Zaandam Review 7/28 (A little long)

[lardan]

Well, after being on these boards for 6 months and learning a lot about HAL and the Zaandam, I will offer my review of my recent Alaska Inside Passage cruise on the Zaandam. I will talk mostly about my impressions of HAL and not of the ports, as those are beyond HAL’s control.

 

Day 1: Embarkation Day.

 

We arrived at the pier at 11:10 am. We were met at the terminal by a baggage handler, who promptly loaded our luggage and took it away. We were shown inside, and there was no line whatsoever to check in. We had our forms pre-filled out, so it literally took us less than 10 minutes to check in. About 5 minutes after we were done, they opened the door and my wife and I were literally the first ones on the ship. Never have I had such a easy embarkation. When we got on, we were shown to the Lido. We weren’t ready to eat, so we started exploring the ship on our own. The first place we went was to the Pinnacle Grill to make our two nights reservations, which we did. We then walked around a bit more, then made our way to the Lido. Afterward, we took a little catnap in the Crows Nest. At 1:30, we went to our stateroom, which was ready. Our steward introduced himself to us, we told him we would like him to empty the mini-bar (a HAL hint) and put our own goodies in the refrigerator. Our luggage was delivered about a half hour later, and by the time we had everything unpacked, it was time for the lifeboat drill.

 

Yada yada yada, walked around, casino, late dinner; nothing exciting. We were seated at a table for 4 (we had requested 6) with a nice couple. We enjoyed their company the 3 nights we ate in the dining room.

 

OK, my impressions of the ship, service, food, etc…

 

The food was very good in the dining room, exceptional in the Pinnacle Grill, and average in the Lido.

 

The dining room food was better than I had ever had on RCCL, without fail. Every course of the three meals I ate in the dining room was very good. There was nothing that

I didn’t like or was just average. SERVICE: Not wonderful. We had a waiter the first night who was only going to be there that night; the other nights, we had our regular waiter. There were quite a few times that we had to ask him to refill our water or remind him of something we had asked for. Our assistant waiter, well, I NEVER saw him. Not once. I even asked the waiter if he had one, and he said he was busy getting the food and doing the running. On my other cruises, the waiters and assistant waiters had personality. This waiter was all business; never really stopped to talk to us for a little, not to get to know us at all. The wine steward was not very good at all. Each night we were there, it took her quite a while to finally get to us. We had brought our own wine into the dining room the second night, and once we gave it to our waiter, it took the wine steward 15 minutes, and a reminder on our part to our waiter, to finally get it to our table. She never came back to our table after bringing the initial wine, never came to see if we wanted an after dinner drink. Very, very disappointing service in the beverage department, each night we were in the dining room.

 

The Pinnacle Grill food was GREAT. Had a filet one night, and the lamb chops the other. The clam chowder was the best I believe I’ve ever had, the crab cakes appetizer was great. I have nothing to complain about at all about regarding the food in the Pinnacle. However, the first night we were there, once again, the wine steward never came back to see if we wanted another drink. After our meal, the manager came over to see how everything was, and I told him I was disappointed that the wine steward never came back. Well, you’d have thought that we complained that they put poison in our food. The wine steward came over to apologize, then the head drink manager came over to apologize. Five minutes later, the head drink manager brought us over two Bailey’s shots for our coffee to apologize (on the house, of course). I thought they handled this oversight very well.

 

The Lido was just fair. I thought it only a little better than a standard Old Country Buffet or similar. The food was plentiful, and the variety was pretty good, but the food was only fair. And they could have used one more server behind the counter. Which leads me to my next observation.

 

I did not like the fact that they had to serve you your food. I would have liked to be able to serve myself, and put the quantities that I wanted on my plate. Now, I know I could tell them I want more of this or none of that, but I thought it was an inconvenience to have them put the food on my plate for me. I guess they do this to eliminate those that pile the fool on, but I didn’t like it. Another thing regarding the Lido; it was very difficult to find someone to get us a diet coke. Normally, we had to walk over to the bar to get one. We did see someone with a cart occasionally, but it was very difficult to find them. The desserts were very good, and I loved the variety of ice cream flavors daily.

 

My room steward was very good. He introduced himself right away, delivered our luggage and put it up on our bed, and asked us when our dinner time was. After that, we rarely saw him, but he always had our room made up, everything was always clean, and we always had fresh towels. A+ for the room steward.

 

Room service was prompt; however, it took until the third day to get our coffee order correct (1 pot of decaf and 1 pot of regular). Other than that, they were timely and very courteous.

 

We didn’t do too many of the activities; we saw two shows (the comedian, Craig Diamond, was fantastic), played a little bingo, and spent too much time in the casino. We did a lot of relaxing, which was what we wanted and needed.

