Spire2000

I thought I would add a couple more things I forgot about earlier.

Kids' Club

As I mentioned, my daughter was one of 7 kids on the ship and one of 5 registered with Club HAL. She loves playing with other kids, and while she was the youngest by some years, the older kids included her in things and she had a blast. There were two staff on board, Kate, the supervisor, and Tyler, the more junior staff member. Both were terrific with the kids. Things were well organized and flexible when lack of attendees required changing things. The Club HAL staff have one of the most flexible employment models with HAL, being on board only for a few cruises in a row. Since the number of kids on board varies, the Club HAL staff also vary. For the 7 kids on this cruise, it required 1 staff member but they assigned two. Over Christmas, there were 345 kids on board and 11 staff members. In March, there 45 kids booked and 5 staff members. They do a good job.

One thing that is surprising but understandable is the need to sign up for Club HAL the day before port days. If no one signs up by 9:00pm, the Club is closed and the staff members get the day off to go ashore or whatever, returning to open the Club in the evening.

The Incident

One thing I completely forgot to write about was what can only be called in my family as "The Incident".

On day three, my daughter had woken up a bit early and crawled into bed with us, bringing her softball sized stuffed duck that she's had since birth. It is her companion, always with her at night, but never during the day. It has travelled with us constantly these last 5 years and obviously it is something she is attached to.

That night, Duckie was missing. We scoured the room over and over, but it was not there. Panic began to set in. Apparently, we are as attached to the idea of holding on to this toy as a memento of my daughter's childhood as she is with it currently.

We noticed the sheets were changed so we reporting the missing toy to the steward, thinking it may have gone to the laundry. He smiled, chuckled and said he always shakes the sheets out. I asked him to check the laundry and he chuckled and said he would. I knew that he was just giving lip service. Meanwhile, my daughter would cry each night at bedtime and we began to explain that Duckie may have stayed in Aruba. Every day after that, I asked the steward about it and he said nothing was found, again with a big smile on his face. While I didn't show it to him, I began to get very angry with the steward's reaction to this very traumatic experience for my daughter.

On the second last day of the trip, I had already decided that I was going to have some choice words for the steward before we left the ship. Suddenly, my mom announced that she was going to go to the front desk and complain right then and there. Thinking this was a good idea that might result in a proper search being done, I set off to speak to the very helpful woman at the front. She took notes and said I would back within a few hours.

Not three hours later, as my wife and daughter were walking toward the room mid-afternoon, they noticed the steward was posted by our door. He announced that after a thorough search, he was proud to say he had found Duckie! Everyone rejoiced! My daughter then ran to find me to share the great news.

Obviously, it took someone with authority to get our steward to conduct a proper search. We thanked him politely, but then went to the front desk and expressed our true gratitude to the lady at the front desk, who seemed surprised that we went out of our way to thank her.

Hi everyone,

I thought I would share a few thoughts on our recent trip on the Zuiderdam. I'll take some time and detail the good experiences we had as well as the stuff that we felt a little disappointed in. I'll also talk about the ports and what we chose to do at each one. Finally, I'll discuss a rare thing on this board, the HAL Kids' Club

First off, for anyone that was on this sailing, we were the family with the 5-year-old girl who could be seen dancing all over the ship. It was my wife and I, both around 40, and my parents, 5-star mariners in their 60's. My folks took this same cruise last winter and thought we would enjoy the itinerary so they booked us on the spot last February. I must say, the ports are what interest my wife and I and this group was a complete set of new locations for us. This is the 5th cruise for my wife and I and the 3rd for my daughter.

We had a bit of trouble getting to the ship though. We're from Ottawa, and we chose to fly from Syracuse NY this year to save some cash. My parents drove down a week earlier with our luggage, which was awesome of them. We had planned to make the 3 hour drive on Saturday in advance of our 1:00pm flight, but with the weather a little uncertain, we drove down Friday night instead. Once we reached the airport at 10:00am on Sat, I knew there was some weather coming. We were due to connect in Detroit, and with a small window to do so, I was worried. I asked the agent to check on things and she assured me all was well, but booked us on a flight via Atlanta on Sunday, just in case. Sure enough, our flight was delayed, guaranteeing we would not make the connection in Detroit. They couldn't find a way for us to get to Florida that day, so instead of being stranded in Detroit, we stayed a second night in Syracuse, enjoyed the great Destiny USA mall upgrades and flew out on Sunday without incident.

