21 Days on the Zuiderdam

[Lady Chew]

One week ago we returned from 21 days aboard the Zuiderdam. We boarded on Feb 5 for the 10-day cruise, and stayed aboard for the Feb 15 11-day cruise. Last year we had originally booked on another cruise line for a month-long journey, but had to cancel in the fall due to an unexpected health crisis (one day before final payment was due!).

 

We saw the doctor in mid-January, got the go-ahead to travel, and went directly from the doctor’s office to our travel agent! There were not a lot of options left in our travel window, so we booked these two cruises. (We had been on the Zuiderdam for the exact same 11-day cruise last February.) The only cabin left for the entire 21 days was one of the bolt-on cabins on Deck 10, 10002, the very front cabin on the port side. More on that later …

 

We were told by the Front Desk that there were only “four others” doing a b2b on this itinerary. We don’t know if they meant four passengers or four cabins; either way, not a lot of people! Probably because the itinerary is so repetitive. However, it ended up being not so repetitive, due to weather & sea conditions. Over the entire trip, we had more rough, windy sea days than smooth ones. There were several people who fell, and many more who were seasick (myself included, but I was only out for one day).

 

10-days: Ft. Lauderdale, Half Moon Cay, sea day, Aruba, Curacao, sea day, partial Canal transit, sea day, Georgetown (Grand Cayman), sea day … we missed Puerto Limon and Georgetown was the alternate port.

 

11-days: Ft. Lauderdale, sea day, sea day, Bonaire, Curacao, sea day, Cartagena, partial Canal transit, Puerto Limon, sea day, sea day … we missed Half Moon Cay and had an extra sea day.

 

So our only repeated port was Curacao (which was fine, as it’s one of our favorite stops), and we had two partial transits of the Canal, which is always interesting. I wonder how many partials make a full transit? Well, doesn’t really matter, as we did a full transit in 2011 on the Statendam.

 

The staff did a great job handling the changes, and got the revised schedules out to us very quickly, and shore excursions were revised or lined up very efficiently.

 

We did a mix of ship excursions & walk-offs on our own. Mr. Chew got off in Gatun Lake for the walking tour of Panama City (I was not feeling well so stayed on board), and we both stayed on for the second partial transit. Mr. Chew was not 100% pleased with the Panama City tour, but maybe he just missed me!

 

We did “Cartagena By Land & Sea” and it was excellent! We visited the Fort (we love the old Spanish forts) and had a wonderful 1 ½ hour boat ride around the city harbor, ending at our ship. In Puerto Limon, we did the rainforest, which was really interesting.

 

We walked around Aruba, Bonaire, Curacao & Georgetown on our own and had some fun exploring on each. We also enjoyed a few hours on Half Moon Cay. I wish the stop had been longer, and I wish we didn’t have to tender … but overall we enjoyed walking around and chatting with fellow cruisers. The Nieuw Amsterdam was also moored at HMC.

 

More to come ...

[Lady Chew]

Service around the ship was excellent. We’ve never been able to figure out how the crew remains so pleasant all the time, we just appreciate it! We had no issues at all in that respect. Special shout-out to the bartenders in the Crow’s Nest, the staff at the Front Desk, and to the crew tailor. Mr. Chew ripped out the seat of his good shorts when he caught his wallet on a chair in the Crow’s Nest (don’t ask) and the tailor was able to make an almost-invisible repair.

 

Our room attendants were excellent. One of them left after the first 10 days, and his replacement made the best towel animals we’ve ever had. That’s not a biggie for us, but any means, but this dude was even able to give them expressions. Very amazing, and cute.

 

The ship was in very good shape. There always seem to be a few areas that need work, but overall it was very presentable. We were in Code Red for most of both cruises so the staff was constantly cleaning everywhere all of the time. And of course the maintenance staff was highly visible as they went about their work. The officers were very visible as well, and very accessible.

 

We changed Cruise Directors after the first cruise. Jeremy (from Tasmania) was on the first leg, and we found him to be quite personable. Fairly low key as CDs go, but we like that! Simon (from England) was a more typical high energy CD, but we liked him more & more as the cruise went on. They both did excellent Trivias, and Simon did the best Name That Tunes we’ve ever had on a cruise. The Show Host (?) Kass (Australia) was excellent, a future CD for sure, and only 23 years old! We had a lot of fun with her, especially with our excellent Trivia Team. We won a bottle of champagne on each leg playing Trivia, and came home with 6 Panama Canal pins, 4 Caribbean pins, 4 Med pins, and 4 Alaska pins from our other wins. Fun! I guess we can make a small fortune selling them on EBay!

