Holland America-zuiderdam-wonderful cruise

[juliang]

Just returned from 7 day 3/3-3/10 cruise..Ft lauderdale to Grand Turk to Tortola, BWI, to St Thomas, USVI, to 1/2 moon cay. Our first cruise on HAL..6 previous on RC and Celebrity.

The Zuiderdam is a BIG beautiful ship. The cruise well exceeded our expectations.

 

The food was good..as good or better than Celebrity...

we had a veranda and a plus for RC was many balconies..and big rooms..ours was very roomy.

another great plus for HAL was lots of live music..from classical quartet, to R and R to Carribean reggae etc etc..bands everywhere.

 

The cast was very good and the male lead had an awsome voice..a baritone with great range..his name was Jonathon "Goose" Burgard--- I believe as good as the best male leads we have heard on broadway, perhaps with the exception of Michael Crawford and a few others.

 

The cruise director was excellent and has a great, droll sense of humor.

 

The crowd in general was a bit older and less rowdy than RC but really liveley..even involved in karaoke. Fewer children than on RC, similar to Celebrity.

 

A texas holdem poker table in the Casino saw a lot of action.

 

The service was good all the way around. The itinerary was excellent as well. Went snorkeing in Grand Turk, which was well done and a great place to snorkel. Swam with the dolphins in Tortola..a once in a lifetime experience and worth the money.

 

St. thomas in the USVI is about shopping. Also went to Magens Bay to swim..very crowded as a Disney Cruise was there also..Magens Bay is so-so, and not well kept up. The staff at Magens, which is a state park, have a bad attitude, as we also experienced downtown..no shortage of rudeness from women there either. The difference between the locals in St Thomas as compared to the locals in Freeport, Bahamas where they actually appreciate you being there is like night and day.

 

A spectacular highlight was when the ship went through the Sir Francis Drake Channel between a number of Islands including Tortola and St John. The narrow channel has a rich history which was narrated as the ship was passing through.

 

Half moon cay, an Island owned by Hooland Ameirca is like being at an all-inclusive with a gorgeous beach, beautiful, clear tourqoise water horseback riding, parasailing, sailboating and other activities. as well as a fabulous barbeque. HAL has put some serious money into this Island for the exclusive use of its guests.

[goodlife 2]

Great to hear, as we are boarding the Zuiderdam on March.24.

Do you recall which day they had the "On Deck for the Cure" walk?

We want to take part in that, and also register for a cooking class, but worried they might conflict?!

Thank you.

[tinaparrotthead]

We will also be on the 3/24 cruise with goodlife 2. I had been a little concerned about the style of the live bands as I had really only read that there were classical and jazz. Your review has me feeling really good about it now! A pool band....WONDERFUL! You said R and R, I think you might have meant R & B???? Anyway, since this will be our first with HAL, your comments about food, service and entertainment are making me get really excited! My DH is such a music buff and so, this review had me exhaling for the first time since I made the reserversation. THANKS for taking the time!

Can you tell me how many "semi formal" nights there were and what nights during the week the formal, semi and casual nights were?

Also, was Julie Barr, the comedian, :) on board?

[dww]

Thanks for the posting. We leave the 17th and this will also be our first HAL experience. We are also past Celebrity cruisers. A couple of questions. Was the water still really cool? What lounge was the classical quartet? My experience in the past has been that in March the water temperture is still a little chilly. We have several excursions booked that require getting in the water ( at my age, just cool water hurts ). Glad your trip exceeded your expectations.

[olechka]

I'm on 3/24 sailing as well and previous Celebrity Cruiser. Thanks for the report, looking forward to our trip!

[May4]

Welcome to the HAL board and to Holland America for that matter.

 

I so totally agree with you about Half Moon Cay. Isn't it dreamy? The sand is always so soft, white, and pleasant for walking long distances.

 

So, have you booked your next cruise? :)

[bigredcrusier]

I was just on the Zuiderdam 03/03 to 03/10. The cooking class was on tuesday at 1000 prior to docking at 1pm. It cost $29pp and you get lunch served in the Pinacle grill. The only down side was we missed the narration of going threw the channel. The walk for the cure was on thursday at sea. My wife and I did both, had a great time.

[bigredcrusier]

Ours was Jim Labriola, not sure if he is staying on. Barnaby was also on the cruise. The water at half moon cay was a little cool compared the rest of the ports, but they all said 78.8 deg, per the ship log. It was fine as long as you were moving around.

[cruisinfamilyfun]

This is my first posting on this website! My family and I just returned from the same Zuiderdam cruise and we also had a great time. (My husband and I - both age 40, and our two kids - ages 10 and 8). This is our third cruise (two previous cruises were Princess and Carnival).

 

We also thought the staff was exceptional. The entertainment was very good - we especially enjoyed Barnaby, the comedian juggler. We also liked the cruise cast performances and the other comedian Jim Labriola. We did not care for Terry Tull, the singer who performed toward the end of the cruise.

