Zuiderdam 6/9/07 - A Cruising Neophyte's View

[GlassGirl]

My mother and I have never cruised before, however, I regularly travel on business so I’m all about the customer service no matter where I go or what I do. My goal was to make sure that I decompressed and that my Mom had a great time and felt comfortable in her surroundings.

 

Pre-Cruise

I met my Mom in Seattle the Tuesday night prior to our cruise and we spent two days wandering the streets of Seattle with a side trip to Tacoma to the Museum of Glass. I’ve spent a bit of time in Seattle but it was Mom’s first trip so we did a lot of the touristy things; Nordstrom’s Semi-Annual sale, monorail to Seattle Center, headed to Seattle Reflexology for a nice reflexology session there. Mom’s first. She headed to the Space Needle while I had my 1 ½ hour session. It’s like chiropractic care for your feet and these folks really know what they are doing! We did the Underground Tour (get Lucy for your tour guide) and Pike Place Market. We walked off our dinner at Elliott’s by hiking up the six steep blocks to the Crowne Plaza. Had a lovely city view and the beds were comfy. It’s your typical convention style hotel but they know how to treat their guests well.

 

Took the Amtrak up to Vancouver on Friday. Went coach and were very comfortable with plenty of leg and derriere room. Very civilized. The conductor did a bit of narration and let us know when the eagles would be soaring. Saw many, many bald eagles when we disturbed them. Very unexpected sight! Had a bit of a wait for a cab once we arrive but finally made our way to the Pinnacle Marriott. Our room wasn’t ready but they sent us to the nice waterfront walking path where we found The Mill and noshed on hummus and edamame and watched the float planes. Went back and checked in and then took a cab to Granville Island and wandered. Had tickets to “Mom’s the Word 2” which was hilarious! I want to go back to Vancouver after the Olympics in 2010 and spend a week or more just exploring. It has a great vibe!

 

The next morning, we were up early and watched the Zuiderdam sail in along with two other ships. It finally seemed real that we were going to be on a ship in a few short hours.

 

Embarkation

Around 12:15 on this drizzly, overcast day, we took a cab to Canada Place which was only a couple blocks away. I was envisioning being dropped off in the rain and was most pleasantly surprised with the underground facility. The porters were waiting to take our bags and we were directed into ‘the line’ which moved quickly. Got through customs, checked in, on the ship and eating in the Lido by 1:00. WOW! We weren’t sure what to expect but it wasn’t this level of efficiency. Very nice!

 

The Ship

Captain Jeroen van Donselaar

Hotel Manager Simon DeBoer

Cruise Director Parker Cristan

The Zuiderdam has personality. Her art deco décor made me happy. I’ve seen her described as garish. I disagree. I now understand the furor over the Crow’s Nest. Cruising into Tracy Arm and Glacier Bay while ensconced in a comfy chair with our mugs of tea in the CN was priceless. Favorite places to curl up with a book? Explorer’s Lounge when Park West didn’t have it booked and the Oak Lounge before the cigar and pipe smokers arose for the day… The different lounging venues made for an intimate experience. It never felt crowded. It seemed the age range was 40's-80's with folks on either side. Not so many kids to really notice they were there.... We were told that Aussie tour groups made up almost half of our fellow sailors. They were great to be around. Lots of fun!

 

Cabin VF-5140

Cabins were ready at 1:15 so we finished lunch and found our room. Initially, it felt claustrophobic because of the low ceiling but after the first day, I was fine. Two large closets, two chairs, a small table, large vanity and ottoman/stool and 13” TV tucked in the corner completed the furnishings. Two plastic wicker chairs, ottoman (in good shape), and small table on the veranda rounded out the accoutrements. A couple of 6” round dips in the floor gave us something to watch out for but once we knew they were there, it was a simple matter to adjust. It was so nice to just leave the drapes open and wake up naturally with the sunrise no matter how early and watch the beautiful scenery drift by from bed.

 

Our room steward, Bangun, came to introduce himself immediately. What a sweetheart! He was surprised to see Mom and me rather than a Mr. and Mrs. and was surprised to hear we were on for the full seven days rather than leaving in Skagway but once we straightened that out and he split the beds, we were fine. Loved the big, fluffy, oversized bath towels. Asked Bangun for a larger bathrobe and he brought it once the laundry was done. The sheets on both of our beds had holes and were badly pilled which translated to an uncomfortable first night. However, once we pointed that out to Bangun, we had lovely linens for the remainder of the trip. The bed itself was comfortable.