Embarkation went without a hitch. We tagged along with my folks the 5-stars and skipped the lines and boarded early. Our room was ready so we set off to explore. First impressions are that there doesn't seem to be any real theme to the decor. Italian art, Venetian to be exact I guess, seemed to be the only common thread. Not that I pay close attention to that sort of stuff, but I know some find that important.

The room

We had rooms 1062 and 1068, J Class rooms on the main deck. These are oversized interior rooms, easily the largest I've been in, including the balcony we had on the Oasis last year. With a pull out coach and a bunk that drops from the ceiling, there were tons of configuration options and more than enough space for the three of us. The bathroom was nicely sized and aside from one toilet blockage the only real problem here was a faint sewage smell from the toilet when the lid was up. There were no AC issues in either cabin at all.

If I had one complaint, it was the TV. I know many of you yell at your computer now, wondering why I would sail on a big ship and want to watch TV, but we do enjoy some TV now and then, even when we are on vacation. The problem here is two fold. First, the TV is mounted to point at the couch and not the bed and it doe snot pivot. Second, the channels suck. Fox News, MSNBC, CNBC, BBC News, ESPN International and ESPN 2 International. There were three movie channels along with the ship advertising. Now, we're not American, so I guess I can't appreciate this, but how do you people put up with people in suits talking about politics all day long? Every single angle on even the smallest subject was broken down into some sort of partisan agenda. Also, I love sports, but my appetite for them appears to end at cricket.

My dad asked about the channels, since last year they at least had the Cartoon Network, and he was told that HAL is changing their contract with their carrier around. The good news is that they may be adding CBC Newsworld and TSN.

Dining

We ate diner in the dining room seven evenings, once in the Lido, once in Canelleto, once in Pinnacle and one night we ate on shore in Aruba.

Pinnacle was very good. Odd that my daughter was asked her order and served her meal before we even ordered ours. I guess they assume we are going to send her away to the Kids' Club or something, but my daughter is a very adventurous eater and loves restaurants. She loves seafood of all sorts and even asked for duck in the dining room one night. They at least could have asked what we intended.

Canalleto was quite poor. No one really enjoyed their food and the new family-style service was not explained well so we ended up with piles of everything. The best of the batch was the spicy sausage penne.

The dining room was a mixed bag, to be sure. We had open seating, and were generally at dinner by 6:00pm. We found the starters to be well-composed and very tasty, soups especially. The main dishes, well, I can say that I wasn't completely satisfied with and main dish I ordered. Everything seemed half-assed, if I can put it that way. I had chicken under cooked twice and steak overcooked once. I had pork arrive with out the promised sauce. My dad had fish arrive basically raw not once, not twice, but three times at the same dinner, after having it sent back. The excuse was a very weak one about the difficulty in filleting this type of fish. Comically, on the first night, my mom found a hair in each of her four courses. The dining room manager visibly fumed about that one and it was he who caught the hair in her desert before it was served to her.

Sometime service would be lightning fast, with us in and out in 45 minutes and sometimes we would be there for more than 2 hours, staring at dirty plate for 30 minutes. What really got me about this is that it was normal to see attendants standing around against the wall unoccupied.

By and large, this dining room experience was the weakest of the 5 cruises I've personally been on. That's not to say that it was horrible, but it was certainly below average. The food and service in an Appleby's or Red Robin is superior to the MDR. I think they try to be too fancy for their own good. There's nothing worse than a facility that tries to emulate fine dining but isn't prepared to actually do it. Maybe the MDR should set their targets a little lower, let their hair down and unbutton their collar. Serve food that isn't as complex and let the waiters have some fun.

Entertainment

We attended most of the evening shows and some were good, some were bad, and some were just there. The magician was fun, my daughter loved him. The singers were ok, and the dancers, while complete cheese, were also ok. I was bugged by the presence of the HALCats band during the production numbers, because they are only pretending to play to a pre-recorded soundtrack. They only insult the musicians and the audience when they do things like that. I spoke with two of the HAL Cats guys that cruise and they are not happy with the stuff they have to do.

