Zuiderdam dissapointment

[ethan1171]

My spouse and I, long time cruisers with Princess, just got off a 3 day Zuiderdam cruise Vancouver to San Francisco.... although I am aware that repositioning cruises are not very typical, there were a lot of disappointments with HAL that would probably take us back to Princess for our next cruise. Here is the summary, at some point I will find time for a detailed review:

Zuiderdam Pluses:

- Embarkation and disembarkation were very smooth, esp disembarkation you can wait in your cabin; order breakfast etc. HAL wins.

- Food was excellent, with a few exceptions, way better than princess

- Loved SY Superior Veranda Suite.... perfect value for the money

 

Zuiderdam Disappointments:

- Gaudy decor: those purples and blues and browns and neon blues are atrocious

- Service in the restaurants was abysmal: waiters were completely indifferent, our waiter lost his ticket and had us repeat our order 20 min after he took it (???!! first time ever for us), took 30 min to bring appetizers... slow and impossible to understand.... Maitre 'd completely impervious to what was happening in his dinning room, too many tables, too few waiters... BTW was it only on this ship that there were no women wait staff? What's up with that?

- Cabin stewards .. OMG.. they could not get anything straight. Maybe because it was the last few days prior to their contract expiring, but they were inconsistent and aloof (no ice; no towels... no replenishing towletries.. )

- English speaking staff... now this was the biggest issue we had: just this morning as we were disembarking we asked a staff member which deck the gangway is at, and he could not even articulate a single word in English that we could understand...

- Cleanliness: dirty carpets everywhere

- Up keeping: the whole ship seemed to be rusting, as we were walking around the ship we noticed a lot of rusty spots, broken equipment, frayed carpet and the most dangerous of all: loose steps on stairs

- Buffer restaurant chaotic ..... our plates had to be filled in by waiters at each station which created huge lines... no idea was was available in each station...

 

It will take a lot of effort to get us back on HAL. Our next cruise is on Princess.....

 

--e

[SwissMyst]

Odd, we were just on the Zuiderdam in June and found her in excellent condition and actually liked the deeper color combinations, to our surprise. We thought it would be gaudy too from the photos and was suprised it all came together in a very richly pleasing way. Service in late fixed dining was superb and cabin (SY) was always perfection.

 

Your experience was months later after a full summer of Alaska cruising that probably does take a toll on the ship - Alaska can be muddy and dirty when passengers come in and off with such one week cruise frequency.

 

You did not like the ship obvioulsy, and this hopefully did not rub off in your attitudes towards those there to be of service to you. Our only complaint from our June trip was the truly abysmal Pinnacle Grill for food, service and attitude. That was a total zero and we came expecting so much from others report.

 

Did you have the anytime dining option? Did you show up on time in the MDR for fixed seating? That can have a major effect on your dinner service experience.

 

Yes, the suite cabin decor seemed a bit dated in color choices, but getting value out of furnishings that last well beyond color trendiness is one of the reasons I think HAL retains its value for the price. I can live with that.

 

The decor was quality, but agree the color combos were a bit tired. This just does not merit notice but gets to be an expected part of the HAL experience -- I often compare it to a well-used country home feeling, a bit fusty but highly serviceable. HAL is not about eye-popping decor. So while this might be a disappointment compared to other lines, it is part of the comfortable old shoe feeling a lot of us like about HAL.

 

The whole point of trying other lines to to find what works best for your own tastes. You hit one key feature for us -- the quality of the food. But we have also had 100% exceptional service and assumed this was an invariable part also of the HAL experience. I know it will grieve many of us to learn this was not your own experience and nothing can undo this for you. Sorry, it just did not work for you. Good thing you like Princess and can have a better choice for your own future cruises. Thanks for your report.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Sorry your 3 day cruise was not up to your expectations.

 

Guess you haven't read here that since March of this year all ships are in Code Orange for the first 48 - 72 hours -- which would have been neary your entire cruise. That means that the Lido is not self service.

 

As for women working in the dining room -- not yet on HAL -- what is the big deal if women aren't part of the wait staff? There are women who are wine syewards working there.

 

Very rarely have we ever run into a HAL crew person on any ship that we could not understand.

 

Now for us on the Zuiderdam -- we had wonderful service and food in the Pinnacle as compared to SwissMyst.

 

And the food in the dining room was the wrost we had had in a long time -- just the opposite of you. But that did not ruin our cruise.

 

As for the colors on the Zuiderdam -- they aren't one of our favorites either -- but we cruise for the itinerary.

 

Hope your next cruise will be better.

[Cruisergal1208]

I know all the ships have cosmetic flaws but that does not make or break my cruise. I do not look for every little thing wrong while cruising. If something is wrong in the cabin I asked that it be fixed (in a nice way). Always have had excellent service in the Pinncle and as a suite passenger, love having breakfast there. Just being on the ship and cruising to anywhere is a treat and I enjoy each moment to the fullest. Life is short so enjoy what God gives you each day.

