Zuiderdam Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,028 reviews

A True (Autumn) Odyssey

Review for Transatlantic Cruise on Zuiderdam
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Briny
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2008
Cabin: Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

WHO WE ARE. We are an active 60-something couple, making up for lost time in our travel adventures since Retirement. This was our third cruise, all on Holland-America, and our first transatlantic. We have never been to Mediterranean Europe before, so all the ports of call were new to us. We were members of a Cruise Critic Roll Call group of 60+ people, whom we had never met in person before this cruise. I must say that traveling with a group of friends - even Internet friends - makes a cruise an even more special event than normal. CODE RED. Let's get this out of the way first: This ship was in Code Red from the second or third day onward, and this did affect our enjoyment of the cruise. There was a very bad norovirus outbreak, affecting almost 15 percent of the passengers. As a result, this was not as relaxed a vacation as we had hoped because we needed to remain so vigilant about what we touched. Moreover, the level of service was not as high as we would normally expect, since the entire crew was doing double duty. It was especially wearing on the six transatlantic at-sea days when there was no escape to ports of call.

But, you know what? Bad stuff happens sometimes, and you just have to deal with it and move on. The crew worked exceptionally hard in trying to contain the problem, maintaining their cheerfulness and professionalism through it all. Their efforts were obviously not enough to contain the illness, but I don't think they could have done any more to address the problem. My hat is off to them; they were amazing. We were fortunate and did not get the illness.

EMBARKATION. We traveled from our Venice hotel (near San Marco) to the Marittima docks by water taxi, which we shared with another couple. It was worth the 16€ per person for an exhilarating ride down the canal in a speedboat, to say nothing of the convenience of having a private conveyance. Our luggage was offloaded to waiting porters and we strolled about ¼ mile to the terminal building. The check-in line was long, but well organized and moved quickly. A separate line for security also moved quickly. We probably spent no more than 45 minutes total in both lines. Cabins were available shortly after we boarded at around noon. Because local authorities wanted to examine all of the luggage brought onboard, our suitcases did not arrive in our room until late in the afternoon.

Cabin Review

Deluxe Ocean-View Verandah Stateroom

Cabin VB
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