First let me state that most of my complaints about this cruise are not so much about the Zaandam and its crew as indictments of the cruise industry as a whole.

Let's start with the feedback form, passed out on the next-to-last day of the cruise. The purpose of such a process should be "Please tell us what we can do better to make for an improved cruise experience for our future customers." But when the cruise director instructed people how to complete the form he made it quite clear that he expected to receive 9's (the highest score) in all areas. In effect, he said "Anything less than a 9 represents a failure." On the surface this seems to represent great pride on his part and that of the company. But the net effect is to say "Please tell us how wonderful we are so that we don't have to change anything." The 1 to 9 scale becomes completely distorted and meaningless. The ship and it's personnel receive high scores for their performance but nothing changes for future passengers.

Let me emphasize that this problem is not unique to HAL. A recent experience with NCL was the same—-the feedback form is a superficial gesture towards improving cruising but shows no real desire to do so. Read more