Zuiderdam review, Western Caribbean 7/10-7/17

[jstducky]

This is my first day back to work after taking a wonderful cruise on the Zuiderdam, Western Caribbean itinerary, July 10-17.

 

 

 

I will try to write as complete a review as I can, please feel free to ask any questions you might have, and I’ll do my best to answer them. Also, please remember that this review is just my personal opinion of the cruise I took and my personal experiences. Additionally, I took approximately 300 digital pictures, I will try to post them on this board as soon as I download and edit them.

 

 

 

Ok here goes….

 

 

 

We were a party of 5 all together. It was me, I am 24 years old, my parents, and one of my closest friends from high school and her boyfriend. Since we were traveling from California, our only option without having to take an extra day off of work, we flew out of LAX on the red eye Friday night, July 9th. We took a Song flight that departed LAX at 10:20 pm. It turned out that we weren’t the only Californians with the same idea. On the plane we discovered that a large number of people that were flying with us were going out to catch various cruises that departed from Ft Lauderdale and Miami on Saturday, July 10th in the afternoon. The flight was uneventful, and after approximately 5 hours, we landed in Fort Lauderdale at around 6:30 am. The first thing we all noticed as we stepped out of the plane was that it was HOT HOT HOT! And not just hot, it was humid. Out in California, we’re used to hot weather (although summer this year has been rather mild), but we’re not used to the humidity! As we walked down to the baggage claim area, there were representatives there from all the cruise lines. We went to the HAL rep and talked with him for a few minutes. We hadn’t purchased HAL transfer, but he suggested that since we weren’t able to board the ship for a few hours, that we head over to the next terminal, Terminal 3 (I believe), where there was a Chili’s that opened up at 7:00 am for breakfast. Getting our bags was quick and painless. Apparently there were a bunch of people that had the same idea we had with going to wait in Terminal 3 and grabbing breakfast at Chili’s. By the time they opened at 7:00 am, they were quickly filled to capacity. They only serve 2 different options for breakfast, so the choices were quite limited. But breakfast was very much welcomed. Once breakfast was over, we headed over to some couches and proceeded to wait and sleep and play cards at the airport for the next couple of hours. As we were sitting in the airport, we noticed that by about 10:00 am, the whole area was teeming with people who were either 1) waiting to depart the airport for their cruise leaving that afternoon, or 2) passengers returning from their cruise that just got in that morning and waiting for their flights to leave later that day! The whole terminal was just full of cruisers!

 

 

 

Embarkation

 

 

 

At about 11:00 am we made our way down to the taxi stop to catch a cab to Port Everglades. The taxi ride to the pier was quick and cost us about $11. We arrived at the pier around 11:30 am and there was already a huge crowd there. The doors opened up right around 11:30 and the check-in process began. The check-in process was quick and easy and we were on the ship around 12:00 pm. As we boarded the ship we were immediately escorted to the Lido Restaurant on the Lido Deck, Deck 9. At around 1:15 pm they made the announcement through the intercom that our cabins were now ready and that we could proceed to our rooms at our convenience.

 

 

 

Our Cabin

 

 

 

Just a little background here. The main reason I was on this cruise is because on my last cruise (the Zaandam, July 2003) I entered the free cruise lottery and to my great surprise my name was picked. The free cruise lottery stipulates that I have won a free 7-day cruise for 2 on any Caribbean itinerary with a minimum inside stateroom. Since we are a family of 3 and always at least get an outside stateroom, we contacted HAL and just upgraded in order to get the minimum outside stateroom that was big enough for 3. We ended up with a category C outside stateroom, cabin # 1070, on Main Deck, Deck 2. We found the room to be in order when we got to it. We met our cabin steward, Bambang, who was absolutely wonderful. He did his best to meet our every needs and requests! Its unbelievable how hard these cabin stewards work! We 2 of our 3 bags at around 1:45 pm and our last bag arrived at our room around 2:30 pm. We did some quick unpacking and then went off to explore the ship.

 

 

 

As I am sure some people have already mentioned, we are provided with robes in the room. However, there is a note that comes with the robes that say that the robes are for our use while we are onboard. Should we wish, we can purchase a robe for $49.00 and it comes with free monogramming (3 letters max).