 

We thought the food was exceptional, but we were disappointed in our dining room service. I'm sure it was probably just an isolated incident with our dining room steward, but it was a let-down for us. We received incorrect food orders 6 out of the seven nights, and he seemed like he was new on the job or something :confused: . I must say, he was nice though. The Dessert Extravaganza was incredible!!! This is not to be missed!

 

We thought Grand Turk was ok, but not especially exciting. Our original intent was to rent scooters from Tony's Rental, but we had second thoughts once we tried them out. Thought there might be safety concerns with the kids on the back. We ended up walking over to Governor's Beach. The beach was quiet and beautiful but the snorkeling was non-existent. We ended up catching a cab into Cockburn Town and tried another snorkel spot, which was a little better. There isn't much to see in this town.... I'm beginning to see the wisdom in pre-booking a shore excursion in this type of situation. I'm sure we would have had a better time if we knew where the good snorkeling was, etc.

 

At Tortola, we got right off the ship and took the Speedy's ferry over to the Baths at Virgin Gorda. It was indeed a neat excursion and snorkeling was quite good - but I would not recommend the trip down Devil's Path to anyone not in good physical condition. Quite a bit of rock climbing, and hazardous pathways to contend with. My husband cut his knee pretty good on the rocks while snorkeling. The kids handled it good and scampered right down the trail.

 

I agree that the cruise through the Sir Francis Drake channel was amazing! Very scenic, indeed.

 

In St. Thomas, unfortunately our ship docked at Crown Bay so we weren't close to the downtown shopping area (as the Disney ship and several other of the docked ships were). We took a cab there and shopped for a few hours, and then took another cab to Megan's Bay and we agree that it wasn't as impressive as we had been led to believe. It was crowded and the facilities didn't seem very nice.

 

The highlight of the ports of call was definitely Half Moon Cay!!! :) We had the Sky Blue cabana and it was a slice of heaven. Good weather, great service from the cabana steward, nice facilities, and good food. The kids loved it!

 

Club HAL was a bust for the kids. There weren't many kids on the ship to begin with, but we didn't receive on-going notice of activities. The kids didn't seem to have much interest in it anyway, so they mainly just stayed with us.

 

The Zuiderdam is a nicely maintained ship, and definitely has a good staff. I'm not sure we would return, though. The demographics are skewed a little older than we would prefer - although we did enjoy this cruise more than Carnival. I think it's all about finding your comfort level on a particular line.

[goodlife 2]

I was just on the Zuiderdam 03/03 to 03/10. The cooking class was on tuesday at 1000 prior to docking at 1pm. It cost $29pp and you get lunch served in the Pinacle grill. The only down side was we missed the narration of going threw the channel. The walk for the cure was on thursday at sea. My wife and I did both, had a great time.

 

 

Great news! Thanks so much for the info. We have even purchased some "special" t-shirts for the walk..... www.savethetatas.com

less than 2 weeks to go!

[arckac]

Also, was Julie Barr, the comedian, :) on board?

 

I recently found out she is currently on the Westerdam. I too was hoping she would be on the Zuiderdam (March 31 saling)n as we have caught her act twice before and find her not only funny but a joy to talk to when you run into her off the ship. She told us she has a passion for the traveling and for working on ships. I trust the Zuiderdam will still have a late night adult comedy show on the Wednesday night before the sea day!

[Moose Tracks]

DH and I were also on this cruise. Had been on Zuiderdam in June 2003 and were pleased to see it was still in excellent condition. The new bedding and mattresses were great. We spent each evening in the Explorer's Lounge listening to the Arcadia Strings (from Romania)...they were marvellous. We purchased their DVD, but of course at the time never thought about it being formatted for Europe so it won't work in North America. Have to do some research and find if it can be converted to NA format. In Grand Turk we rented bicycles and road to the lighthouse at the far end of the island (7 miles). It was hot, not too many hills so we managed. Took an hour to ride there with a few stops and 45 minutes back. $7 each to enter the lighthouse area. Then we spent about an hour at Margarittaville before the ship sailed. Grand Turk is very undeveloped, but on the way to the lighthouse there were billboards for condo projects, so give it another 10 years and it will unfortunately start looking like all the other touristy islands. In Tortola we grabbed a shared taxi and went to Brewer's Bay beach. Great spot, only around 100 people, very good snorkelling stretching out from in front of the bar. We were disappointed we didn't snorkel around into the small cove because others saw a sea turtle. I'd highly recommend this beach if you want to get away from the crowds. In St. Thomas we had planned to go to Sapphire Beach, but the taxi dispatcher told us the restaurant was closed so no services. Our second choice had been Secret Harbour so we decided to go there. It was marvellous. There's a resort there that lets you use the beach. The signs said chairs were for guests only, but we were content to thrown down our towels and slum it laying on the sand! As far as we could tell, in the time we were there (10 to 12:30) we were the only cruise people. There were around 75 people there in total. The snorkelling was great...many types of fish and we got to see a sea turtle.:D I'd highly recommend this beach. The taxi ride was $11 each. Went back to the ship for lunch and because the traffic was so busy coming back through town (there were six ships in port), we decided to forego a trip back to Charlotte Amalia and instead walked to Emerald Beach to check it out. A 20-minute walk to the Best Western. The beach is beautiful...much busier than Secret Harbour and was sandy bottom so I don't imagine much to see snorkelling. Had a drink at the bar and took a taxi back to ship ($4 each). At Half Moon Cay we were off the ship early and went on the nature walk to the lagoon and climbed a hill to see some ruins from the 1700's...nice view of the ship as well. Then we walked the paved road around to the stingray area and stood on a platform looking down at the rays swimming around. Spent the next couple of hours walking the beach and laying in the shade. If you walk right to the far end of the beach and take shoes you can climb the rocks and go further. There also seemed to be a small pebble path that would lead you to the top of the hill. Unfortunately, we were bare footed so we couldn't do that walk. A great vacation.