What I can't speak highly enough of though is BB King Blues Club band. Both the shows in the Queen's Lounge every night and the big show on the main stage are fantastic. Easily the best thing I've ever seen at sea, with the possible exception of the high diving acrobatic act on the Oasis last year. I had a bunch of chances to chat with Darrell Stanley, the band leader, during the week and these guys are just out there having a blast. It's a lot of work for them, but these guys are true professional entertainers. They do 5 month runs, and this group will be off the Zuiderdam the end of March and on the Eurodam in July. On the 11 days, they play three 45 minute shows, 8 nights a week mixing their sets around, and then one night they do a whole different show in the main theatre. The shows in the Queen's Lounge are loose, and fun, with audience interactions and dancing, while the production show is choreographed and tight. My daughter was a fixture at the 9:00pm shows, on the dance floor front and centre. One night a guy from the audience (Bruce) jumped up on stage with harmonica in hand and killed it! Seriously, HAL has hit a home run here.

Ports

Half Moon Cay - As beautiful as ever. I wish we had longer but all aboard was an early 3:00pm

Aruba - We hit Palm Beach, which came well-recommended. It was very hot that day and the beach was packed. I wish things were a little more wide open. I think there must be better beaches in Aruba with less people. In the evening we had a nice meal at one of the spots near the pier. I found it funny that with two ships in port until late in the evening, everything shut down at 5:00pm.

Curacao - We just walked around all day, seeing the sites.

Cartagena - With a very early departure time (1:00pm) and the fact it was Sunday, we choose to just roam around the port area. There is a large store with a small area with animals and cheap wi-fi. My daughter says her favorite part of the whole cruise is the parrot trying to eat my toes here.

Panama - We did the Embrarer Indian Village tour here. I could talk about this for hours, but it was an eventful day. An hour bus ride with a very informative guide and you are at the canoes. Another hour on the canoes and you arrive at the village. Be prepared for topless women, including children and teens. You're shown around the village, given a history lesson, some singing and dancing, some tasty food prepared in the firepits and some beautiful crafts to buy. While the experience was great, I just didn't buy the authenticity of it all. Just while the chief is explaining the remoteness of their village, a group of 30-odd German tourists come down the hill, clearly just off a bus. The crafts, while beautiful were expensive and the money the village makes off these tours 3 times a week isn't reflected in the structures we saw. I am quite sure that the moment we left, the tribe put their clothes on and returns to their real village. This realization that this wasn't the bush people we were being told they were made the unclothed women, particularly the teens, more than a little off-putting. The 3-4 teen girls were clearly not comfortable.

Costa Rica - We did the Tortugua Canal tour. Nothing much to speak of here. A nice tour of the region on the bus before boarding the boats for a leisurely jaunt down the canals. We saw glimpses of monkeys and sloths, some interesting birds, but not much else. Still, I understand that animal sightings are often much more common, and we were just unlucky.

Closing thoughts

I don't think we'd do another Holland America cruise unless my folks were along again. They love the line, but the average age on the ship was probably nearly 70, without exaggeration. Five kids were registered with the Kids' Club, which didn't bother my daughter though. We found that once 9:30pm hit, the ship was quiet. People move very slowly on a cruise like this and while I can't fault anyone for simply getting to a mature age, it makes one feel like a fish out of water at my age.

I'm happy to answer any questions anyone may have! I may add some more thoughts as I think of them.

OP has gone over the bandwidth limit for Photobucket's free service and will now have to pay for a full account for the photos to be available again.

Here's the response direct from the home office:

At this time, we are unable to confirm we will broadcast the Winter Olympics directly. However, the stateroom TVs do have ESPN and ESPN2 channels which may provide highlights.

Canadian and Olympic junkie though I am, this year is one year that I will not be tuning in.

 

I have cut up my visa card, I no longer buy Coke products (and that's a LONG list), I no longer eat at McDonald's (hardly a great sacrifice), and I have told all of these Olympic sponsors precisely why I am no longer buying their products.