 

We did the renewal of vows ceremony, which I thought would be corny, but it ended up being one of the highlights of the trip. The captain was very warm and friendly, and took a lot of time with each of us. I would highly recommend this for anyone celebrating an anniversary.

 

We did five excursions, all through the ship, and enjoyed them all. Juneau was flightseeing, Mendenhall Glacier, and whale watching. Ketchikan was Misty Fjords (absolutely gorgeous), and Victoria was Butchart Gardens. I would only say that we were at Butchart Gardens at night, and I felt a little ripped off, as we could only see what they had the lights on, which I am guessing was about 5 – 10% of what you would see during the day. I felt that this should have been disclosed on the description of the excursion. Other than that, all the excursions were great, and very professional.

 

Debarkation was the smoothest I have ever had. We put down the time of our flights and that we would like to be off the ship about 9, and they called our color at 8:50. Loved the fact that we could stay in our rooms until we were called. They don’t do that on RCCL.

 

No lines to get off the ship, our luggage was right there, and no hassle at all getting past customs and out to the transportation.

 

The ship itself was beautiful. I enjoyed the actual ship better than any of the other ships I have been on. Easy to navigate. And clean, clean, clean. We were in a code red for the first two days due to the previous weeks cruise, but even after that was lifted, everything was always clean. I loved the portable Purell stations everywhere, and used it constantly. I can’t say enough about the cleanliness of the ship.

 

I will quickly address a couple of the concerns from folks on here. I was expecting to see a bunch of old folks. We are 44 and 45. I was pleasantly surprised to see the diverse age of the passengers. I looked for all the old folks that everyone talks about, and while I found a few, of course, I think the majority of passengers were within 10 years of my age.

 

Regarding the dress code, it is way overblown. There were VERY FEW tuxedos in the dining room on formal nights. Most of the men had on suits or just sportcoats. Mostly all wore ties. And after dinner, I would say at least 25% of the folks changed into more comfortable clothes for the remainder of the evening, myself included. I never felt out of place doing this.

 

Jeans in the dining room on casual nights??? Yeah, so what??? I never noticed what folks were wearing in the dining room (except when I looked on formal night), nor did I care. Didn’t affect me one bit. We were sitting the whole time, and I certainly did not look below the table to see what pants folks had on.

 

 

So, my overall impression was very positive. I would definitely go on another HAL cruise. It is smaller than my RCCL cruises, and that has it’s positives.

 

Wow, this was longer than I thought. As I stated in earlier posts, thanks for all the pre-cruise information. It was very helpful.

 

Lardan

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for giving you review.

 

As for the Lido - not being to serve your self - sounds as though you were in CODE RED.B]

[twoatsea]

thanks, Lardan, for your review. I enjoyed it very much, especially since you could compare it to RCCL. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. DH & I love the Zaandam; we've sailed on her several times.

 

Agree with you about the service. HAL has decreased the number of dining room servers. I did so enjoy it when they used to have time to chat a lot.

 

Unlike you though, I do prefer the HAL cafeteria style. Buffets get so messy & I think it spreads germs. Interesting that you thought the Lido food was only average. I assume you are talking about breakfast & lunch since the evening menu is almost the same as the dining room. Would you mind giving me some specific comparisons with RCCL's dining (other than the dining room)? DH & I are considering RCCL & the alternative dining is important to us - the times (including dinner), the variety of foods, & the quality. I realize the CC RCCL board is available, but I would like a comparison with HAL.

 

Good review.

[lardan]

Thanks for giving you review.

 

As for the Lido - not being to serve your self - sounds as though you were in CODE RED.B]

 

KK, we were in code red days 1 and 2. Here, we were not even able to serve ourselves the salad bar. But after that, the salad bar we were serving ourselves, but the food was always served by the staff. In fact, there looked to be permanent glass in front of the serving containers. Don't know if this is removable or not.

[lardan]

Interesting that you thought the Lido food was only average. I assume you are talking about breakfast & lunch since the evening menu is almost the same as the dining room. Would you mind giving me some specific comparisons with RCCL's dining (other than the dining room)? DH & I are considering RCCL & the alternative dining is important to us - the times (including dinner), the variety of foods, & the quality. I realize the CC RCCL board is available, but I would like a comparison with HAL.

 

Good review.

 

Two:

 

I am mainly talking about lunch. To me, eggs and bacon are eggs and bacon. However, I thought the lunch was just fair. The variety on RCCL for their Windjammer seems to me to be quite a bit greater. There were more choices. I wouldn't say RCCL was much better, but it was definitely better. While saying this, our next cruise is going to be on Freedom of the Seas; LOL, I don't get to plan them all. :)

 

One thing I forgot; the fresh fruit was absolutely fantastic. The pineapple especially was just so sweet; I couldn't get enough.

[Tinknock50]

Very helpful review! Thanks for taking the time to write it.

