Zuiderdam - Alaska - July 8 - 15, 2006. The Zuiderdam is one beautiful ship. Here is my review:

Day 1 - Saturday - Embarkation - As I live in Vancouver (only 12 blocks from pier), we arrived at Canada Place at 10:30 a.m. and stood in line to get through security. Went through security at 11:10 a.m., was processed and on the ship at 11:45 a.m. Because our rooms weren't ready yet, we were shuffled up to the Lido (buffet) for lunch. The Lido has many different stations (so you don't have to stand in one long line to get your food), Bistro (hot foods), Wok (sushi and some chinese items), Dessert (cakes, pastries, ice cream with toppings), beverage, salad, sandwiches etc. The rooms were finally ready at 1:15 p.m.

We had booked a MM (inside) guarantee and were upgraded to D (outside) - cabin #1020. Now this cabin was right below the Casino and just down from the Vista Show Lounge. We did not hear anything from above or from the cabins on either side of us. The cabin had 2 twin beds (were very high - my mother did not like them, but I had asked for a egg crate mattress topper - it was like sleeping on a cloud). We even had a bathtub. That is much better for showering in than the round ones, where the shower curtain clings to you every time you turn around. We met our cabin steward who was very nice - the fourth day, our cabin wasn't cleaned until that evening and we found out that he had been sick and was in quarantine (I think it was the flu). Boy do those cabin stewards ever work hard. Every time I walked passed an open cabin door I would look into them and they were always on their hands and knees washing the bathroom floor. Also, it states that if you want new towels to put them in the tub and they would replace them. Well they were replaced even if you still had them hanging up. I don't know why they would say this when they do it anyway. We received towel animals every night (stingray, elephant, dog, some kind of insect). They were the talk at dinner time. Read more