Zaandam Review

Zaandam - Eastern Caribbean

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Zaandam
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jeffyd
First Time Cruiser • Age 60s

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Embarkation
Dining
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Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2004
Cabin: Verandah Suite
Traveled with children

The bottom-line is that the Zaandam is a great ship and we thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. This was the second year in a row where we took the Zaandam cruise over our Easter break. Last year it was a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas, this year it was a 7 day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. We drove down from Charlotte to Port Canaveral the Friday before we left and stayed at the Days Inn Cocoa Beach. I would not recommend this hotel. They were supposed to hold a cot for us and they didn't, so I got to sleep on the floor (joy). They did have the deal where you can leave your car with them for the week while you're on the cruise and Art's shuttle picks you up and takes you back. I was happy with Art's shuttle very prompt and timely.

Embarkation was not the best we've ever had. We had to wait in line about 45 minutes or so and got on about 1:00. I was disappointed that there was no line for filling the forms out online ahead of time. It seemed to help a little when we got to the counter, but we still had to bring hardcopies of the forms we completed online and had to sign them in person. We also had some issues with our room keys when we first boarded. Of our five cards (wife and I and 3 kids), only two worked and we had to keep going back to the front desk to get them reprogrammed.

Once on board we went to the Lido for a nice lunch and relaxed by the pool. We could get into our rooms by about 1:30. That night and the next two days were at sea days and we enjoyed the quiet ambience of the Zaandam. The kids liked the kid's club activities and my wife and I and our oldest daughter played the daily team trivia games (we won twice!). We also enjoyed the library, crows nest lounge and hanging out at the pool. The shows were good (great magician one night, pretty good comedian and the Zaandam singers were just OK).

Cabin Review

Verandah Suite

Cabin A
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