Zuiderdam April 8-15 Review

[SpuddGirl]

First time posting on these boards, but I've been reading them for a while. Was on another site previously, but like this one much better. :)

 

Having recently come back from a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise on the Zuiderdam, thought I would post my review of the week. We are a married couple, DH is 50 (the cruise was his B-d present) and I'm 44.

 

We flew in a day early, rented a car and found a decent rate at the Comfort Suites in Ft. Lauderdale. It was a ways from the airport, but we had the car, so it didn't matter. Decent hotel, nice room, we got what we paid for. That evening we drove over to Lauderdale by the Sea, to a place called the Aruba cafe or something like that. There was a cool little band playing outdoors, and we stopped for a couple beers and to enjoy the warm evening. Funny thing though, we ran into someone DH knows from our little tiny town in Wisconsin! Small world....We were sure we were going to run into a beach full of little teeny boppin' spring breakers, but it was mostly an adult crowd in this area. We were told the "kids" were down towards the southern end.

 

Anyway, on to the cruise. We returned the car to FLL and hopped the transfer shuttle to Port Everglades. The HAL rep at the airport must have been new, he seemed a little unsure of what was going on so we kept a close watch on him to make sure he didn't forget us!

 

Embarkation was uneventful. I did think they should have a couple little kiosks or something as you stand in line and you're carrying your stuff and suddenly you're asked to see your cruise docs, etc. But it was no big deal, and before we knew it we were on the ship before noon. As rooms weren't ready, we went to the Lido for lunch. I've read tons of reviews on the food on different ships, and I guess we aren't all that picky because we found the food to be very good there. In all honesty, my biggest complaint was trying to find a regular size teaspoon! We met Hunky Dory the first day, I'd heard of him on previous boards, and true to his image, he remembered us every time. Same with Markus, another tray man in the Lido. It was always a pleasure to run into either of them, they were always so cheerful and friendly.

 

We booked a verandah room on Deck 7 Rotterdam. We were very close to the elevator, and having never been on this ship before, I was a bit concerned that we would be TOO close to the elavator - too much noise, but that was definitely not the case. Our room was extremely quiet, and we never heard BOO from anyone. We found the room size to be quite sufficient for our needs, and plenty of closet and shelf space. The bathroom was small, but we expected that, and it met our needs just fine. Our TA had sent a bottle of wine, and it was chilling in nearly melted ice, but that was ok, we just stuck it in the fridge to save for the next night.

 

Our cabin Steward, Rante, was great. He was so friendly. It was his last cruise before going home to Indonesia for a 4 month break. We got to talking to him, and he said he had a 4 month old daughter he had not yet seen, which broke our hearts. Of course they are doing their jobs, but they are still human and to not see your loved ones for so long....we were told that the Indonesian crew members sign on for 12 month contracts, and work basically 7 days a week, with a 3-4 month break between contracts. We saw Rante at 7am, 11pm, and anywhere in between. Sure they take breaks and all but still....

 

Anyway, Rante did a great job keeping our room clean and honoring any requests we had. I made sure to take along a pad of Post it notes, which came in very handy. When I needed something I just stuck a post it on the bathroom mirror, or the door or whatever.

 

We found our room in great shape. Having the verandah was awesome, but I'm not sure we used it enough to make it worth the extra few hundred bucks we paid for it. We rarely made it to bed at night before 1am, but I was often out on the balcony watching a sunrise as can only be seen at sea. And the bed was awesome - so comfortable, which was nice because I needed daily naps! A couple times we had ordered room service and went out on the verandah, but I kept going back in because we would not have heard the knock at the door from out on the verandah. No big inconvenience, I do wish you could keep the doors open but I understand why its not allowed. The rooms would get humid and the A/C would be defeated.

 

The ONLY thing I can complain about in the cabin is the outlet situation. I have a great hairdryer that is far superior to any hotel/ship dryer, and it would not plug into the one outlet in the bathroom so I had to dry my hair at the vanity in the room. But again, no big deal, small inconvenience. I did bring an extension cord along, but never had to use it.

 

Dining: We ate all dinners except one in the Vista Dining room. Our steward, Gani was awesome. He is without a doubt the "smiliest" guy I've ever met! We loved him. The food was, on a scale of 1-10, I'd say about a 6 or 7 most nights. Nothing to write home about but still good. I had salmon one night that was overcooked, but I'm not that picky and will eat most anything . The desserts were fabulous, as were the appetizers, and most of the soups. Didn't have the salad that often, but it was fine. The service, however, was outstanding. Gani had a glass of iced tea waiting at DH's place each night. We enjoyed our tablemates at a table for 6, they were 2 teacher friends, and a father/daughter. We kind of wanted another couple to "bond" with, but that was ok. They were interesting and we found alot in common.