 

 

 

There were 2 small complaints that we had with our cabin, and both were only noticeable that first day before the ship left the pier. The first complaint was that there was an odor in our room, it seemed to be coming from the vent in the ceiling. It was here one minute gone the next minute. We called the front desk and they sent the cabin steward, right away. When the cabin steward came to the room, of course the smell had disappeared. He said that when he came to clean the room that night he would look into again and if we smelled it again to call him. We smelled it one other time that afternoon but it was quickly gone and then we never smelled it again. Second small complaint was that the air conditioning didn’t seem to be working all that well in the room. I had heard that complaint throughout the cruise from various other passengers. When I talked to the front desk about the air conditioning problem, they told me that while the ship was at dock in Ft. Lauderdale the ships engines were not running at full power and therefore the air conditioning wasn’t running at full power either. She informed me that the problem should be fixed as soon as the ship sets sail, however, if it isn’t resolved by dinner time that I should contact the front office again and they would send engineers to take a look at the problem. Surely enough, when we returned from dinner the problem was completely fixed! In fact, for most of the rest of the cruise the air conditioning was so cold that we had to turn it to the lowest setting so that we wouldn’t become icicles in our room!

continued in next post...

[jstducky]

The food

 

 

 

We had early lower seating for dinner, which meant we had dinner at 6:15 pm. Our party of 5 was seated at tables 158 & 160, which are right next to each other. Our dining room stweard was Tatang and our assistant dining room steward was Anwar. Our wine steward was Jude. Let me just say that the food on the ship was fabulous! No complaints whatsoever about the meals in the dining room. Each course, from the appetizers, to the soups and salads to the entrees to the dessert was spectacular! Our dining room steward and his assistant were also fabulous. And our wine steward was the best! None of us drink so we didn’t order any wine, however, I had purchased a soda card. On the first night I told our dining room steward that I had a soda card and that I wanted a Coke. He went and got me one without even asking to see my card. Then about halfway through dinner he noticed my glass was half empty, so he refilled it right away and continued to refill it as needed. On some nights he was busier than other nights, so he sometimes just left me a can so that I could refill it myself. Also he worked the lunch hour up in the Lido Restaurant, and noticed that everyday at lunch I drank Sprite instead of Coke. Halfway through the trip at dinner he asked me if I wanted to switch to Sprite instead of Coke. I couldn’t believe that he remembered that I really liked Sprite. Every night he had a drink waiting for me for dinner. It was great!

 

 

 

On Monday night, which was Ductch night, we decided to go to the Pinnacle Grill. Let me tell you that the food there is fabulous! I had the crab cakes and seasonal greens to start, and ordered the Rib Eye Steak with the sun dried tomato steak sauce and a side of baked Washington potato. For dessert I had the Molten Chocolate Volcano cake. The service at the Pinnacle was impeccable and the food was even better than I had remembered it to be. The food in the dining room was good, but the Pinnacle Grill was well work the extra money. I have always thought, and continue to think that HAL’s food is first rate!

 

 

 

The ports of call

 

 

 

Key West:

 

 

 

Key West was our first port of call! Boy was it hot in Key West. The humidity was so high that as soon as we walked off the ship we were already drenched in sweat! The ship was due to dock at Key West at 8:00 am, however we were a little early. They cleared the ship for passengers to get off around 7:40ish am. As our shore excursion didn’t leave until 9:00 am, we decided to walk around Mallory Square for a little bit. We did a little bit of shopping then came back to the pier to meet our shore excursion group. We had booked the Key West Cup Regatta. There were 14 people who signed up for this excursion. The basic premise of the excursion is that we would learn how to operate a small sailboat and then race each other. The 14 people were divided into 3 groups and we were each taken to a boat. Our boat’s name was “Catch Me.” We met with our boat captain who gave us a brief introduction to the boat and then assigned all of us duties. We then headed out to sea for a few practice runs. Mind you the boat captain is only there to shout out orders to us, he is not allowed to help us operate the sailboat at all! After a few practice runs we decided we were ready to race. We were given a three minute warning before each race started so that we could try and get into position. We held three races all together. Our boat lost the first race handily, however we were barely beaten in the 2nd and 3rd races and came in second. All in all it was a great day and a lot of fun. After the excursion was over, we went back on the ship and grabbed a quick lunch, before we headed out to explore Key West. There were 2 things I really wanted to see, the lighthouse and Southernmost Point. The Key West lighthouse was neat. The admission is $8 for adults, $4 for students, and I believe the same price for kids and seniors. The climb to the top was kind of hard as the stairs are narrow and winding and steep. It was made all the tougher since it was such a hot day! But the view from the top was spectacular! After a quick stop at the lighthouse we made our way a few blocks further to Southernmost Point. When we got there, there was a long line of about 40 people waiting to take pictures. By the time we were done there, we were hot and tired and decided to head back to the ship. The walk from Southernmost Point to the ship via Duval St. is not as easy at it seems! But we finally made it back to the ship around 2:00 pm. All aboard was 2:30 pm and the ship left at 3:00 pm. Normally the ship would have stayed in town until about 6:00 pm, but due to our itinerary change our time in Key West was lessened by 3 hours.