[Old As Dirt Mom]

Wow, all these great threads regarding Zaandam in one evening! Thanks Lardan, for posting your review and your pictures. We can't wait to get aboard!:)

[Robin7]

Regarding the dress code, it is way overblown. There were VERY FEW tuxedos in the dining room on formal nights. Most of the men had on suits or just sportcoats. Mostly all wore ties. And after dinner, I would say at least 25% of the folks changed into more comfortable clothes for the remainder of the evening, myself included. I never felt out of place doing this.

 

Jeans in the dining room on casual nights??? Yeah, so what??? I never noticed what folks were wearing in the dining room (except when I looked on formal night), nor did I care. Didn’t affect me one bit. We were sitting the whole time, and I certainly did not look below the table to see what pants folks had on.

 

I completely forgot to address fashion in my review! Can you imagine??? All those pages and not one word about JEANS! in the dining room! on MY body!!! Yes, it's true. I wore jeans to the dining room on the night we were in Juneau. Our tour dropped us off right at the ship at 5:55pm and our time was at 6pm. So I went to dinner in what I wore on the boat. Shocker!:D I never, ever thought that would happen. (My husband joked that I could always take the jeans OFF since my top was tunic length and would look like a mini-dress. Funny, funny, RIDICULOUS man.) And you know what? NO ONE was there! That was the night we were practically alone in our little end of the dining room. I have to say, however, that I dress nicely--no holes, no tears, no pajama pants and stretched-out t-shirts in public. And my top was, if not downright dressy, very nice casual. I am no slacker in the clothing department. (My 69-pound suitcase will testify to that fact.)

 

I did look around a bit at the clothing during the week. I never saw anything in the dining room I would consider inappropriate. Nice suits or sports coats and ties on formal nights. Not a lot of tuxes. (My husband has worn a tux on several of our cruises but chose not to this time.) Not a lot of gowns, either. (Which we've seen in past cruises.) Mostly just nice tops and skirts or cocktail dresses.

 

This cruise seemed far more casual than our other Alaskan cruises (1993 Princess, 2001 HAL). A LOT of people changed after dinner, but I'm sure I only noticed because I like to people-watch and I was specifically watching the dress code adherence so I could report to y'all.

 

There was no informal night even though our docs said there would be one, and we took clothing for one. So Victoria night when we ate in The Pinnacle, we made our own informal night. I felt somewhat ridiculous wearing my cute skirt and top with jeweled sandals with dh in his collared shirt and sports coat when everyone else was in jeans. We were awfully glad we looked nice, however, when the Captain showed up in his dress whites with his VIPs and sat across from us. :eek:

 

So a new era has definitely arrived. Jeans in the dining room are here to stay, at least on this line probably. What's next???? :D

 

Robin

[CrusinAgain]

Robin7 - That was been my biggest drawback problem of not trying a HAL ship is the dress code. I had asked before a couple months ago and everyone said no jeans whatsoever not even during the day and for those who dress down to go straight to their cabin after dinner from the buffet at nite so not to spoil anyone's nitely dress attire.

 

I am now gaining new hope that the ship is listening to the world of lets be casual also.

 

Thanks so much for posting that you wore jeans.

[Robin7]

Thanks so much for posting that you wore jeans.

 

My Catholic soul just had to confess. :)

 

Actually HAL just changed their dress code. It no longer states you cannot wear jeans in the dining room. So during our cruise we ended up having five casual nights and two formal nights. You could have worn jeans on all five of those casual nights. I, however, committed an even bigger fashion faux-pas (at least according to my future daughter-in-law), I wore GAUCHOS the other four casual nights. :D

 

Robin

[CrusinAgain]

My Catholic soul just had to confess. :)

 

Actually HAL just changed their dress code. It no longer states you cannot wear jeans in the dining room. So during our cruise we ended up having five casual nights and two formal nights. You could have worn jeans on all five of those casual nights. I, however, committed an even bigger fashion faux-pas (at least according to my future daughter-in-law), I wore GAUCHOS the other four casual nights. :D

 

Robin

 

This is great. Now we can actually try a Hal ship and their new bedding. How about the age group and do you like HAL over Princess and Carnival?

[Robin7]

How about the age group and do you like HAL over Princess and Carnival?

 

I don't think HAL skews any older than Princess. I'm sorry, but I have no experience with Carnival.

 

We are 45 and 46 and have been cruising with HAL since we were 28 and 29. We do not drink alcohol or gamble. We do not go to R-rated movies. We are not party people. Our idea of fun is a good book on a quiet deck in the shade. HAL is perfect for us. We've been on six HAL cruises and two Princess cruises (Regal, 1993 and Star, 2001). We find them comparable, except we like the food better on HAL. And now the bedding makes HAL win hands down. But it's all in what you seek.

 

Robin