Mother/daughter cruise - Canada/New England aboard the Zaandam

[skittlebug83]

We had a great week aboard the Zaandam!

 

It was my first HAL cruise and my mom's first cruise ever! I think I made a cruise convert out of her, she's ready to book another one. The first night she was already circling things in the schedule that she wanted to do the next day.

 

DH graciously took care of our kiddos at home so I could spend some quality time with my mom. The last time we took a solo trip together I was a teen, so it was long overdue.

 

I have done two previous cruises with Norwegian and one with Carnival. With two school age kids I foresee a megaship in my future but I would consider HAL again for a multigenerational family trip or with the right itinerary/price. 

 

Things I liked:

 

Food quality: So much delicious food! I found the portion sizes to be just right.

 

Library area: It was relaxing to just sit here and catch up on some reading or work on one of the many puzzles scattered around.

 

Promenade deck: We had plans of walking here daily (to balance against the constant eating) but it didn't happen as often as we would have liked.

 

Smaller size ship: It was a short walk to get anywhere and it never felt too crowded/busy.

 

Staff: Everyone was friendly and helpful. 

 

Full Service Buffet: I liked that there was table service for drinks and that most areas the staff served you. 

 

I would have liked to have more evening entertainment options and varied dining but perhaps this is just a drawback of a smaller ship.

 

Cruising out of Montreal (easy drive from Ottawa) was the deciding factor for this trip as well as the itinerary with mostly Canadian ports. Any way to save a few dollars on the exchange 🙂.

[oakridger]

Thank you for letting us know how your Mother/Daughter cruise went!  I'm glad you had a good time.

 

~Nancy

[erewhon]

Thank you for reviewing your cruise on the Zaandam, pleased that you and your mother enjoyed the cruise.

[BermudaBound2014]

This post makes me smile. I cruised with my mother for many years and cherish those memories. There is no bond like a mother/daughter bond. 

[skittlebug83]

The ports were all great and I would love to return in warmer weather!! It was still a bit too chilly for my tastes (Sydney especially) and being early in the season we did run into some issues with attractions/shops not being fully open yet.

 

Let's see if I remember how to post pictures.

 

Quebec City - We had no set plans, we ended up popping in the shops on Rue Petit Champlain and walking around Dufferin Terrace/Chateau Frontenac.

 

Charlottetown - Island Drive and Anne of Green Gables booked independently through Prince Edward Tours. My mom and I watched Anne of Green Gables many times while I was growing up, so it was a must for this trip! This was a great tour, very informative with sufficient time at all the stops. The tour guide even had a little quiz at the end and handed out a few prizes (raspberry cordial and COW chips) which I thought was a nice touch. After our tour we walked around the port area and I had my first Lobster roll at The Chip Shack. It was one of the only things open in the Marina area. 

 

Sydney - Iona and Baddeck Grand Tour booked independently through Sydney Cape Breton Taxi Tours. The rain, fog and cold didn't stop us! Our driver was very nice but I was expecting to learn more about Cape Breton. This turned out to be more of a taxi service and not so much a tour. In hindsight with the Alexander Graham Bell museum not being open yet, I would have given Baddeck a skip altogether. There wasn't much to see there and not much open yet. The heritage village at Iona was the highlight! It doesn't fully open until June 1st but we lucked out arriving near the same time as a cruise excursion. It was very interesting with the costumed staff reenacting what life would be like. 

 

Halifax - On the Lighthouse Route: Peggy's Cove Lighthouse and Village booked through HAL. Enjoyed this tour as well, (my kids would have loved the double decker bus) but felt like there wasnt sufficient time at Peggy's Cove. I think I was rushing a bit too much to take some good pictures and ended up faceplanting while walking in the village. The guide warned us of the black rocks, but I guess I needed warning of my two left feet. I ended up with two scrapped knees, a sore head and scratched glasses, just in time for our second dressy dinner evening lol. After the tour we walked around near the port and had a delicious lunch at The Bicycle Thief.