 

 

 

Cozumel:

 

 

 

Our second port of call was Cozumel, Mexico. Due to an unexpected itinerary change, which I learned of approximately 1.5 weeks before we sailed, we arrived in Cozumel a ½ day earlier than expected. We arrived on Monday at 3:00 pm and weren’t expected to set sail from Cozumel the next day at 3:00 pm. Therefore, we had a rare treat, an overnight in Cozumel. Due to the overnight, the shore excursion desk added 3 additional shore excursions, including a night dive. We actually arrived in Cozumel earlier than expected as well. We docked and we cleared to go on land at around 2:30 pm. We were docked at Puerto Maya right next to the Carnival Triumph. At Puerto Maya there is a little shopping center so we decided to do some quick shopping. After a couple of hours we took a taxi ($10 for the 5 of us, or $6 for 1-4 people) into San Miguel, the only city in Conzumel. The Norwegian Sun was docked at Punta Lagusta in San Miguel. We walked Avenida Rafael Melagar and did some more shopping. That’s when the sky kind of opened up and we were greeted with a quick summer store. However we just continued shopping and enjoyed ourselves tremendously. At night my friends and I tried to walk to Senior Frogs right by the Puerto Maya pier only to discover that by 9:00 pm they had already closed. So we headed back to the pier where they had a Fat Tuesday’s and just sat there at the bar for awhile. It certainly seemed that the passengers weren’t the only ones who enjoyed having an overnight in Cozumel, the crew had a great time as well. Many of the crew said that they went out at night and hung out at Carlos and Charlies and Pancho’s Backyard until the wee hours of the morning!

 

 

 

The next morning in Cozumel was an early day for us as we had booked the Mayan Ruin of Tulum tour. The tour was scheduled to meet in the Vista Lounge at 6:20 am! We were all put onto a ferry and the ferry departed the pier at around 6:45 for the approx. 45 minute ferry ride over to the mainland and Playa Del Carmen. There we were greeted by our tour guide Juan who was just fabulous. He is part Mayan and was able to explain to us a great deal about the Mayan people and their culture. After about a 1 hour bus ride we arrived at Tulum. Juan took us up into the ruins and explained to us everything that we saw there and how the ancient Mayans used to live! The scenery was breathtaking. Tulum is the only ancient Mayan civilization built right on the oceanfront. After about a 1 hour guided tour, Juan gave us 2 hours on our own to explore the ruins and to go swimming at the beach if we wished. As we got back on the bus we were all given a Subway sandwich for lunch as well as soda or beer to drink. After a bus ride back to Playa Del Carmen, we were put back onto the ferry for the trip back to Cozumel. In the distance we could see store clouds building over Cozumel and we were treated to a spectacular lightning display. As we neared Cozumel, it finally started raining on us. Due to the weather conditions we didn’t arrive back in Cozumel at the pier until about 2:45 pm. Now remember all aboard for us was at 2:30 as the ship was supposed to depart at around 3:00 pm. Since we were on a ship sponsored excursion, they knew we were delayed and waited for us. When we got back to the pier we also saw that the Carnival Sensation was now docked alongside us. They were a rowdy group. As we walked back to get on the boat, a group of their passengers who had just returned from a party boat excursion and were obviously drunk and were yelling and screaming. We finally made it back on the boat and we departed Cozumel headed for Grand Cayman at approx 3:00 pm.

continued on next post...

[jstducky]

Grand Cayman:

 

 

 

