For some reason the town of Skagway was not listed in the embarkation drop-down. Alright, I'll preface this review by mentioning that I am not a world-weary, sophisticated traveler that is easily bored and has an axe to grind against Holland America but I also do not like tour-oriented vacations where the travelers are led around like cattle which is what the land portion was. This is a type of ...
Airport arrangements, hotel transfers, baggage handling- all with precision. Embarkation took at most 30 minutes shuttle to on board.
Land touring a week before cruise included Fairbanks, Denali, Anchorage.Wildlife trip to Denali magnificent, breathtaking view of mountain that day. Land tour director was a pro, even assisted in crisis when wife packed ALL my clothes and sent ahead to the ...
Just off the Zaandam in the Pacific SouthwestWanted to knock out a short review of this little 3-day cruise we just disembarked from this morning. Hadn't been on a ship in more than a year after disembarking in Hong Kong in March 2010 so we were desperate to get back aboard. Our best buddies Bob and Judy suggested this one with an overnight at their place the night before and we jumped at it. ...
This was a trip to a) get on the water in a ship once again and b) see how HAL's Zaandam shaped up for a trip we are planning on later.Canada Place: Embarkation and get off went very smoothly. Nothing unusual. I tried my Nexus card instead of passport and it worked. Bit more slowly cause number had to be entered on lap top at check-in and attendant completely unfamiliar with procedure and ...
Personal Information
Couple in our forties on our 1st cruise
Live in Downtown Vancouver
Both employed - Government jobs
Travel to Port of Embarkation
Took a cab that day because of the rain, would normally just walk to Canada Place Waterfront. It is about a 10 minute walk from our condo.
Embarkation
Holland America Zaandam
We got there about 1:00 pm and there were ...
After a fairly intensive dry dock in Singapore for two weeks, the ship looked very good wih new carpets, seating, decking etc. The ship was due to travel to northern Japan but due to the recent disasters there, HAL opted for South Korea & Russian ports. Less than 1000 passengers.
Each passenger was given $250 OBC and 10% discount on their next cruise due to the itinerary change.
The ...
Zuiderdam is great ship and we enjoyed ourselves on the 22 day repositioning. This was our longest cruise to date and we did not have a 'nothing to do' day. Embarkation (disembarkation was much better) was a bit slow due to having a gastric infection with small # of passengers on the previous group requiring additional cleaning, but a glass of champagne at dinner was part of the apology for the ...
We decided to take a quick 1 night cruise to Vancouver BC as part of an anniversary celebration. After checking with the HAL office in Seattle, we found we could board early, eat lunch and then relax on board before we set sail. Alas, it was not to be.
After scrambling to catch an early morning flight as planned, we were met by security officials at the terminal who said that boarding the ship ...
I was determined to try a Holland America ship after our cruise to Alaska last year on Princess. Princess has always treated us very well, but when we docked in Victoria next to HAL's Amsterdam, the ship just looked so elegant. Reviews of the fleet, the service, and the food confirmed my impressions, so we booked a test run on a 1 day sail from Seattle to Vancouver.
Pre-board: Documents and ...
This was mine and DH's first cruise on Holland America. Prior to this we did a 10 day on the Radiance and decided to hop on this repositioning cruise to make our way back home to Seattle. We have cruised many times (19 for DH and 17 for me) and our favorite line is Royal Caribbean, with Celebrity being our second favorite. I expected the service on HA to be top notch and about what Celebrity ...