cruisemapper.com/?imo=9156527

 

[CruiserFromMaine]

We live on Portland Harbor, in South Portland, and I got a nice photo of the Zaandam this morning. You’ve got a nice summer day to visit! 

[SilvertoGold]

16 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

We are watching the sunset from our veranda. 

We chose to enjoy our Pinnacle Grill dinner which was part of our Have it All fare. The service was top notch, Lynn & I both ordered the crab cakes to start. Lynn chose the Baked Halibut for her main with mashed potatoes and beets for the sides. I chose the grilled pork chop with mashed potatoes, mushrooms and grilled asparagus and hollandaise sauce.

Desert was Key Lime pie for Lynn and the not so classic baked Alaska for me.

The food was wonderfully prepared, well presented and we certainly enjoyed this for my birthday dinner. That being said I don't know if I would pay the tariff if it wasn't included in our fare.

I am late to the game but have caught up and am enjoying your posts!  Nice Pinnacle dinner description, much appreciated :)  In CND we wouldn't bother with the Pinnacle dinner, but lunch is a decent price and quite enjoyable.

Thanks for posting your observations, great info.

[cwd79]

I'm also on this cruise. Portland is lovely. Decided to go exploring on my own and I like to go to local bakeries wherever we port. Took a 20 minute walk to Two Fat Cats Bakery. Phenomenal. Ordered about 7-8 items. Took a bite from each of them and each one was very good. No disappointments. Highly recommend. Beautiful weather today. 

Edited August 24, 2023 by cwd79

[kazu]

Lyle, it looks like you may luck out tomorrow.  There is a chance of showers but the deluge doesn’t come until Friday night when you will be back on board. It should be pleasant weather wise.  If you are staying in Saint John, it’s usually a few degrees cooler because of the water and hills.  Outside of Saint John will be warmer.  I’m afraid you may have a rainy day in Halifax if the forecast holds true 😔. Sorry - but it’s better than Franklin which they are already on the watch for.

[Blackduck59]

Thanks @CruiserFromMaine for that great photo.

So we are sitting in the Ocean Bar listening to some lovely piano music. It's dressy night. Some are more dressy than others and that's okay. I will wear my dress slacks and a button down shirt (no tie, no jacket) Lynn is wearing a simple dress. We'll see if we get "the look" from the fashion police 🤔😉.

[Blackduck59]

Today was Portland Maine. We did a bus tour out to the Fort & Lighthouse. I'm not really comfortable on bus tours (it's worse than flying coach) the commentary was informative and constant. We got some good photos at the lighthouse but I'm probably not the best commentator for this tour maybe some other members can give a proper comment on this tour. 

We have met some nice folks so far.

[Blackduck59]

There are no "Branded" venues on Zaandam. We are in Ocean Bar and there is a piano player now. The "Piano Bar" is Mix. Tonight "Step One" is doing Humanity. I think we'll probably go.

[Ellencruise]

10 hours ago, Mary229 said:

We stayed at the Le Petite.  It is very close to port and in the old quarter.  You can walk everywhere including to the stop for the hop on bus.   Well worth the few extra dollars.  https://www.bookonline.com/hotel/le-petit-hotel-montreal?msclkid=72e37a66695c152fe7da1e815ce7c90c#room-types

Looked on the link, can’t believe they’re already sold out for the night I need!

[Mary229]

1 minute ago, Ellencruise said:

Looked on the link, can’t believe they’re already sold out for the night I need!

That’s too bad.  My sister picked this one over my objections - she was right.   You might check one of the booking sites to see if they have any left over inventory.  

[Blackduck59]

So evening observations. We had dinner in the MDR it was "dressy night" most people seemed to take the "whatever" attitude 🤔. Most men wore slacks and a button down shirt, some wore ties, very few wore jackets. There were a few ladies in evening gowns and I saw one man in a tux. None of these people seemed to be in the "as you like" dining room. I suspect they were in traditional fixed dining.

[Blackduck59]

We enjoyed our MDR dinner. Lynn started with the crab and artichoke dip and I had the jumbo shrimp (isn't that an oxymoron?) Louis cocktail. For the main course Lynn had the sole (hold the tomatoes) on rice. I chose a surf and turf of beef tenderloin and those same jumbo shrimp which a suspect had "Old Bay" seasoning on them. The portion size seemed small and I wanted to try the mushroom ravioli, so I ordered that too. Lynn enjoyed the (no sugar added) cheese cake, I wasn't that fussy for the Dutch style apple pie. I wasn't keen on the raisins in the pie and the ice cream had ice crystals in it. It was a good meal, about what I expected for included in the fare dining. 

