What has happened to the once-venerable Holland America cruiseline?
Zuiderdam Cruise Review to Caribbean
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 72
Review summary
We have never been more disappointed in a cruise experience. We have cruised less expensive lines with less venerable reputations than Holland America and have always been delighted and pleasantly surprised by the value of the experiences we have had with food, entertainment, and service. In contrast, our experience on the Zuiderdam was a rip-off. Different passengers we spoke to with experience on Holland America ships told us this cruise was unrecognizable as an HAL experience. One even refered to her experience as feeling like she was in the Twilight Zone. There are plenty of cruise lines out there. No need to take a chance on Holland America and risk a similar experience to ours.Embarkation
The Zuiderdam had just come out of drydock. From the beginning, it was clear, to almost everyone, that the ship simply was not ready. Our check-in process was complicated by the fact that the cabin we had booked 15 months prior had flooded and, with no notice, we were being downgraded to another, less desirable cabin. We were told to take our concerns to the Guest Relations people onboard; when we did so, we were met with blank stares. It became clear very quickly to anyone with any issues that the only way to get anyone's attention was to cause a scene. And problems there were, for almost everyone to some degree or another.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Our restaurant experiences were mostly positive, except that service tended to be slow, particularly when we dined in the main dining room with the two other couples we were traveling with. It seemed to be a kitchen issue, and not a problem with the waitstaff. The Lido buffet area had a diverse selection of food, but there simply was not enough staff to efficiently serve everyone. The biggest disappointment food-wise were the breakfast pastries that tended to be dry and unappetizing. The specialty Pinnacle Restaurant was excellent and a true fine-dining experience, despite the pompous maitre d'.
Onboard Activities
Our main on-board activities involved the pools. The Sea View Pool was shut down for the first two days of our cruise because it's renovation had not been completed in drydock. While passengers were given a $75 storeroom credit for this inconvenience, work on this pool area continued throughout the week, including welding, painting and varnishing railings with heavy-duty, strong smelling varnish and paint by workers with overalls and face masks, no more than 10 feet from the nearest passengers. There were several days where railings were cordoned off from passengers altogether. Drink service was very slow arounf the pools as well she to what appeared to be either understaffing or poorly trained servers.
Entertainment
When the entertainment was good, it was great, but overall it was a disappointment. There was no "welcome aboard" show; no ship band; no entertainment anywhere on the pool decks, ever. The first singing/dancing stage show - a tribute to music through the decades - was boring and unremarkable. We didn't bother going to the second one of the week. The third singing/dancing stage show - 1000 Steps - however was excellent. Also excellent were the comedian who performed on the Main Stage; Island Steel Drum band, who performed twice on the Main Stage; and the piano duo of Alex and Emily in Billboard Onboard. The Main Stage magic show early in the cruise was same-old, same-old, despite his use of two adorable Pomeranian dogs in the act. Finally, although not confirmed, there was a rumor going around the ship that the reason there was no welcome aboard show was because the stage was not fully repaired and ready for prime time the first day out.
Service and Staff
Our cabin steward and main dining room waitstaff were excellent. For the most part, service at the bars was fine, but deck drink staff and Lido restaurant service was sorely lacking. There simply did not seem to be enough competent help available there. The Guest Services staff was deplorable. We ended up with a better cabin after freaking out about having been downgraded originally. However, the a.c. system was leaking all over the ship, and ended up soaking the bed in our upgraded room. We had to sleep for two nights in an inside cabin while the staff dried out our room for two days. We were able to finish the cruise in our upgraded cabin, but only after creating a scene every time we were forced to go to Guest Services to inquire about updates on our room situation. We were not alone; guest after guest dealt with leaks in their cabins and bathrooms; we learned if two cabins near ours that had no air conditioning FOR THE ENTIRE 10 DAYS, with no offer of compensation. The Guest Services staff appeared to be a combination of incompetent, untrained and possibly dishonest. At the cruise's end, I learned my credit card had been hacked to the tune of $1800 at some point onboard. Not a positive finish for any expetience.
Ship Quality
The ship design was fine. The maintenance staff tried hard to keep a ship still under renovation as clean as possible, but the smell of varnish, paint and the roar of shop vacs followed passengers everywhere. Equally disturbing, however, was the fact that there were railings throughout the ship, including the pool areas, were loose or falling off of walls. Some didn't get fixed at all. Two railings had fallen off of either side of a pole holding them on the sides of an outside elevator. The last day of the cruise, the railings were still down and the top of the pole was covered by a face cloth, kept secure by an elastic to keep passengers from the uncapped pole's sharp top. To have defective railings anywhere are nothing less than a safety hazard. There were entire public restrooms out of order, some for the entire cruise. One restroom was available for use, but had no running water and no hand sanitizer for at least the first 48 hours of the cruise.
