My First “Live”- Zuiderdam May 11, 2024 TA

[mawvkysc]

I’m excited for this cruise of firsts. It’s my first TA, first HAL cruise, first cruise longer than 7 days and first live review. 

 

A little background: We are a semi-retired couple in our early 50s and early 60s. We’ve mainly cruised smaller, older ships on partial week itineraries on various mainstream lines. This is a combo caregiving respite/30th anniversary trip. 
 

Pre cruise: A friend dropped us off at Tampa’s Amtrak station.  The train was about 5 hours late due to fallen trees on the tracks in Jacksonville. We had been alerted so knew not to arrive at the original time. We chose not to check our luggage. I just didn’t want to risk it getting lost. The seats are roomy. The AC worked well in the station and on the train. The wifi was so so. There was a “chair hog” situation while waiting in the station though. Lol. There were a number of people heading to cruises. 
 

We took a  7 minute Lyft ride  to the hotel for about $15 tip inclusive. There were taxis waiting too. We’re at the Hampton Inn Downtown/LasOlas and are satisfied. It’s a typical Hampton Inn. 

Anyone else on the cruise please feel free to chime in! I’ll try to answer any questions. Thanks to all that have done reviews in the past! 

[mawvkysc]

Union Station and Hampton Inn

[BaileyMJ]

I am sure you will have a wonderful trip and thanks for taking us along!

[RedneckBob]

20 minutes ago, mawvkysc said:

I’m excited for this cruise of firsts. It’s my first TA, first HAL cruise, first cruise longer than 7 days and first live review. 

 

A little background: We are a semi-retired couple in our early 50s and early 60s. We’ve mainly cruised smaller, older ships on partial week itineraries on various mainstream lines. This is a combo caregiving respite/30th anniversary trip. 
 

Pre cruise: A friend dropped us off at Tampa’s Amtrak station.  The train was about 5 hours late due to fallen trees on the tracks in Jacksonville. We had been alerted so knew not to arrive at the original time. We chose not to check our luggage. I just didn’t want to risk it getting lost. The seats are roomy. The AC worked well in the station and on the train. The wifi was so so. There was a “chair hog” situation while waiting in the station though. Lol. There were a number of people heading to cruises. 
 

We took a  7 minute Lyft ride  to the hotel for about $15 tip inclusive. There were taxis waiting too. We’re at the Hampton Inn Downtown/LasOlas and are satisfied. It’s a typical Hampton Inn. 

Anyone else on the cruise please feel free to chime in! I’ll try to answer any questions. Thanks to all that have done reviews in the past! 

Enjoy your cruise, RNB from Tampa Bay, FL. Are you my neighbors?

[Moriah]

Happy embarkation today!  I'll be following - lucky you trans-Atlantic on Zuiderdam!  I haven't been on the Z for years but am booked for this fall for a three week cruise out of Boston and very much looking forward.  Curious about the new library!  Hope you'll be able to post photos.  Main thing is - HAVE FUN!

[mawvkysc]

3 minutes ago, Moriah said:

Happy embarkation today!  I'll be following - lucky you trans-Atlantic on Zuiderdam!  I haven't been on the Z for years but am booked for this fall for a three week cruise out of Boston and very much looking forward.  Curious about the new library!  Hope you'll be able to post photos.  Main thing is - HAVE FUN!

I’ll try and get photos !

[mawvkysc]

14 minutes ago, RedneckBob said:

Enjoy your cruise, RNB from Tampa Bay, FL. Are you my neighbors?

Do you mean neighbors from the train? If so yes.
We live in the southern part of Pinellas County 

[BetsyS.]

Bon Voyage! 😊🥂

[RedneckBob]

17 minutes ago, mawvkysc said:

Do you mean neighbors from the train? If so yes.
We live in the southern part of Pinellas County 

We live in NW Hillsborough County but last century worked in St Pete and Dunedin.

[Hogladyrider]

Have a wonderful cruise.....looking forward to following along!

[flagmom]

We’ll be on board with you, and hope to meet you at the M & G tomorrow. We are a party of 5 from Mississippi. Excited to share this trip with my 15 year old granddaughter! 

[cunnorl]

 Have a wonderful time. I will be following along. 

[ski ww]

Bon Voyage, fair winds & smooth seas.

[albingirl]

Bon voyage!

[mawvkysc]

Embarkation Day: We took a shuttle from the hotel. I think it was called MSM. They have a regular run from the hotel. It was $15 pp. Uber or Lyft probably would’ve been cheaper, but we weren’t sure with the Air Show if they would be hard to come by. The shuttle service worked out well. They have a rep in the lobby to keep you informed while you wait. 
 

We got off the shuttle at 11:40 and got through security and checkin in about 20 minutes. We were group 18 so we found a seat and waited.  We were onboard around 12:40. This is actually the longest it has ever taken me to get on a ship. This is not a complaint. It was a comfortable waiting area and being on a 14 day cruise you don’t feel rushed to get the cruise going. 
 

Our cabin  was ready so we dropped off our carryons. We love the room. It’s a partial obstructed OV right next to the glass elevators. It’s so convenient! The view out of the window isn’t bad at all! When we sit in bed it’s a really good angle to look out and they are the same size as the glass sliders would be. I am so excited to have a bathtub! My current home does not have one. We met our steward briefly and he said to let him know if we need anything. He gave us evening ice without asking. 

[mawvkysc]

Sitting in   bed you hardly notice the spool 

[mawvkysc]

Lido lunch was good. We had the embarkation day peanut butter pie. Yummy.  It was a bit crowded and two women asked to sit with us. We had a pleasant conversation. This is the most conversational cruiseline I've ever been on. Then we checked out decks 9 and 10.  
 

Sailaway was delayed until almost 6:00 due to loading supplies including new sets for the production shows. There was a Beatles show scheduled for tonight but it is postponed due to them having to set up all of the new sets 

 

We had great weather for sailaway. My family got to see us waving over the portcam. 
 

We requested early fixed seating but were assigned to late (7:30) We decided to just give it a go instead of asking to switch. We’re at a table for 4 but no one else showed up. We will see as the days go by if anyone else is assigned with us. I love how big the upper level windows are.  We are not right by them but can still see out really well. We had quite a lightning show during dinner. Somehow it affected the internet so the app temporarily didn’t work. 
 

Service was ok but not great. The team didn’t check back as much as we would’ve liked. On other lines (MSC and NCL) when we’ve had the drink package they would just keep refilling our wine glasses.  

 

[mawvkysc]

Edited May 12 by mawvkysc

[mawvkysc]

[mawvkysc]

I’ll try to do better with the menus 🙃 

 

The crab salad and tomato mozzarella starters were very good. The bread so far has been excellent. French Onion soup was a no go for me. Too sweet and the cheese wasn’t hot and bubbly. 
 

The haddock was quite good and the pork medallions as well! The berry tart got a thumbs up and the sundae was meh! 
 

Late seating makes us sluggish so we looked at the library and went to the cabin. 
 

I’ll post daily planners soon. 
 

[mawvkysc]

Someone asked for library pictures. There is also a leave a book/take a book section. 

[Divi]

If you have the HIA package, ask for a double when you order your wine at dinner. No worries then if your server doesn’t come back frequently. 

[horseymike]

Hope you have a great cruise , thanks for letting us follow along.

[mawvkysc]

1 hour ago, Divi said:

If you have the HIA package, ask for a double when you order your wine at dinner. No worries then if your server doesn’t come back frequently. 

Thanks. I may even do that in a bar on the way to dinner. It seems like it would simplify the table service. 

[mawvkysc]

Embarkation Day Planner