 

Loved the fresh fruit every day and the ice bucket being filled twice a day. Loved that Bangun quickly adjusted to our schedules and magic occurred twice a day while we were out of the room! I was impressed that you couldn’t hear the plumbing from other cabins like you do in hotel rooms. Actually, the only sounds we did hear was the overhead thumping of the under the bed drawer being opened and closed.

 

Activities

We didn’t participate in a lot of shipboard activities because we were more interested in the scenery but here goes…. I also didn’t utilize the Internet because I decided to take 12 days away from email but the setup was very nice. I loved how well stocked the library was. I had packed my own books so didn’t check out anything but liked the idea that it was available if needed.

 

Cooking Class: Thank heavens that I read about this great activity on this board because it was never advertised. I went to the Front Desk the first day to sign up. It was being held the first sea day at 1:30 with Kumar, the Pinnacle chef. Fun, fun, fun! There were only five of us; my Mom, one of our table mates whom we told about the class and two others who had read about the class on the CC board. We chopped, diced, cooked, and ate our efforts. Veal chops, mushroom risotto, and bruschetta. Lots of fun for $29. They only had the one class. The major tip that I took away is that Kumar said to not bother buying really expensive knives. Just keep your knives sharp!

 

Galley Tour: It was on the last sea day and very informative and fun. They take great pride in their kitchen and so they should. It’s a very impressive, organized setup! I wish we would have bought the cookbook then because they were out the next day. We ended up buying the demo copy at the Front Desk because it was the last one left.

 

Race for the Cure: Love the idea of this. You sign up, determine how much your donation is which is added to your shipboard account, pick up your t-shirt and wrist band at the gift shop and walk the 5k on the last sea day. Raise money for a good cause and get in your daily walk. It’s a win, win!

 

Casino and Bingo: There were two non-smoking days. We stopped in after one of the shows and each spent $5 in the slots J It lasted about half an hour. On another day, because Mom had never played Bingo before, we played one session. Three cards and four games for $25 plus an annoying announcer. No more bingo for us!

 

Arcadia Strings: I suspect this quartet is very underrated as there were never a lot of folks sitting and listening. We sat and enjoyed them whenever we had some time. They are very good with a nice repertoire. Dan Bolton the Piano Man was good. Enjoyed sitting and listening a time or two.

 

Food

Dining room: We had early, upper dining at table 26. A nice aft window table for 6. Rudi, our head dining steward was fantastic. He has honed his craft. Our dining steward who will remain nameless seemed like he was just putting in the time. Consistently missed dressing the salads. Had to be prompted to replace meals that weren’t up to par and then gave us the pep talk to put his name on the survey. Hmmm…..

 

The food was hit or miss. My expectation was high-end banquet dining and it didn’t consistently reach that point. The hits were the Sole on the first formal night and the Rockfish on the last night. Mediocre was the surf and turf and Beef Wellington. Misses included the pork loin, pork chop, and coq a vin. They did their mashed potatoes, carrots and squash very well. Asparagus was severely overcooked each time it came on my plate. The hot soups were consistently above average except for the lobster bisque which was gelatinous. The fruit soups were good but too sweet for my taste. Chocolate Decadence was dry but the accompanying fruit compote was delicious. Baked Alaska was a huge miss. Chocolate Mousse, Crème Brulee and Crème Caramel were excellent.

 

Dining Room Dress Code

Saturday, leaving Vancouver: Smart Casual

Sunday, At Sea: Formal

Monday, Juneau: Smart Casual

Tuesday, Skagway, Smart Casual

Wednesday, At Sea (Glacier Bay): Formal

Thursday, Ketchikan: Smart Casual

Friday, At Sea: Smart Casual

Smart Casual dress code was recommended but jeans were not prohibited so did see some jeans but not many after the first night. Formal nights were pretty much adhered to that we could see.

 

Lido: Ate lunch in the Lido every day and one breakfast. The service was fantastic and the tables were cleared in a timely manner. Had no problem finding tables no matter how crowded. Loved the deli and customizing my sandwich. The Italian station was consistently good with their sauces and pizza. The roast chicken and veggies and the meat loaf were killer good. And then there was the ice cream. Good ice cream. Lovely ice cream. With toppings. Chocolate topping and Frangelico… Different flavors on both stations…. Yum!

 

Room Service: Waking up, rolling over, and calling for a pot of water for my tea. Asking for toast, peanut butter, and orange marmalade even though I forgot to put the little breakfast card on the door the previous night. Ordering in dinner after long days spent on excursions or that late night craving for a simple cheeseburger. Orders were consistently correct and timely. Bliss…. I will miss room service most of all…

 

Note: if you are a true tea aficionado, be sure to ask for your tea water in a stainless pot as the other carafes carry the taste of coffee….

