Zaandam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Embarking/Debarking were the best I've seen. Food was excellent. Reserve dinner in the Marco Polo asap. Cabin steward and waiter were very efficient and totally unobtrusive. Never met our cabin steward and wasn't sure who the busboy was. Didn't like the fact that tips weren't part of the bar bill. Had to carry cash to leave tips. Singers and dancers had just come aboard and were poorly prepared. They got better as the week progressed.

This was our family's first cruise. Embarking was great, even though i thought the baggage takers at the terminal were impolite by asking for a tip. Check-in was fast and easy. Once we boarded the ship, we went to our cabin, it was clean and large. The food was great, it was first class dining. In addition to the Rotterdam Dining Room, there is a alternative dining room called the Marco Polo. I thought there food was also superb. Entertainment was also good, but there singer could have done better. The waiters in the Rotterdam Dining Room were always cheerful and polite. Disembarkation was very quick, overall this cruise was well run. It was a little shaky the couple of nights after Half Moon Cay(Holland America's private island in the Bahamas) but it got better. Its been about two weeks after our cruise, i still remember all the joyous memories vaguely.

One of the best cruise experiences we have had. We sailed aboard the Zaandam from Port Canaveral March 8, 2003 to the Western Caribbean.Embarkation - Port Canaveral is a great port. Parking is easy. Terminal nice. Porter service quick and friendly. Had to wait a bit in line, but line was moving quickly and nice chance to visit with people also waiting.Food and Service- Can't say anything but fantastic. From the casual dining, dining room, alternative restaurant... the food was wonderful and the service outstanding.Bar Service- Our meeting place was the casino bar. Armando, the bartender, only needed the first night to get all the drinks comitted to memory. He had them waiting for us every evening. He was the best I have seen. Also the appetizers served at the bar are a nice touch.Deck Service- The deck waiters were entertaining and delightful. The 3 we had every day kept things moving along and gave impeccable service.Casino - Lively and lots of fun. Even won slot machine jackpot.Cabin- We were in Cat. B Verandah deck balcony cabin. The room was well laid out. Lots of storage space. Nice Jacuzzi in the bathroom. The balcony was roomy. We were traveling with friends in the next cabin so our room steward opened the entranceway between the cabins so we had one large balcony for both cabins. The service from the room steward was great. We always had ice, and anything we needed was provided.Tipping - We very much liked the tipping policy of Holland America. We have been on ships where the "recommended tips" are added to your credit card at the time of boarding. You have the choice to remove or add to these, however, that means a wait in the purser's line. HAL policy is you tip for the service you receive. I feel that this is good for the employees as they probably get more that way. I know in our case that was true. They worked very hard and were rewarded.Ports - We had visited the ports on other cruises except for Montego Bay. We took the Margaritaville tour. It was very nice and the people there were very friendly. The beach is gorgeous. Our tour guides and bus driver were quite entertaining and everyone enjoyed the afternoon.Holland America - As I said before, we have cruised many times and with most of the other lines. This was our first cruise with HAL and will not be the last with them. From embarkation to debarkation, it was a fantastic week.

Embarkation and Debarkation were outstanding. Food service was excellent but food was a little bland. Entertainment was very good except for the magic show. Interior was exceptional...art, pipe organ,plenty of places to sit and enjoy the ocean view. Ship ran very smoothly except for the 12 foot wave period. Cabin was great with safe, bathrobes, nice balcony, fresh fruit and a nice bath tub and shower. Would try this ship again.

We cruised Christmas week RT from Port Canaveral to the Western Caribbean. We are an empty nester couple in our 50s. Although we have cruised Crystal to Alaska and Celebrity to Europe, this was our first Caribbean cruise. We were quite satisfied with the overall cruise. Embarkation at Port Canaveral was efficient; the terminal there is quite nice.Positives on this luded "can do" friendly attitude of most staff including dining room, cabin steward,cruise director, casino staff; cleanliness of ship, waits were either very short or nonexistant for meals, tenders, embarkation and debarkation. Our "two porthole" cabin on main deck near aft portion of the ship was very nice-sized, had great storage space and roomy bathroom. That portion of the ship does feel a lot of vibration as the ship slows down and speeds up leaving and entering ports. As one would expect from Holland America's typical clientele, not a tremendous number of kids for a holiday week, but many intergenerational families on board.The ship had some weaknesses which I will point out for information purposes, but they did not detract very much from our cruise: Minimal perfunctory entertainment, garbage smell in aft hallways for first day of the cruise, about which I had read from another reviewer. Hotel director told me they had had some problems like this before and that it had something to do with proximity of garbage collection area and the ship at Port Canaveral. Lido deck buffet food was only fair but acceptable, dining room food was slightly better, but not great. Health club staff, especially the fitness director had a horrible attitude, insulted passengers and seemed not to be competent. As somewhat experienced cruisers we are used to the sometimes harsh sales techniques and abruptness with which Steiner-employed spa staff treats passengers, but this was the worst we'd seen. There was a charge for substandard health club classes. We were somewhat disappointed that there were no educational/lecture series re: ports of call or any other subject.As every cruise has its pros and cons, overall we feel good about the Zaandam and Holland America and have already booked our next cruise--New England/Canada this summer on the Rotterdam.