Cabin / Stateroom
The cabin stewards were hard working and kept the cabins spotless. But the waterfall out of the air conditioning vent definitely took its toll on our general enjoyment of our space.
Ship tip
Don't.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Ft. Lauderdale (Port Everglades), Florida
An okay port, although we had to wait at least a half hour for a taxi at the airport to get to our ship, and there were no Ubers available when we arrived. Our taxi driver took us a roundabout route to the Port and charged us $26 for a trip that only cost us $16 when we came back. We did not do an excursion here.
Half Moon Cay, Bahamas (Private Island)
Very pretty island. We did a tour of the island and a semi-submersible tour of coral reefs. It was gun but nothing we need to do again.
Enter Panama Canal At Cristobal
Great to experience the Panama Canal and learn of its history. Everyone should do this at least once.
Exit Panama Canal At Cristobal Did not visit port
We were on a tour of Panama City when the ship exited the canal. We picked the ship up in Colon.
We reboarded the ship in Colon after an interesting and informative tour to Panama City. Colon was fine as a place to get back on your ship. Otherwise. I would not care to visit Colon again.
Beautiful beaches. We toured the Jaguar Rehabilitation Center. Interesting, informative experience and we were treated to a delicious lunch by locals as part of the tour. Fun to get a closeup look at monkeys, sloths and crocodiles as well as to learn about efforts to rehabilitate animals and release them back to their natural habitats.
Disembarkation
Very smooth, efficient and well executed.
9 Comments
LynnMM 6 years ago
We were on this cruise. Never again with HAL. When we entered our cabin, there were cigarette butts on the balcony and a disgusting dirty band-aid stuck to the rail. This was the Nov 5, 2017 sailing and we were in cabin 5006. My husband and I chose this cruise because we had never been to the Panama Canal. To preface, this was our 10th cruise, 3rd cruise with HAL. We will never sail on HAL again because of their lack of response when we had plumbing issues in our bathroom. To begin with, our stateroom attendant greeted us by telling us that our shower was broken but should be fixed that night or the next morning. The shower head was literally ripped off the wall and laying in the bathtub. Well, the world is not perfect and things happen so we waited. Next, that evening, which was the first night of the cruise, I was sitting in the bathtub trying to rinse off since our shower was still broke and as the water started to drain, our bathroom began flooding. Unfortunately, maintenance did not put the drain plug back into the floor. Water with black flecks floated around our bathroom floor. In addition, that same evening, the toilet stopped flushing (this was 2 floors, apparently, and not isolated to our room). When we tried to phone to report the issues to Guest Services, the phone did not work. We were told by Guest Services that this happens when the phone lines are overwhelmed. I stood in line for 45 minutes, at Guest Services, the following day trying to get our shower fixed. It was reported no less than 4 times by our stateroom attendant and by us. It took 27 HOURS before we could take a shower. 27 HOURS before HAL responded to this. I realize that things happen, but the response time was inexcusable, this was 27 hours before they even looked at it. Never again. I do not trust that if we have future issues they will be fixed in a timely manner. We spent way too much money on this cruise to go through this headache. It put a sour taste in our mouth for the rest of the cruise. I was left wondering....what is next to break? And, will they fix it. Also, our heat did not work in the room. Our temperature was set at cold, very cold. Regardless of what we turned the dial to, it was very cold. We reported this, as well, and nothing was fixed. A woman came in, took the temperature, turned the dial several times back and forth and told us that this sometimes works. That was it. Period. Never again. I rated this cruise 2 stars instead of 1 star because the food in the dining room and the dining room waiters were excellent.
Wa4tli99 6 years ago
We were on this cruise. We had embarkation issues - took two hours. We heard rumors about passengers with cabin issues . Yes there are some maintenance repairs needed.
Overall our experience was positive. Staff was responsive. Food was excellent. Pompous guy in Fine Dinner was know kind to us. Magic show was entertaining . Shore excursions were good. Weather was great. Captain was seen all over the ship.
Yes it is true they had spent the previous two weeks in drydock refurbishing the ship. Perhaps they should have spent a few more days but that would have meant rescheduling over 2000 it passengers. In their haste to get to Ft Lauderdale much was left undone or hastily installed .
majmom96 6 years ago
Wow! Nothing like being morbid to discuss caskets in the same sentence as a cruise! And it’s an individual’s loss if they don’t enjoy a HAL cruise. As most people say, you only have yourself to blame if you don’t enjoy a cruise. I hope others don’t take some previous comments seriously. HAL is a great, luxury line, and even though they don’t cater to the “twenty something” party crowd or families, they have a nice mix of ages from the mid 40s. And don’t forget, for those criticizing the older generation, you’ll be in one of those caskets some day!! Let’s hope the younger people in your life have a little more compassion. 🍸