Another Review of Zaandam 7/3-7/10

[Nutbunch]

This was our second cruise, the first was a 3 day Ensenda cruise out of Long Beach.

 

This was the best by far!! The Zaandamm was amazing. I'll limit my review to the ship here.

 

We boarded about 12:00pm, like other her mentioned the crew all lead you to the Lido for lunch. We did eat lunch at the Lido, and easily found a shady table for 6 poolside. Some of got Nachos at the Terrace Grill and some went inside for the buffet.

 

Rooms were ready at 1:00pm and we went down to our FF1949 cabin. This is the lowest deck that carry passengers. Our room was clean and we were surprised at how big the bathroom was, full tub & shower, plenty of room at the sink. We had 4 people in this room, my DH and SS & SD and I.

An upper bunk pulls out and they put a mattress on top of the couch, for the kids. We never felt cramped. Pleanty of closet space. We all unpacked picked our closets and stored the suitcases (5) under the bed.

 

This room though is above the thrusters - which come on upon docking and undocking. It's a loud machine sound and some vibration, altough not as much as I was expecting. The propeller noise was just like the air conditioner compresser was running at home. We had no problems sleeping at all.

 

Our housekeeping steward, Kotot, was amazing. Everything was always spotless when we returned, we always had chocolates and towels animals and new towels when we returned from dinner. We left him an extra tip as he made us feel very well taken care of.

 

We had fixed, upper, late dinning in the Rotterdam. Our Dining Room Steward was also amazing! Gede went the extra mile, even bringin my DH and extra Lobster (without him asking) since he knew my DH likes to eat. Also, my SD got sea sick at dinner after she and my DH had ordered the Prime Rib. My DH & SD went down to the cabin so she could lay down. Gede even brought their meals down to them in the cabin! We didn't even notice he'd gone.

 

We went to the Comedian's act and the Magician/comedian's act. While not A-list entertainers (come on people, they work on a cruise ship) their acts were enjoyable. We laughed quite a few times. The comedian had songs played on his guitar. The Magician, had a small dog in his act, that was adorable! He was pretty funny too. We didn't go to the Saxophonist act as we though that would be a bit boring.

 

We also went to the talent show (other passengers) set up like American Idol, complete with mean, Simonlike judge. We also went to the Marraige game, which was a blast! Uda & Doug married for 56 years were instant celebrities! So funny. We also did a few of the MEGA trivia challenges that they have onboard. We saw a lot of movies in the theater, The Duchess, Yes Man, The Changeling, Nights in Rodanthe. We missed the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

 

Their were 155 kids on board and I believe they were all in the Lido pool at one time. Ours wouldn't go to Club HAL, or The Loft, the teen equivelent. They were too shy. We played Ping-Pong too on board which was a lot of fun and suprisingly available. Although this is where all the smokers go, so I didn't like how some smokers where so close and blowing their smoke wafting over the table.

 

Other than dinner, we ate at the Lido for Breakfast & Lunch. Breakfast became a bit predicable, always the same choices, allthough theres plenty. We usually found our table for six, although sometimes we had to grab one from people who were just leaving. I was a little annoyed at two-person people who would park themselves at a six top for all the open time of Lido.

 

In all we had a fabulous time and would definatly sail the Zaandam again. :p

[Nutbunch]

I think I am a fast typist, but really am not! So sorry for those typos.

[Krazy Kruizers]

Thank you for your review.

Glad you liked the Zaandam.

[skankycat]

So glad your family enjoyed their cruise. A positive attitude is far more important than typing expertise.

And that's a great cat!

[Iris5383]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like a good time!

[DFD1]

Thanks for your report. Zaandam is one of our favorites! Glad you had a good time.

[koolforkatz]

Thanks for such a great review! I look forward to sailing with her in October :)

[Momofshan]

We were on the ship with you - we, too, had Kotot as our room steward! You are right, he was terrific. We joked about being in "steerage" for the week down on the lowest level, but we were quite comfortable!

 

It's nice to read similar sentiments about last week's cruise. We had a fabulous time and loved the Zaandam! :p

[RuthC]

I was a little annoyed at two-person people who would park themselves at a six top for all the open time of Lido.

I've never understood this annoyance. For all you know these two people joined others who were already there, but have since finished their meal and left.

In any case, if two people are at a table for six, that leaves four empty chairs. You were a party of four, so there's plenty of room for all of you.

 

Couples and singles like to sit near the windows, too.