Wow! What can I say about Grand Cayman! It was definitely a highlight of the trip. The ship arrived at Grand Cayman early. We were scheduled to arrive at 8:00 am, but we ended up dropping anchor close to 7:15 am. When we arrived there were already 3 other ships anchored offshore, the Caribbean Princess, the Carnival Triumph, and the Navigator of the Seas. The ship was cleared at around 7:45 am and the tendering process began. The whole process only took about 20 minutes from the time we got our tender ticket to the time we stepped on land. We arrived at Georgetown at around 8:20 am. I had booked the Stingray City & Island Drive tour through Nativeway. They had a representative at the dock waiting for us for our 9:30 tour. As we were early we did a little shopping ahead of time, which turned out to be a good thing, because by the time our tour was over in the afternoon, the rain was starting to come down! At 9:15 we met our Nativeway group. They took us on 2 buses to the Grand Cayman Yacht Club where they have their boats. We were separated into 3 groups and were on our way out to Stingray City. Our boat had 24 passengers on it. When we got to Stingray City our boat captain, Sheldon (not Sharon’s husband, Sheldon) found us a secluded spot on the sandbar away from the other boats already there. This was when I was glad that we had only 24 passengers. I saw a couple of boats with close to 200 passengers on it and I saw other boats with close to 100 passengers. We were definitely the smallest group out there. When we got there Sheldon and Michael both jumped into the water and went to go find stingrays for us. Since no one on the boat had been to Stingray City before we were all kind of hesitant about getting into the water. You could see the stingrays swimming all over the place. The first time one came swimming towards me I kind of freaked out, but later realized that there is nothing to be scared of. Michael was able to catch a female stingray and Sheldon a male stingray for us to see. We each took turns holding them, giving them kisses, and having our backs rubbed. Also with the smaller male stingray, Sheldon did “Stingray hats” with them! The experience was fabulous! After Stingray City we had two other stops, one at Coral Gardens and one by the Reef wall. It was just spectacular. Sheldon and Michael were great. At the Reef wall they spotted a moray eel and Sheldon dove down with some squid to coax it out from under the coral so that we could all catch a glimpse of the eel. Once we were back at the Yacht Club the island drive portion of our trip began. We were taken to the Turtle Farm which was fabulous and we actually got to hold some turtles and we went to Hell where I mailed some postcards! As we headed back into Georgetown the black rain clouds which we saw from Stingray City were pouring down onto the town. We quickly grabbed a tender back to the ship as there were no lines at all. At approximately 5:30 pm we departed Grand Cayman.

 

 

 

Half Moon Cay:

 

 

 

This is such a spectacular island. Like all of our other ports of calls, we ended up arriving at HMC ahead of schedule. The Bahamian authorities cleared the ship at around 7:45 am and the tender process began. Like our day at Grand Cayman the tender process was smooth and easy! We were on the beach by 8:20 am. As the beach was nearly empty at that time, we were able to find a tree right by where they rent out the sports equipment and we pulled some beach chairs underneath the tree for shade. The sand there is so white and the water so blue and crystal clear. There were fish, both big and small, swimming right along the shore line. As the day went on, it continued to get hotter and hotter, and we were grateful that we had our spots underneath the tree and with a great deal of shade. We had booked the Eco Lagoon Kayak Adventure. The tram took us to the other side of the island where we met our guide, Wendell. We had a small group of 10. Wendell took us out and explained to us some of the coral we saw as well as the native plant life that lined the shore. He also found a baby octopus for us and a sea cucumber as well. The kayaking was surely a lot of fun! After all that exercise it was time for lunch. HAL set up a great BBQ lunch for us at their “Tropics Restaurant.” The food consisted of burgers, hot dogs, bbq chicken, bbq ribs, beans and corn on the cob as well as salad and fresh fruit and brownies and cookies for dessert. All in all it was a great day and a great way to end our cruise!

 

 

 

Entertainment:

 

 

 

The entertainment on the ship was pretty good. The Cast of the Zuiderdam performed 2 shows, Under the Boardwalk, and Stage and Screen, both were pretty entertaining. On the first night of the cruise the performer was comedian Tom Drake (Dottie Kalusa, the Cruise Director’s, husband). I didn’t see his show, so I can’t comment on it. On the third night the performer was Adam Kario, who is a juggler/comedian. I missed his show as well. The fourth night was Joel Mason, who is an Elton John impersonator. I didn’t think I would enjoy his show, but it actually ended up being a lot of fun. The fifth night for me was the highlight, we had master illusionist James Cielen. When I was on the Zaandam last year in Alaska, I saw him perform and his illusions and tricks just blew me away. Even watching the show now for the second time, I’m still amused at some of the stuff he does!

 

 

 

Additionally on board we had a competition called Zuiderdam Superstar, it’s the Zuiderdam’s version of American Idol. Let me tell you that we had some talented passengers on our ship! The winner ended up being a guy by the name of Greg, who is a radio DJ in Atlanta. He was incredibly good! All in all the entertainment was pretty good.

