Worst Cruise Experience To-date

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 4

Review summary

Cruise ship was ok....our "complaints" are with the staff who failed in doing their job. We booked a Verandah room (with a balcony) aboard the Holland America ship Zuiderdam. When we booked our cruise (4 months ahead of sail date) the salesperson FAILED to tell us that our room (4001) was one of the 2 WORST Verandah rooms (4001 and 4002) on the ship. We had a steel wall below the balcony railing (instead of plexiglass that we could see thru when sitting on the balcony), the balcony was rounded on one side to form into the bow of the ship, and the forward side of the balcony had no privacy wall ... making for an extremely windy experience sitting on the balcony and making it possible for any crew member to look into our room if we had the curtains open! When we asked for a room change (2 weeks before our cruise) we were told by that there were no rooms available. We learned upon arrival on the ship that others had received room upgrades THE NIGHT BEFORE SAILING!!!! Also, the salesman failed to advise that our room had ONLY a shower instead of a shower/tub combination in the bathroom, as advertised in the description of Verandah rooms. Our biggest complaint is that we paid the SAME price as the rest of the guests in Verandah rooms...and we got sub-standard quality in our room. Holland America sales staff advised us that personnel SHOULD BE WELL VERSED on all aspects of the accommodations aboard the Zuiderdam, and should have advised us AT THE TIME OF BOOKING of the inferior qualities of this Verandah stateroom over others on the ship. Unless you know how to ask ALL of the right questions, we would NOT recommend dealing with sales staff if you want a pleasant experience in your next cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

Entertainment

Service and Staff

Ship Quality

Cabin / Stateroom

Cons: Priceline cruise counselors failed this customer

Recommends Zuiderdam? Yes!