The Zaandam is a beautiful ship. The service and food were very good. We did however have serious ventillation / air conditioning problems on our cruise. We had two cabins in the aft section of Dolphin deck. The air was stale and never adequately cooled. On two occassions the ac simply broke down altogether in our section. The crew was only moderately helpful (I'm being generous)I would make sure that HAL has fixed this problem prior to sailing on this vessel.

We sailed to Alaska on the Zaandam on 24 May 2002. This was our second cruise and first with HAL. Everything was exceptional, from time of boarding to our departure. Service was excellent and food outstanding. We would definitely recommend HAL to our friends and especially an Alaskan cruise. Two minor complaints: 1) table tennis....tables were in very poor condition and area much to small-expected better quality in equipment for the class of ship.2)Seating in main theater..Uneven seating-hi chair in front of low chair in every other row-very close-not through. Viewing difficult on bottom floor.

Glacier Bay was so remote ,so beautiful, inspiring. The food was excellent,every meal. The ship though older and smaller than newer ships was in top shape and pleasant and comfortable. Getting off and on the ship was super easy and fast.

The Land tour was exhausting and having to keep to a group schedule was grueling! We didn’t really get to see Anchorage, Fairbanks or Whitehorse. Too much day time spent traveling and in Alaska & the Yukon not much to see while traveling…….too many rocks and trees and trees and rocks. Packing/unpacking and different beds every night was not good! Finding restaurants for dinner most nights was not fun! Breakfast buffets were too $$ for what they were BUT they were a better $$ option than ordering from the menu. Our phones were on roaming through most of the land tour. That was a big battery drain most days and limited (sometimes NO) ability to charge them except in hotels (see hotel specifics regarding outlets and USB ports). Wi-fi was spotty pretty much all the time, even with the free service in the hotels. We saw Caribou and sheep (from far away), no bears, no moose, no whales, no sea otters…….We DID get to see Denali from 70 miles away twice which we were told was unusual! We did not see any northern lights but we weren’t needing to see them, we have both seen them. Our land tour guide, David Y was very good, very informative & knowledgeable as well as trying to see that we saw whatever we could and enjoy the trip. He tried to get us involved as a group/become friends. We did like Dawson and thought the time allowed there was perfect. Needing the ship’s wi-fi in order to use the Holland America App and charging people for a wi-fi package doesn’t seems right, especially since the ship’s wi-fi was spotty.

This cruise changed my mind about cruising, it truly was relaxing.

The Zaandam is a smaller ship and can get closer to the glaciers and other sites. Lines are rare. I like the intimacy of this ship.

Wonderful, no nonsense cruise full of beautiful sights and experiences.

Friendly and accommodating staff. We were only on for the last 4 nights after our land tour portion ended.

Overall it was very relaxing and a nice slow pace.

This was a charter cruise on the Zaandam, so no HA onboard activities. We were on an excursion that had us back 30mins late to the pier - we’re glad it was purchased through Holland America, but was stressful nonetheless.

Overall this is probably the best cruise we've taken due to the itinerary, the service, and the incredible food. Was also very blown away by the enrichment talks by the biologist and the talks about Samba and other aspects of Brazilian culture. The Brazilian Dance group they brought on was very talented. Other highlights were the cake afternoons on deck, the ice cream socials, the afternoon teas and the very friendly casino. I would definitely do this cruise again!!

This is the second time we do this cruise. Great ports and cosy and nice ship. In Holland is the wheater in winter cold. That's why we love the caribbean.

Great trip, had a very fun and relaxing time. I will never forget it

We enjoyed our holidays cruise on the Zadaam, small ship well maintained and a relaxing atmosphere. Will do it again..

13 days of cruising bliss and a beautiful ship!