 

Speaking of pins, we became 4-star mariners way back in 2012. (let’s hear it for free laundry!) But for some reason, near the end of the first leg of this trip, we had new pins plus a congratulatory letter (“welcome to your new star level”) delivered to our stateroom. Then the same thing happened on the second leg! So I guess now we are Eight-Star Super Duper Mariners. Or 12, if we combine them with our 2012 pins. Hmmm …

 

We had most of our meals in the Lido. Food was okay at best. We both liked the new large salad bowls, but would have preferred to make our own salads. The ingredients were always pretty fresh, but they ran out of things quite often. And what’s with having no croutons? The pre-made deli sandwiches were good, even though they had some “interesting” combinations. Would have preferred made-to-order sandwiches. Some of the soups were quite good, some seemed to be the same broth night after night with different spices & veggies added. Most of the time, most of the food was more-than-warm, but not actually hot.

 

The first cruise in particular, the Lido did not seem to be well managed. Long, long lines, caused by slow service, and running out of items. Frequently running out of items. This got slightly better during the second cruise.

 

They did not have a huge amount of variety from day to day. But, we did not go hungry.

 

Of course, it did not help that we were under Code Red for so long. So much extra work for the staff, and of course it slows things down regarding food service. When you have to wait for someone else to serve your condiments, or even bring your silverware, it’s just takes forever … and gets increasingly frustrating …

 

We had open dining, but during the first leg of the cruise we were completely unable to get into the Dining Room during our preferred time in the evening. We don’t make reservations and we’ve never had an issue in the past. The lines for open dining were quite long, 20-30 people deep, with 30-45 minutes wait time. The second cruise we had no problem getting in when we wanted, without reservations and without waiting. No idea why the difference. Food in the MDR was much better than in the Lido, and the service was excellent.

 

We ate in the Pinnacle Grill once during each cruise. The food was excellent each time. The first time, the service was impeccable. The waiter & wine steward were both very attentive without being intrusive. The second time, service was incredibly sl-l-ooooo-ooo-ww. We only saw our waiter when he finally showed up to take our order. He did not deliver anything himself, and never came by to see how it was. We had a long wait before he took our dessert order, and it took over 30 minutes to deliver our ice cream. In fact, we were about to leave when it finally showed up.

 

The first leg featured the Super Bowl … they televised it around the ship, and had food available in some of the venues. There was also Valentines Day, but I don’t recall anything special, other than a few flower arrangements here & there.

 

We attended some of the production shows; they actually seemed to have the sound mixed properly, and it seemed as though the singers were actually singing live. As usual, in our opinion anyway, the dancing was superior to the singing. But still, entertaining. I did not attend any of the guest entertainers, Mr. Chew did and was entertained, but did not rave about any of them.

 

We attended some of the game shows and had a good time each night.

[Lady Chew]

Now, about that cabin … it was one of the “bolt-on” cabins on Deck 10 added to the ship during its last drydock. We liked being so close to the Crow’s Nest and we hated being so close to the Crow’s Nest. Liked it because it was so easy to get our Happy Hour drinks and to get to trivia and to sit & read or use the computer (our cabin was a dead zone as far as the internet). Just a quick run downstairs to the Lido.

 

BUT - because our door was just outside of the entrance to the Crow’s Nest, people were constantly trying to open our door to get into the Crow’s Nest … and because of the way the door was placed, facing down into the hall, other people thought it was a door to the outside, even though it was clearly marked with a room number. That was very annoying, to say the least. Other people would simply poke their heads into the hallway and say “oh, these must be the suites! I’ve heard about these” That was simply hysterical, because this was by far the smallest cabin we have ever had, on any ship, ever.

