Zaandam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

  The balcony state room was well worth the upgrade, cozy an comfortable, loved the robes and wool lap blankets.  It was great to lay in bed while watching the scenery or sitting on the balcony in the sun.

A highlight was watching a mother otter & her three babies play from our balcony while in a port.

The stewards Bayu & Sun were great made & made creative  towel animals for bed time every night and rooms maintained impeccably.  Good food lots of vegetarian options. 

very good.

We went on this cruise along with some friends. First encounter we had, the muster drill yelled many times, like we were in the military. He was such a show off, scaring some children on the deck.

The public toilets were a mess, mostly clogged and toilet papers littered the ladies washrooms.

The heritage food (Indonesian and Filipino dishes) were nothing compared to the real things. Like those chefs did not make it real Indonesian and real Filipinos, meeting only the palate half-way to their countries. Think of this: the world is no longer ignorant about authentic oriental food. It's all over. Even fast foods can produce good stuff. Now, in Zaandam, it was short of anything but, just calling it some names. 

The tour director was alright with her entertainment announcements. She was not the type you find anywhere in the ship.

The shore excursion male and female team were there only to get bookings and stand by the hauling buses carrying signs. They opened the Shore Excursion late and they don't answer their phones.

The Lido, during the unattended days had some children sneeze and still hold the serving spoons. There were people who would stand next to the coffee makers holding a conversation as though no one else behind them waited to get coffee. 

In comparison, Royal Caribbean:  this ship is huge but there's enough space for everyone and the entertainments were just great; the activities were just exciting; food, great with lots of different selections and several restaurants; embarkation and disembarkation, a breeze.

No go back to Zaandam. The toilet we had was old, with tiles on the bath tub chipping away. The service crew could hardly manage. Their tired faces make me feel bad asking them to do this or do that. The gratuity a day for this ship was about $12. They said, those will go to the people "behind the scene". The office people said those crew members hardly ever get paid well so the passengers had to chip in.. Apparently, the money we pay will still have to go to the share holders. 

The worst: 

The shore excursion staff

The muster drill man ( yeller or "yodele-ler")

The lack of overseeing the unattended buffet trays at the Terrace and the Lido

While we were still at our stateroom during final disembarkation, the crew began washing our balcony already

There was disorganized crowded line up, no defined line to follow during disembarkation.

Cruise staff looked stressed and worried.

The cruise director you couldn't find when you're in a bind,except when she appears on stage, seemed to be her best time. 

The noisy Lido from the basketball court noise happening just above the Lido, occurring all day long, no matter what tie of the day it seems.  You can eat you lunch or snack and get the vibrations from upstairs.

The best about the ship:

The servers at the dining, both the Indonesians and Filipino crew and did their best to please almost anyone.

The cabin clean up, both patient and over worked men.

The office staff who took the blame intended for the shore excursion staff

The photography people

The buffet table servers and cleaners who smiled all the time and tirelessly served the guests

Although Menu of Spa services cites descriptions & length of services, we found none of it to be true.  If you have ever gone to a dayspa on land, you will be sorely disappointed with the price vs quality received on the ship.  For example, the 70 min pedicure lasted 25 ...and the upgrade to shellac (gel) polish that was supposed to last 2 weeks lasted 2 days!  Every service we booked was exactly the same story, plus a 15% gratuity is mandatorily added on top.

Very expensive, very low quality of service

Ship smelled of sewer in some rooms

Holland America (HAL) provides a very enjoyable cruise experience.  I would rate both their service and food as being very good.  

However, after sailing HAL eight times since 2003, we have observed that their level and quality of food and service has continued to decline during our last three voyages over the last several years.  Up to a few years ago, it was consistently excellent.  HAL is owned by Carnival, and I would like to think that the overall decline we have observed is just an aberration and has nothing to do with parent Carnival applying cutbacks on the prestigious HAL.     

The attitude of the crewmembers is superb and they always do their best to make your cruise a memorable experience.  However, while the crewmembers always have a good attitude, their capability to meet your expectations is sometimes lacking perhaps due to their empowerment, support or training.  This lacking in meeting your expectations has become more and more present over the last several years.  Still, overall, we did find our expectations fulfilled.   

The condition of the ship was fair to good.  When we were last on this same ship, the Zaandam, in February of 2012 for an 14 Day Hong Kong to Hong Kong cruise, we commented to the ship management that we felt the ship was showing it’s age.  They assured us that the Zaandam was going to dry dock to be refurbished.  We were looking forward to being on the Zaandam again, in part, to see how well it was refurbished. In fact, we had the very same cabin this time, the Pinnacle Suite, Cabin 7001,  as we had the last time so it was easy to see the improvements if any.  For some reason, they changed he name of the suite from the Penthouse Suite to the Pinnacle Suite.   While we did see some improvements, we were still disappointed in areas that were not improved or the use of lower grade replacements such as cheaper carpets.  Plus over the years we have noticed little things such as they use to have beautiful towels with the Holland America color logos and now they have just plain old white towels without logos.  They use to have glasses that would fit into the glass holders in the bathroom so they would not slip off during rough seas and now they just plain glasses that do fit into the holders and they slip off the counter.  The glass shower door that broke while we were on this ship in February of 2012 has been replaced with an ugly curtain that does not even fit the opening.  All of these are small details, but they add up and it is the little details that sometimes can tell the whole story.  All of this seems to confirm a possible sad pattern that perhaps parent Carnival is simply making too many cutback on what was once a great cruise line.  Holland America is still a very good line and I am sure that to any passenger who is new to Holland America, that all they would see is a very good cruise line, as they would not know how Holland America used to be even better.  I do hope that either Holland America gets back to the greatness that they once were or that our experiences are just aberrations. 