[krewzin]

- English speaking staff... now this was the biggest issue we had: just this morning as we were disembarking we asked a staff member which deck the gangway is at, and he could not even articulate a single word in English that we could understand...

 

 

:D

 

 

Well, perhaps he just didn't understand the question?

[Himself]

Sorry you did not have a better expeience on the zuiderdam. I do not care for the decor of the ship myself. However I found everything else to be the opposite from what you describe. I have always had Excellent eperience with the Zuiderdam

[HLP]

My wife and I just came off this same cruise as well.

HAL was the last cruise line that we had not tried yet and we

were very curious to try it after a somewhat disappointing 3day cruise

on Celebrity a few years back.

 

Now we are normal NCL cruises and love that line. After hearing so many bad things about

NCL we started searching new cruise lines to see what we were missing. The search

just ended now with HAL our last one to try.

 

Mu initial impression of Zuiderdam and HAL was similar to Ethan 1171.

The ship did not appear to have any sparkle or wow. The over crowded lido

with poor selection did nothing to change this. But hour by hour and then day by day

both my wife and I changed opinions. Then we started to notice all the wonderful art

around the ship. Everywhere you turned there was fresh flowers. Nice people and a well layed out ship. The food was great every where. The Pinnacle grill the best we ever

experienced at sea.

 

My wife did notice the same as ethan that there were no women serving in the main dining room. Didn't seem to matter, just observed. Now in the pinnacle grill there were women servers. I know because we had one and she was wonderful. As were all the other staff.

 

Also loved the violin and cellos playing in the explorer lounge. Did not experience that on other lines. As far as the condition of the ship is concerned, there was wear.

You could make a case either way on the condition of the ship. Just depends on how you wanted to spin it. I did not observe dirty carpets or much rust. To be honest I wasn't looking for it either. There was definetly worn furniture especially in the crows nest, but

it didn't offend. I wasn't expecting a new ship.

 

Overall Hal impressed me, far more then Celebrity did. Some people might not want me

a a judge though, since I still love NCL. HAL is just a different experience, and without my kids with me like this trip, HAL would be my top choice.

 

HLP

[deserttraveler]

Interesting to read this post because the service issues occurred on my recent 3-day repo on the Rotterdam as well. This was after a near-perfect 14 days on the Statendam. I think it's the nature of the beast - crew leaving after a season in Alaska, stunned by the inexperienced cruisers coming aboard for the 3-day, the two days of no self-service in the Lido. I know now never to use a 3-day cruise to form my impression of a cruise line.

[room010]

Hmmm we were on the Zuiderdam in August 2009 and there was a delightful female head waitress although I admit she seemed to be the only female crew member in the MDR. I don't recall her name but she was totally professional and a credit to HAL.

 

I think cruise ships are like airline flights. It all boils down to the staff. If they are great then everyone has a wonderful experience. If they aren't, then you won't.

[IRL_Joanie]

Different strokes for different folks. Everyone has their own expectations of their cruise and outlooks can be so very different.

 

Thanks for your review, OP and others. But combined with all the great reviews and the few negative ones, I'll stick with the Zuiderdam and other HAL ships over the party cruises of other cruise lines.

 

I throw out the worst and the very best reviews and go with the majority, which far out weigh the negative ones, and choose Zuiderdam over any other cruise line ship of equal class... OH WAIT, I already have:D

 

Joanie

[happy cruzer]

OP, have you done a short cruise on Princess? Any short cruise on any line. I'm thinking you would have many of the same complaints. The service is not as personalized. Think about it if you are the crew used to 7 days with the same cruisers; you subconciously know that you can not perform the same personalized service on a 3 day cruise so there will be some letdown. The whole maintenance and turnaround schedules are different. I am not saying that your observations are not correct but some of it is just part of the nature of the shorter cruise.

 

Now a crew that is used to 3 and 4 day short cruises week after week do handle that better. I was very pleased with a short cruise on Carnival in the off season on a ship that always does the shorter cruises.

 

Thanks for posting.

[Boytjie]

OP, have you done a short cruise on Princess? Any short cruise on any line. I'm thinking you would have many of the same complaints. The service is not as personalized.

 

We did a 4-day cruise on the QM2 in 2009 and heard similar comments from Cunard regulars. :) We still had a lovely cruise. :D

[Sir PMP]

3 days ain't a cruise!!

[eroller]

 

Zuiderdam Disappointments:

- Gaudy decor: those purples and blues and browns and neon blues are atrocious

 

 

 

Thanks for the review. I agree with others that you will never experience a cruise line product at it's finest on these short repositioning cruises. The crew is not at it's best, and many times the passenger demographic is not the same as a "typical" cruise.