Lynn

[juliang]

I think the Walk was on the day just before 1/2 moon cay, which was a sea day..has to be on a sea day I believe..btw..the cooking classes in the Queens lounge were well attended..Have FUN!!

[juliang]

Julie Barr was not the comedian--jim labriola was... very funny , especially at the adult comedy show, 10pm on the 2nd last night of the cruise..i think there were 2 semi-formal--[sportjacket nights]..i actually wore my sportjacket with no tie on formal nights as i am tired of schepping a tuxedo along on cruises.last cruise ate in the buffet section on pool dek [R/C ] for formal night, but this cruise, figured i try the sportajacket with nice pull over shirt for formal night in the dining room..especially as 2nd formal night was steak and lobster..btw..the lobster was good..

[juliang]

the classical quartet was in an open lounge near the dining room on the third deck....i believe on the starboard

side. water temp is ok and will be warmer a bit when you are there..grand turk is very far south..probably almost as far south as puerto rico, as is tortola..water is swimmable..not liek july of course..but where else can you swim in march in the ocean?? have fun.

[juliang]

next cruise is booke for december..but it is on RC out of port canaveral and is only 4 days..2 in nassau ansd one on rdc's private island..as trip will also include Univ studios and Epcot..just threw in the 4 day cruise for the heck of it as long as we are down there..why not??!! and you need to go from canaveral on a short cuise to avoid key west which we have been to...

 

would like next big cruise to be south america..actually the around the world cruise..but for now will just have to follow those cruises on the message boards

[Susie51]

The Cruise Travel magazine came yesterday. The featured port was Grand Turk. Small and undeveloped sounds nice to me. I'm a lighthouse buff .

 

I enjoy snorkeling too. It sounds like a good choice for DH and I. The water might be too cold in Nov. In Dec. 2001, the water at Cozemul was warm. Is the W. Carib. water warmer than in the E. Carib.?

 

Thanks for the post.

 

Sue

[oceanal]

Hi,

We will be on Zuiderdam quite soon and wanted to know what exactly is the walk for the cure? Is it a ship sponsored cancer fundraiser? Do you have to get pledges from home to do it? We are interested as we are involved with Susan G. Komen here at home.

Thanks,

A:D

[Susie51]

DH and I are booked on the Zr-dam for Nov. 3, 2007!

 

Thank you for your info.

 

This will be my 15th cruise and 2nd with HAL.

[nolyd]

Oceanal,

We were on the Westerdam a few weeks ago and participated in "On Deck for the Cure". You register when you are on the ship using the form provided at the front office. Each participant contributes a minimum of $15 and I think Holland America matches the contributions. Participants recieve a wristband and an On Deck for the Cure Tee shirt and some pink lemonade at the end of the walk.

Our walk was on the last full day at sea and started at at 8:10. Everyone can participate. My DS (age 10) and DD (age 6) had a great time doing it although DD did take a few "Rest on a Deck Chair for the Cure" breaks! ;)

[oceanal]

nolyd,

That is just great! It sounds like it is for breast cancer...correct?? Do you know who it is associated with? I will have to bring my special 3 day walk and pink bracelets onboard. What an excellent thing HAL is doing.

Thanks for the info.

A:D

[aprilwaters]

Juliang. we are scheduled to do the dolphing swim also. I was just wondering how much time in the water you got to actually be with the dolphins and how much did the photos and tape cost to purchase? You said it was worth the money so that really excited me. swimming with the dolphins has always been a dream so I was glad to hear that.

[CruiseBumm]

We haven been on the Zr-dam yet, but slowly we are making it to HALs fleet. This year its the Noordam to Alaska. Glad to here all HAL ships are in good shape and the crusies was enjoyable for all.

[nolyd]

Oceanal,

On Deck for the Cure supports the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I'm sure you'll have a great time doing it. We felt was a fabulous way to start a day on the ship!

[olechka]

Does anyone know if this is a full-day event or many hours it lasts. What a neat idea, I'd like to participate.

 

Thanks!