Just returned from 5/13 Zenith sailing - any questions?

[Moose Tracks]

Had a great time on Zenith and in Bermuda. The ship was great...loved the smaller size, took very little time to learn where everything was. Zenith was in very good shape...no problems at all with our cabin and although the design of the furnishings and the style is dated, I didn't see anything that I would say needed maintenance or looked worn out. I wouldn't hesitate to sail her again. Checked with the Future Cruises Department and Zenith will again be sailing to Bermuda in 2007 doing a reverse itinerary - Bayonne to St. George first and then moving to Hamilton. Our now famous cabin attendant (Gabriel) was great. The entire staff was very friendly, efficient and accommodating. You do notice more motion on a smaller ship. The water on the way to Bermuda was like a millpond, but for about 7 hours on the way back we had some rougher seas...unfortunately Gravol and Bonine didn't help me too much, so just stayed in the cabin for 5 hours laying down and by dinner I was fine again. Didn't seem to affect too many others. Monday/Tuesday's weather was perfect in Bermuda and Wednesday was sunny and warm and VERY windy. Because of the winds and a storm coming our way for Thursday, we had to stay in port in Hamilton and use the tender boat service (they had to move us to the freight area) and we didn't move over to St. George on Wednesday morning. We just used our bus passes and took the bus to St. George for the day. Wednesday night the storm hit and continued through to around noon on Thursday. We didn't get off the ship Thursday as we figured we'd be soaked within 5 minutes, but we'd had three great days so we weren't too disappointed. We spent time Wednesday evening and later Thursday morning watching them loading a container ship that was off our stern...it was very interesting.

If anyone has any questions....ask away and I'll do my best to answer.

Lynn

[pepelapew]

What cabin did you stay in? Are the hot tubs water really hot? What did you have for main meals? Do they offer different soups everynight with them? My DH loved that on our first Empress Cruise, choice of do many soups. He even liked the Ox Tail soup....Yuck.....This will be our first cruise on Zenith in October can't wait.....

[Moose Tracks]

We were in cabin 5070...a regular starboard outside cabin. Our window looked out to Front Street (until they had to move the ship on Wednesday night and then we looked out onto shipping containers about 10 feet from the window!!) The view on port side would be out over the harbour. A good sized cabin with plenty of storage space...didn't use any of the 8 drawers that were inside one of the closets. One of our friends had an inside cabin that was the same set up as our cabin minus the window. Our 3 pieces of luggage easily fit under the beds. I never use hot tubs so can't comment from personal use, but our friends used it and never made any negative comments. The tubs are at the stern on Deck 12 and were certainly popular and well used. Unfortunately, my memory isn't the greatest for what was on the menu for main meals. I remember each night there was a choice of pasta, beef, poultry, fish or seafood (lobster tails were at the 2nd formal night) and something else..veal, pork, etc. (5 choices). You could also request a vegetarian meal. There were 3 soup choices each night and they didn't offer the same soup twice..usually 1 cream based, 1 broth based and 1 cold. Everyone at the table enjoyed their choices. Ate one meal at the reserved casual dining and enjoyed it as well.

Hope this helps. You'll have a great time.

Lynn

[oldmancurtis]

we are going in june, i was wondering about crystal caves.how long is the our of the 2 caves? we are just trying to plan out our days

[Moose Tracks]

We decided to visit just one of the caves and chose the Fantasy Cave. The tour was about 25 minutes. Breathtaking. There are 80 stairs to climb back out with handrails on both sides. About every 20 steps there was a landing with a seat so you could take your time. Apparently, Crystal Cave had about the same climb to get out. Both caves are at the same location. It's about an hour to do both caves. Try to get there early as it apparently gets more crowed as the day goes one. We took the bus from Hamilton and it stopped right across the street from the caves. It was about a 20 minute ride. The buses were great....always left on schedule, modern and very clean.

[Leela]

Mom & I were on the same trip. We had a great time, and used the hot tubs once. They were plenty warm for my tastes, no problem there!

