Zaandam - Hawaii - April 21st - 16-night - San Diego to Vancouver

[gummi]

My girlfriend and I (and what seemed like about 800 other british Columbia-based passengers) recently returned from the MS Zaandam's 16-night exploration of the Hawaiian Islands, starting in San Diego and finishing in Vancouver, BC. Overall the cruise was typical Holland America--excellent service, interesting ports and a variety of onboard entertainment options yet a few minor issues made it apparent the upcoming dry-dock was a necessary move.

 

Over the past few months Cruise Critic has had several stories of 30-foot swells and rough seas which kept many passengers in their cabins on Hawaii sailings. We brought our seasickness pills just in case, but they would prove to be unnecessary. The sail from San Diego to our first port, Hilo, was calm. "Like a lake", according to the Romanian internet manager. The trip back had some 'Rough' seas in store, but it was still nothing of bother except for the fact that the indoor Lido pool and hot tubs were shut down for two days.

 

The Zaandam itself, as one other posted said, needs a bit of work. It was still a pleasure to sail aboard, however after 16 days a discerning eye saw a few problems--some of the deck chairs were a bit beyond their due date, bits of carpet frayed and a few minor issues cropped up during the voyage. Service, believe it or not, was a tad spotty, most especially in the Lido.

 

Dining--

 

Our dining was, save for the final sea day breakfast and one late dinner in the room, all done in the Lido. Upon entering each night Yasa would greet the two of us like old friends, always smiling, trays at the ready. Althought our Mexico cruise on the Oosterdam this January barred tray usage the Zaandam had it back. We were glad as breakfast without a tray can be a hassle.

 

Room service was solid with long-term items such as a Thai vegetarian wrap and penne pasts with mixed veggies. As expected they went out of their way to bring me wheat toast with peanut butter and skim milk one afternoon after a workout.

 

Dinner food options for me (the vegetarian) ranged from the Holland America classic sweet and sour tofu to a most excellent mushroom strudel and a solid brie puff pastry while the girlfriend dined on tuna tartar, jumbo shrimp cocktail and a typical variety of carving steaks. Other bonuses were the cold soups, almost desserty in flavor, which each of us thoroughly enjoyed. Papaya and watermelon gazpacho, cold strawberry soup (much like a thin milkshake). Neither of us had any complaints regarding the dinner foods.

 

There was one disapointment regarding the drinks available in the Lido--no lemonade. Previous ships including the Oosterdam had lemonade right from the machine adjacent to the iced tea. Here on the Zaandam, though, the lemonade was missing. My Arnold Palmers (half iced tea, half lemonade) would not accompany me on this trip.

 

The few issues in the Lido began on night one. We noticed the Filipino drinks girl making her rounds. While she appeared to stop at most tables she walked right by the two of us, not even an inquiry as to our drink preference passing her lips. Perhaps our age (early 30's) had something to do with it. We wrote off this single occurence and waited until night two when it happened again. This was not that big a deal as we are not major drinkers, but the idea that she was literally ignoring some passengers bugged me. So on or about day five I filled out a comment card.

 

I purposely left it anonymous, yet the next afternoon a plate of chocolates arrived with a note in our cabin. The front desk girls must have run through our photos and added the cabin number to the complaint. Anyway, that night we looked forward to dinner to see how the complaint would be handled. Boy was it ever.

 

It was as if a new woman had taken over the Filipino drinks girl's body. She stopped at every single table--ours included--chit-chatting, smiling and askng about not only our drinks, but our meals. This level of service would continue for the remainder of the cruise and by the end we would be on a first-name basis with her, even greeting one another in the Exploration's Cafe.

 

The other smaller problems cropped up as I went for dessert. The tea station was lacking its full compliment of flavors most times I went for a drink. The little plastic container of honey packets was totally M.I.A. approximately half of the time. One night the Lido manager even went down to the main storage area to get some yet inexplicably only brought up one individual packet and the station remained honey-free later that night. Occasionally glasses were nowhere to be found and the coffee cup rack empty.

 

As always on Holland America, we were able to overlook the smaller issues because of the outstanding personal service. Whether it was the head chef coming to our table for a chat (recalling I was a vegetarian), the Lido manager being omnipresent or our steward Eka catering to out every need and going above and beyond on a continual basis, it is the people that keep us coming back.

 

Breakfast was nice as always, especially out on the open-air portion of the Lido. What was not nice, however, was the sometimes wafting of cigar smoke across the Lido deck. Supposedly smoking is only allowed on the starboard side of the ship, in the covered areas. This rule was flouted on more than one occasion and no crew members felt the need to inform the young stogie-smoker what he was doing was indeed wrong.

