My wife and I booked this cruise for its itenerary and the chance to see some fall colors. Dining in the main dining room exceeded expectations. The food and presentation were very good and the wait staff seemed generally very efficient. We had open seating and shared tables for almost every meal. A low pressure front with very high winds and seas caused us to miss 2 ports which was understandable ...
We sailed on the 12 day Zuiderdam Canada/New England cruise from 10/7/16 to 10/19/16. We got to Quebec City on 10/6/16 a day before embarkation and enjoyed a great meal at Le Saint Amour and a restful night at The JW Marriot. The embarkation was slow but being veterans of 30 cruises we have come to expect these waits. We have been on HAL enough to be Three Star Mariners. We had taken a 7 day HAL ...
I chose this cruise as a surprise for my husband for his birthday. Right out as 4 star mariners, we did not get any priority boarding, it was a cattle call with no organization at all! It was a disappointment as we lost both ports in Nova Scotia and had a horrible storm to pass through at night. Our closet door fell of during the storm. the ship overall needs a serious dry dock, many areas need ...
My DW and I both wanted to see the changing of the trees so we booked this cruise (and indeed the trees were wonderful). The Zuiderdam was the HAL ship we sailed on years ago and enjoyed so much that we have been sailing on HAL ever since. We are both partly retired and can go when we find a cruise to interest us. For us the flying is usually the worst part of the adventure.
We arrived in ...
This cruise is the only one I have ever taken that was just average. It was a dissappointment. Missed ports, storms, power outages, late to port, chaos at disembarkation and no compensation other than a glass of alcohol for nondrinkers and refunded port fees.
The Cabin and dining staff were as always, top notch. They always seem to be their very best and make the ship the best experience ...
We were excited to cruise on the Zuiderdam again, this time for the Canada/New England Cruise. We came in to Quebec a few days early to enjoy the city and wish we had a few more days - Quebec City was delightful and autumn is a great time of the year to explore it.
On the day we left port we got the ship early only to be meet with long lines for the taxi to get in, then long lines and ...
We were looking forward to a "Fall Colors" cruise. It was our second HAL cruise, the first being aboard the Neuw Amsterdam. Enjoyed Quebec City and Saguenay but then got hit by a "subtropical depression" and missed the next two ports of Charolettown and Sydney due to hurricane force winds (up to 90kt.s and 30-40ft. sea!) but ship handled it well and crew was confident and helpful for the 60 or so ...
This ship was very dated, worn and grubby. It was advertised as being renovated recently but there was no sign of anything renovated at all in all public rooms and cabin. They took extra money from you for everything including bottled water, an extra dish to share for 4 in the main restaurant and other small things that would be free on other cruise lines. The dining was very average and even in ...
We have been on a couple of Holland America cruises in the past which were charters for The Jazz Cruise and were always a little disappointed in the food and service. But we figured that this was because The Jazz Cruise is a chartered event and they went a bit cheap on these things. We were right. The food, service and ship were excellent. We usually ate in the specialty restaurants and they were ...
We had not ever toured the NE coast of the US or the Maritime provinces, so this cruise leaving from NYC and calling in MA ME and NovasScotia and Prince Edward Island was a treat. Then sailing up the St Lawrence seaway into Quebec was interesting. Quebec City is historically appealing recalling grade school history of the Colonial period of both the US and Canada. Amusing hearing French ...