Holland America - Zuiderdam
May 24 - 31
Cast: Peggy Sue - 50, David - 48
3 previous cruises - Disney Magic, Royal Majesty, Ocean
breeze
Friday, 5/23
Flew down a day early. Delta Express - took off on time from
Boston, however Fort Lauderdale airport was closed due to thunderstorms. Had
to circle over the Everglades for a while, and then captain advised we had to
land in Miami due to low fuel. Couldn't leave the plane, as captain announced
our luggage could not be taken off, because the plane would be going to FLL as
soon as the airport opened. Sat on the plane for an hour. Finally took off.
The 22-mile trip between Miami and Fort Lauderdale took another hour, as we
had to get in line with other planes that had been waiting. Back over the
Everglades again. Finally landed after 6 hours on board. Good news was we
arrived safe and sound and our vacation was about to begin! We spent the night
at the Fort Lauderdale Marriott Marina, right across from the cruise port. A
very nice room with a beautiful view of the inner coastal waterway. We had a
nice dinner in their dining room and retired early in anticipation of the day
head.
Saturday, 5/23
Woke to overcast skies and humid conditions. Went to the
dining room to partake of their breakfast buffet, as it was included with the
room rate. Buffet was nice, but didn't eat much, too excited!
Marriott provided a free shuttle to the cruise port. Very
efficient and comfortable. We arrived at the port by 11:30 AM -
A summary of our cruise highlights follows:
Embarkation:
Porters were standing ready and our luggage was whisked away
in a matter of minutes. Doors had just opened and line wasn't very long. Upon
entering the terminal we were handed a SARS questionnaire. This was rather
difficult to fill out as everyone was searching for pens, writing surfaces
etc. Quickly went through their security check and onto cruise check in. We
were in an S category Suite, so we were shown to a separate check in line. We
had filled in our custom forms on-line before leaving home. Check in went very
quickly and we had our cabin key cards in less than 5 minutes. Another quick
stop to have our security picture taken and then onto the cruise waiting area.
We had a two hour wait ahead of us, as boarding didn't begin until 1:30. The
Wheelchair passengers were escorted on first. HAL needs much improvement in
their embarkation procedures. There are two levels in the passenger terminal,
with boarding on the second level. There is a reserved area for wheel chairs
on the second level, however when boarding began many of the wheel chair
passengers were still on the first level. 45 minutes later they had finally
brought them all up via the elevators. Not sure why these passengers weren't
immediately escorted to the second level when their arrived rather than having
them wait down stairs. By now a tired, bored, restless, agitated crowd was
waiting to board. Suite passengers were invited aboard next and we were on our
way. Again, the line stopped waiting for the photographer to snap the welcome
aboard picture. These pictures are taken BEFORE entering the ship, so why
aren't they taken during the entire check in process to save the time and
aggravation during boarding? We were escorted to the elevator and to the 7th
floor..From there, we were left on our own to find our cabin. Just a short
walk down the hall. Non-suite passengers were assigned a boarding number, and
had to wait for their number to be called. Many did not get on board until
after 3 PM. Throughout the cruise we heard many passengers state that they
were very upset with the embarkation procedures. I'm sure HAL must receive
many complaints about this. Hope they listen!
Our Suite - 7078:
Entering our suite was pure ambrosia! Think large hotel
room! King-size bed with two night stands, large desk area, sitting area with
a queen size sleeper sofa and two chairs - very comfortable leather furniture.
A dressing room and a huge bathroom...walk in shower, full Jacuzzi tub with
shower, dual sinks and two medicine chests. Tons of closet / storage space. We
could have brought double the luggage and still have had room to spare. Plenty
on hangers in the closets. Saved the best for last...the deck....HUGE, with
round table and 4 chairs, 2 chairs with footstools and small table in-between.
HEAVEN! Our cabin steward OKA appeared within minutes of our arrival to
introduce himself and see we needed anything. We didn't see much of Oka
throughout the week, but he took excellent care of us.
Lido Dining:
The Lido is set up with a variety of food stations. It's a
fairly large area with quite a bit of variety. Food was good, not memorable by
any stretch of the imagination, but for the volume they were serving it was
adequate. Seating was comfortable, however we found this dining area to be
rather warm throughout the entire cruise. We didn't spend much time in this
dining venue, we ate lunch hear the first day, grabbed breakfast one morning
and one lunch.
Room Service:
Menu was fairly typical. Sandwiches, burgers, etc. You could
also request the Vista dining room meal during dining room hours. Service was
efficient, and with just a couple of exceptions, what we ordered was
delivered. We enjoyed breakfast on our deck most mornings. We also ordered
burgers a couple of times when returning from ports late in the afternoon, as
we had missed all lunch times in the lido and vista dining room. The food was
good. One of the best things was the yummy chocolate cake!