 

Other Issues--

 

There was no Code Red on this trip. Code Yellow, not publicized, was being enforced about halfway through. Apparently a crew member had become ill, though it did not outwardly affect the ship's services.

 

Tender services in Kona were delayed for upwards of 90 minutes due to--we later discovered--a medical emergency. This was not communicated in the lounge and passengers became visibly annoyed. Only as we sailed away that evening did the captain make the announcement over the public address system. All tensions would have been diffused had the nature of the delay been made public while it was happening.

 

On the way to Hilo our hallway experienced some sort of water problem. A squishy part was developing at what seemed to be a low point in the floor. I thought I noticed something weird as I stepped in it one morning. The smell cemented the oncoming troubles. The next day there were crews in the hall and papers passed out to the staterooms indicated a plumbing issue. It was to be solved between 10 and 2 that afternoon. But the next morning another note indicated the troubles would require an additional four days work. Four days? My girlfriend looked at me with surprise. It was an odd note, though from that point on we saw no excessive 'work' being done--the squishies were resolved and the smell vanished.

 

Entertainment--

 

The only true entertainment we partook in were the Adagio Strings in the Explorer's Lounge after dinner. Superb, superb command of a wide variety of classical tunes. Interesting take on a Beatles medley mixed it up a bit. Besides that a screening of Frost/Nixon in the Wajang Theater was about it. Speaking of the movies, almost all of the Academy Award winning films were shown over the course of the trip--Slumdog Millionaire, Frost/Nixon, Doubt. My girlfriend thoroughly enjoyed that. Saved herself a few bucks in the process too. Popcorn was available for all and the seats were cozy.

 

One other activity, new to me, was the daily sea day Watercoloring Class. On our excursion to Hawaii Volcanoes NP we met a woman named Mary Sue. She was onboard for free, the only hitch being she had to run a daily watercoloring class in the Lido at 3pm. I promised Mary Sue we would check it out and by the final sea day we had yet to visit. By 4pm we were glad for having come and disappointed for not being one of the 25 or so passengers who experienced the class each day. Mary Sue was well prepared, full of supplies and encouragment and in 60 minutes we had each made ourselves a nice little painting.

 

The Zaandam's live band was 'Natalie and the HALCats'. Giving them as much credit as possible, I can only say they were not very good. The instrumentation was sub-par, which is to be expected, but the voice of Natalie, the sound set-up and the incongruity of the tunes played made the overall experience of listening difficult.

 

Picture it--Kailua/Kona in the background, bright sunshine overhead, a pool surrounded with guests and Natalie and the HALCats chiming in with a cover of Oye Como Va. Huh? The piped in authentic Hawaiian music which played in the Lido areas while we were in the Islands was immeasurably better and far less intrusive.

 

Our favorite spot on the Zaandam turned out to be the Explorations Cafe. At first I was worried my beloved library had been taken away and replaced with this library/Starbucks hybrid. Though the foamy drink offering counter was placed smack in the middle of a hallway (to garner more attention and drive sale, no doubt) and made passing foot traffic somewhat intrusive, the overall environment was relaxing. From oversized leather couches to comfy chairs with accompanying ottomans overlooking giant windows and the sea to a full compliment of board games, books and magazines, this was our spot for playing cards and reading.

 

On and Off--

 

Embarkation in San Diego was a piece of cake, as we were there from the previous day and among the first quarter of so to board. I do dislike the Vietnamese tigerbox-like glass enclosed gangplanks upon which embarkers line up and wait to step aboard.

 

Disembarkation in Vancouver was easier than most foreign ports I have experienced. On our own, we took our time with breakfast and got off the ship at our leisure, basically ignoring the loudspeakers. It paid off too--once off, our's were nearly the only two remaining bags in the Black 3 column. Customs were right at the entrance to the large port building and a quick glance at passports and duty forms let us walk home.

[Crusing Bob]

Very nice and interesting review. Hope to take my wife next April on the 15 Day.

 

Could you tell me what Cabin Category you booked?

 

Bob

[gummi]

We booked an interior--I believe it was an MM.

 

It was laid out a bit differently than on other ships I'd sailed. It had a full couch which could have unfolded to a sleeper bed and was nice sized for two people. On the Oosterdam trip we took in January that cabin class would have been smaller; no couch, less room.

[Iris5383]

gummi - thanks for the review. It is very well written and informative. I enjoyed reading your thoughts.

Laura