Venice to the Transatlantic Holland America Line Zuiderdam Cruise Reviews

We sailed HAL for the first time on the Zuiderdam, transatlantic, Venice - Ft. Lauderdale. It was the cruise from "Hell" for us. Embarkation of 1800 folks was chaotic.. hurry and wait, hurry and wait.. Just imagine folks in a warehouse with 10 - 20 counters checking you in and my wife and I with advanced "registration". The number of people on canes, walkers and "scooters" was impressive ...

Sailing out of Venice is one of the most exciting and beautiful "sail outs" in all of cruisingdom and ours on the Zuiderdam October 23, 2008 was no exception. We had arranged to have our first Cruise Critic Board member "Meet and Greet" during the sailaway and were all gathered in the Crows Nest meeting one another in person for the first time and watching Venice slide by when Mark Pells, the ...

We are a couple from south Florida who booked this cruise as an (early) celebration of my 60th birthday. Because of a small inheritance, we had some extra money, so we really "splurged" on this cruise! We flew business class from Miami to Zurich to Venice, and booked a deluxe suite on the Zuiderdam in the stern of the ship with a huge, wrap around balcony. We flew into Venice a couple days ...

Seventeen days on the Zuiderdam - a very nice experience. There have been several reviews of this cruise, so I will try to comment on just a few pertinent areas. First: The noro virus. Some people have written that the ship remained silent about this problem for the first week or so of the cruise. I remember it differently. I specifically remember an announcement on embarkation day that there ...

We recently returned from the now infamous transatlantic crossing on the Zuiderdam and even though I have never posted a review of any other ship before, I felt compelled to share my thoughts on this cruise experience. Prior to sailing, I read reviews of the Z that were filled with complaints regarding sewage odors, disrepair of the ship, and a lack of attention from the crew. Frankly, those ...

WHO WE ARE. We are an active 60-something couple, making up for lost time in our travel adventures since Retirement. This was our third cruise, all on Holland-America, and our first transatlantic. We have never been to Mediterranean Europe before, so all the ports of call were new to us. We were members of a Cruise Critic Roll Call group of 60+ people, whom we had never met in person before ...

The boarding in Venice was a zoo! We were there at 11:30 for a 5PM sail and there was already a crowd. No organization. We finally just got into a line and half way thru, someone asked us for a number. We explained that we never got a number. They shrugged and passed us on. Overheard many guests comment later that that's just the way it's done in Italy! The ship was in dry dock in April, ...

Sanitation: poor. We departed Venice on Oct. 23, 2008, for the 17-day cruise and it wasn't until Oct. 27 that passengers were notified the GI virus had infected passengers on the preceding cruise. By that time the virus was spreading on our cruise and hundreds of passengers became ill. The extensive but belated efforts to encourage hand washing should have been initiated the first day we ...

The Zuiderdam is a lovely ship with nice amenities, such as a 3 deck high theater, glass outside elevators, a nice view astern in the lower dining room, a large and diverse buffet, a pool area with a removable cover. The ship had evidently recently had renovations as the deck map available did not show the internet access area and library had been moved from the promenade deck, Deck 3, to the ...

My wife and I love watching Samantha Brown on the Travel Channel. On one show she took her first cruise. She was on her balcony sipping champagne while the ship sailed out of Venice - along the Grand Canal. Well - that was it! We looked at each other and said in unison - "We HAVE to do the same!" So - this cruise is all Samantha Brown's fault. Next step was to look for a cruise. We ...