 

 

 

Disembarkation:

 

 

 

I had booked the Everglades Airboat excursion in Ft. Lauderdale. The ship arrived at the dock at around 7:00 am, but wasn’t cleared for passengers to leave until 8:45 am. Since we were on a shore excursion, our disembarkation number was 2. It was called right away, and as we got off the ship and entered the room where they had all the luggage, we were able to easily find our luggage. Within 10 minutes of walking off the ship, we were out of the building and boarding the bus for our shore excursion. The excursion itself was great. No one had ever been on an airboat before and that was quite an experience. We ended up seeing 2 alligators while we were out there! That’s the first time I’ve ever seen alligators in the wild. It was crazy! The excursion ended by dropping us off at the airport. We arrived there at 1:00 pm.

[jstducky]

Miscellaneous:

 

 

 

As you may have heard there were some small glitches with our cruise. The most noticeable was the power problems we encountered as we were departing HMC. Our ship was delayed in leaving HMC by almost 2 hours as the engineers on board tried to correct a power failure that was experienced through most of the ship. On our day in Grand Cayman we also had a small electrical fire on Deck 8. But these were all minor problems that were handled very professionally by the crew and staff. Certainly nothing that had any effect on my cruise experience.

 

 

 

Overall:

 

 

 

Overall I had a great time on this cruise. It was so much fun and enjoyable. The food was good, the accommodations were good, the staff was good and the ports of call were great! I am so glad that I choose this particular itinerary and I got out of the experience everything that I had hoped for and more. Out of 5 stars, I would give the overall experience a 4 1/2.

 

 

 

Once again, remember, this is my personal opinion of this cruise. I have already read that some other passengers experiences with this cruise were totally different from mine, and I’m sorry to hear that. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to ask me. I’ll check back often to answer any questions you may have.

 

 

 

Additionally, I will try and post my pictures up here soon for everyone to see.

[Ziggy7]

jstducky! , wow thanks for the review! We can hardly wait to have a great cruise too, something real major will have to happen to spoil it for us hehehehe (our first cruise).

We hope you will be sharing your pictures

with us too!

 

Do you happen to remember what the cost of the ship pictures were ? Such as Formal night, embarkmentation, dembarkmetation, etc.

Thanks Again! And Welcome Home! :)

[spcl4cs_gal]

Thanks for the memories, Ducky. Don't you just wish you were still onboard this week though? :)

[Cruising since '81]

You made the cruise sound wonderful (despite a few mishaps). I can't wait to leave on 07-31-04 for the Eastern Caribbean on the Zuiderdam. Thank you for your entertainment information. I hope we have the same comedians and illusionist. Thanks for a great cruise review!:) ;) :) ;)

[jstducky]

alison - yes i still wish i was on the cruise! did you get a chance to sign the cruise critic log book in the library? i finally found it on thursday! i am glad to hear that you enjoyed the cruise as well. it was great!

 

ziggy - let's see if i can help out with picture prices. the embarkation picture was $20.95. the background of the picture was really nice. it had the date of embarkation plus it listed all of the ports of calls we had. however the picture of us was only 4 x 6 maybe and i didn't think it was worth $20.95. the formal night pictures were also $20.95. they had some nice backgrounds to go with the pictures so i bought 2 of them. the photos that were taken in the dining room during dinner varied in price from $6.95 - $14.95. and the pictures that were taken as you got off the boat at various ports was $10.95, except for the HMC pictures which were $14.95. hope that helps.

 

as for my pictures. i just downloaded them this afternoon. i need to go through and edit them. hopefully in a few days i'll post them up.

[jstducky]

cruising since 81.... i hope you have the same illusionist as well. james cielen was great. he also puts on another show later in the trip during the day in the queens lounge. it is a smaller more intimate gathering. in it he'll perform more tricks, answer any questions you may have, and even show you how to do a few of his tricks!

[spcl4cs_gal]

Ducky - Yes I did manage to get into the library to sign the CC journal. I think it was Sunday when I went to find it. The "librarian" was sitting at his desk reading it when I asked about it. :D

[Cruising since '81]

jstducky,

 

Thanks again, for your wonderful information. My husband loves to see illusionists and would love to know some of their tricks.

:) ;) :) ;)

[DFD1]

Thanks for the review. Your colored ink is hard to read...especially such a long text.

[Ziggy7]

Thanks ! Your the Best ! :o

[BLStokes23]

jstducky - Great review! Your review covered just about everything. We booked this cruise at the last minute and are so glad that we did - really fun cruise. We enjoyed seeing so many families having such a great time together. I can't believe that we waited this long to try one of the larger ships. The only thing I really missed was the self-service laundry.

 

Thanks for taking the time to write such an informative review.

[Tatka]

Thank you!!!

 

All these positive reviews lately really make my wait time even more difficult! But keep 'em coming. :D