Vista Dining Room:
We ate here 6 out of our 7 nights. All of our dining room
staff was very efficient, gracious and friendly. We really enjoyed chatting
with our wine steward. Menu's had quite a bit of variety and we enjoyed fish,
lamb, beef, lobster, crab, and shrimp. Coming from New England we were very
surprised to find the lobster tails offered on the second formal night to be
excellent..They were very tender and cooked to perfection. Judging by the way
fellow passengers were ordering 2nd and 3rd servings I suspect everyone else
on board enjoyed them too! Most folks we spoke with liked the food in the
dining room. One area that we believe needs some improvement is the salads.
They had some variety, but the portions were quite tiny. I swear a spinach
salad David ordered only had 10 small spinach leaves in it. Heard others in
the dining room were ordering 2 or 3 salads and combining them to make one
decent size salad. We tried a couple of the cold soups and they were
excellent! The appetizers were very good too, with a nice variety. The
desserts were EXCELLENT. A chocolate lovers paradise!
We had a very nice table for two on the second level of the
dining room. All of our dining table requests had been honored. We had an
excellent view of the pianist and violinist, who provided wonderful music
during dinner. Our table was located near the front of the second level dining
room. Air temp was very comfortable, and we didn't feel crowded at all.
We attended a formal tea one afternoon..We were seated on
the first level, aft. The vibrations back here rattled the table setting and
it felt like we were sitting in vibrating chairs. We were seated with other
passengers, but it was impossible to talk with them due to the vibration
noise. It was also rather stuffy back there. We felt very fortunate we didn't
have an evening dining table in this area of the dining room.
We went to breakfast one morning. Good variety on their
menu. Food was good. Loved the Yum Yum man...the cart full of yummy
croissants, pastries, muffins etc.
Alternative Dining - Odyssey:
We dined here one evening. Cover charge was $20. Per person.
Menu was limited, with focus on beef. We both ordered filet mignon. Steak was
excellent, the remainder of the meal adequate. We also found the service here
to be very disappointing. We sat for 20 minutes before a waiter acknowledged
us. This was in a half empty dining room. We were getting ready to leave when
someone finally showed up. Very disappointing. We really enjoyed Palo's on the
Disney Magic and had hoped this would have been another wonderful gourmet
experience. To add insult to injury, Disney was only a $5. Cover per person!
On a positive note, the Odyssey is an absolutely beautiful dining room,
beautiful crystal and china.
As suite passengers we were invited to also have breakfast
or lunch in the Odyssey. We tired one breakfast and one lunch here. Service
was much improved and it was a nice relaxing atmosphere. Food was the menu
from the vista Dining room.
The "Suite" life:
As a suite passenger, we were treated like royalty. From the
moment of priority embarkation to the last moments in the Neptune conceriege
lounge waiting for our priority debarkation, all of our needs were taken care
of. Just living in the suite would have been enough for us, but we were
treated to 2 invitations to cocktail parties with the captain and the hotel
manager, a suite luncheon, priority tender passes, a conceriege staff who took
care of all of our needs, it was great to take all the forms we had to fill
out to their capable hands. We never saw the purser or front desk..Not even
sure where they were on the ship! The Neptune lounge was wonderful, with great
coffee and snacks throughout the day. The lounge was just a few cabin doors
down the hall, and very convenient. Every morning we received personal copies
of the vista dining room menus, with the two formal night menus printed on
parchment paper. It seemed almost every day we had some kind of invitation
waiting for us in our mailbox. Another wonderful perk was free laundry,
pressing and dry cleaning. We used this service every day. Just fill out the
forms, leave the bag on the bed and by the next
afternoon all was returned clean, folded, pressed etc. When
we arrived in
our suite, a bottle of champagne and beautiful flowers were
waiting for us. Again, the very best part of this experience was our cabin and
that wonderful deck. Because we had such a wonderful deck, we didn't spend
much
time on the lido/pool deck. We met some wonderful fellow
passengers at the
suite events.
Formal nights:
2 formal nights. We had late seating, and I'd say at least
50%, maybe more,
of the men were wearing tuxedos. (David wore one) Women were
in long
gowns and very fancy cocktail dresses. Everyone looked
fantastic and the majority of the passengers stayed dressed for the entire
evening. Lots of opportunities for formal portraits. Not pushy, if you wanted
a picture, just join the line. Pictures were quite expensive at $21. for each
8x10.
