This is the first disappointing cruise experience I have had with Holland America Line. I used to be a loyal HAL cruiser. I am now three star mariner. This may have been my last cruise with HAL unless it was on their newer ships, Eurodam or Niew Amsterdam. The Zuiderdam is in horrible condition. It has not been well maintained. Everywhere you looked, something needed fixed. There were tears in the carpet, tears in the cushions on the deck chars, tears in the upolstry on lounge chairs in the Crow's Nest. There was painting that needed to be done. The brass was scraped in the elevators. Certain things were broken or damaged to the point of being unusable. There was supposed to be a chair at the makup table in my room. It was not there and never provided. I believe that HAL is simply not spending the necessary funds to properly maintain their fleet, as I heard other guests comment that Ryndam is falling apart as well. This ship is now 10 years old, and it looks like it is about 30 years old. It needs to go to dry dock. The ship's condition gave this cruise a black eye for me. HAL claims a 5 star cruise experience. Zuiderdam is in about 2 star condition.

On to other aspects of the cruise:

The itinerary was fabulous. It was very exotic and included Costa Rica, Curacao, Bonaire and Aruba. People couldn't wait to get off this ship and onto shore. I had a nice time while in port. I wish I could have stayed on one the islands/countries we visited rather than return to this dump of a cruise ship. Read more