 

Water: There always seem to be a lot of questions around the relationship between the salinity of the water and swelling of the extremities. I swell like a blowfish on a regular basis but decided to take a chance on the water. I continued my normal routine of drinking 100 ounces a day from the tap, continued to abstain from soda and alcohol and continued to walk 3 miles a day. No swelling. It’s not the water, ladies!

 

Tracy Arm – Beautiful. I wish we could have gone all the way back. I wish we would have booked an excursion to go all the way back. You can just sense that something wonderful is around that corner that we didn't take. Next time…

 

Juneau – Cold and drizzly. We tendered because the Oosterdam was also in town. The good news is we were dropped off downtown. Once again, the HAL machine was incredibly organized in letting everyone know where to go and helping them to get there. We had a couple of hours until our excursion so we wandered around. After watching the Port Ambassador programming in our room, we knew which shops to avoid since jewelry isn’t our thing and looked for those which were locally owned and operated. Two standouts were Cha, a local artist gallery, and the Alaska Soap Company with some lovely, locally made soaps and lotions.

 

Mom and I chose Harv and Marv Whale Watching and had a great time! Pete, aka Harv, a couple from Louisiana from the Oosterdam and a local wildlife photographer from Haines, Ron Burns and his wife rounded out our group. We had an initial sighting of mom and baby in the bay and quickly sighted a humpback who lead us on a great chase. Some good, full-on breeching with this one. Lots of sea lions and eagles. Saw enough to make the trip worthwhile!

 

Skagway Booked the Yukon tour independently with Chilkoot Charters because we wanted to see Emerald Lake as well as ride the train. I’m slowly working my way through the North American narrow gauge railroads so this was a must for me on this trip. Gorgeous scenery is a given. Nicely narrated and a booklet that lets you know where you are at any given point. Our driver, Nancy, picked us up in Fraser and took us up to Emerald Lake, stopping for many photo opportunities. There were less than 20 of us so it was easy off/on. Loved Emerald Lake. Extremely jealous of those who live on the lake and have that beauty year round. Next stop was Caribou Crossing. Impressed that they can turn out a decent meal for up to 900 people at lunch each day and impressed that they’ve created a little tourist destination in the middle of nowhere. I like what Carcross is trying to become by bringing the train to town. There is a darling little shop whose name eludes me that’s worth the time to explore for local souvenirs. On the way back to Skagway, saw two black bears and some mountain goats. We were also joined by some friendly mosquitoes! Back to Skagway and exploring the town. Next time, will take the catamaran over to Haines to see what’s there.

 

Glacier Bay

Are there words that can describe the beauty of Glacier Bay? Sitting in the Crow’s Nest as we entered, watching the scenery grow more beautiful and listening to the history narrated by the Park Rangers was great. The weather was bright and sunny and watching the glacier from the bow on deck 4 was quite an experience. The pea soup wasn’t bad, either! Saw (and heard) some minor calving. Glacier Bay was a zen experience for me….

 

Ketchikan

Booked with Lois Munch of Classic Tours in her ’55 red Chevy. She’s a retired school teacher so knows how to impart information. Got some local history of the town and headed out to Saxman Village. Lois explained the totems, meanings, history, paints, and discussed the history of the various Native Americans populating the Northwest. We watched one of the master totem carvers for a while and took a hike through the rainforest and learned more about the local plantlife. Saw a pair of ravens and some eagles.

 

The locally owned shops in Ketchikan were a little harder to identify and many were closed by the time we returned to town but found two of note that gave my credit card a workout, Soho Coho, Salmon, Etc., Crazy Wolf Studio is where I got my ulu knives and Alaska Eagle Arts attached to Soho Coho….hmmm… I guess that’s more than two….

 

Disembarkation

We chose the Express Disembarkation option and rolled our own luggage off. We were off the ship and in a cab by 7:50. Went to the local Hertz place where they reimbursed us for the cab and were on the road back to Seattle by 8:30.

