Zaandam Review
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Everyone on board agreed that this cruise was not only one of the most unusual cruises they have ever been on, it was also one of the best!! Having been to Alaska and cruised the Fjords of Norway/Iceland just 5 months ago, this cruise by my account and every other cruiser I spoke to, surpassed both of the aforementioned locations by a considerable margin!! It was a cruise of extremes. 90 degree weather in Santiago, Chile and Buenos Aires ranging to 25 degrees in Antarctica. Glacier Alley and the Straits of Magellan have some of the most dramatic scenery with razor sharp steep mountains covered in snow and glaciers between peaks plunging into the ocean-like a continuous Grand Teton mountain range or continuous Dolomites/Alps on both sides of the ship. Antarctica was equally dramatic-ice bergs of all sizes and shapes, mountains and glaciers with penguins and surfacing whales everywhere. However, be aware that his is not an expedition-type of tour of Antarctica; this is a tour of large distances from shore to ship. As a result, the penguins tended to be "dots" on shore and having the right photographic equipment was mandatory if you want satisfactory or even acceptable photos of them. A minimum is a 250-300 mm telephoto lens on your DSLR. Even a 200 mm lens was not enough. A point and shoot is ok for recording "dots" of penguins but the telephoto lens was a must to actually see and identify them, except for the occasional penguin on an ice berg floating by close to the ship. In reality, I would say that less than 10% of my fellow passengers had them but the other 90% wish that they had brought one. In addition, it is extremely important to bring a good pair of binoculars, at least 10X to 12X. The lectures given both before and after arriving at Antarctica were great! Every day, the ship provided 3 lectures a day for about 6 days discussing everything you wanted to know about the history, geography, flora and fauna of Antarctica as well as the scientific research, info about the ozone layer, building the 3 US research stations, history of icebreakers, and interviews with 4 veteran Antarctica workers who each spent as much as 30 years working there. The best up close penguin shots are at Volunteer Point in the Falklands. Keep in mind that the odds of the weather allowing a landing at Stanley in the Falklands is about 80%. In the previous 17 cruises to the Falklands by the Zaandam, they were able to land 14 times according to the tour director. This is truly a trip of a lifetime unlike any other you have probably been on.
Cabin Review
Large Outside Stateroom (partial sea views)
Cabin was large with bathtub and plenty of storage. It was older but very acceptable. There was a very low level of droning from the engines but it was quiet with one exception: there was a loose piece of steel just outside of our window that banged loudly every 5-7 seconds during 2 nights when the wind in Antarctica approached 45-50 mph and the ship rolled from side to side. A neighbor had to even transfer to another cabin on the other side of the ship because of it. Attempts at fixing it the next day were unsuccessful and we had to tolerate it for yet another night. The front desk felt that they had dealt with us satisfactorily since they offered a (quite noisy) interior cabin substitute which we turned down due to engine noise. I guess this was the way that Holland America felt that they had met all of their obligations in satisfying us since we did not hear anything more from the front desk afterwards-not a great PR move from Holland America. I suspect that the problem will not be fixed and the loose piece of steel has possibly been known for quite a while-and just dealt with from cruise to cruise if the next victim happens to experience it in high winds and complains about it. If it wasn't for this incident, the cabin would have worked out fine. Not much is written anywhere about the internet on the Zaandam so here it is. If you buy 1000 minutes, it costs $250 or 25 cents/minute. For 500 minutes, it is 35c per minute. For 250 minutes, it is 40c per minute. Without a plan, it is a straight 75c per minute. The reception in our cabin was awful; it took a full minute to load one page!! Reception was good, as you would expect, in the internet cafe. But the secret is that the very best place for internet reception that we found was in the back stairwell! Even during the busiest times when other locations did not work, the stairwell came through!! We got consistent wifi with acceptably slow speeds every day except for 2 days between about 9am to 4 pm while we were in Antarctica although the night time reception was surprisingly good.