Another Zuiderdam review 10-15/10-22

[vicocala]

Hi all,

 

First of all we drove down from Ocala on Friday and met another cc'er couple, Gary and Debbie. We went bar crawling and ate dinner at Sloppy Joe's and proceeded to a fun Irish bar called Sally O' Brien's. We had a great time and really enjoyed Gary and Debbie's company. We stayed at the Sheraton at the Fort Lauderdale airport and received a great rate thru Priceline.

 

On Saturday we found embarkation to be very fast and smooth. The doors opened at 11:00 and we were on the ship at 11:40. For any who read my critique of the Carnival Glory you will find that my complaints were embarkation, debarking and the lido service. Fortunately I can say that all three were satisfied on the Zuiderdam.

 

The tables at the lido were quickly cleared and my wife's tray was carried to a table by one of the fine staff members. There was plenty of selection on the lido between the Bistro, the Wok, the Grille, and the salad and drink bars every day. Ice cream and other desserts were featured at the sweet spot.

 

Room:

 

We had an SS cabin (8044) which was very nice, our bed was pushed together and even though the SOE makeover had not been done our bed was very comfortable. Budi, our steward, did a find job keeping the room neat and the ice bucket was always full. We received two bottles of wine from Orbitz and a champagne bucket full of ice was provided as soon as the first bottle was opened without request. We always received excellent turn down service, chocolates and the next days newsletter every day as well as quick removal of room service dishware. We ordered breakfast for our balcony most mornings and found the service excellent. Our food was always hot when it was supposed to be and cold when that was expected as well. Budi brought us fruit to replace that which we ate each day. The balcony included two chairs with ottomans and a table with two chairs which made eating on the balcony a breeze.

 

Ports of call: HMC was OK but a bit overrated in my opinion. But, I live in Florida and we have nice beaches so I am perhaps a little more choosy than some others may be. I broke out after attempting to snorkel and returned to the ship for anti-histamines, sea lice is my suspect there and not HAL's fault. I returned to meet my wife, and we enjoyed the BBQ lunch very well. I had ribs, a cheeseburger, potato salad and some great herbed bread which reminded me of Belize. We then followed up with some great chocolate chunk cookies which were to die for.

 

Tortola was fun, we took the Virgin Gorda trip to the Baths which was a lot of fun, and the snorkeling was very good. One of the tour group leaders put out dog food to lure in fish and we saw some nice ones. We then came back to Tortola and took the Secrets of Tortola excursion. We had some beautiful views of the island and of the various ships in port and crossed the Island to Sky world where we could see our destination of the next day, St. Thomas. We then proceeded to Cane Garden Bay which was a bit of a disappointment. The beach was practically deserted and there was a lot of silt in the water making for poor snorkeling.

 

St. Thomas (wed) was a great day, the best of the trip. We started with a trip to Coki Point and Coral World. Coki had great visibility and was excellent to snorkel at. We also saw Coral World which is a nice little park but after being to Seaworld in Orlando isn't for me a big deal. It is nice if you haven't been to a nice seaquarium before. After lunch in the Lido, we were off for the Champagne Catamaran Snorkel Adventure. What a great excursion! I highly recommend it despite it's price. We started out with a taxi to Red Hook where we met the captain and his two lady crew. We were served soft drinks and cruised to St. John and Honeymoon Bay. The snorkeling was fantastic, lots of live Coral and I saw many varieties of fish. I also was pleased to see a sea turtle and a ray! We returned back to St. Thomas being served Painkillers (a great Caribbean drink), champagne , of course, breads, crackers, cheeses and other snacks.

 

As others have mentioned, Captain Henk Keijer decided after our stop in St. Thomas to proceed that night to San Juan and refuel in the event we were to be at sea for extra days in the event the Coast Guard were to shut down Port Everglades. Fortunately that did not happen and we were refunded our excursions at Nassau. My wife and I enjoyed the extra sea day that occurred with missing the stop. I heard nothing bad about missing Nassau, in fact, everyone I spoke to praised HAL for watching over us.