It was okay but I have been on better cruises.

This is my second time to Antarctica and it was an even better experience than my first time.  Sunny for 2 whole days, sea like glass.  The "expedition team" put on by HAL included a naturalizt who was related to one of Scott's deceased explorers from 1912, and three others associated with the National Science Foundation's Antarctic reserach.  At least 4 hours of lectures every sea day as well as organized bird watching every morning kept the mind active.  To those peple who complain that some of the port cities of Argetina, Chile and Uraguay are run down, I say "duh!"  They are port cities.  They are not St. Thomas.  And to those who spent the days in Antarctica sitting in the hot tub on the Lido deck or pigging out in the buffet, I have to ask why you wasted your money.

This cruise is for those who want to immerse themselves in the wilds of the Soth Atlantic and to travel in the footsteps of the explorers of 100 years ago.  I walked over 10 miles per day on deck, and took over 2000 pictures, mostly south of 60 degrees south.  There were some old fogeys, as on all cruises, but after 2300hrs in the Crow's Nest, there were probably 50 or so people in their 20s and 30s.

This is a cruise of a lifetime - the ship was immaculate, the serving staff attentive as always.  Do it.

Ship size was good. Very clean. Staff very nice and helpful.

Ship is smaller, more personal, a little dated - but service, crew, food quality in the areas that count are excellent

Great value and delicious dining room meals!

The ship was comfortable and smooth sailing. It had all the amenities we wanted, with the exception of a good place to go for a long run.

Overall experience is good. Food tastes better than other cruises we had in the past, inside passage sailing is really smooth with lot of views, kids program is good. The only thing is that you have to pay for dining at certain restaurants. We didn't pay attention and end up paid some money, kids are charged the same as adults.

Our stateroom was like checking into a cheap dirty hotel room. On the first night I reported both our beds were badly worn out and I needed something firmer to sleep on. The steward said he couldnt do anything about that.The center of both beds were so worn out that you could feel the base underneath, plus being lopsided. I have never been to any establishment with such worn out mattresses and not offer a solution to the problem. They could not even come up with a board. The unsupportive bed stressed my body out that I was in pain every night and throwing my body out of alignment. The walls next to the beds were stained and dirty. I used pillows to separate me from the dirty walls. Besides the beds, the room was extremely warm and very poorly ventilated. I never felt the AC working, even though it was set on the coldest setting. Alaska is beautiful to see, but my trip was ruined by sleepless nights in poor living conditions. Outside the rooms the ship was reasonable clean, but I did come sticky doors and handles. I did confirm my opinion with other guest while in the cruise. Food was ok, but not great. This was my very first cruise, but everything was so commercialized. We received daily flyers of auctions, raffles, etc. There were some talks about where to go shopping for jewelries, watches, etc. The shopping ambassador, Dani, made it sound like such a bargain. I went into several stores she recommended and was subjected to high pressured sales tactics selling me overpriced jewelries.There were no bargains at all and one stored tried to sell me a skimpy 14k gold chain with a some scrap diamonds in between for over $1000. It was such a joke and a small flower like pendant with tiny rubies for about $4300 with their discounts, in San Francisco I could buy much better jewelry at a fraction of their price. It is not worth the time going into these jewelry stores. To make things worse the shopping ambassador came into the store and kept on pressuring me

This was our second time to sail with Holland America Cruise Lines. Last year we toured the Panama Canal for the 11-day cruise and this past week we took the 19 day Land & Sea Cruise to Alaska. We were on land for 12 days and the last 7 days were the Inside Passage. We did land and shore excursions every day in each port and we were amazed with the total organization that Holland America brings. This trip was a lot of money but one that I totally recommend if you want to see ALL of Alaska - even took a plane to the Arctic Circle. I believe Holland is the best cruise to take for Alaska. They go \"more in depth\" into Alaska and seem to have all the land and sea excursions that everyone and anyone would like to do.

Fantastic service and dining experience. Lots of interesting programs for everyone to take part too.

HAL caters to the more mature travelers. The ship is nicely equipped and easy to navigate.

This was such a relaxing vacation. I felt that my husband and I had a myriad of options aboard the Zaandam: Dining, entertainment, quiet spaces, lectures, cooking demonstrations and shopping. I should also mention spa treatments. I would recommend this ship and Holland America for vacations.

Overall, our first cruise experience was wonderful. It was much needed relaxation that we needed. I didn't even mind that very small cabin we were staying in because we were hardly there. What did bother me was being on the lowest deck and could smell sewage. My husband and daughter were sick the first few days but they got over it. My daughter made a lot of good friends being a tween, she had a great time as well. They really catered to different ages of kids from really young to older teenagers. That was wonderful because the adults could have a great time. I comment the cruise director, Kieron Buffery who was so funny during the whole trip and hosting some of the entertainment. He made our trip even better. I also want to commend that wait staff, the restaurant staff on the Lido deck, and the housekeeping staff. Every single one of them always had a smile on their faces, always joking around, and always saying hello. We definitely could do this trip again, as a matter of fact, are planning to do the Alaska cruise next year. If you want a great vacation, taking a cruise is definitely getting the best bang for you buck. You eat everyday, constantly entertained, you do wha.tever you want, PLUS you get to visit different places. I highly recommend taking a cruise through Holland America ANYDAY!!!

overall a good cruise. crew where attentive

Good ship, good cruise.