 

Bar Harbor - Again we had no set plans, I purposely didn't book a tour because I didn't know how long the immigration check on board would take or the tendering process. We were in Bar Harbor by 11 ish and got tickets for the 2.5 hours Olis Trolley tour to Acadia National park for 1 pm. The winding roads up the mountain had me a tad squeamish but we liked this tour too. The driver/guide gave lots of history and information on the area.

 

That's all for now! 

[cbr663]

We also live in Ottawa and are trying to decide between taking the cruise or simply driving.  I following your review with lots of interest.  Did you leave your car at Montreal?  Was it difficult to find long term parking?

 

I agree with you on the CDN to US $ exchange rate.  At nearly 40%, it had us pausing several times on our recent Alaskan cruise.

[Haljo1935]

We went to the Heritage Village during our cruise last Oct. It was incredibly gorgeous - your pictures remind me of how peaceful it was. Even though it was exactly a week after Hurricane Fiona paid her visit.

Time with Mom is always special - glad to hear you enjoyed it.

 

[skittlebug83]

2 hours ago, cbr663 said:

We also live in Ottawa and are trying to decide between taking the cruise or simply driving.  I following your review with lots of interest.  Did you leave your car at Montreal?  Was it difficult to find long term parking?

 

I agree with you on the CDN to US $ exchange rate.  At nearly 40%, it had us pausing several times on our recent Alaskan cruise.

Our cruise started in Montreal and ended in Boston so we didn't consider leaving the car. My hubby drove us to Montreal on embarkation day. Porter now has a direct flight Boston to Ottawa so we flew home same day of disembarking. Our flight home was delayed over 4 hours. Annoying when you just want to be home already! 

[3rdGenCunarder]

5 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

We went to the Heritage Village during our cruise last Oct. It was incredibly gorgeous - your pictures remind me of how peaceful it was. Even though it was exactly a week after Hurricane Fiona paid her visit.

Time with Mom is always special - glad to hear you enjoyed it.

 

 

You were lucky to be able to call at Sydney. Our stop (QM2) was supposed to be a few days before that and there was no way they wanted a bunch of tourists underfoot while they were clearing debris and fixing downed wires. It was disappointing, as I had booked a tour to the Heritage Village, but it was completely understandable. I didn't hear anyone complain about the missed port. 

 

@skittlebug83, your pictures are beautiful. It's too bad the Bell Museum was closed. It's excellent. Ah well, next time...

[Haljo1935]

Hey @3rdGenCunarder we did indeed feel blessed to make the port as well as encounter minimal damage. More blessed to be greeted by such welcoming locals who no doubt had their hands full and minds occupied. 

The Bell museum was great. 

[skittlebug83]

Entertainment and Activities

 

We found plenty of things to keep us busy on the ship.

 

World Stage: We attended all three of the Step One shows and thought the dancers did a great job! Our favorite was Humanity. For most of the shows we sat on Deck 5 (just in case we wanted a quick escape) and never had any issue finding seats. On the sea day we also attended the vaguely named Coffee with Daniel. This was a video presentation of a behind the scenes tour. Kudos to all the hardworking staff! 

 

Ocean Bar: We ended up here a lot. We enjoyed some sets of the Ocean Bar Band and the pianist Cat. Other things held to here were the Art of Flower Arranging demo, Permission to Dance dance class and Majority Rules game. The winner got a free drink from the bar, which might only appeal to those without a drink package already.

 

Explorers Lounge: We attended the Games nite and Call my Bluff.

 

Wajang Theatre: The last night we watched A Man Called Otto. The space is not set up well for the movie screen, the lower half of the screen was partially obstructed where we were seated. Free popcorn was nice.

 

Queens Room: My mom likes art so we did Origami and Watercolor classes. For origami it seemed like they had something different scheduled everyday but for the Watercolor it was the same introductory class all week. My mom thought about the paid $25 class but didn't sign up in the end.

 

Crows Nest: We were here for sailaway and then I kind of forgot about this venue. We participated in the Officer vs Guests trivia which was fun. Orange party was also held here, we were tired out that night but it seemed like a lot were headed there when we were headed to bed. If you didn't bring something orange they had items in the shops.

 

This last pic is them setting up for the Bar Hop I believe. The rowdiest I saw people all week lol.