 

I will take pride in the performance of Canadian athletes--but I will not do so in any fashion that provides sponsors with a return on the money that they have spent to support these particular games.

I'm going to guess that this is a response to the Russian government's position on homosexuality? I know I won't be able to change your opinion, but the Russian government will lose money on the Olympics. They are massively in the hole and are paying crews overtime to complete work. The Russian government will not make a profit off these games.

The Russian people, especially in the Sochi area will benefit, and I would guess most of them, like most people in the world are pretty indifferent when it comes to gay rights. The real benefactors, as always, are going to be the TV networks and the various forms of media that cover the games. And if there is an industry with gays more well-represented, I don't know what it is. The fashion industry, maybe.

So yeah, do what you want. I just wanted to give another side.

Good luck.

Will you please let us know what response you receive?

 

Sure thing. Email has been sent.

Hope for you that viewing is possible, however one word of caution in expectations. If they do show any part of the Olympics on NBC, it will be the American broadcast and broadcasters. Why do I say that, why does it matter? Well for those of us that liver have lived close enough to Canada to receive Canadian TV stations know there are differences and most I know who can get the Canadian broadcasts much prefer to watch the Olympics on that station. (Sadly, I no longer live in a area where that is possible.)

Yeah, I'm fully aware that we would be receiving American coverage, but that would be far better than no coverage. I checked the NBC Olympic broadcast schedule and the NBCSports network will be showing the Canada/Noway game on Feb 13th in the afternoon on a tape delay.

I think will go ahead and email the head office now.

Interesting insight Sail. I think I can round up all the Canadians on board and threaten mutiny if the games aren't on, lol...

Maybe I'll send the office a question and get the ball rolling.

It never ceases to amaze me how someone can come on here with a valid question and then others choose to judge that person over how they choose to spend their time on their cruise.

If "sailandcruise" wants to watch TV on his/her cruise, what business is it of yours? I am quite sure that those who felt the need to state that THEY don't watch TV while on a cruise, all in a huff, have some habits and behavior the rest of us would think odd too. Or do you just always feel the need to act better than the rest of us?

Being the Canadian I am, everything takes a back seat when it comes to hockey. We're going to be on the Zuiderdam for a portion of the Olympics and I'm wondering if there is going to be any chance of catching the Olympics, specifically the hockey games, while on board. It looks like the games are being broadcast on NBC Sports, so I guess the question is do any of the bars carry that channel?

Thanks,

My daughter was 2 on our first cruise (NCL) and 3 on her second (Maasdam). She's 5 now and will be on the Zuiderdam with us in three weeks.

At 2, the only thing she wanted to do was play in the pool. She was potty trained so the diaper rule wasn't an issue. We basically spent every waking moment playing in the pool, which was awesome.

At 3, the pool was still a major draw but now she was able to go to Club HAL. Of course, she was one of only 3 kids under the age of 12 on the ship, but she still loved it.

In Bass River, Nova Scotia today a wreath was also laid for all service dogs, for those who have and are serving in war torn countries.

There, is the only war memorial dedicated to service animals; dogs, horses, etc. An 11 year old boy while doing a school project started studying about service animals, and from the information he found out, he then started petitioning the Canadian government until they finally agreed to erect a memorial.

 

Helen

I'm sorry that this will surely offend some, but that is ridiculous and insulting to those people who actually gave the ultimate sacrifice. Animals don't have any concept of altruism, rightousness and sacrifice and shouldn't be honoured on the same day as our war heroes.

As we have a group on her in Feb, I am also curious as to your experiences. We don't use the spa, so no worries there and the Pinnacle we may or may not eat in.

The MDR has been a thorn in my side on most cruises I've been on though and if the temperature in the cabins is warm, I will not enjoy myself.

Thanks for posting this. We are on the Oasis in cabin # 6142 in Feb and have been wondering about the same exact "whitespace".

I will suggest the Royal Playa Del Carmen. It is right in town, at the North end of 5th Ave, so the location can't be beat. It has a beautiful beach and is a luxury resort with not-quite-luxury prices. Fantastic spot. I wish I was there right now.