Zuiderdam 09/09/06

[Goldeye]

My wife and I just got back from our first cruise on 16/September, inside passage on the Zuiderdam. The cruise met or exceeded all our expectations. The ports of call were great and found plenty to see or do outside the 1 excursion we did in Skagway on the White Pass railway (awesome views).

 

The scenery on the entire cruise was excellent, plus we had great weather and very calm seas (though I was kind of looking forward to a little bit of a rough sea experience, wife was not). We woke up to an intermittent fog horn on the morning we entered Glacier Bay and were concerned about the thick pea-soup fog we seemed to be mired in but after about 1/2 an hour, we went from the fog to perfectly clear, blue skies and unseasonally warm weather, felt like about 70. We eventually approached John Hopkins glacier and were treated to this glacier actively calving. It was amazing, it sounded like thunder when the larger fragments calved off and hit the water. Another treat was watching all the harbour seals on the ice flows in the distance, closer to the shore line. There seemed to be hundreds and I'm definitely glad I brought my binoculars for a closer view. Speaking of pea soup, this was served on the sports deck during the glacier stop and was pretty tasty.

 

The ship itself was perfect and any negative reviews I've read about this ship were inconsequential as I could see no negatives in appearence or otherwise on this vessel. I loved the ship layout and I have nothing but good to say about the staff or crew. They made us feel special and at home. The food was an 8 or 9 out of 10, no complaints here at all. The Pinnacle Grill was an experience in itself, I would highly recommend everyone that wishes something above and beyond the regular ships dining services treat themselves.

 

We were in an SY suite on the 6th deck and this was worth every one of my hard earned dollars. Even thought it didn't have the higher priced suite amenities, it was spacious and well laid out and helped make this cruise something truly special. The suite was always impeccable and the towel creatures were a nice touch. Room service was problem free.

 

The stage shows were very professional, though musicals are not my cup of tea. The illusionist we saw one night (Celing?) was top notch, I'm glad I did not miss that. For activities, there was always something going on or there are many areas to just take it easy and lounge.

 

Both my wife and I are both in our early fifties and would guess we were in the median age group. There were very few children, and no disrespect meant, but also very few older passengers. This was a perfect mix and made things very comfortable for us. All in all, we are now hooked on cruising and Holland America and have a very hard time imagining a how any other line could be better than this - for us. We are already planning for our next cruise - Panama Canal and it will be on a HAL ship. Also worth mentioning is the fact we sent two nights on the 19th floor of the Pan Pacific hotel in Vancouver overlooking the harbour and looking down at the various cruise ships and the Holland America ships were the only ships I had seen dock that had the teak decks and deck loungers, it just seemes to add a little more class to the whole experience. Thanks also for the contributors to this board who helped make our cruise choice the right one. :o

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome home. Glad you had a wonderful Alaskan cruise.

 

We have also done White Pass Railroad in Skagway - in fact a few times - love it.

[kikiwik]

I'm glad you had a wonderful time i'm leaving on saturday! i'm excited excited excited!

[lb0103]

Thank you so much for your comments on the Zuiderdam. We go on 10/21 on this ship in the carribean and was REALLY glad to read your post. The ship layout isn't important to us, but we were glad to read that the ship is, ship shape.

 

I'm sure we will be the shape of the ship by the time we get off.

 

I'm not surprised you liked the White Pass Railroad, that is really something to see and do.

 

Thanks again, welcome back!

[peeps]

We were also on this cruise with a group of sixteen people. We all agreed that it was a wonderful cruise. I don't know why the Zuiderdam has received some bad reviews. The food was okay, we didn't expect gourmet dining and nobody went hungry. The ship itself was in great shape and the staff was helpful and pleasant. We were blessed with good weather and some special experiences. Besides the John Hopkins treat, we had a special whale watching trip booked through the cruiseline. We watched three Orca whales on a hunt for a porpoise. It lasted about 20 or 30 minutes. The captain said he had only seen something like this once before and he had made 800 of these three hour trips. Of course, I was rooting for the porpoise, but the whales were the victors. Ketchikan was our least favorite port. I had waited to do my shopping there. Big mistake-Juneau and Skagway had a better selection of merchandise and better prices.

I appreciate all the info I got from this site before I left. Thank you everyone. I can't say enough about how much we enjoyed this trip!