 

One thing I was surprised at is I’ve read here that you wait in your cabins until they call you rather than gathering in the public areas like a cattle call but maybe that’s just for folks in suites? The expectation seemed to be that everyone would wait in one of the public areas until their color was called…. I just thought that waiting in your cabin always sounded so civilized… Of course, it was a moot point for us with the express disembarkation…

 

Post-Cruise

It took 70 minutes to get through customs and back into the U.S. Don’t know if that’s normal or not but gave us time to decompress. Headed for Bellingham to do a little sightseeing. Hit their Saturday Farmer’s Market and I’m here to tell you that it is fabulous. It’s local exhibitors only. Great organic produce, several food vendors, lots of lotions and soaps, and some nice pottery and jewelry. Well worth the side trip. Then we programmed Snohomish into the Hertz NeverLost system and took a sidetrip there and wandered some of the antique shops. Lots of fun! Took the scenic back roads on down to Seattle. Stopped at a roadside stand for some Ranier cherries. Yum! Finished our day at the Seatac Hampton Inn with their upgraded bedding, had a good nights sleep and headed to the airport the next morning…..

 

Pet Peeve: People using the ocean and our balcony as their ashtray. I don’t care if others smoke on their balcony but I hated the ash that came floating over to our balcony because they can’t be bothered with an ashtray.

 

Favorite Thing: Loved that you can make this experience as action packed or as relaxed as you need it to be and there is no pressure to make it anything other than what you want.

 

Overall, I enjoyed the cruise experience. I liked the size of the ship. I liked that we kept running into the same people over and over and that everyone was very approachable to compare notes with. I was extremely impressed with how organized the HAL machine is; from embarkation to disembarkation, HAL employees were there to help make our cruising experience something to remember. We were greeted wherever we went. Questions were answered promptly. There was a can-do attitude that was prevalent throughout the ship with only a couple of exceptions. I’m a customer service junkie and HAL delivered! Will I cruise again? Some day and it will probably be HAL if the itinerary fits.

 

Back to work today and 3147 emails to read. Picked up the dog from Camp Bark (she actually remembered me!) Many thanks to all of you for your help both in my initial inquiries and my subsequent lurking. Your assistance and points of views were invaluable. My Mom couldn’t figure out how I knew so much!

Kathy

[hammybee]

Kathy,

 

Thank you for making the time to share your cruise with all of us. It's a well organized, thorough and balanced report. Mom should be proud of you. :)

 

I got a big kick out of your adjectives for the ice cream. It is lovely.

[Atomica]

Glad to hear you enjoyed your first cruise & your time on the Zuiderdam - she really is a fantastic ship with an equally fantastic crew!

[seafun]

I enjoyed your observations. I am very fond of HAL and the job they do. :p

And reading your review was a real pleasure. I live in Seattle, and was quite impressed with your planning of your "pre" and "post" cruise activites. Very nicely done! I'm glad you had a good time.

[Moriah]

What a great report - it was fun to read and remember my cruise on the Zuiderdam in the Caribbean last spring... so glad you had a good experience. I am going to Alaska on the Noordam in just a couple of weeks and really looking forward to having a "Zen experience" like yours at Glacier Bay!

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thanks for taking the time to write such a wonderful review.

 

Know what you mean about ashes blowing onto the verandah from someone else's verandah - hate that!!

 

I am surprised that they had the cooking class considering there were only 5 of you.

[traveler1980]

What a fantastic review. I so enjoyed reading every moment of it. We will be on our first cruise, the Zuiderdam, same itinerary in a couple of weeks. Thank you for being so detailed about shops, foods, etc. We are seasoned travelers, but just have no idea what to expect on a cruise. You make every detail sound so wonderful! I didn't know about the cab ride to the pier being underground when you arrive, sounds interesting! Also, thank you for the details on the formal nights. Do you know anyone who ate at Pinnacle Grill? We are contemplating this option still. I am wanting to do a cooking class as well. Do you think it would be the same class, since I will be on the same ship? Were other classes offered and just didn't fill or was there only one option? Where do I go on the ship to book the cooking class? Thank you again and glad you had a wonderful trip!

[GlassGirl]

What a fantastic review. I so enjoyed reading every moment of it. We will be on our first cruise, the Zuiderdam, same itinerary in a couple of weeks. Thank you for being so detailed about shops, foods, etc. We are seasoned travelers, but just have no idea what to expect on a cruise. You make every detail sound so wonderful! I didn't know about the cab ride to the pier being underground when you arrive, sounds interesting! Also, thank you for the details on the formal nights. Do you know anyone who ate at Pinnacle Grill? We are contemplating this option still. I am wanting to do a cooking class as well. Do you think it would be the same class, since I will be on the same ship? Were other classes offered and just didn't fill or was there only one option? Where do I go on the ship to book the cooking class? Thank you again and glad you had a wonderful trip!

 

We spoke with several people who ate at the Pinnacle and they quite enjoyed it. They loved the extra level of pampering and raved about the steaks! I don't know whether they offer the same cooking class each time or not but we went down to the Front Desk on the 1st level and asked about it. They told us at the time that it would be the only class and that they would put it in the Daily Program the next day but we never saw it there.