The ship:
Very elegant. Although the color pallet throughout the ship
was rather vivid, it all seemed to work very well. The artwork throughout the
ship is beautiful. The fresh flowers displays were terrific. Plenty of lounges
and a variety of bars and music to satisfy all tastes. Two pools on the lido
deck. The main pool was usually crowded with teens, but they were well
behaved. The aft pool was small, with lots of chairs around it. Again, because
of our deck, we really didn't spend any time at the pools.
A full ship, with 1800 passengers on board, but we never
felt crowded. Lines were next to non-existent, except when waiting for the
dining room to
open etc. Age..more than 50% of the passengers were 60+. HAL
is trying to
attract more families with this new class ship. There were a
fair number of families on board, but the majority of passengers were couples.
I'm sure as the summer progresses more families will be on-board. HAL devotees
were not that impressed with this new ship. We spoke with many and all said
they preferred the smaller HAL ships. Many said service wasn't the same and
some of the amenities they enjoyed on prior cruises were missing. We've never
sailed HAL before, and compared to the other lines we have sailed, HAL was far
superior. We really enjoyed this ship and the entire cruise experience.
Comparing HAL to Disney:
Our last cruise was on the Disney Magic. Just a short 3-day
cruise. It's difficult to compare the ships, because they appeal to such
different markets. The Magic was a beautiful ship, nice cabin (inside) with
good service. Food was good, and we really enjoyed their alternative dining
room Palo's. Disney also has a kids theme, with all the Disney characters. A
good clean wholesome environment. The Zuiderdam seemed to fit our lifestyle
better. We enjoyed the fact the majority of the passengers were adults, with
entertainment geared towards adults. Food selection and service was far
superior on the Zuiderdam.
Ports of Call:
We did not go on any cruise excursions arranged by the
cruise line.
Half Moon Cay - Their private island. This was the only day
we had overcast skies, and periods of rain. We still tendered to shore and had
a great time. The island is a lot like Disney's castaway cay. I suspect this
place would have been awesome on a beautiful, sunny day! We still enjoyed
swimming and the barbeque - which for burgers and ribs was surprisingly good.
St Marten - Spent the day at Dawn Beach. Very beautiful with
fun waves. Spent a bit too much time in the water and burned our shoulders
despite wearing 30. Guess we should have reapplied after one hour!
St Thomas - OK, because of the sunburn we didn't go to the
beach. What else do you do in St. Thomas? Shopping! Beautiful jewelry stores.
OK, I'll admit I came home with a new bauble.
Nassau - Not sure why we got off the ship. Don't care for
Nassau. Went down town for a couple of hours, but find it a rather seedy
environment. We didn't go over to Paradise Island, as we had been to the
Atlantis Hotel before. We returned to the ship and enjoyed our deck!
2 Sea Days - our favorite part of the cruise!
Entertainment:
Every evening there was a show in the Vista Lounge. The
Lounge is multi-level with very comfortable seating. Sight lines can be
difficult if you get behind one of the many poles, but we found getting there
15 minutes before show time usually resulted in finding an excellent seat.
Barnaby - a comedian/juggler act was hysterical. Paul Pappas - pianist, was
good, but a bit to "Vegas" for our taste. There was very talented comedian
on-board the first evening. HAL presented two stage/variety shows with their
cast of dancers/singers. They were good, but to be honest I expected a more
polished Broadway level show. Disney did a better job with these types of
shows.
Casino - we didn't spend much time here, but when we did, we
agreed with the cruise director who named the place "the donation center". I
will admit to winning two $50. Jackpots while playing the dime slots. Don't be
fooled, it's 90 cents to play all lines, and of course the best payoff was 2
time 9.... But, I did end the cruise actually up about $20. Played black jack
a couple of times, but there were more poker tables here than black jack, and
only one $5. table. We get bored with gambling quickly, plus the smoke in this
place was HORRID. Smoking was allowed in lounges, lido deck etc. Most of the
time it was limited to one side of the ship and we could avoid it..but that
was difficult in the Casino. I know this is also a common complaint of folks
entering/exiting the vista show lounge, as most folks have to pass through the
casino to get to other lounges, their rooms etc. Someone hit a slot machine
for $60,000. during our cruise.......
Bingo - Don't play, but it was available every day. On the
last evening, some lucky person won a $5500. jackpot.
Conclusion:
We had a wonderful week. Very relaxing. Wouldn't hesitate to
sail on HAL again. Our thanks to Tim Larison, our travel agent, and the
excellent moderator of this board!
Thanks for reading.
Peggy Sue