[Blackduck59]

After dinner I changed my shirt and we made our way to the World Stage for the Captain's welcome with senior crew introductions. They passed out sparkling wine as we walked in and the speach ended with a toast.

After that a few words from the cruise director and then the Step One Dancers performance of "Humanity" started. It was a very enjoyable show, Lynn was especially impressed. 

There are no branded music venues on Zaandam, there is Ocean Bar where a piano player performed before dinner and later on a mixed music cover band played. They are quite good and not too loud. The piano bar is called Mix and there was a guy playing piano in there tonight, we were quite tired so didn't linger long enough to listen too much. I'll have more on the piano bar another time but if anyone who was there to listen wants to pipe up, feel free. 

We lose an hour tonight with the time change so I'll be hitting the rack soon. 

[JonSchick]

We'll we've finished dinner in the MDR and frankly tonight was chaotic by the time we entered around 20:00 after waiting to get in for the best part of half an hour.  The crab starter dish was good (when they brought the right food having got the orders wrong first time around) and then it all went downhill.  The beef main was overly salted with little other discernable flavour.  The chocolate lava dessert was over cooked so the lava had totally solidified.  The dance show was one of the worst I've experienced on any cruise line; piped music, over reliance on background video effects and choreography I've seen bettered by 16 year olds doing their GCSE dance qualifications back home in the UK.  The band currently playing in the Ocean Bar could do with singers who can sing.  Sorry, I know this is a moany post.  Love the ship and the friendly crew but tonight has been mediocre at best.

[oakridger]

17 minutes ago, JonSchick said:

The dance show was one of the worst I've experienced on any cruise line;

 

.....And yet @Blackduck59 and his wife very much enjoyed the dance show!!

 

34 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

It was a very enjoyable show, Lynn was especially impressed. 

 

These two fresh comments about the same show give examples of how subjective so many things are on a cruise!!

🤷‍♀️

 

[JonSchick]

11 minutes ago, oakridger said:

 

.....And yet @Blackduck59 and his wife very much enjoyed the dance show!!

 

 

These two fresh comments about the same show give examples of how subjective so many things are on a cruise!!

🤷‍♀️

 

You're right - plenty of people seemed to enjoy it (although we could see and hear there were a number of complaints tonight at the restaurant reception area while we were eating).  Based on experience with other lines though, I'd say don't choose Zaandam, if really good entertainment is one of your key criteria, based on tonight it's just not as good as some of the competition.

[Blackduck59]

So we put a rather stuffed full bag of laundry in at almost exactly 0900 yesterday. The clothes were back in our cabin when we returned around 2000 hrs. Those things we wanted on hangers came in a nice garment bag, the folded things came wrapped in tissue. 

[Haljo1935]

49 minutes ago, Blackduck59 said:

So we put a rather stuffed full bag of laundry in at almost exactly 0900 yesterday. The clothes were back in our cabin when we returned around 2000 hrs. Those things we wanted on hangers came in a nice garment bag, the folded things came wrapped in tissue. 

Happy to hear you had a positive experience w/laundry service - they do such a good job with it.

[Blackduck59]

It's a foggy day in Saint John. We have an excursion booked, and it a short day in Port today.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, Blackduck59 said:

It's a foggy day in Saint John. We have an excursion booked, and it a short day in Port today.

Very interested in your feedback on the ports and excursions. We are B2B next month for Canada New England and very curious about weather and potential for Fall Foliage Peep Shows as well as things to do in port. So pretty up there.

[Blackduck59]

@Haljo1935I'm not sure about fall foliage for us, I'm doubtful. I'll have a better idea as we get towards Saginee and along the St. Lawrence. 

[Kate45]

Don't count on much fall colour in September. We did the repo cruise in 2019 on the Zuiderdam over the Cdn Thanksgiving in October from Quebec City to Ft Lauderdale. There was a bit of colour, but even then, in October, not much. This year the weather has been wonky all across Canada, so who knows?

[escrick]

Wow!   Our experiences are certainly subjective.   My husband, a niece, her husband and I saw Step One’s Humanity on the Koningsdam.   We agreed that it was the best dance spectacle we have ever seen at sea.  By the way, we have been on five different lines.

 

 

 

[Blackduck59]

We just got back from the trolley tour in Saint John. It was a nice excursion although the trolley had wooden bench seats as trolleys do. The tour guide was excellent and we drove through historic Saint John. There is a short (15 minute) stop at the reversing falls which everyone should be aware they may not be "reversing" while you're there, it all depends on tge tides.