MS Zuiderdam - 03 Feb -14 Feb - Some Thoughts

[Spire2000]

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.

[canadianbear]

Thanks for your detailed review. Enjoyed the honesty. Your daughter sounds like she is already a seasoned cruiser! We always took our children with us on holidays and I love hearing of the "younger" generation doing that too. Just makes such good memories especially when she also has her grandparents along.

[Been There, Planning That]

Spire 2000, I really appreciated your thorough review, as we're taking the family of 16 on this in a few weeks. We've checked and there are 49 children registered; I guess because it falls withing spring break time.

 

The advance serving for your daughter in the Pinnacle will serve us well, as we plan to eat as a family so will explain this clearly. The grands are encouraged to try one new food each meal.

 

We've splurged, flying from Ottawa, but early March often is foggy early morning.

 

Thanks,

 

Ruth

Edited February 17, 2014 by Been There, Planning That

[startwin]

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.

 

Thank you for your report. The only thing that bothers me is the info regarding the MDR. I have sailed on the Zuiderdam several times, and with having to put up with mechanical problems, and yet I have always felt in spite of everything, the MDR was the best of the HAL fleet, and the food was excellent. So that part of your report saddens me.

[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.

[Been There, Planning That]

Your family incident will go down in family history. Why not encourage your daughter to dictate an imaginative story of what adventures duckie might have had. Duckie and she could pose for pictures.

 

Ruth -- retired teacher of course

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

I am so happy that your daughter got Duckie back.

[HALcruiser2]

We were on the same cruise with you and I do remember your daughter - she is quite the cutie!!

 

Undercooked food seems to be a common theme. The first time I ordered an omelet the entire middle was uncooked. From that point on I asked that it be "well-done" and can happily report that my request was met the next few times I chose that for breakfast. My husband ordered fish at our Pinnacle dinner and even after requesting that it be cooked throughout, the center was barely cooked. It was a huge piece, so he just ate the ends and was more than satisfied. Same thing with my meat - I just left the undercooked center. Everything else was so good and filling, I chose not to say anything.

 

This was my 5th HAL cruise and I have definitely noticed some cutbacks from earlier cruises - but I would still sail with them. Although the age group was a bit older, we found the majority of passengers to be fun loving and happy. I didn't run into anyone who was outwardly grumpy. However, if we were to sail with our kids, who are all young adults 18-22, we would also probably choose a different line. For me (and my husband), we loved the slow pace and I was able to catch up on the reading I rarely have time for at home.

 

I'm glad your daughter found Duckie!!

[Tarpeian Rock]

Thanks so much for your detailed review. Your experiences mirrored some of ours on Zuiderdam year before last. When our daughter was small we travelled with "Silkie" the blanket, and had similar adventures with that. Glad Duckie was found. And as an American, I can only applaud your accurate perception of American TV, and the hair-splitting, polarizing dissection of absolutely everything, as the media sacrifices at the altar of the 24-hour news cycle. Your daughter sounds delightful.

[Dismomx5]

Your family incident will go down in family history. Why not encourage your daughter to dictate an imaginative story of what adventures duckie might have had. Duckie and she could pose for pictures.

 

Ruth -- retired teacher of course

Ruth, I had to smile at your suggestion and siggie. Something I would have suggested to a 5 year old as well. That WOULD make a great book!:)

[erewhon]

Thank you for your review.

 

Pleased that "Duckie" was eventually found.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for taking your time to writing and posting a review of your cruise.

[Himself]

I enjoyed your review.

[portofrome]

Thanks for your review.

[cruiznLYNN]

Enjoyed your review, especially as I disembarked from the Zuidy on Feb 3rd. I concur with many of your thoughts.

 

Had early seating in the MDR and ate there all nights except the last (Super Bowl!). My tablemates and I also experienced slowness and undercooked steak/lamb on multiple nights. Thought the starters and appetizers, especially the soups, were really good. Prime rib/steak was excellent but learned to order medium well (rather than medium) to solve undercooking problem. Further on in the cruise, I also felt that the entrees were getting a bit too fancy with complex sauces and seasonings, often wished there were basic fish/seafood options on those nights, besides the standard salmon as I really enjoy seafood when eating out.

 

Glad Duckie was found!

[jankn]

We were on the same cruise, early dining, and have many of the same feelings about the food preparation, choices etc... there were many times I didn't finish something I ordered, and I am not a person that is used to doing that, so I was a bit embarrassed when the waiter returned to take my plates.....however it didn't seem like they were surprised....making me think I wasn't the only one doing it.....I think at least half of the dinners, my husband and I ordered something off of the menu of things available daily, as we learned they were basic and didn't have the frills that included things we didn't care for. Loved the salmon and my husband found the steak was excellent... It just seemed that the chefs were overly impressed with the beauty and presentation of the plates rather than that there was food that we enjoyed eating...I seldom complain about anything on our cruises, love HAL etc, but I think they should know that many, if not most, cruisers aren't so interested in looking at how uniquely something is plated but rather leaving with the feeling that they enjoyed a delicious meal...

[RJ2002]

Thanks for your detailed and candid review of the Zuiderdam. We will be onboard in April, and I was disappointed to read about your experiences in Canaletto and the MDR in particular.

 

I am not one to send items back to the kitchen unless it is really inedible, but after reading these reports of undercooked and overcooked food, I think I will probably be more proactive in trying to get these things corrected. It does disrupt the flow of the meal, but I really don't know another solution.

[Spire2000]

Thanks everyone for the replies and particularly the expressions of happiness at the return of Duckie.

 

For the record, the ship is a fine choice. The dining department seems to be struggling right now (just skip Canaletto; certainly not worth the $10 extra) and the entertainment is tired and uninspired (with the exception of BB King stuff), but everything else is in good shape and the trip was a big success.

[CORealtor]

My husband and I were on this cruise with Mark and his family (Spire2000). Mark, your daughter indeed stole the show where ever she was. She is a cutie! I have not posted my review yet, since we just returned from FL yesterday, but I plan to this week.

 

Unlike Mark, we had a wonderful experience in the MDR. We were served perfectly cooked food in a timely manner every night. We had late seating. Maybe that's the difference?

 

My full review will come soon.