Zuiderdam Review

4.0 / 5.0
1,028 reviews

Panama Canal -- put it on your Bucket List!

Review for the Panama Canal & Central America Cruise on Zuiderdam
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abb4k
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2009
Cabin: Signature Superior Verandah Suite
Traveled with children

It's been a couple months since we returned from our Zuiderdam cruise to the Panama Canal, and our 4-year-old daughter is still raving about the experience. The entire journey was thoroughly enjoyable -- we loved the itinerary (though can't find a way to add Half Moon Cay as one of the ports in cruise critic's review template). Service, as usual, was fantastic. The ship is gorgeous. And the Panama Canal is not to be missed.

I'll skip over detailed reviews of the food, other than to say it was generally excellent, and my wife thought if I ate any more lamb (chops, rack of, etc.) that I might start to bah. The week of our cruise, HAL had switched to a new service protocol for dinner in the main dining room, whereby the waiter stayed only by the tables, and his assistant was responsible for going back and forth to the kitchen. It seemed like it took a few days before they got used to that, but if we hadn't been on a prior HAL cruise, we probably wouldn't have noticed.

A number of the ship's crew deserve special mention, including Cruise Director Shane Michaels, steel pan musician Skip (he enjoyed teaching our 4-year-old how to play the steel drum), the Club Hal staff (Erica, Cass), and doorman Uming (who couldn't have been more friendly, and then really made an impression on our daughter when he let her ring the chimes for dinner one night).

Cabin Review

Signature Superior Verandah Suite

Cabin SS

Very roomy, convenient to mid-ship elevators, felt very little motion.

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