 

The food was uneven. Some meals were so good that my eyes rolled back in my head -- particularly the lamb shanks and the rack of lamb. Some meals were not good, and I talked to Dixon, our Assitant Maitre d'Hotel, about them (the pork loin was overcooked to the consistency of shoe leather, and my salmon was dry and too fishy smelling). Still, there were other things to eat those nights, and my waiter (Costodio) and his assitant (Keith) were quick to get whatever I wanted. Especially on the night when no entree appealed to me due to complete lack of appetite from a week of indulgence! That night I had them bring me salad, and then cream of asparagus soup for both the soup course and again for the entree!

 

Our cabin was on the odd-numbered (port) side of the ship, so the whole time in Hamilton we had a beautiful view of the harbor and this little island in the middle of it with a yacht club on it. I took a zillion pictures of it. We were in 1025, and the decor was dated (painted white wood furniture) but everything was clean and nothing smelled. I can't imagine how they do it, considering that smoking isn't banned in the cabins. But I never smelled anything. Plus Joseph (our stateroom attendant) kept everything neat and clean.

 

We did have two plumbing mishaps -- one night our sink refused to drain, and another night our tub refused to drain -- but Kirk (the assistant chief housekeeper) got the plumbers up there quickly and they cheerfully got everything draining properly in time for us to shower and dress for dinner.

 

My mom had such a good time that she booked for May 19, 2007, while we were onboard. Josie, the onboard sales person, was helpful and enthusiastic. My mom really enjoyed working with her.

 

I'll probably post a more detailed review later.

 

One super cheap fun tip: if you have a bus and ferry pass, walk over to the ferry terminal (a block or few from the ship, depending on what slip you're tied up at) in the evening. Catch a sunset/twilight ferry and just ride it around, enjoying the evening. My favorite was getting on the Pink line, that goes out to Warwick and Paget parishes. We didn't get off, we just rode it around for the scenery (and drank rum and coke out of a coke bottle along the way). The best sunset booze cruise I've ever been on ;)

[pepelapew]

Moose Tracks & Leela,

Thank You very much for the info...........Only 139 more days for us...Yeah

 

Debbie

[LindaandJeff]

Mom & I were on the same trip. We had a great time, and used the hot tubs once. They were plenty warm for my tastes, no problem there!

 

 

Hi L - Glad to see you made it home! I guess you caught your flight...:)

There were several people we recognized from the ship walking around our air terminal that didn't make their flights...Did your mom make it home okay?

We had Dixon, too! We sure did keep him busy. The asparagus soup was also a favorite at our table. Yummy! I usually tried the cold soup. It was very good. Sorry we missed that ferry trip with you. Sounds wonderful.

[BrooklynGirl2]

Thanks so much MooseTracks and Leela for the reviews and comments.

 

Leela we also had Keith for our assistant waiter last year on Zenith and the we saw him again last September and have kept in touch since. He's a nice guy and my young son really took to him...he especially liked the magic tricks :) And don't you just LOVE the asparagus soup! Actually, I enjoyed all the soups but that was my favorite.

[ChoirMom]

We leave in less than two weeks. Can't wait. Thank you for the great review. :)

[HistoryFans]

Hello Lynn and Leela: We will be on Zenith July 8th. Counting the days! All of the (Non-Blustery) comments I am hearing seem consistent...Not the newest ship, but great staff and food, and a good time had by all. Isn't that what it's all about?? Thanks Again.....:D

 

P.S. DO NOT MISS the caves. Not the most extensive anywhere, but DEFINATELY worth while.....

[alpal1993]

Thanks Moosetracks,for that name.Last year a couple on our cruise gave me DH some Gravol for his I ate tooo much stomachache.It worked marvolously I don't think they sell it here in the States I couldn't remember what it was called but I tried looking for it in my Drug book and couldn't find it.We leave Saturday and will take my Bonnine before I get on the plane and double up when we get to the ship.

The not so perfect look of the cabins will encourage us to spend less time in our room and more time up on deck and in the Martini Bar.Yipee

[alpal1993]

Now that I have the proper spelling I looked it up and it is Dramamine.Now I know why my DH got so sleepy,can't handle antihistamines.

Thanks again