Zuiderdam, Verandah help please

[janmcn]

Looking at the Classical Worlds 2008 cruise on the Z'dam. However, we've never cruised on this class of HAL before, so are unfamiliar with the ship deck layouts. Trying to figure out verandah locations using the deck plans is difficult, so input would be appreciated. I'm prone to seasickness, so we usually like the lower decks, midship. It sounds like the "Verandah Deck" VE verandahs have limited visibility due to the lifeboats "below"? True? If so, what's my best choice? Keep in mind this will be a splurge (24 days) so I'd like to keep cost down when I can. <G> VE price with HAL is doable.

 

Thanks. Jan

[grannynurse]

There are some VC cabins on Deck 5 from midship to aft on both sides of the ship.

If you've been on an S or R class HAL ship you'll find that the layout is similar on Vista ships, it's just a longer walk to get there. I realize that there are more cabin categories but the midships area is bigger so you have more choices. One major difference is the bump outs forward and aft on both sides but those cabins have larger verandas. Inside corridors do take a couple of jogs due to the bump outs. You'll find a few extra public rooms and a larger shop area. The one thing I didn't like is the location of the photo shop area, it's on the way to the upper level dining room and causes major traffic jams.

GN

[mfromcanada]

We were just on the Zuiderdam and had a Verandah on Deck 5.. Although the lifeboats are just below your balcony, it did not obstruct our view at all.. The tops of the lifeboats were lower than the floor of the balcony (sorry, hard to describe), so no worries at all... Most of our pictures were taken off of our balcony and you can not even tell that the lifeboats were below us..

[FlorenceItaly]

We were in 5076 on the Zuiderdam, and the balcony appeared to be alot smaller than the rest of the decks, imo. It was perplexing as I had always read that HAL balconies were bigger than most, but I would classify this as tiny, lol. I am not sure ALL balconies on Deck 5 are this size, you may want to post a question. I would not book this cabin again.

 

 

Marie

[janmcn]

This is helpful...Marie's note especially since those are the cabins we thought about...looks like going up to a VC cabin will get us a bit larger verandah for not that much more $'s.

 

Note to Marie...I never heard that HAL's verandah's were larger, but their cabins are larger than most other cruise lines'.

 

Thanks for the help...keep the suggestions coming! They're helpful!

Jan

[BM64]

We were in 5076 on the Zuiderdam, and the balcony appeared to be alot smaller than the rest of the decks, imo. It was perplexing as I had always read that HAL balconies were bigger than most, but I would classify this as tiny, lol. I am not sure ALL balconies on Deck 5 are this size, you may want to post a question. I would not book this cabin again.

 

 

Marie

 

We are booked in 5062 for our trip on the Nordam and would assume that the cabins would be similar. Do you think I should try to change the cabin, the issue is we need a quad cabin and there are very few especially verandah ones? We were in 4163 on the Zuiderdam and really liked the veandah. Thanks for any suggestions.

 

Brigitte