New to HAL

[Christapie]

Hi folks! Never been on an HAL ship, only on Princess 8 times! So on Jan 2 2010 we are on the Zuiderdam 10 day Panama Canal. As you can imagine we are very excited. There are some questions though that I need help with.

 

1. Are there laundry rooms that I can use while on board?

 

2. Does the ship have really good coffee, or is it the syrup type? Do they have a coffee card?

 

3. When is a good time to board in FLL?

 

4. Is there a menu that anyone has taken a photo of that I can see?

 

5. Are the pools fresh water or salt water?

 

Thanks so much in advance.

[jhannah]

Welcome to cruising Holland America style. We sail both HAL and Princess and enjoy them both. Different personalities, but good products. We've sailed the Zuiderdam and enjoy the ship.

 

Your #1 question is a big difference with HAL's Vista and Signature Class ships ... no self-service laundry. You'll need to let the ship take care of your things.

 

I like the coffee. It's much better than Princess, IMO. There is a coffee card, and the specialty coffees are very, very good.

 

I am one who boards as soon as I can. I like to get on and look around and enjoy lunch. So I'd suggest you plan to get there around 11:00 a.m. They should begin boarding around 11:30, although your cabin won't be ready until 1:15-1:30.

 

I'll let someone else tackle the other questions for you. Good luck.

[Jena]

We are also booked on Jan 2nd. Welcome to HAL! this is our 5th HAL trip and we love everything about it. Unfortunately there are no laundry facilities in any Vista class, but you can send laundry out for $20. We find the coffee to be pretty good. We are not big coffee drinkers so I don't know about the coffee card. We get to Ft. Lauderdale before 11:30 as they start boarding at 11:30. We have not been on the Zuiderdam so we don't have copies of menus for that ship, maybe someone else can provide it for us. I hope this answers some of the questions.:)Ena and Jesse :)

[Christapie]

Thank you to both of your replies! I look foward to meeting all the great HAL people out there.

 

So you say that the laundry is $20. for the entire length of cruise, per person? How many times a week do they pickup?

 

Thank you so much again in advance!

 

Christapie

[Mary Ellen]

So you say that the laundry is $20. for the entire length of cruise, per person? How many times a week do they pickup?

That price is for a bag of laundry (about 3 days worth of both our laundry). The price has been varying lately between $12-20, mainly $16. There is a higher cost option for unlimited laundry, but we've been hearing that is changing from priced per cabin to per person. You just give your laundry bag to your cabin steward when you want it done (daily if you wish).

[Sirdar]

I have read elsewhere that many cruise lines use the "syrup" coffee concentrate in order to mass produce the coffee served in the non specialty venues. When aboard the Veendam a couple of months back I made a point of asking the senior officer who attended our CC M&G about this. He told me that HAL only uses traditionally brewed coffee--not the concentrate. I assume this would be the case aboard the Zuiderdam.

[Christapie]

I have read elsewhere that many cruise lines use the "syrup" coffee concentrate in order to mass produce the coffee served in the non specialty venues. When aboard the Veendam a couple of months back I made a point of asking the senior officer who attended our CC M&G about this. He told me that HAL only uses traditionally brewed coffee--not the concentrate. I assume this would be the case aboard the Zuiderdam.

 

Thank you Sirdar! We really like our coffee in the wee hours of the morning.

[twinkletoes4445]

4. Is there a menu that anyone has taken a photo of that I can see?

 

We were just on a 10-day Caribbean cruise on the Noordam. Here are the lunch and dinner menus from our cruise. I doubt this will be the same menu you will have, although many of the items will probably be on the menu on your cruise. This will give you an idea of some of the items offered.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=18101476&posted=1#post18101476

 

Enjoy your cruise! :)

[Christapie]

We were just on a 10-day Caribbean cruise on the Noordam. Here are the lunch and dinner menus from our cruise. I doubt this will be the same menu you will have, although many of the items will probably be on the menu on your cruise. This will give you an idea of some of the items offered.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=18101476&posted=1#post18101476

 

Enjoy your cruise! :)

 

Oh! Thank you Twinkletoes! Oh the menu looks fantastic! If the Zuiderdam is anything like this I will be a happy girl, and hubby will be too!!

 

Thanks again, Christapie

[Boytjie]

I saw the bag of ground coffee that was going to be used in the Lido - it is the real thing, not made form concentrate.

[Christapie]

I saw the bag of ground coffee that was going to be used in the Lido - it is the real thing, not made form concentrate.

 

Now seeing IS believing! Thanks!