Beautiful scenic cruise but ship has operational issues

Zaandam Cruise Review to South America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Zaandam

14 Night South America Passage (Buenos Aires To Santiago)

Sail date: February 21, 2016

Ship: Zaandam

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 7082

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

The cruise met and exceeded our expectations for scenery.  Views were breathtaking and captain did excellent job of informing us each day of what and at what time we would pass by scenic locations.  Ship is just right size for this trip and staff was very polite and  helpful.

However, AC was very poor in our stateroom.  We were on deck seven and little to no AC in suite for the first three days.  We were not alone ...it was an issue in many cabins we learned from talking with other passengers.  It was pronouncedly bad when we were in warm climate portion of trip.   I have been on more than three dozen cruises and never encountered such a problem. It was terrible to try to sleep. It was not acknowledged by staff as a problem.  AC in activities area of ship was fine.

The dining room was clearly understaffed.  You had to ask repeatedly for anything from iced tea (which was awfully weak) to cream instead of milk for your table.  The waiters were very humble and kind but obviously overloaded every single night.

We took tours at every stop and found some good and some very poor and many were over priced for the quality we had expected from H-A.

In summary we loved the cruise itself  but found the ship in need of attention in cooling system and dining room.  Stateroom service was outstanding..

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
AC issue very serious!

Ports of call

Buenos Aires, Argentina

3 out of 5

Montevideo, Uruguay

3 out of 5

Port Stanley, Falkland Islands

5 out of 5

Cruise Strait Of Magellan

5 out of 5

Punta Arenas, Chile

5 out of 5

Cruise Cockburn Channel

5 out of 5

Cruise Beagle Channel

5 out of 5

Cruise Glacier Alley

5 out of 5

Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina

1 out of 5

Cruise Cape Horn

5 out of 5

Cruise Canal Sarmiento

5 out of 5

Cruise Chilean Fjords

5 out of 5

Puerto Montt, Chile

5 out of 5

Valparaiso (Santiago), Chile

3 out of 5
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1 Comment

plantaquatix    8 years ago

What tours to take and what tours to avoid ?

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