Zuiderdam drydock 3-31-15

[rajkr74]

We will be on the Zuiderdam on 4-14-15 for a 22 day Med. cruise. I understand that the ship will be coming out of a 14 day dry dock in Palermo Italy (3-31-15 thru 4-13-15). The HAL deck plan website shows Verandah cabins (VB10001--VB10026) and inside cabins (K10012--K10024) located just stern of the Crows Nest on the Observation deck. This is the same configuration that the Noordam has and was an add-on from the original construction of that ship.

 

Does anyone know if this add-on has already been completed for the Zuiderdam or will it be added on during the 3-31-15 dry-dock? I do not see any reference to these cabins for booking on the HAL website for our cruise of 4-14-15. Nor do I see any pictures of these cabins on the http://halfacts.com/vista-class/ web site.

[CruiserBruce]

It will be added during the drydock prior to your cruise.

[rajkr74]

It will be added during the drydock prior to your cruise.

 

I was kind of wondering if that was the case. I checked for bookings on the 2nd half of our 22 day cruise when the ship is in Venice (4-25-15) when other cruisers will get on board and found no reference to any of those VT or K cabins on the Observation deck after I searched the HAL booking web site and a web based TA.

 

So does that mean the cabins will be in a "Construction Zone" during our cruise? Did you have any experience with the Noordam addition? If so, does it take multiple weeks to get the cabins ready for occupancy for later cruises?

 

This will be our first cruise on a ship that has come directly out of dry dock :eek:.....it should be interesting since I have read on CC both positives and negatives on cruises for other ships that come out of dry dock.

[LocoLoco1]

RAJKR74, You offer a good point. We have been on a long cruise right after Drydock where Welders, painters and more kept working away. It discomfited certain passengers close-by the construction...others not so much. We are getting off ZUIDERDAM March 31. Enjoy her fresh paint. Locomotiveman Tom

[Krazy Kruizers]

I would guess that she will still be under construction in that area when she comes out of dry dock.

Remember that right over those cabins the Retreat Cabanas are also being added.

A lot of work going on in that area.

[Krazy Kruizers]

On HAL's site, there is a notation that those cabins are not available until April 14.

So maybe or maybe not they will be ready.

[rajkr74]

On HAL's site, there is a notation that those cabins are not available until April 14.

So maybe or maybe not they will be ready.

 

Thanks, I did not see that notation. But, when I did "dummy" bookings on the HAL site I did not see any of those cabins available nor did they show up on a web TA's site. So like you are saying they probable are not available yet.

[CruiserBruce]

It would be very unwise, and unsafe to book people into cabins that they can't be 100% sure will be ready at the end of the drydock. So they may wisely make those cabins not available for a cruise or two after the drydock to be safe.

[richarduk]

I was aware that Zuiderdam will be going into dry dock this coming Spring, but are we totally sure that this ship will have the extra spa type verandah and inside staterooms fitted on the Observation Deck, as on Noordam?

 

I pose the question above as I have been looking at availability on Zuiderdam during summer 2015 and both the deck plans and prices don't include any new staterooms on the Observation Deck. My assumption would be that they would have been selling such new staterooms on all sailings scheduled after dry dock a good while back?

 

I note from one of the comments above that on HAL's site it seems to mention that these staterooms will not be available until April. Does this just mean bookable from April, or bookable now for sailings from that date?

 

Yours a little confused:D

Edited January 3, 2015 by richarduk

[rajkr74]

I was aware that Zuiderdam will be going into dry dock this coming Spring, but are we totally sure that this ship will have the extra spa type verandah and inside staterooms fitted on the Observation Deck, as on Noordam?

 

I pose the question above as I have been looking at availability on Zuiderdam during summer 2015 and both the deck plans and prices don't include any new staterooms on the Observation Deck. My assumption would be that they would have been selling such new staterooms on all sailings scheduled after dry dock a good while back?

 

I note from one of the comments above that on HAL's site it seems to mention that these staterooms will not be available until April. Does this just mean bookable from April, or bookable now for sailings from that date?

 

Yours a little confused:D

 

I have not found any information on whether the cabins will be constructed like those on the Noordam, but I would expect that to be the case.

 

The date of availability was noted on the HAL Deck Plan page for the Observation Deck. Here is a link to that HAL page: http://www.hollandamerica.com/main/DeckPlansFull.action?ship=zu_2&deck=o&deep=0

 

So based on this notation I started looking for available cabins on cruises starting on April 14, 2015 on both the HAL booking site and outside web based TA sites. Nothing was found for sail dates of April 14, 2015 or April 25, 2015. I finally found these cabins available for the 11 day, May 6, 2015 cruise from Civitavecchia (Rome) to Barcelona Spain. I did not check any other sail dates for these cabins. I just wanted to find out when was first date they showed up on booking sites.