 

This being said, one thing that isn't going to change is the decor. I have to agree with you 100%. I felt the same way about OOSTERDAM. The orange, purple, red, and bright yellow carpets were hideous. There was too much brass (reminded me of the 80's) and too many shiny surfaces (again very 80's). My brother honestly thought the ship was built in the 70's. I was amazed when I would hear passengers call the ship "classy"! I thought to myself, "classy in what universe"? The cabin corridors on OOSTERDAM literally reminded me of a hospital with the bright florescent lighting. Not flattering! Some of the decor really belongs on Carnival. Best I can tell, the older HAL ships and the newest HAL ships (EURODAM and NIEUW AMSTERDAM) have the nicest decor. Something went very wrong with the four Vista Class ships.

 

Ernie

[luvcruisn']

I did a 3 night cruise on Princess several years ago. For afternoon tea in the dining room, I think the wait staff was not expecting as many people as showed up. I asked for a refill of my tea, the waiter never came back. I finally got up, found the tea caddy, came back to my table and refilled my own tea. Not a big deal - but it didn't give me a great impression about Princess line either. I have never done a longer cruise on Princess so I have nothing else to compare it to. 3 night cruises do not always give the best impressions of the cruise experience on a particular line.

[luvs2travl]

3 days ain't a cruise!!

 

Funny - that's exactly what I was thinking...;)

 

That, and about how the OP's toiletries were not replaced. How many of the supplied toiletries can one use up on a 3-day cruise? The bars of soap and the bottles of lotion, shampoo and conditioner usually last us at least 5 days...

 

And no towels.....c'mon, man....

[mrspeck]

We got off the Zuiderdam on Sept 18...had a wonderful cruise...review coming. Anyway, I believe there may have been a lot of crew changes since then. I was told by the hotel manager that there were 200 crew members getting off and 200 new crew members coming on, on the 18th. If there have been more since then also, then, wow...they've got a lot of new people on that ship. Even at the 200 mark thats 25% of the crew changing!

[LBL]

I was on the Alaska cruise preceeding the coastal as well as the coastal. I am surprised to hear that so much of the crew had changed because they all seemed like they were tired. This is my first HAL cruise and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed. The impression I received from many staff on board was that helping me was not their primary goal. This impression probably started the first night on board when I asked a server at the BBQ if a salad had peppers in it and he replied "I don't know, I didn't make it." I did like the many viewing areas on board and the beds. The storage in the cabins was lacking as compared to Princess' cabins.

 

I will say the steaks are better prepared on HAL but I never had a hot breakfast in the dining room, it was always luke warm.

 

I may try HAL again in the future but I will not be running back to them.

[Rutland Gate]

Sorry you didn't like your three day cruise. Holland America does best with longer venues. The Holland America Line ships are not for everyone. They have an Ocean Liner feel that is richer than some find comfortable.

[JWJs]

Hope you give HAL a second chance!

Our 1st cruise on HAL was on the Statendam (18 days) last December and it was close to perfect.

As you can see from my signature line, we have sailed primarily Princess and a couple of Celebrity cruises.

HAL is now my favorite cruise line.:)

[LBL]

Rutland Gate, please note that I have been on true liners of the world and I truly love them. So the ship design was not the issue I had at all. Also, I was on the Zuiderdam for 10 days so my comments were from what happened to me on the full 10 days.

 

JWJ, I think I remember seeing you on the Princess board. I will take your advice and give HAL another try. I just have to have some time before trying it. I know one cruise doesn't make a cruise line.

[shandryl]

Well said..............LOL :D

 

Sorry you didn't like your three day cruise. Holland America does best with longer venues. The Holland America Line ships are not for everyone. They have an Ocean Liner feel that is richer than some find comfortable.

[ethan1171]

Hope you give HAL a second chance!

 

 

OK OK you all have a good point. I discussed with my spouse even prior to the cruise not to judge HAL from this 3 day repo coastal since it is irregular .... staff rotations, getting off a long cold summer in Alaska, not having time to settle in etc etc.... we'll give hal another chance

 

...Nieuw Amsterdam here we come.... :p

[V and S]

You might try Noordam as well--she is the favorite ship of many, including us! We LOVED her in the Southern Caribbean last winter. Food, Lido, service, art, decor, cabin, shipmates, ports--the whole experience was astonishing.

[kazu]

I have never been on a 3 day and I don't think I ever would. You would barely get to the know the ship and your crew in three days, plus you go through all the noro stuff and don't get to enjoy the ship without it.

 

When we were on the Zuiderdam in April, everything was excellent, the Pinnacle, the restaurant, etc. I like HAL because I tend to book longer cruises and their staff and the itineraries are conducive to longer cruises IMO.

 

our upcoming is 20 days - now that's worth planning and packing for ;);)

 

Sorry you didn't enjoy the Zuiderdam but I have to agree with Himself, 3 days is not a cruise.