One of the highlights for us in the dining room was the birthday cake DH received and the crew, about 6 of them sang HB to him in Indonesian! He was totally embarrassed - it was priceless! Our TA must have mentioned that it was his BD.

 

We ate all breakfasts and most lunches in the Lido, and the food was fine. Again, nothing to write home about, but no complaints. DH thought the salad bar could have been a bit better, and come to think of it, the dressings weren't that great, but just ok. Seating in the Lido was harder to find during mid morning and at noon, but we always found a table somewhere. The pizza was great, we often got a slice mid afternoon, since we had late dinner seating. And I loved the bread pudding!

 

Room service was fairly quick and efficient. We ordered appetizers one evening before dinner and I was a bit surprised to see that the crackers in the "cheese and crackers" were nothing more than packaged saltines, but they filled our tummies just fine. Thank goodness we ordered room service coffee the last morning because I hadn't gotten much sleep and that served as my wake up call at 6:30am!

 

Speaking of dinner seating, we had requested early, but got late, and at first were a bit bummed BUT as it turns out it worked out great! We were never rushed to get to dinner on days we were in port, we enjoyed going to the late shows, and it kept us from going to bed at 9 o'clock! I think next cruise I am going to specifically request late seating. Probably less kids too.

 

On the subject of kids, I didn't think there were all that many, but some on the cruise thought otherwise. I didn't find them to be any trouble whatsoever, most I saw were pretty well behaved. There was one incident DH told me about at the ice cream station....a little boy ran in dripping wet from the pool with no shoes, and was told by a crew member to dry off and get shoes on...the boy looked at him and said "what are you gonna do about it?" I told DH good thing I didn't see that because I would have given that little boy an earfull. I am not too fond of disrespectful kids....I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut sometimes when I see things like that so its good I wasn't around:mad: .

 

We never ate at the Pinnacle Grill so can't comment there.

 

Entertainment: Joel Mason is FABULOUS! I would pay money to see that guy again. He was an entertainer in every sense of the word. Julie Barr was pretty good, and the illusionist, can't remember his name, but I'm not that much into comedy or illusion. The Zuiderdam cast I thought was excellent and presented some great shows. The last night the boat was really rocking from rough seas, and it amazed me how the girls in the show kept their balance so well as they danced up and down steps in their high heels.

 

Didn't care much for the port talks, or the port ambassador. I got the feeling she would be right at home teaching kindergarten the way she talked to the group! I felt it was more about buying jewelry than what to do in ports, but I guess thats her job. Tried our luck at the win-a-cruise bingo, but no such luck. Didn't spend much time in the casino, and we heard most people say that it was pretty tough to win anything in there.

 

Overall, the ship was in very nice condition. Clean, well maintained, very beautiful. Once one of the ladies rooms ran out of clean hand towels and there was nothing to wipe wet hands on, but thats my biggest complaint there.

 

We LOVED the piano bar and Robert Kent. Spent a few nights in there after the show. He could play just about anything and sang very well. That was one of our favorite parts of the cruise. Didn't spend too much time in any of the other bars or lounges. I have to say though, the Zuiderdam makes an awesome Cosmo!

One night, we walked by the Sports bar, and were looking for someone to take our picture with our own camera. I asked one of the bartenders, as it was slow, and he said, sure, for a dollar. We looked at each other like, is he kidding? But he took our picture.

 

If anyone is reading this who has never been in the tropical sun before I have a word of caution. NEVER underestimate the sun in the Caribbean as I learned the hard way:eek: ! I had layed out on deck a couple times for like, 1/2 hour each side, and was fine. But the 3rd day, I layed on my back for an hour, instead of 1/2 hour and got burned to a crisp! Actually the worst of it was my lower legs, they hurt so much and even swelled up some. The next day we were in port, and with shorts on, it felt like my legs were baking, even when I was in the shade. The next day it was actually worse - I have never seen such red legs before - and I had to wear long pants in Tortola to try not to bake so much. And yes, I used sunscreen. It was hot and humid that day, and I was miserable in long pants, but had no choice. Later that night my legs looked worse, and were a bit more swollen so I had to call the nurse in the infirmary. She told me to keep them elevated, to use cold compresses, and I sponged them with the vinegar my thoughtful tablemate had asked for at dinner that night! So, be careful - I am usually very cautious about the sun and thought I was being careful, but the sun got the best of me and while it didn't ruin the cruise, it definitely hampered my ability to fully enjoy being outdoors for the rest of the week.