 

We had about 80 sq. ft. of space in the main part of the cabin, about 30 sq. ft. in the bathroom, and maybe 25 sq. ft. on the balcony. And hardly any storage. Two small drawers under the bed, one of which was full of the extra bedding (which we stuffed in with the lifejackets). Small desk, 1/3 of which was covered by the tray & water bottles (which we asked to have removed). No shelves over the desk. Two small shelves inside the cabinet, one had the hair dryer, one was full of glasses (which we asked to have removed). Nightstands were okay. Although they were crammed in such a small space, you had to flip the bedding up onto the bed in order to open the drawers.

 

Hanging space in the closet was okay, but there were only 2 ½ shelves. We asked our steward for more hangers, so we could hang up the items we normally put in the drawers and we were able to cram them into the closet.

 

On one side of the bed, there was not even enough space to pull luggage in & out from under the bed … At least the hooks on the wall were very good hooks, unlike the little stubs we’ve had on other cruise lines. We had a small loveseat, two small people could share it. Maybe. Unbelievably to us, it was a fold-out bed. Of course, in order to pull it out, you’d have to put the table & desk chair out in the hall or on the balcony.

 

And the bathroom … well, the hooks were good, and we had a clothesline to hang wet bathing suits. But only two small shelves, with very low rims, so we couldn’t put any tall items on them (with the rough seas they kept falling over). And because the faucet was located on the left side of the sink, it was impossible to keep anything on the left side of the very small counter without it getting soaked anytime you used the tap. So we had to take toiletries out & put them back away almost every time we used them.

 

For two adults, for three weeks, this cabin was just not suitable. We are experienced travelers, and we made it work, but we shouldn’t have had to work so hard. This was not “Five Star” service, or whatever their motto is. It was extremely uncomfortable and inconvenient, to say the least. But we came up with the perfect solution - this cabin, and presumably 10001, would be perfect for single occupancy!!

 

We said as much in a letter Guest Services, which did generate a phone call & discussion with the Director … of course that did nothing to help us, but who knows …

 

Overall, though, we were happy with our trip. We wanted to get away from the winter and we did. We wanted some heat & humidity, and got some. We wanted to meet people from around the country and make some new friends, and we did. We did not want to gain any weight, and neither of us did!! So, all in all, a good cruise!!

 

 

[Lizzie68]

Thank you for your reports. I am wondering if there was a sandwich bar in the Lido buffet, or has the Zuiderdam gone over to ready-made sandwiches?

[Lady Chew]

Ready-made sandwiches only ... 5 or 6 varieties each day ... some were quite good, some were "interesting" ... if you got there late in the day some of the crusts had started to harden, in spite of the wrapping ... some of the bread was delicious, but they also used regular white bread on too many of the sandwiches ...

 

They always had a tray of potato chips available.

[SilvertoGold]

Very enjoyable and informative review. Thanks for taking the time!

 

Rather amazing about the cabin, though. I though our porthole cabin on the Statendam and regular VBs were small! I am going to look up the deckplan while I wonder how HAL could have made such a mess of the hall door location.

[Lady Chew]

I took some pictures of the hall door, don't know how to post them though. Need one of my sons to visit for tech support!

[SilvertoGold]

Was you cabin the VB closest to the CN? These are designated as quads!!

[kftw]

Thank you for your review. We will be boarding the Zuiderdam in April. Do you remember what the internet charges were?

 

Thanks again for your review.

[erewhon]

Thank you for your interesting review.

[Mtn2Sea]

Thanks for your review. Glad you were able to get back to cruising. We were on the Zuiderdam in January. At that time, they had pre-made sandwiches, but we're also making custom sandwiches. When I ate lunch in the Lido, I usually waited in line with other passengers for a custom sandwich. While waiting for my sandwich to be made, I saw only one person pick up a pre-made sandwich.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for taking the time to write your review.

We did the same thing last March -- did both cruises for a total of 21 days.

Glad you had a great cruise in spite of that cabin.

[borasue]

Thanks for the review, Lady Chew. I've wondered about those cabins on Deck 10, as we thought we would love the proximity to the Crow's Nest, too. Now I know we should probably stick to Deck 8. :) Glad you had a good cruise, despite the annoyances with the cabin!

[Himself]

Thanks for a complete and honest review.

[Despegue]

Thank you so much for the lovely review!

 

A general question: can anyone post pictures of the newly constructed cabins on deck 10? A pictures tells more than a thousand words... On the plans and in the brochures, they look similar to other VB's...