 

Ship condition: Overall I found the ship in good condition, but it is ready for it's dry dock scheduled for December 10-22. The ship was quite beautiful, but wear and passenger abuse were evident. Some folks had abused the velor elevators by scratching it and the potholes were in evidence. Both items will be corrected during the dry dock according to Hotel Manager James Deering. All carpets will be replaced, bedding and some interior changes will also occur.

 

Food Service:

 

Pipit, our head steward along with Suantara and Sarmili our steward and busboy took excellent care of our dinner needs and the food was delicious! Rod served our drinks with a smile and was excellent as well. The lido service, as noted before, topped that of Carnival and we always could find a clean table and the food was great. Room service as noted, was excellent too. Dinner in the Pinnacle was also a real treat and the Rib eye steak was superb as were the creamed spinach, and the Scalloped Potatoes. I was disappointed to find out that they did not receive the Crab Cakes that week and were out by Monday. Overall an excellent experience.

 

Meetings:

 

I was disappointed in the small turnout for our CC meeting on Saturday but chalked it up to everyone being busy. I did get a chance to meet with some great folks and Mr. Deering showed up as well. He invited us to have an informal get together on Thursday which several of us attended. He also invited us to the Captain's cocktail party. I found him to be a very gracious host who loves his job and appreciates what we do on these boards. Again, Mr. Deering, I had a delightful time talking about cruising and the business end of the industry and really appreciate the hospitality. He is a very classy gentleman.

 

Debarkation: Very smooth. Again far surpassing what I experienced on the Glory. Hint:get a porter to take off your bags, he moved us rapidly thru the lines and out to our Park and Fly bus. Park and Fly which offers a coupon in your cruise documents was very efficient and only cost $45.00 for the week for those who drive down. I recommend them as well.

 

Other: I was a bit disappointed by the selections on board for shopping but was able to purchase a few things. I did receive some bad info in regards to duty on alcohol which the Customs folks and Mr. Deering assured me would be corrected with the liquor store management. Overall I rated the trip a 9 out of 9 and would recommend anyone interested in a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean to give the Zuiderdam a try, I don't think you would be disappointed.

[Italian Nancy]

Great review.. brings back the memories of our recent cruise on her.

 

 

(Sept 1-& 17th)

 

thanks, Nancy

[RuthC]

Welcome back. Thank you for letting me take a peek at your good time.

Sounds like it was good, too.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Welcome Home. Glad you had a great cruise and got to meet James Deering.

[vicocala]

Thanks for the good wishes. Thankfully we were able to get home before evacuations started.

 

Mr. Deering was great, I enjoyed our conversations a lot. :)

 

Ruth, I thought of you often, especially eating the chocolate chunk cookies and when at the Pinnacle Grille. The volcano cake was great as were the candies and the chocolate straws! :D

[icehatchling]

Thanks for the review, vicocala. It sounds like you fit in a lot of activity on the islands, especially at Tortola! Any hints for how you managed to fit so much in? I had been thinking that the Baths would be all we'd have time for in Tortola - but then again, we are there from 7am to 5pm, maybe I should look into some of the other things you mentioned!

[vicocala]

Icehatchling,

 

We had to cut it tight in Tortola but it was great to do four islands in two days. We only had about 20 minutes to run up to the Lido and grab some pizza in Tortola, that was our fault as we walked into town and bought some great condiments and teas at Sunny Caribee, but we had about an hour to sit down for lunch in St. Thomas.

 

I loved having something to do and see differently all day, each day. I like to snorkel for around an hour and am not a lay around the beach person so it was fun to drive or sail at each excursion and have just the right amount of beach time.

 

It was well worth not hassling with traffic and hawking vendors. We saw a lot, did a lot and still could buy what we decided to buy on the ship.