Alaska - Zuiderdam - June 29th to July 6th 2013
This was my very first cruise and accompanied by my daughter. My husband was not interested in coming to somewhere with no beach!!
Our original booking was for the first week of June, but because of changing work commitments my daughter could not make it. So glad I took the cancellation insurance. We easily rebooked with a small penalty. This time ...
My wife, Leslie, and I had our first cruise On the Zuiderdam. I will give you a short review WE HAD THE TIME OF OUR LIVES.This was our first cruise and so we had researched cruise lines carefully. After a very long day of air travel full of delays we reached Vancouver and checked into the Pan Pacific hotel. We had a nice late afternoon and evening in Gastown. Up early the next morning we had hoped ...
I wish I could say that this cruise was fantastic, but it wasn't. My husband and I sailed from Vancouver for a 7 night cruise to Alaska round trip. There was roughly 1600 people onboard. 80% were over 65 years old, aprox 100 kids under 18 and the rest were between 30-65. Mostly couples.
The food was very good considering there is only one restaurant that you could go to without paying an ...
Embarkation- Embarkation at Canada Place was smooth and quick. It took about 25 minutes to clear Security and US CBP. Using the Suite check-in line and having the first boarding group had us on-board by 11:45 am.
Cabin-Neptune Suite (cat.SC) 4185. The aft-wrap suite was a "must have" for this cruise. The wrap-around verandah has over 40 feet of running balcony rail an afforded a 260 degree ...
Embarkation was a breeze. With three ships at Canada Place, the line for security was long--but moved very steadily. That served to space out people so that there were no delays for US Customs and Immigration, nor for check-in. Once we were through security, there were no further lineups before we got to our suite. The Mariner's luncheon in the dining room was very quiet, and set a nice tone for ...
After reading the previous review I was skeptical of the condition of the ship. Our biggest problem was the fact that were subject to very high rate for internet. I understand it was only on our ship, the rate was $249.00 for the whole cruise or $60.00 for a 24 hour period. Highway robbery.
Embarkation: Got to the terminal from our hotel around 1 pm. Check in was smooth, no wait to board the ...
We sail mostly on HAL and had noticed a decline in some services the last few cruises. That was NOT so this time! We found nothing of any consequence to complain about. After a night's stay at the Springhill Suites in Dania Beach ( where we always pickup our cruise wine at BJs ), we got on the 11:00 free hotel shuttle to the port. We went straight upstairs and quickly checked in since we had ...
Holland America made sure this was a cruise of a lifetime. We went on this cruise with 5 other friends, all but one are retired and we're all over 60. We had cabins on the fantail of the ship. Not only did we have a 180 degree view from our balcony, but the rooms were spacious. Our room stewards were the best. Rooms were always clean and they looked after our every need promptly. They were there ...
My husband and I were really enjoying our first cruise with Holland America aboard the Zuiderdam. It is a smaller ship than our previous cruises, so we could feel more rocking, but we were fine even though we usually get motion sickness very easily. The ship is not as new and fancy as some we have been on, but is well-maintained and decorated nicely. Our cabin was close to the aft elevators on ...
Summary: HAL has gone downhill from our last cruise with them of 2 years ago. Food is mediocre and service while friendly has definitely been impacted by staff cuts. Many items that were free in the past are now up charges. This includes real coffee and the Canaletto restaurant. The Zuiderdam is a tired ship and definitely needs a long (non-cosmetic) dry-dock .
Embarkation:
Very ...