[pbnjrockette]

Thanks for your review. Glad you were able to get back to cruising. We were on the Zuiderdam in January. At that time, they had pre-made sandwiches, but we're also making custom sandwiches. When I ate lunch in the Lido, I usually waited in line with other passengers for a custom sandwich. While waiting for my sandwich to be made, I saw only one person pick up a pre-made sandwich.

 

We were on the Zuiderdam in January... a shame that they've done away with the custom-made sandwiches. I was unable to have several ingredients in the pre-made and the custom-made were excellent! Being able to make your own salads were wonderful also! Love all the lunch choices in the Lido!

 

Nice review! Thank you for sharing. Interesting info about the Deck10 cabins.

[slimknyzer]

Thank You...Your review was straightforward and honest. We are on MS Zuiderdam next month for a TA. Are sandwiches made to order when not in Code Red?

[oaktreerb]

Are you aware of the HALFacts cabin pictures site which we are not allowed to provide a link to? There are no pictures or descriptions of these deck 10 cabins and it would be very helpful if you could Google to find the site and possibly add the information you have so generously provided.

[Skorpora]

Thanks for your review. We were on the second leg of the same cruise. Our table mates also had one of the new deck 10 cabins. They felt that their cabin was small too.

 

You are right about the rough seas! Fortunately I am not affected by motion - and we were in an aft cabin.

 

I agree the staff were great-it made for a most enjoyable cruise!

[SJSULIBRARIAN]

Enjoyed your review. Thank you. Glad you were able to get away.

[madera1]

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts about your b2b cruise.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[Iris5383]

I was on the second half of Lady Chew's cruise, the 11-day Feb. 15-26. My DH and I were in 10024, down the hall from 10002. It's billed as an inside cabin, although it has a window overlooking a narrow hallway between the cabins and the Lido pool cover. We never left the curtains open because people walking along that passageway could see inside.

 

I am posting photos of 10024. It has a full length counter in the bathroom (advantage) and a very small shower (disadvantage). If you are big and/or tall (my DH is tall), it's a tight fit. There is also NO COUCH in the inside cabins on Deck 10.

 

I was in the Crow's Nest when a man - maybe Mr. Chew - said his pants ripped when he caught the pocket on a chair! And I remember when we first got to the hallway leading to our cabin, it must have been you, Lady Chew, coming out of the door of 10002. You mentioned you were on the 2nd leg of a b2b, and that the cabins on Deck 10 were very small! (They are.)

 

I liked the location. Just outside our door was easy access to the outside Observation Deck, the Lido was quick to get to as well as the Crow's Nest and Library. My DH didn't like it because it was too far to the outside Promenade Deck.

 

It was an interesting cruise - our first to the Panama Canal. We took the ferry tour through the canal to the Pacific Ocean. Beware if you take this excursion, we didn't get back on board the Zuiderdam until 9:45 p.m. We were due back at 6 p.m. There were some delays.

 

I would do it again, though, if I had never been through the canal. We couldn't see getting that close and not going through. The canal was interesting and we got to take a side trip to see the ongoing construction of the new locks. There is plenty of free bottled water and pop on the ferry, a can of beer is $2, a vendor was selling t-shirts, hats, etc on board, and they served us lunch and dinner. However, I was glad I brought snacks.

 

 

 

 

 

[SilvertoGold]

I was on the second half of Lady Chew's cruise, the 11-day Feb. 15-26. My DH and I were in 10024, down the hall from 10002. It's billed as an inside cabin, although it has a window overlooking a narrow hallway between the cabins and the Lido pool cover. We never left the curtains open because people walking along that passageway could see inside.

 

I am posting photos of 10024. It has a full length counter in the bathroom (advantage) and a very small shower (disadvantage). If you are big and/or tall (my DH is tall), it's a tight fit. There is also NO COUCH in the inside cabins on Deck 10.

 

I was in the Crow's Nest when a man - maybe Mr. Chew - said his pants ripped when he caught the pocket on a chair! And I remember when we first got to the hallway leading to our cabin, it must have been you, Lady Chew, coming out of the door of 10002. You mentioned you were on the 2nd leg of a b2b, and that the cabins on Deck 10 were very small! (They are.)

 

I liked the location. Just outside our door was easy access to the outside Observation Deck, the Lido was quick to get to as well as the Crow's Nest and Library. My DH didn't like it because it was too far to the outside Promenade Deck.

