Hawaii Cruise April 2017

Although the Zaandam was placed into service in 2000, the ship has been well maintained with a high level of cleanliness. Overall the ship is in very good condition, however, there are a couple of area's that could use refurbishment. One area in particular being the Explorations Café. Some of the furniture should have been replaced a long time ago. Shame, as the Explorations Café was a busy spot, especially on sea days.

This is not the ship for the go-go person. It is a smaller ship built for relaxing so you won't find rock climbing walls etc.

This cruise was 18 days with 10 days at sea. I had no problem with the sea days, just relax and enjoy the ride.

The average age of passengers seemed to be a lot higher on this cruise compared to others that I have taken. I don't know if HAL has changed their onboard offerings, but on this cruise, they were very slim.

Despite the sea days and overnight in Honolulu and a couple of late sail always, there was no pool side barbeque, no live entertainment, no buffet with ice carvings etc.

The state room attendant was outstanding. Cabin always neat and any service requests were handled immediately.

I did not eat very often at the Lido Restaurant, but their offerings were varied and slightly above average.

I used the dining room extensively. Attentive and responsive service both for breakfast and lunch. Dinner was a different story. At times service was painfully slow and haphazard, due mostly to the dining room stewards. Some were excellent and others so-so. Menu offerings were varied and the quality of the food was quite good. Great salads offered but at room temperature. Main courses not always served hot.

Service standards are not what they used to be, however, the trend is towards a more casual cruise experience.

The ship would have rated 4 stars, but took one off due to a steward removing the dirty silverware off the salad plate and placed it on the side plate, the intent being I would use dirty silverware for the main course. That did not happen. I did not make a fuss, just reached over and took clean silverware from the unoccupied place settings.

I will sail HAL again. In fact have booked another cruise, but I need to lower my expectations.