My wife and I and a widowed friend sailed on Holland America's Zuiderdam on its 7-night Eastern Caribbean cruise from Fort Lauderdale on Saturday 30 October 2004. Our inside cabin number on the Upper Promenade Deck was 4157 and our friend was down the corridor in 4171. My wife and I had paid $597 each (M stateroom) and our friend had paid $788 (MM stateroom). We had booked in May when I spotted this sailing was only charging a 50% surcharge for a single occupancy cabin for our friend, possibly because it was the Presidential Election week.

We got aboard at 1.10pm after a 6-hour 300-mile drive to Fort Lauderdale. It only took us half an hour to park the car and check in. Anwar, a very pleasant assistant waiter escorted us to our cabins. By a happy coincidence later that evening we discovered that he and Ali were the extremely efficient and friendly team on our dining room table for the next week.

This was our first time on Holland America or on one of the Carnival Group's Vista Class ships. Zuiderdam is very spacious and never felt crowded, so much so that we wondered if it had sailed full, only to later discover from watching the port disembarkation computer screens that the ship was carrying 1,968 passengers, which is 120 more than its nominal two-lower-berth capacity. Our initial impression was that the dark public room dEcor is not as attractive as the Celebrity, Princess and P&O ships that we have been on, but it grew on us as the week progressed. What did impress us were the little touches, such as the beautiful fresh flower arrangements all over the ship, including the orchid on every table of the Lido Buffet. Another was the small, individual fluffy hand towels in the immaculate public restrooms, rather than just paper towels or hand dryers. The padded sun loungers and steamer chairs also made for comfortable relaxation by the pool or on the promenade deck. The food in both the dining room and buffet was enjoyable, though not as outstanding as Celebrity. Read more