Just returned from a President's Week sailing on the M/S Zuiderdam to the Eastern Caribbean.

Background: We are married 34 y/o professionals (a healthcare business manager and a high school history teacher). We're relatively experienced leisure travelers (throughout Europe, non-cruise Caribbean, and throughout US), though this was just my 2nd cruise (was on Carnival's Sensation in the early-mid '90s) and my wife's first.

General Impression: The value was quite high considering the reasonable price we paid for a holiday week in the winter. Although the food and service were really quite good, they didn't meet my high expectations based on my research into HAL. If readers are looking for a ship with non-stop entertainment and pulsing nightlife...they should look elsewhere. (Note this isn't a flame/complaint! Merely saying that the demographics on this ship seemed to be at least 75% retirement-age folks, with a smattering of middle agers and their families. We seemed to be the youngest couple aboard that wasn't attached to retired family members. Read more