My husband and I traveled on the Zuiderdam for the March 15, 2008 "Off to Rome" transatlantic crossing from Ft. Lauderdale to Rome. This was our first cruise with HAL. Our only previous cruise was on Celebrity's Mercury. Since it was such a long cruise (18 days) and we were celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary, we decided to splurge on a deluxe verandah suite.

Pre-Cruise and Embarkation: We flew from our home airport of San Francisco into Miami, as there are no direct flights into Ft. Lauderdale. We rented a convertible at the Miami airport and stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn in Coconut Grove, which was comfortable and reasonably priced with a great location near lots of shops, which allowed us to buy little last-minute items we had forgotten. We drove from Miami to Ft. Lauderdale on the morning of embarkation, which took us about 40 minutes.?One thing I really like about HAL is that they allow you to bring your own wine on board. A week before we left, I placed an online order with Total Wine in Ft. Lauderdale, which is located very close to the port, and our order was already boxed and waiting for us when we picked it up. After getting our wine, we returned the rental car to the FLL airport and took the port shuttle from the airport to the ship (no fee for this).

Upon arrival at the terminal, our luggage was immediately taken (we kept our carry-ons and our box of wine bottles) and we were directed to the suite passengers' embarkation line, where we filled out the health forms and were through the line in no more than 10 minutes. Once on board, our rooms were not ready yet, so we waited for maybe 30 minutes in the Neptune Lounge, where our concierges greeted us by name and introduced themselves and the services they would provide us with throughout the cruise. Stateroom: I absolutely loved our deluxe verandah suite! I'm afraid we are now spoiled for anything else. There was so much storage space we didn't even use all of it. There were also an abundance of horizontal surfaces which made dining in our suite a real treat. We actually had a cocktail party in our suite with two other couples we met on board, with appetizers and printed invitations arranged by our concierge. The beds were extremely comfortable, with several different types of pillows to choose from. I really loved the deluxe verandah suite, but I don't know if I would pay the fares that they ask for their normal cruises -- since this was a repositioning cruise, we got a great deal. The perks like the Neptune Lounge and breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill were wonderful, and the extra space is fantastic for a long cruise. Read more