 

It was an interesting cruise - our first to the Panama Canal. We took the ferry tour through the canal to the Pacific Ocean. Beware if you take this excursion, we didn't get back on board the Zuiderdam until 9:45 p.m. We were due back at 6 p.m. There were some delays.

 

I would do it again, though, if I had never been through the canal. We couldn't see getting that close and not going through. The canal was interesting and we got to take a side trip to see the ongoing construction of the new locks. There is plenty of free bottled water and pop on the ferry, a can of beer is $2, a vendor was selling t-shirts, hats, etc on board, and they served us lunch and dinner. However, I was glad I brought snacks.

 

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Thanks for posting and for the photos. An interesting cabin. I like the window (for an inside) and the bathroom looks quite standard.

 

Good that you like the location of the cabin!!

[Krazy Kruizers]

I was on the second half of Lady Chew's cruise, the 11-day Feb. 15-26. My DH and I were in 10024, down the hall from 10002. It's billed as an inside cabin, although it has a window overlooking a narrow hallway between the cabins and the Lido pool cover. We never left the curtains open because people walking along that passageway could see inside.

 

I am posting photos of 10024. It has a full length counter in the bathroom (advantage) and a very small shower (disadvantage). If you are big and/or tall (my DH is tall), it's a tight fit. There is also NO COUCH in the inside cabins on Deck 10.

 

I was in the Crow's Nest when a man - maybe Mr. Chew - said his pants ripped when he caught the pocket on a chair! And I remember when we first got to the hallway leading to our cabin, it must have been you, Lady Chew, coming out of the door of 10002. You mentioned you were on the 2nd leg of a b2b, and that the cabins on Deck 10 were very small! (They are.)

 

I liked the location. Just outside our door was easy access to the outside Observation Deck, the Lido was quick to get to as well as the Crow's Nest and Library. My DH didn't like it because it was too far to the outside Promenade Deck.

 

It was an interesting cruise - our first to the Panama Canal. We took the ferry tour through the canal to the Pacific Ocean. Beware if you take this excursion, we didn't get back on board the Zuiderdam until 9:45 p.m. We were due back at 6 p.m. There were some delays.

 

I would do it again, though, if I had never been through the canal. We couldn't see getting that close and not going through. The canal was interesting and we got to take a side trip to see the ongoing construction of the new locks. There is plenty of free bottled water and pop on the ferry, a can of beer is $2, a vendor was selling t-shirts, hats, etc on board, and they served us lunch and dinner. However, I was glad I brought snacks.

 

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Thank you for the pictures and your review.

 

We have done this cruise 4 times in recent years and never left that late from Colon or Crystobol . Wonder why your tour got back so late?

[Lady Chew]

Comments on some of your comments:

 

That tour got back late on both of the cruises. We were told that Panama has not had as much rainfall this year, so Gatun Lake is lower than normal. They won't drain it for smaller ships coming through from the Pacific side, so the tour boats have to until a ship of the right size for "sharing" a lock comes through ... hence the delays.

 

This has apparently been a problem for several months, it makes the staff nuts, and they are trying to get Seattle to drop this tour for the time being. I don't remember who we talked to about this ... someone in uniform we met in the hall.

 

Yes, this was the VB closest to the Crow's Nest. We had a fold-out couch, and a drop-down bed from the ceiling. There were only 3 lifejackets in the cabin, however. I did wonder if we could use the drop-down bed for storage!! As I said, this would be a perfect cabin for one person! We did like the location, apart from people trying to open our door! I'll try to find that site to add the cabin information. During the little time I had for research prior to the cruise I couldn't find anything about these cabins. In fact, you know those little maps of the ship they give you during check-in? These cabins aren't even shown!

 

As far as I know there were no made-to-order sandwiches, just the pre-made ones. They were available well into the afternoon, and quite a few people took advantage for a late afternoon snack.

 

It was pretty funny when Mr. Chew ripped his shorts. Even though it was the pocket that got caught on the chair, it was the seat that got completely ripped apart. We asked our steward if he could take them to the tailor for repairs. They came back the next day and you could hardly see from the outside where the rip was. Thank goodness, for those were his good shorts! We sent a tip & a thank you note back down to the tailor, and gave him a heads up on our survey.