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

[mawvkysc]

May 12. Sea Day 

[mawvkysc]

Notice the difference between the app info and the paper guide in the room. 

[mawvkysc]

Day 2: 

We slept well. Breakfast in MDR. Had the congee. I was excited to try this as I had it in the lido on RC once and really liked it. This version is a one and done for me. I’ll move on to try the Indian breakfast another day. 
 

Just a very slight sway to the ship. We hope to get some bigger swells at some point. 
 

This is weird. The app just told me we had an 8:00 am reservation for breakfast today. It’s 9:00 and we ate at 7:30. 🤪 It also appears that we can make MDR reservations but we have fixed dining

[cunnorl]

 I see that Daniel is your Cruise Director. We thought he was great. He is very engaging and very funny. Enjoy !

[mawvkysc]

Captain Friso is a good communicator. I like that. 
The cruise director is Daniel. 
 

The walking culture is amazing! We just did a lap. Love the promenade deck and chairs. 

[FlorenceItaly]

Loving your report.  I board the Zuiderdam on Nov 9 for two weeks, Boston - Ft. Lauderdale.

We do not have HIA and am disappointed in the current happy hour offering of only 25%.  I am hoping it is a misprint, LOL,LOL!

[mawvkysc]

Look where we are and I just saw two butterflies. 
 

[mawvkysc]

The weather has been great. It’s 75 degrees. There are a few people in both  pools. I will try it soon.

I  think it’s odd that there are so few lounge chairs by the main pool. Just one row. The rest is tables and chairs. Lots of tables. Other enclosed lido pool areas I’ve been to have comfy chairs and loungers along the windows. 

 

Dive-In fries were very good 👍. The burger was moist but lacked flavor. I will try a hot dog next time. 

[Toad]

Following your log with interest. A respite from caregiver responsibilities is essential so relax and enjoy.

[BetsyS.]

Thanks for taking the time on your vacation to give us all your updates!

[flagmom]

13 hours ago, mawvkysc said:

 

This is weird. The app just told me we had an 8:00 am reservation for breakfast today. It’s 9:00 and we ate at 7:30. 🤪 It also appears that we can make MDR reservations but we have fixed dining

Our app did the same thing this morning. I think it may be because there was an error in our table assignments—3 of us were given fixed early seating on deck 3 and the other 2 were given open seating on deck 2. (All 5 of us were supposed to be seated together) When we saw this on our room cards when we came aboard, we went to get it straightened out. Their solution was to give us a “fixed early seating” at the same table for 5 every night, but it’s in the mostly open seating area on deck 2. That’s fine with us. We love our server. But I noticed that each night dinner shows up on our app as a “reservation.” At breakfast this morning in the MDR they asked for our cabin number after we were seated, and then later it showed up as a “reservation” at the time that we were seated. 🤷‍♀️ Maybe that helps explain it?

[mawvkysc]

13 hours ago, cunnorl said:

 I see that Daniel is your Cruise Director. We thought he was great. He is very engaging and very funny. Enjoy !

I realized tonight as he  was talking that I saw him interviewed on someone’s YouTube channel once. 

[mawvkysc]

I attended the flower arranging demo and learned a lot. 
The florist explained that there are not a lot of arrangements out yet as he just started working on them, but that they would be showing up all over. He said pre-pandemic there would be around 800 arrangements now there are around 300. 
 

I was a little late to the meet and greet but was glad to meet up with some that we had made plans with. Thanks to Jodi for organizing it. 

In the afternoon they added more loungers to the lido pool area. I made sure to thank them in the Let Us Know part of the app. 
 

Sorry I forgot to get menu photos. It was a dressy night. 
 

We had a shrimp cocktail with some melon in it. 👍 Hubby raved about the tenderloin and shrimp.  It was very tender and the best he’s ever had. I loved the oxtail pasta. So tender and tasty (no bones). The pasta almost seemed like homemade. Crème Brûlée ok. 
 

Daniel said the Zuiderdam  Singers and Dancers stayed on board from the World Cruise. They leave after this sailing. They had learned 18 shows for the WC and were performing their favorites on this one. They were very talented singer and dancers. Tonight was Sock Hop. It’s nice to have a live band backing them. 
 