 

Off the bunnytrail..back to subject....Ports: Didn't care much for St. Thomas, too commercial. Next time I will definitely go to one of the beaches. We hopped a ferry to St. John and found that much more pleasant. Had an excellent lunch at the Lime Inn that a couple of locals referred us to. Took the long ferry back to St. Thomas and I was so relaxed I fell asleep on DH's shoulder. Shopped a bit in St. T for souveniers then back to the ship.

Tortola was fine, we didn't do any excursions, just walked around town for a while. My sunburned legs were really bothering me, and DH had suffered from back pain most of the trip, so we went back to ship early and took a nap.

LOVED Half Moon Cay. The most perfect little beach, fine soft sand, clear blue water. Awesome. DH found a hammock and I had a hard time getting him out of it! We headed back to ship earlier than we would have liked to because a storm was brewing. Fortunately we found space on the lower, covered deck of the tender because it rained pretty hard on the way back to the ship. The BBQ lunch on the island was great. We enjoyed listening to the chickens and roosters!

 

Nassau: again, no excursions. We were NOT impressed with the straw market at all. I went in one aisle about 10 feet, got harassed by every vendor there..."Lady can I sell you a T shirt....Lady can I sell you some jewelry...." We turned around and got out and never went back. If it wasn't so tight and crowded we would have stayed but I was getting claustrophobic and I am not typically so. We just walked around town for a bit, then DH's back was really bothering him so we went back to the ship, intending to eat lunch and go back out later. I took the most awesome nap, though, and didn't wake up until late in the afternoon, so I just finished packing before dinner. Next time we are in Nassau I plan to tour the island and go see Atlantis, etc.

 

One thing I was not too thrilled about is the handling of the luggage on the last night. As we were close to the elevators, I heard a huge loud crash in the hallway around midnight - I had just placed our luggage outside and opened the door to see what the commotion was. Some crew members had taken the luggage from our hallway, and I am not kidding - thrown it in a huge pile in the foyer by the elevators - probably 3 or 4 feeet high. I mean just literally thrown in a heap. This is definitely a good reason to have sturdy luggage! And, by the way, we used TSA locks, with no problem. I've seen the question asked before about whether its ok to use them. I called the Front Office to be sure and they said they are fine to use.

 

Disembarkation was incredibly quick and painless. From the time they called our tag color until we were in the airport, I think less than 45 minutes had passed. Once inside FLL it was a bit chaotic, but thats another story...:rolleyes:

 

We had such a great time. I truly believe things are what you make of them, and if you are looking for problems you are sure to find them. Sure, we encountered a few less than polite people, had some less than great meals, etc. but did that detract from our cruise experience - absolutely not. We chose to make the best of it, and I can honestly say it was the best vacation we have ever taken. I would absolutely sail on the Zuiderdam again and would highly recommend it to anyone. The crew was so polite, and I kind of like being called ma'am!

 

I tried to cover everything here, but I'm sure there's something I've left out. I'd be happy to answer any questions, feel free to ask.

 

I can't wait to book our next cruise, the only problem is deciding when/where!!:D

[mim100]

Spuddgirl...thanks for the very detailed review and happy that you had such a good cruising experience....always good to see a positive review of the Zuiderdam...our first cruise will be on her in just under a year...can't wait !!

 

a couple of questions for ya: did the "adult pool" get invaded by the kids? what's the best time to get to the Lido for lunch? were you satisfied with the laundry service? did you mention the baggage throwing to anyone? did you ask for/were you offered any upgrades? that's it for now - thanks ! :):)

[SpuddGirl]

Mim....to answer your questions:

Re: the adult pool, we never noticed it to be a problem with the kids in there. There is a separate pool that the kids are supposed to use, and for the most part thats where we saw them. Being as it was still spring break I was surprised that there weren't more kids on board.

As far as lunchtime at the Lido, it seems that either before 11-:11:30am or after maybe 1:30 it was much easier to find a table, but there was never a time when we couldn't find a decent spot. Not always on the window side overlooking the sea, and sometimes we had to walk around a bit before finding a table during busy times, but something always opened up. There were usually plenty of tables out by the pool area as well.

 

I suppose in retrospect I could have said something about the luggage, but it was after midnight and I was exhausted....only thinking about sleep at that point. Our luggage came out none the worse for wear, I hope others found theirs in good shape as well.