[codyody]

Wonderful, detailed review. Because we will be taking the same cruise, and it's our first, I really appreciated every word. THANK YOU:D

[Solo Cruiser]

Loved the review !! Thanks for the time and effort it took to write it.

[seapod]

Great review. We too were also on the June 9th cruise. We also got stuck at the border. We found out that the US border had a computer glich that backed up the crossing for about 1.5-2hrs. It help decompress from the trip though :)

[photodoodle]

Thank you for your well-written and informative review.

[rebeljohn]

Enjoyed your review...............thanks for posting it...........

We will be on the Zuiderdam in November..............

[twinkletoes4445]

What a nice review... :)

 

We had Rudi as our head waiter on our Z cruise. He was really amazing. Always on top of things. :)

[WillieF]

:) Great Review! - thank you for posting.

[Kendivallyn]

Ahhh.. I was there June 9-15 too! Great review.. :)

Embarkation and disembarkation were a snap, yes.

The food was hit or miss in the main dining room.. I agree.

The cabins are fabulous.. we had a superior suite... and it was SO BIG! Like a smaller hotel room - and yes, the only noice was the air conditioning.... our BED was insanely comfortable... my husband and I slept like babies all night. I seriously miss the bed. BUT, maybe we got too much sleep, cuz we were TIRED all the time! We had NO ENERGY.. I joked that they were pumping in anesthesia :) We were honestly just kind of bored a lot. I think because it was so dreary much of the time... we're from Southern Cal. and used to SUN! The only cruises we've taken previously were to Mexico on Royal Caribbean and Carnival.... this was much a MUCH SLOWER PACE. It was relaxing, that's for sure.

We enjoyed the mixology classes (martini mixing) and I'm SO BUMMED that I lost the recipes. Does anyone have them?? Maybe I'll post a separate thread. The wine tasting on the last day was fun too... the sommelier was a hottie and I learned some new info. ha :) I always enjoy the art auctions....they were fun - I only bought one painting .. not too bad. We loved our dinner service attendant ... Boss. He had this phony French accent. At first we weren't sure what to make of him, but he grew on us

Problems: 1.That super annoying DJ. I specfically DIDN'T go to cruise events after the first BINGO because I couldn't stand him. Seriously, he spoke to people like they were 5 years old. He was very young.. like 23 ... so perhaps he thinks that's the way to speak to older folks.. I don't know. I didn't appreciate it.

2. This was our first time on HAL and our first Alaska trip, so I'm not sure if it's HAL's fault or just the location, but I really feel like I couldn't escape the great SALE. We paid a lot of money for this cruise, as you all do, and I just feel that they went to really great extremes to try to separate us from our money. More than other cruises. CONSTANTLY. So, that really bugged me.

We didn't choose to do any of HAL's excursions.. we went to the Mendenhall Glacier in Juneau.. but it was raining, so that limited the fun for us. We SHOULD have gone to the Salmon Bake.. oh well.

We did a nature tour that we found on the dock in Ketchikan.. that was awesome... we saw a black bear, eagles and their nests, salmon ALMOST ready to spawn, and sea lions. The tour guide was a life-long local and gave us great info and we also went to Saxman Village.. $40 bucks. Not bad.. I just can't bring myself to pay the ridiculous prices for the cruise ship excursions.. they're inflated like 200%.. crazy. In Skagway, we walked around and saw a cool musical show about Soapy Smith, con man extraordinaire.

Oh, I was totally sick the first day at sea.. I've never been seasick before.. EVER.. so that sucked.. I took those pills and felt better right away.

The Karaoke situation sucked.. only one night of Karaoke before this really lame show on the final night featuring some people that were sweet, but weren't singers. They should do more Karaoke just for fun instead of making a silly competition .. imo.

Shows were very good.. loved the magician, the ventriloguist, and the impersonator singer guy. The ensemble shows were ok. Normal, passable

In Glacier Bay, they ran out of pea soup super fast.. we didn't get any :(

BUT , the glaciers were unbelievable. Loved that.. also loved using the binaculars from the balcony and looking for whales and sea otters after glacier bay.. very cool

So, in overall... it was about 65% good for me. Dreary, boring, rainy, sick, etc., but such beautiful scenery, informative, relaxing, great service, and some fun! I honestly wouldn't do it again.... well, maybe when I retire or something.. but frankly, I don't want to repeat ANY vacation in the very near future.. I want to see the world :) So, take what you will from this..

Cheers! Kendra