Zaandam Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Excellent Cruise on a smaller cruise ship. Excellent Itinerary. Right amount of Ports versus Cruise Days. Amazing sailing through Strait of Magellan and Beagle Channel with all of its Glaciers. We had a GREAT time!

Overall, very good iterinary, good choice of excursions, great staff and service. Overall, a great time and very good value for money.

Great itinerary. Ship was something to be desired to say the least. But we were in it for destinations so took it with a grain of salt. Service was great. Made it out to Cape Horn- that doesn't always happen on this type of itinerary.

We really enjoyed the cruise, even though the length was longer than any other we have done. The staff were all very responsive, friendly and competent. The food in all the locations was excellent. We like Holland America because it is mostly older people who are often very interesting and not LOUD!!

Overall, I had a great time on the cruise and I feel like I saw a lot of Southeastern Alaska. I would definitely consider seeing Denali prior to or after the cruise in the future.

Me and my friends had a great time and really enjoyed it. The food was great, the service was fantastic. The side trips were really great. The land trip part was fantastic as well.

Overall, we would do this cruise again in a heartbeat. One note: we had no rain the entire week, which probably allowed for a much greater experience. But we'd do it again, even with rain!

All and all had a wonderful time! Got to see a place I've always wanted to see and met some wonderful people! Now that we have experienced it, we would opt to do the land portion before the cruise portion. We were really tired by the end of the two weeks and the relaxing nature of the cruise would've been just what we needed. Will definitely be going back to Alaska!

The package we booked included lots of amenities, so we had a wonderful time without worrying about any of the details.  Alaska is indeed the last frontier, and was interesting to visit.  It is sad, however, that the glaciers are receding. I was disappointed that Glacier Bay was not the winter wonderland I expected.  The ports we visited were quaint and interesting to explore.  We enjoyed the rafting experience to the eagle preserve on Haines, gold panning and a salmon bake on Juno, and a self-guided tour of Ketchikan.  The cruise through the Inside Passage was breathtakingly beautiful! Entertainment on the ship was top notch and varied.  Food was delicious!  Our veranda room was spacious and had lots of storage spaces.  The bed was oh so comfy!  The bathroom was worn and could use some freshening up.  Staff were attentive and friendly.  Would definitely recommend this ship and itinerary to others.

Our family of 5 had this trip last week and it was a great experience with this trip. The major good point are the food in the upper deck (Lido). We are vegetarians and tried the food in the dining room. The food in the dining room (5th deck) is OK but can be better, particularly when compared our experience with other cruise lines. The design of the ship, and the arrangement of the trip as well as the embarkation and disembarkation, are good. The shows are mediocre and the movies are old stuff. It can be better. But the shopping onboard is also good, better than expected. As always, the photos are ripoff. Overall, it is a good time.

Our family of 5 had this trip last week and it was a great experience with this trip. The major good point are the food in the upper deck (Lido). We are vegetarians and tried the food in the dining room. The food in the dining room (5th deck) is OK but can be better, particularly when compared our experience with other cruise lines. The design of the ship, and the arrangement of the trip as well as the embarkation and disembarkation, are good. The shows are mediocre and the movies are old stuff. It can be better. But the shopping onboard is also good, better than expected. As always, the photos are ripoff. Overall, it is a good time.

The scenery and location for this cruise are the highlights. The ship experience was fine, but nothing above average. The experiences we had with views and wildlife made this a memorable vacation. I was concerned with the lack of cultural diversity among the cruise guests. Perhaps Holland America needs to market to people of other ages, races, and backgrounds. This was a ship full of white-haired, white-skinned senior citizens.

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.

The entire staff was great as always. However, with each cruise activities have been either cut back or eliminated. None of the changes experienced have been positive. All seen as cost cutting measures. Most fellow travelers have voiced there similar displeasure. HAL status along cruise lines has dropped considerably and many seasoned travelers will look elsewhere.

Was very good but what I didn't like it was the formal nights people walking to the restaurant in short sleeves shirts and nobody would say a thing. If is the new policy they shouldn't right formal in the booking and on the daily news at the boat.

Seeing Antarctica and the Chilean fjords was amazing! The weather was great and the scenery is unbelievable. Perfect size ship for this cruise.

Be prepared for many days at sea. The ship offers lectures from naturalists and people who have actually lived in Antarctica.   

This was a magnificent cruise indeed. Great food and wonderful service as we have come to expect from HA. My favorite part was the Antarctic landing excursion and the beauty of the Chilean fiords. Argentinian Patagonia looked like hills east of San Diego.

As two star mariners and approaching three stars we had hoped to be offered a suite upgrade to a Neptune Suite and never were. We met people on the ship who were offered that upgrade with no Mariner status at all and for a few thousand dollars more...

The most disappointing (and annoying part) of the cruise was that our Vista stateroom, 7069 was directly below the Lido Deck smoking area. It was not the smoke that was the problem, but the constant scraping of the deck chairs literaly above our bed in the stateroom. We had a hard time sleeping in the morning and in the end wore ear plugs. The acoustics of the stateroom and the metal chairs on a steel deck were surprising loud. We asked the concierge several time to consider moving the area to the port side which had the same chair setup, but no one ever sat there- the smokers were always moving chairs except when sea conditions were bad. So the noise only stopped after midnight. We were disappointed that the staff did not address our concerns. We were placated with apologies, but no action...

Beautiful weather and ports.  Falkland was great site to see penguins. Three perfect days cruising Antarctica, saw whalea, dolpains, seals, ice and Icebergs.   They have four Antarctica experts aboard ship that gave great informational  briefs so we knew what we were seeing.  Drake passage a little rocky. Last three Chilean stops could have been better.  Overall, a once in a lifetime experiencr.

The trip exceeded our expectations.  The views in Antarctica segment had spectacular views of mountians, glaciers and ice bergs.  The seas were smooth and the skies were sunny.

The ship was comfortable, food was great and service excellent.

The shows were fantastic and the daily movies usually were chosen to have something to do with where we were cruising.  For instance:  Evita, and Dance of the Penguins.

Four beautiful days in Antarctica--sunny, mild, lots of ice! Penguins, penguins, and more. Saw glaciers, icebergs as big as the ship, Antarctic research stations, and penguins. Outstanding lectures and commentary by an Expeditions team who had worked with the National Science Foundation in Ant.  Whales on the way. Rounded Cape Horn. Falkland islands weather great, more penguins. Tours of Chile and Argentina ports were good. High winds did stop two of the water tours to see fauna. More penguins in Puerto Madryn, Argentina. Nice visit to ranch in Buenos Aires. I would recommend this cruise to anyone interested in the southern region