 

Regarding upgrades, we were not offered upgrades on embarkation, nor did we ask, but we did have an option for a free one class upgrade when we booked our stateroom, which was only 3 months prior. HAL was offering a promotion "buy an outside cabin for inside price/verandah for price of an outside" kind of deal. We did not take the upgrade that would have afforded us a suite, as we had purchased a verandah stateroom, and we loved the location - Rotterdam deck, close to aft. I didn't want the pool above me, or the Lido, or the disco, anything like that, I've heard too many stories of scraping pool chairs, clinking dishes, that kind of thing, and we were in the middle of the passenger decks. To get the upgrade to a suite we would have had to take a guarantee so we would have had no choice whatsoever and could have ended up lord knows where. I did have moments of regret when we would walk past an open suite on occasion, but we were absolutely fine with where we were and I'm glad we stuck with our original room. The extra space would have been nice, but we were rarely in the room except to sleep.

 

What was funny though was that, the above mentioned promotion was for a FREE upgrade....my TA called about 10 days before we sailed and said HAL had sent her a fax, they were trying to fill the ship and were offering us a one class upgrade for ONLY an additional $100 per person !:D

 

I can't answer your question about the laundry service as we did not use it - I just majorly overpacked :rolleyes: ! There was a bag and price sheet in the closet though and the prices were pretty reasonable though it was pretty much on a 2 day basis. If I recall there was a deal where for like $30? or something, you could have all your laundry done for the week. Not positive about the price, but the whole-week deal sounded like the way to go.

 

You will love the Zuiderdam - it is a very classy ship, and I'm sure we will sail on her again!

[refman]

we were on the same cruise as spuddgirl and found for the mostpart her review to be extremely fair, can` t wait to book the next HAL cruise.

[cruzingqueen]

Thank you so much for your review. I've sailed this ship many times and was supposed to go on 4/22 for a 3 week cruise but couldn't make it. Talk about depressing! So all I can do is read it and live vicariously through your review. This is my all-time favorite ship! Glad you enjoyed it as much as I always do.

[earl_m]

julie barr. Is she still there? I was on the zuiderdam 2 years ago

and she was there.

[mim100]

thanks for your answers, Spuddgirl....your enthusiasm comes through so well...its obvious you loved your cruise and love the ship too....happy sailings...

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for posting your review.

 

Glad you had a great time.

 

Sorry about your sunburn - hope it is better now.

[SpuddGirl]

CruzingQueen, I'm so sorry that you were unable to go on your scheduled cruise. I know I would be majorly bummed as well. I hope you can re-book and get back on the seas again very soon.

 

We chose the Zuiderdam because my mom and sister said it was such an awesome ship - they were right!

[krewzin]

Somebody had said last week that both Julie Barr and Joel Mason were leaving the Zuidy...I wonder what's up with that?

 

Also...about the pile of luggage? I've seen that on numerous cruises and seems to be the norm. Seems that there's one group that grabs the luggage and piles it near the elevators for another group to grab and move to lower decks.

 

They stack as much as they can at a time in order to consolidate their moves.

 

Thanks for the great review!

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Thanks for all the details, Spud Girl! BTW, are you from Idaho?:)

[twinkletoes4445]

Thanks for the detailed review! I'm so looking forward to our cruise on the Zuiderdam next year. :)

[SpuddGirl]

Good guess Middle aged Mom! Yes, I'm originally from Idaho, but haven't lived there in quite some time. Spent several years in your neck of the woods when I was younger (Tacoma) - how I miss the great pacific NW!! I recently told DH though that I'm moving to FL - to be closer to the cruise ports of course! - and that I hope he'll come with me!:)

[wishiwascruisin]

Thanks for the great review!!! Just curious...who was the captain on your cruise if you can remember???? We had a great experience with Captain Keijer last November and were hoping he was still on the Zuiderdam.

Cheers!!

Devon

[Stacylee]

Thank you for your review!! I am seriously considering this cruise because of the PRICE, and itinerary. I have never cruised HAL before but found this cruise to do something different in the Eastern C and we are definitely interested.

 

Thanks again!:D

[SpuddGirl]

Thanks for the great review!!! Just curious...who was the captain on your cruise if you can remember???? We had a great experience with Captain Keijer last November and were hoping he was still on the Zuiderdam.

Cheers!!

Devon

 

Devon, Cheers back at ya! Our captain was Hans van Biljouw. Unfortunately we missed the captains reception so we did not get to meet him.:( I'm not sure how long he's been on the Zuiderdam.

 

Stacylee, I would most definitely recommend this itinerary, and HAL! We loved Tortola, BVI, and not every cruiseline stops there. You will absolutely LOVE Half Moon Cay as well. It was so serene - well as serene as it gets anyway for there being a couple thousand people on the beach with you! HAL will not disappoint you! Any maybe you'll get to meet Hunky Dory...:D