We caught two songs of the Rolling Stone Lounge band. They were absolutely incredible!!  Can’t wait to see more of them. They’ve only been together for around 3 weeks. 

 

Random thoughts:

Interior temperatures have been not too hot or cold! 

I’ve seen at least 7 children and a smattering of 20somethings. 

I found out you can’t add gift card money to your shipboard account until you actually have a balance. Right now we have a negative balance due to OBC. 

 

It’s super nice being able to get in a hotub when you want. I’m so used to hot tub hogs who spend the whole day in the hot tub drinking. 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by mawvkysc

[sunviking90]

Nice trip report so far. I’ll definitely be following along. Enjoy your well deserved break. Transatlantics are the best!

[slb1949]

Thanks for the updates. We will be joining on May 25 for two weeks.  Happy to hear Daniel is cruise director. He is wonderful and a lot of fun. We will be leaving next week spending some nights in Amsterdam. 

[wdw1972]

Thanks for sharing your trip with us - very enjoyable "Live From"!

 

Sue/WDW1972

[mawvkysc]

Some pics from yesterday Dressy Night we got a towel animal. 

[mawvkysc]

Day 3

We haven’t set the clocks ahead yet 

[LouChamp]

Aloha. Enjoying your reports and appreciate the time you take to post. We have been blessed over decades to sail HAL and other companies countless times including transatlantic. I love your photos and menu’s especially!!!

[0106]

@mawvkyscThank you for this wonderful live thread.
 

Did the flower arranging activity allow you to create your own and take it with you?

 

I am happy to see cooking demonstrations and guest speakers on the Daily.  Enjoy your sea days!

[mawvkysc]

9 minutes ago, 0106 said:

@mawvkyscThank you for this wonderful live thread.
 

Did the flower arranging activity allow you to create your own and take it with you?

 

I am happy to see cooking demonstrations and guest speakers on the Daily.  Enjoy your sea days!

Thanks. No hands on with the florist, just three demos. He did say that he taught a hands on class during the World Cruise.  

[mawvkysc]

We had Rinto as a server for MDR breakfast. So good! Mentioned him in the app. 
 

The Mushroom Benedict had salty spinach. Reminded me of canned spinach. Passionfruit yogurt was good but mango? fruit is what stood out. Passionfruit was just a smidge. 
 

Did a mile on the promenade. No cushions on the steamer chairs today. Must be due to wind

 

Flowers are showing up 

[mawvkysc]

Random thoughts:

 

The art is lovely. 

MDR design is great. There are smaller levels within each floor. So everyone has a good view of the windows. 

[St Pete Cruiser]

1 hour ago, mawvkysc said:

We had Rinto as a server for MDR breakfast. So good! Mentioned him in the app. 
 

The Mushroom Benedict had salty spinach. Reminded me of canned spinach. Passionfruit yogurt was good but mango? fruit is what stood out. Passionfruit was just a smidge. 
 

Did a mile on the promenade. No cushions on the steamer chairs today. Must be due to wind

 

Flowers are showing up 

Yes, Into is a favorite of ours, too. Ask him to pronounce "Rotterdam". He can really roll those R's!

[mawvkysc]

We have been enjoying the World Up Close presentations. Daniel is excellent at presenting them. For those that cruise a lot on HAL I’m sure it’s not something you’d see again though.

 

I’m doing a slow and steady gin tasting. So far my favorite is  The Gallery Bar’s  version of a gimlet. It was super refreshing and tangy, I believe it had some yuzu in it. I’ve tried The Bee’s Knees (good) but liked the Dutch 150 better. I’ll report back as I try more gin cocktails. 
 

We both enjoyed a spa treatment today. I got the seaweed wrap and found out that  I am  so pretty, look like a celebrity and have amazing eyes.(The masseuse was buttering me up for a tip) That kind of put me off but then she gave me a really great massage, including hot stones and spent a lot of extra time. I expected to get a bit warmer while I was wrapped up than I did.